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BEFOREAFTER

The Democratic Party launched a costly round of ads Friday to buttress John Kerry's credentials to be commander in chief as the White House accused the Massachusetts senator of "losing his cool" over attacks on his war record. "John Kerry is a fighter and he doesn't tolerate lies from others," shot back spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. The unusual late-August maneuvering highlighted the closeness of the race for the White House and came as polls offered the first hint that the questioning of Kerry's medal-winning service in the Vietnam War -- allegations that he strongly condemned this week as lies -- were...

Bob Dole spent a long time in the hospital, he carries a pencil in his crippled hand. Men have lost limbs, faces melted to fire and are some remain in the VA hospitals. Show us the wound John Kerry. Show us the band-aid scar that is on your arm. Just roll up your sleeve Senator John Fonda Kerry. (We will pass on seeing your butt, thank you.)

BOSTON -- Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry on Thursday lashed back for the first time against a group of Vietnam veterans critical of his wartime service, accusing them of doing President Bush's "dirty work" and suggesting that he, in turn, will challenge Bush's military record. Two weeks after the veterans launched a television ad questioning Kerry's actions in Vietnam, the back-and-forth over the former Navy lieutenant's record enveloped the campaign, as new records undercut the credibility of one of his critics. During a speech to several thousand firefighters, Kerry directly challenged allegations by the group, Swift Boat Veterans for...

US Senator John Kerry’s campaign team today called for a book which contains “proven falsehoods” about the presidential candidate’s Vietnam war record to be taken off the shelves. Unfit for Command, written by a former US sailor who served in Vietnam, alleges that Mr Kerry lied to win his war medals. It also claims that the former Swift Boat captain, who hopes to oust George Bush from the White House in November, won a silver star for bravery by actually shooting a lone, fleeing teenage Viet Cong soldier in the back. Mr Kerry yesterday made his first direct attack on...

The veracity of Sen. John Kerry's account of his military service in Vietnam comes under new attack Friday in a second television ad by Swift Boat veterans. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which earlier launched an ad campaign accusing Kerry of misrepresenting his military record and lying to gain awards, said the advertisement will begin to air next Tuesday in three key states where Kerry has recently touted his military service as proving he is fit to be the commander in chief of U.S. military forces. Pennsylvania was named as one possible states where the advertisement will air, but additional...

JUST HEARD IT ON RUSH!!! BE SURE TO TUNE IN FOR A FULL HOUR MONDAY AT 1PM!!

I thought I'd share this with everyone. Please excuse me if I post incorrectly I rarely post here. This is an e-mail my mother sent after having an interesting experience at a Borders book store. I thought I'd share it with everyone. Subject: Borders Policy Borders: Yesterday, by chance I was in your Eatontown, New Jersey Branch store looking for a book on a particular subject. Not able to find what I was looking for I went to the reference desk. Three clerks were there and in discussion over a book. I waited and none of the clerks turned to...

Thanks to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Senator John Kerry's Vietnam sojourn faces fresh scrutiny. Kerry can easily answer their claims that he has exaggerated or falsified details of his four months in combat: He should sign the Pentagon's Standard Form 180 to assure that his military records are fully public. Total transparency would help voters decide if Kerry should become commander-in-chief. In a May 4 open letter, just under 200 of Kerry's fellow Swift Boat veterans urged him to instruct the Navy to release his "complete and unaltered" military records. "We believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material...

Is "Tour of Duty," noted historian Doug Brinkley's biography of Sen. John Kerry, a "ton of dooky," as columnist Doug Giles called it? Is "Unfit for Command," put together by 60 decorated Swift Boat veterans critical of Kerry's combat claims, unfit for human consumption? Who knows. John Kerry received three purple hearts. None required hospitalization. The first one required a Band-Aid, and when he asked for a recommendation for a Purple Heart, the doctor refused, so he put in for it himself. I believe that one wound may have been inadvertently self-inflicted. It was considered highly unusual to get three...

I have been back East, near D.C., for a few days on a business assignment. I have decided (as per my FR activist thread yesterday) to engage in a little "grassroots" visibility strategy to promote the O'Neill/Corsi book on Flipper (Unfit for Command). This is where the rubber really meets the road, so to speak, in trying to reach the vast middle ground of America and not just preach to the choir, ourselves....Using this: I then high-quality color copied and expanded it 200%; I placed it in the rear window of my auto, inside facing outward (taped). The rear window...

