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"During the Vietnam War," said former President Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, "many young men -- including the current president, the vice president and me -- could have gone to Vietnam but didn't. John Kerry came from a privileged background and could have avoided it too. Instead he said, 'Send me.' When they sent those swift-boats up the river in Vietnam, and told them their job was to draw hostile fire -- to show the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight -- John Kerry said, 'Send me.'" From the beginning, the Kerry campaign...

He was the one who made his long-ago stint in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign for president. He's the one whose running mate urges voters to take Kerry's measure by spending "three minutes with the men who served with him 30 years ago." He's the one whose campaign ads dwell on his combat heroics. He's the one who has repeatedly played the Vietnam card against critics and opponents. And he's the one who challenged anyone "who wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam to bring it on." So the Swifties brought it on. On April 22,...

How did we end up debating the Vietnam war again? The anger and bitterness heightened by the Swift boat veterans' accusations against Presidential candidate John Kerry and the Democratic reflex to then attack President Bush demonstrates that some wounds don't heal. So who pulled off the scab of this one? What is really making it bleed? And what does it have to do with the presidency? Well, who pulled off the scab is pretty simple. Go back to when the topic first came up. It amounted to a one-two punch aimed at President Bush by Democratic Party leaders and supporters....

WASHINGTON - The seemingly endless controversy over Sen. John F. Kerry's military record has forced him to focus on damage control as attack ads continue to chip away at one of his main appeals: his status as a war hero. ``If it wasn't doing damage, I don't think you would have seen the response from the Kerry campaign that you've seen,'' said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. ``Answering or rebutting ads gives credibility to the attack.'' Because Kerry has made his status as a war hero a large part of his presidential campaign, surrounding himself...

The people who keep track of these things expect 2004 to be the first billion-dollar election in American history. Yet the single most effective ad campaign of the election cycle has thus far cost only about $500,000: the campaign launched at the beginning of this month by the new anti-Kerry group, Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. Within less than a week, polls found that half of all registered voters had heard about the Swiftboat vets' advertisements. Close to half, 44%, of all independent voters surveyed say they find the ads "credible." In the two weeks since the ads first aired, Kerry's...

Why James Rassmann Is Honestly Mistaken About John Kerry Saving His Life by Grant K. Holcomb 24 August 2004 The Officers-in-Charge of Swift boats PCF-51, PCF-23, PCF-43, and PCF-3 state that they were not receiving enemy fire after the mine explosion. I do not doubt the sincerity of Mr. James A. Rassmann regarding his version of events on March 13, 1969. My own experience and review of such part of the record as is available convinces me that then First Lieutenant James A. Rassmann is right about then Lieutenant Junior Grade John F. Kerry helping him out of the water....

Pro-Bush vet rebuffed on letter to Kerry Crawford, TX, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland Wednesday rebuffed an effort by a pro-Bush veteran to give him a letter critical of presidential hopeful John Kerry. In a highly publicized photo-op, Cleland traveled to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, to deliver a letter from nine senators calling on the president to repudiate the activities of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has been running ads questioning Kerry's Vietnam War record. Cleland was met at the ranch by Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a Republican elected official and Vietnam...

A lawyer for President Bush who also has advised Swift Boat Veterans for Truth resigned today from Bush's campaign. Meanwhile, a lawyer who works for Democratic National Committee and the Bush-hating group MoveOn.org refused to quit either organization. "I cannot begin to express my sadness that my legal representations have become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election," Benjamin Ginsberg wrote in a resignation letter, which Bush's campaign released. "I feel I cannot let that continue, so I have decided to resign as national counsel to your campaign to ensure that the giving of legal advice...

Patrick Henry and George Mason knew what they were doing when they insisted that the Constitution must have citizens’ rights spelled out in black and white. They refused to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. For their stand, the other founders, who believed citizens should have only the barest participation in political affairs, vilified them. But Henry, Mason, and others knew the time would come when Big Government and all who enjoy the crumbs of power and money would try to shush those citizens who want to express opinions about the political process. That would include the right...

Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004 Many West Virginia voters turned off by anti-Kerry ads BY SUMANA CHATTERJEE Knight Ridder Newspapers CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - (KRT) - The controversial Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads appear to be resonating in the beer and bingo halls of this battleground state, but not as one might expect. Many people here, including Vietnam veterans who support President Bush, consider the attack ads distasteful. Instead of swaying voters, the ads appear to reinforce the political opinions of voters who'd already made up their minds and alienate those still undecided. "It makes me not want...

