Free Republic

Columbus swift boat vet angry about letter By LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette Staff COLUMBUS - Swift boat veteran Bob Anderson of Columbus is ticked. It bothers him that Sen. John Kerry's swift boat history has become such a political hot potato. But he's even more irritated that his name was included - without his permission - on a letter used to discredit Kerry. "I'm pretty nonpolitical," the 56-year-old Anderson said Tuesday. So, when he found out last week that his name was one of about 300 signed on a letter questioning Kerry's service, he was "flabbergasted." "It's kind of...

LET'S SEE WHERE WE STAND. Over the last few weeks, in television ads and a book titled Unfit for Command, a group of Vietnam veterans called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has accused a fellow Vietnam veteran, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, of inflating his service record, among other things. They've said Kerry committed war crimes, including killing defenseless civilians, and they've said Kerry didn't truly deserve the three Purple Hearts, one Silver Star, and one Bronze Star he received for his service in Vietnam. They've said there is no proof that Kerry was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968,...

Major Garrett just reported on Fox News that Former Senator Bob Kerry's response to questions regarding allegations against Senator John Kerry, Bob Kerry said "*uck them!" and Bob Kerry said "and you can quote me on that!"

Bob Kerrey said Fox News could quote him. So they did.

The Swift Boat veterans have made Sen. Kerry a fair and reasonable offer. Anybody charging that their goal is merely to “smear” him, rather than to correct the false and vicious history he created, must be brought up short by this letter. I myself have criticized the Swifties for their occasional excessive vehemence, as when John O’Neill on a tv program kept repeating that Kerry had “shot a kid in the back,” as if to suggest that Kerry had done something wrong when he killed that VC, rather than something that merely was not deserving of a Silver Star. But...

Think you're getting unbiased, balanced coverage of politics? Or is there a double standard in the way the media treat Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives? My recent visit to the center of a media storm suggests there is. Consider this: A $500,000 ad buy made by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth brings searing media scrutiny and "proof" of illegal coordination based on a lawyer (me) representing both the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans; on an accountant working for Tom DeLay's political action committee; and on a $200,000 contributor to the group who is not a major donor...

NASHVILLE — A full-page advertisement attacking John Kerry's post-Vietnam anti-war activism appeared in The Tennessean on Tuesday, the day President Bush spoke to the American Legion national convention and a day before Kerry was scheduled to speak. The ad by Dexter Lehtinen, a Vietnam veteran with Republican ties, accuses Kerry of "bearing false witness against me and a generation of young Americans who fought and died in Vietnam .... " The ad was denounced by Bob Tuke, who coordinates the Tennessee branch of Veterans for Kerry. Lehtinen, a former Republican appointee as U.S. Attorney in Miami, is married to U.S....

Wednesday, September 01, 2004 — Time: 8:03:41 AM EST Vietnam vet saved by Kerry coming to town By JESS MANCINI PARKERSBURG - A Vietnam veteran saved by presidential candidate John Kerry will be joined Thursday in Parkersburg with a Medal of Honor recipient from West Virginia. Jim Rassman, a Green Beret lieutenant in 1969, will be at the War Memorial at 10 a.m. at City Park in Parkersburg, not Veterans Park as stated Tuesday morning by the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Rassman is spending two days in West Virginia on behalf of Kerry, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, as part of...

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 MISSION: IMPLAUSIBLESwiftvets to Kerry: Apologize, tell truth and we'll quitLetter sees American Legion convention speech as chance to come clean Posted: September 1, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Swiftboat Veterans for Truth sent a letter to John Kerry yesterday promising to call off its media campaign if the senator apologizes for his conduct after returning from Vietnam and resolves questions about his war record. The letter notes Kerry is scheduled to speak today at the American Legion convention in Nashville. The presidential candidate reportedly will address the challenges to his Vietnam service and anger among veterans about...

