Free Republic

I was just passing through the room a couple of nights ago, and Fox News was on, and there was Lannie Davis, literally screaming ad hominems against John O'Neill, the principal author of Unfit for Command - Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. And I thought, "Wow, that book must really have them." It was in October 2002 when a former top government official with close contacts at the highest levels of the Democratic Party first suggested to me that Democrat leaders were thinking John Kerry might be their ideal 2004 candidate, specifically because of his war record....

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=231 Writen: August 6, 2004 Modified: August 15, 2004 Sources: Michael Kranish,“Veteran Retracts Criticism of Kerry ,” The Boston Globe, 6 August 2004 . Jodi Wilgoren, "Vietnam Veterans Buy Ads to Attack Kerry," The New York Times, 5 August 2004. Douglas Brinkley, Tour of Duty, (NY, HarperCollins, 2004). Jim Rassmann, "Shame on the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush," Wall Street Journal, 10 Aug 2004: A10. Ron Fournier, "McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad," Associated Press, 5 August 2004. Michael Kranish, "Kerry Faces Questions Over Purple Heart," The Boston Globe , 14 April 2004: A1. Michael Kranish, "Heroism, and growing concern about war,"...

On right now!

MoveOn.org's political action committee has released a new TV ad condemning the ad now being aired by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The script of the MoveOn spot is as follows: OPEN ON THE YOUNG GEORGE BUSH IN NATIONAL GUARD UNIFORM. ANNOUNCER: George Bush used his father to get into the National Guard, and... CUT TO BUSH'S NATIONAL GUARD MEDICAL FORM BEING STAMPED WITH "FAILURE TO APPEAR". ANNOUNCER: ...when the chips were down, went missing. CUT TO SHOT OF TV SHOWING "SWIFT BOAT" SPOT, THEN WORDS APPEAR ACROSS SCREEN, "FALSE ADVERTISING". AUDIO ANNOUNCER: Now, he's allowing false...

    http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200408160842.asp     Byron York todayFor his part, Kerry has sometimes left the impression that he was present when Alston was wounded. Paying tribute to Alston's service during a speech before a South Carolina veterans' group in May 2002, Kerry said, according to an account in The New Republic, "He [Alston] sat up in a turret above my head in the pilot house — firing twin fifty-calibers to suppress enemy fire from ambushes. We were extremely exposed — always shot at first.... On one occasion in an ambush his turret was riddled with almost one hundred bullets penetrating the...

John Kerry volunteered for service in Vietnam. John Kerry was wounded in Vietnam. And a number of the men with whom John Kerry served testify to acts of courage on his part. This much seems beyond question, and I see no reason to weigh in on the factual disputes surrounding Mr. Kerry's medals being waged by pro-Kerry vets like Jim Rassmann and the anti-Kerry vets of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Both sides strike me as sincere, but eyewitness accounts of fast-moving and stressful situations like combat are too unreliable for there to be much hope of getting at the...

Freep this poll

The swiftvets cannot let RAThack Donna Brazille get away with this incredible lie this morning on FOX News with Chris Wallace. Mary Matalin and Brazille were debating the controversy, when Brazille actually said the following -- "These are hired guns who went after John McCain." The Swiftvets had nothing to do with John McCain. Brazille must be forced to retract this statement that she knows is false.

A repeat of ABC's June 30, 1971, "The Dick Cavett Show." This show featured a debate between John Kerry and John O'Neill on U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Both men served in the Navy and commanded swift boats in Vietnam. After returning from the war, John Kerry served as spokesman for an organization called "Vietnam Veterans Against the War." John O'Neill supported the U.S. policy toward Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.

On June 24th of this year, ABC ran a story on the action that gained John Kerry a Silver Star. ABC's Jake Tapper spoke at length with Kerry's crew members, including David Alston, who is quoted at length in the narrative. Alston makes it clear that he participated in this action, which took place on February 28th, 1969: Since Kerry will not talk about the day he killed a man, four of Kerry's crewmates from the Navy Swift boat he commanded sat down with Nightline to try to explain what happened, though not one was eager to revisit the events...

Do you think that the White House should condemn the anti-Kerry ad that Sen. John McCain calls dishonest and dishonorable? Go HERE to take the poll.

For those of you who have not been fully following the Swift Vet's story, one of Kerry's traveling entourage (David Alston) claimed he was under Kerry's command on a PBF and found Kerry to be a great leader. He even gave a speech to that effect at the Democratic National Convention, where he said the following: I know him from a small boat in Vietnam, where we fought and bled together, serving our country. There were six of us aboard PCF-94, a 50-foot, twin-engine craft known as a "Swift Boat." We all came from different walks of life, but all...

Saturday, August 14, 2004 Vets' evidence against Kerry ironclad Posted: August 14, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Henry Lamb © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com John McCain dishonored himself when he appeared with John Kerry to denounce the statements of the Vietnam veterans who say John Kerry is unfit to be commander in chief. McCain obviously spoke before he knew the facts. The Kerry campaign and much of the media went ballistic when a television ad featuring several veterans who oppose Kerry's candidacy was aired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Kerry campaign immediately launched a campaign to get TV stations to bar the ad,...

When presidential candidate John Kerry virtually ignores 20 years in the U.S. Senate to make four months in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign, the men who served with him have a right to a fair hearing. The Kerry campaign and much of the mainstream media have been dismissive of the swift-boat veterans who oppose his candidacy. Even before exploring the substance of their charges, the group is dismissed as right-wing financed Bush puppets. The truth is, however, that while swift-boat veterans opposing Kerry undoubtedly have a political agenda -- they think him "Unfit for Command" of the armed forces,...

To the editor: Benedict Arnold of Connecticut was an American patriot and a hero at Saratoga early in the American Revolution. However, this fact was cancelled when he became a traitor later in the war. I served three tours in Vietnam and commanded a recon platoon and three infantry rifle companies. In 1971, I was wounded for a seventh time. In 1971, John Kerry was working with Jane Fonda aiding the enemy that we were fighting. They were burning American flags and carrying pictures of Ho Chi Minh and communist flags. The next year, propaganda posters could be found all...

A week ago, a local commentator wrote a rabid attack against the SwiftVets. It was the subject of a thread at the time, this is the URL I pointed to in the headder - Warning, BARF Alert. Imagine my surprise when I tuned into his television show tonight and heard him saying, (paraphrasing now), that he wasn't sure what to belive anymore about Kerry's Vietnam exploits. Did you know Kerry was in Vietnam by the way?. Dick Feagler, the author of the editorial did serve in the military - I think he was a Marine in WWII and has had...

It happened the first time over 30 years ago. John Kerry and his gang trashed fellow soldiers after Kerry left his comrades early to pursue his own agenda. They were called baby killers. They were called mass murderers. Some of those testifying before Congress were not whom they purported to be. Thirty years later, Kerry & Gang are trashing brave men again. This time it is the comrades who served alongside him. Carville, Lanny Davis and others are figuratively spitting on them again and are calling them liars. John Kerry never paid for selling out his country and his comrades....

"Sen. John McCain called their ads "dishonorable and dishonest." Do you believe the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's assertions about Kerry's war record?"

For those who missed the first edition ... O'Neill up NOW!

Since O'Neill will be the guest, I'm sure it will be "hardball". However, after what he encountered on Crossfire with Carvile (sic) & Leapin' Lanny Davis, this'll probably feel like a walk in the park...