UPDATE: THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS TODAY CONFIRMED THE EXCLUSIVE BROKEN BY CRUSHKERRY.COM 3 WEEKS AGO. TODAY THEY CONFIRMED THE EXISTENCE OF THE "BROWN BOOK" DOSSIERS COMPILED BY DEMOCRATS CONTAINING DAMAGING PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SWIFT BOAT VETS IN ORDER TO SMEAR THEM. TODAY'S ARTICLE ALSO DEALS WITH THEIR RELEASING THE PSYCHIATRIC AND CRIMINAL RECORDS OF ONE SWIFT BOAT VET, AS WELL AS HIS SUICIDE ATTEMPT. THIS DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR WAS PREDICTED BY US WEEK AGO IN THE ARTICLE BELOW WHICH WE ARE RE-POSTING FOR REFERENCE. (PRIOR)UPDATE: The Prowler says the Kerry campaign says the media will not push the Swifties...

www.washingtontimes.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anti-Kerry book selling swiftly in D.C. area By Tim Lemke THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published August 25, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A new book questioning the service of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry as a boat captain in the Vietnam War is a swift seller. Bookstores in the Washington area report that demand for "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Captains Speak Out Against John Kerry" has been so strong that they are sold out of the book or are scrambling to order new shipments to keep copies on shelves. "I can tell you it's selling very briskly and usually sells...

Later this morning, Max Cleland and Jim Rasmann will arrive uninvited at President Bush's ranch in Crawford to hand deliver a letter signed by nine Democratic senators urging the President to 'recognize this blatant attempt at character assassination' and publicly condemn the swift boat ads.The letter was signed by Sens. Daniel Inouye, Tom Carper, Jon Corzine, Tom Harkin, Fritz Hollings, Frank Lautenberg, Jack Reed, Bill Nelson, and Jeff Bingaman.Camp Kerry, which alerted the media of their plans last night, concedes that Cleland and Rassman will 'likely be turned away' --something we're not sure the Bush/Cheney team would allow to pass.Sensing...

The honorable thing to do is to stay out of this fight and acknowledge that you have no personal knowledge of the events the Swiftvets described. Senator McCain, I begin this missive with an embrazo, as we call it here in Texas, for your service to our country, as a warrior, as a prisoner of war and as a United States Senator. You have served far better and endured far more in the service of America than most men will ever do. For that, this old sergeant salutes you. That said, as a Vietnam ground combat veteran, I must take...

I don't know if the 'talking points' have gone out, but the evidence is clear in abundance, the recent march in the media against the swiftboat vets for truth includes attempts to assess them as doing harm to the Bush campaign if they remain on the radar screen. The contention is that the voting public will grow wary of the message from these political “attack dogs”. This is an example of how the members of the media believe they can shape public opinion. As if some swirling beacon of hypnosis were employed, the marching orders have gone out, “Bush is...

Before Bill Clinton was impeached back in 1998, liberals everywhere focused almost exclusively on his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, saying it was nobody's business but his, and that America needed to just ''move on.'' After his impeachment, they turned their attentions to Kenneth Starr, the man who investigated Clinton, excoriating and slandering the good judge relentlessly for simply doing the job he was appointed to do... a job he did quite well and admirably, by the way. The one thing they didn't do at any time surrounding the impeachment scandal is concentrate on the single most important aspect of...

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 150 vets vs. 250 vets Posted: August 25, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Joseph Farah © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com John Kerry came to America's attention April 22, 1971, with an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in which he testified about the accusations of 150 Vietnam vets who claimed their country was engaged in fighting a genocidal war in Southeast Asia. Ironically, today, Kerry is trying to run away from the accusations of more than 250 Vietnam vets who say he is unfit to command – not only because of those reckless accusations in 1971, but because of his...

You know, we don't have to buy every detail of the charges flung at John Kerry's tender carcass by the swift boat sailors he accuses of smearing him. Look around. It wasn't some malicious GOP marketing firm that started this set-to over what Sen. Kerry did or didn't do in Vietnam. No, this thing began much earlier, and the lad responsible is John Kerry, who, concerning Vietnam, wants it both ways. He seeks to strut around as war hero without reference to events in his wartime past that some fellow citizens find, shall we say, unheroic. Nobody, presumably, twisted John's...

Unit's Report Supports Kerry's Version Wednesday August 25, 2004 6:46 AM AP Photo PALR103 By MATT KELLEY Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Navy task force overseeing John Kerry's swift boat squadron in Vietnam reported that his group of boats came under enemy fire during a March 13, 1969, incident that three decades later is being challenged by the Democratic presidential nominee's critics. The March 18, 1969, weekly report from Task Force 115, which was located by The Associated Press during a search of Navy archives, is the latest document to surface that supports Kerry's description of an event...