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 Branded by the left Posted: September 1, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Hugh Hewitt © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The attempt by John Kerry and his allies in Big Media to assign responsibility for the Swift Boat vets' ads to President Bush and Karl Rove ignores a crucial and obvious fact: If George Bush was not the candidate – if Kerry had won the Democratic nomination in 2008 and was facing off against, say Mitt Romney – these ads would have run then in substantially the same form. The ads are anti-Kerry, motivated by an intense anger at Kerry rooted...

Kerry: Swift Boat Vets for Bush Ad Fact Check - 'Medals' To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004 WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a release of Kerry-Edwards 2004: "Let's take this garbage off the air. Let's get on to address the future of the American people and all that rests on this country. All George Bush has to offer is fear and smear," said former Georgia Senator Max Cleland. FACT CHECK AD TITLE: "Medals" DATE: 8/30/04 PAID FOR BY: Bob Perry, Harlan Crow and Other Texas Friends of...

The voters should check out who the Communist Party USA is not endorsing for President. Hint: it's not Sen. Kerry. (Website: www.cpusa.org.) The Communist Party's arguments are very similar to the propaganda of MoveOn.org, other front groups and the Democratic Party itself. On the Swift Boat Vets controversy, sure the vets have the right, yes, the duty, to speak out. The catch is the Senator’s military service, although controversial, contains his only positives in public service. His entire career post-Navy is negative. That's what should be targeted; there's simply no argument. The Swift Boat Vets for Truth are being attacked...

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth P.O. Box 26184 Alexandria, Virginia 22313 August 31, 2004 Senator John Kerry 901 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Dear Senator Kerry: As you prepare for your address before the American Legion in Nashville, Tennessee, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth encourages you to use this opportunity to clarify your actions in Vietnam and your statements about your fellow Veterans and shipmates when you returned home. Since you have made your four-month tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of your campaign, we respectfully insist that you be truthful. The public is owed a full and honest accounting...

Kerry: Swift Boat Vets for Bush Ad Fact Check - 'Medals'8/31/2004 3:12:00 PM To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a release of Kerry-Edwards 2004:"Let's take this garbage off the air. Let's get on to address the future of the American people and all that rests on this country. All George Bush has to offer is fear and smear," said former Georgia Senator Max Cleland.FACT CHECKAD TITLE: "Medals"DATE: 8/30/04PAID FOR BY: Bob Perry, Harlan Crow and Other Texas Friends of GeorgeBush, Karl Rove &...

The first time I heard the words "John Kerry" and "president" at the same time was the spring of 1971. John Forbes Kerry, 27 years old, a Yalie, a Navy vet wearing battle ribbons on a rumpled Army fatigue shirt, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he could not support the war in which he and other veterans had risked their lives and killed Vietnamese. "Thirty years from now," he told a rapt audience, "when our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie addressed the GOP Summer Meeting Thursday to set the stage for the convention that starts Monday. He said the week-long extravaganza in New York City's Madison Square Garden would focus on "the proud history of our Party, the strong record of our President and his positive agenda for our future." Only 68 days remain until Americans head to the polls in what most political experts believe one of the closest presidential elections ever. Gillespie was upbeat, buoyed by a new poll of likely voters that showed President Bush taking the...

Fulda, Minn.: Your investigation is being cited by the Kerry campaign and its supporters as an umambiguous refutation of the claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans. Do you agree with that position? Michael Dobbs: I assume you are talking about the earlier articles I wrote, not the one I wrote this weekend about Kerry's post-war record. In my previous reporting, I focused on one particular incident, on March 13, 1969, as a result of which Kerry won a Bronze Star. I feel that my reporting refutes some claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but not all. I...

He said he might be able to talk about it later? Any idea. Is this the POW family ad?

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/mccullough/2004/mccullough083004.htm Swift Boat Veterans Expose Something New August 30, 2004 by Kevin McCullough Something struck me today that jolted my thinking on the whole Swift Boat Veterans issue. As I was reading the reports of John Kerry sending campaign staff to Crawford to ask President Bush to denounce the ads put out by 527 something just smacked me in the face. Over most of the campaign year John Kerry has not faced much adversity. From the media pre-ordaining him as "the" candidate earlier in the year, to his sudden and swift winning of the nomination, to his further coronation experience...