John F. Kerry is saying, "If President Bush wants to compare his military record with mine, let him bring it on!" Well, President Bush is not attacking the Kerry service. He has called Kerry's service heroic! Kerry has also said, "A rich Republican source is paying for the Swift Boat Veteran's attacks and President Bush is doing nothing to stop them!" Oops, it is against the law for a president to stop anyone from exercising his or her free speech. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (over 200 strong) are not ATTACKING Senator Kerry's service; they are revealing the truth...

CNSNews.com) - John O'Neill, the co-author of Unfit for Command, a book disputing John Kerry's Vietnam War record, told Fox News on Friday that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth would "never" pull the TV ad that has so offended the Kerry campaign -- even if President Bush asked them to do so. "There's not a chance," O'Neill told Fox & Friends. "We'd say, 'Forget it.' You see, for us, this is our experience in Vietnam. We lost 51 people there -- there were 15 of them or so killed while I was there. It's deeply personal. And this guy (Kerry)...

PORTLAND, Ore. - A Clackamas County prosecutor is taking part in the case against John Kerry. Alfred French, 58, a senior deputy district attorney, appears in an ad that attacks the Democratic presidential contender's war record. The ad features 13 Vietnam veterans who say Kerry has lied about his war record. The 60-second spot aired for seven days this month in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In the ad, French says: "I served with John Kerry. . . . He is lying about his record." Kerry received a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts commanding a Swift...

John Kerry was "way too much of a gentleman" when he let attacks on his Vietnam War record go unanswered, a former swift boat mate said Thursday while praising Kerry's decision to fight back. "I talked to him on Monday. It's eating him up," said Jim Wasser, now an electrician in Kankakee. "He said, 'This is hurting me. It's tearing me up.' "I know the real John Kerry. And John Kerry is proud of what's he's done," Wasser said. "He waited too long. I'm glad he finally came out. I'm proud of him." Wasser, an unpaid Kerry campaign worker who...

For nearly two weeks, Senator John F. Kerry had refrained from commenting directly on the crescendo of attacks on his Vietnam War record. The work was being left to campaign aides, who were scrambling to control the escalating damage being done by a television ad and a book that alleged that Kerry had lied about his combat service and did not deserve his medals. Then, Wednesday night, Kerry told his aides that he had to act. As he sat down inside his Louisburg Square home on Beacon Hill, Kerry scrawled two phrases on a yellow legal pad about his antagonists,...

Here's a peek behind the cable TV curtain. It's not pretty. So, my publicist arranges for me to go on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on Thursday night to talk about my recent columns on the FBI and national security profiling and my new book. Despite the show's basement ratings, we figure it's a good opportunity to reach out to a new audience. FOX News, with whom I have a contract, has generously allowed me to appear on some competing networks to talk about the book. Thursday was the second to the last day that I could make such appearances....

...........A CBS News poll out last night found Kerry has lost the 5-point lead he held last month, and the 2004 race is now a statistical tie with Kerry at 46 percent, Bush at 45 and Ralph Nader at 1. Kerry has lost support among independents, Catholics and, most dramatically, vets.

It never stops with the Kerry campaign. The spin, the vagueness, the insincerity, it never stops. If John Kerry isn’t voting for funding the troops before he is voting against it he’s protesting a war and claiming he and others committed atrocities and war crimes while later making all of his actions during the “illegal war” the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Now comes the impossible -to verify contention that John Kerry’s 1968 “mission” to Cambodia was so top, top secret that even the Pentagon wouldn’t dare keep paperwork on the “mission.” How stupid does the Kerry campaign think the...

There are so many inconsistencies about Kerry's war record I thought I'd try to list them all. What do we know About Kerry’s war exploits? We know the following: We know that, when drafted, he requested a deferment to continue studies in Paris. We know that when his deferment was refused, he was given the option to volunteer or be drafted, so he volunteered for the Navy (safest option). We know when he volunteered for swiftboat duty they were not assigned to the war zone. We know he only served 4 months 12 days, far shorter than any other officer...