Free Republic

Democrats haven't been this upset about an American engaging in free speech since Juanita Broaddrick opened her yap. Two hundred fifty-four Swift Boat Veterans have signed a letter saying John Kerry is not fit to be commander in chief, a point developed in some detail in the blockbuster new book by John O'Neill, aptly titled Unfit for Command. At the 2003 reunion of Swift Boat Veterans, about 300 men showed up: 85 percent of them think Kerry is unfit to be president. (On the bright side, Kerry was voted, in absentia, "Most Likely to Run for President on His Phony...

This political season the criticisms of George W. Bush and the accolades afforded John Kerry are well known. One was criticized for his military service. The other was a wounded war hero. One was called a scourge and a misfortune. The other was called a genius. One was called dull. The other was called charming. However, these contrasting examples of remarks are about Bush and Kerry – they describe George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Washington was called a scourge and misfortune by one newspaper near the end of term in office – just as Bush is similarly characterized by many...

If anyone has any doubts about John Kerry's record, just watch the ad by clicking the link at the top of the page: http://markbureau.p-kabu.com If you haven't read the article, read it. It is a good read. Pass it to as many people as you can. Mark Bureau http://markbureau.p-kabu.com

Allegations that presidential hopeful John Kerry embellished if not outright lied about his behavior in Vietnam to gain Purple Hearts and awards for bravery in just four months are afloat like something rude in a punch bowl. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, including all but a handful of Kerry's former comrades from Coastal Division 11, assert Kerry lied to gain those some of those medals and is unfit to be commander in chief of U.S. military forces. As a 527 organization, named for the section of the IRS code that governs such groups, they're making that point in a television...

THE TELEVISION ad that aroused the wrath of John McCain and journalist supporters of John Kerry just begins deconstruction of the Democratic Presidential candidate’s war record. “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry,” a 214-page critique of his performance in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, is off the presses ahead of schedule. I have read the book and found it is neither the political propaganda nor the urban legend that its detractors claim. It is a passionate but meticulously researched account of how Kerry went to war, what he did in the war and how he...

"On more than one occasion, I like Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now," took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real.John Kerry “Apocalypse Now" on Oct 14, 1979 in the Boston Herald. The Kerry Campaign has now admitted that this was a fabrication. This is far from a...

Help John Kerry do a ‘180’! It’s hard to believe that flip-flopper John Kerry would have trouble doing a “180” on any important issue, but he’s really struggling with this one. Here’s John Kerry’s problem: John Kerry’s fellow Vietnam Navy swift boat veterans say he is lying about his Vietnam experiences. They say Kerry’s lies got him enough purple heart medals to get him a quick trip home from Vietnam. How do they know John is lying? Because they were there -- at the very scenes John is lying about. Kamp Kerry and the DNC say Kerry’s fellow Vietnam...

Does anyone remember the “character” issue that surrounded Bill Clinton when he made his first run at the presidency back in 1992? When his legendary hijinks in Arkansas started appearing on the nation’s radar screens, and people began to realize that Clinton’s lips and the truth were usually strangers? The list of pre-White House scandals was impressive — Whitewater, Troopergate, Gennifer Flowers, the Mena airport coke smuggling, the draft-dodging, antiwar demonstrations while a Rhodes scholar, etc. — and all threatened to derail his candidacy. The character issue had been raised and needed to be addressed. With his army of war...

Amidst the partisan rancor generated by the publication of "Unfit For Command", a curious thought passed through my mind upon reviewing the book's version of the basis for Kerry's Purple Hearts. First, it is important to understand that a Purple Heart is the military's way of recognizing a wound suffered in combat. It has nothing to do with heroism. While one could argue that those receiving purple hearts are heroes simply by virtue of being in harms way and suffering the consequences, there are numerous other awards that recognize selfless actions that save lives or turn the tide of battle....

Unlike the multimillion-dollar Bush-hating 527 groups funded by the likes of George Soros, the modestly budgeted Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has an ad running in only three states. But the Democrat establishment's attempts to censor the veterans has created enough publicity to hurt Sen. John Kerry's candidacy. A new survey of 1,000 voters in 19 battleground states shows that nearly six in 10 had heard of the commercial. Among those, about half said the ad so far hadn't influenced their vote. Nineteen percent said it made them more likely to vote for Kerry, and 27 percent said it made...

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And piece of souvenir grenade shrapnel. Three times John counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. “Kerry” read the simple tag on his khaki shirt, with insignia showing he was a Lieutentant, JG. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and he had only $1.87 with which to buy ‘Agent X’ a present. He had been saving every penny he could for three months, with this result. One hundred dollars a week plus combat pay doesn't go far, even in Vietnam, even in 1968. Expenses had...

I know many conservatives like Sean Hannity and (I think) Rich Lowry like Lanny Davis personally. But why did this guy get a reputation as a great spin doctor, a master of damage control? I can’t remember one situation where his combination of attacking the credibility of his opponents, semantics, goal-post moving and issue-changing has actually helped the political figure using him as a spokesman. On MSNBC's “Joe Scarborough” last night, with Pat Buchanan guest hosting, Davis was trotted out to refute the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. Almost the entire interview consists of Davis insisting that because the Swift...

NEW YORK -- Winston Churchill often repeated Stalin's observation that "in wartime truth is so precious that she should always be attended to by a bodyguard of lies." And now that the Democratic National Convention has ended with Kerry's acceptance speech concentrating on his four-month service in the Vietnam War 35 years ago, rather than his service during the past 35 years, it appears particularly appropriate. One of the pesky IRS Code 527 organizations that now buzz through the campaign atmosphere like insatiable horseflies in the aftermath of McCain-Finegold reforms has had the presumption to raise some serious questions about...

  Call sign: Boston strangler [Editor's note: Now that John Kerry's Swift Boat service has become a major political issue (albeit still ignored in the Bigfoot media), The American Thinker is pleased to feature military historian John B. Dwyer's path-breaking expose scooping the national media, published on this site on May 13th, 2004] Thomas Wright was one of John F. Kerry's fellow Swift boat officers in Vietnam.  Since Wright outranked Kerry, he was Kerry's sometime boat group Officer-in-Charge, so Wright had occasion to observe Kerry’s behavior and attitudes, and the circumstances surrounding his early departure from the war zone. The intervening...

KERRY! O'NEILL! DICK CAVETT! THE RUMBLE STARTS SUNDAY! [08/12 02:01 PM] C-SPAN has announced it will show "The Dick Cavett Show" with the Kerry and O'Neill debate this Sunday, 8/15, at 6 p.m. EST.

Thursday, August 12, 2004 Kerry camp: Candidate 'inaccurate' on Cambodia Says senator mistakenly thought it was Christmas trip when he crossed border Posted: August 12, 2004 3:45 p.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Days after charges were first made public, John Kerry's campaign is beginning to respond to allegations the senator has lied for decades about being in Cambodia for Christmas in 1968, saying he was at or near the border but not actually in the country for the holiday. As WorldNetDaily reported, the authors of the best-selling book "Unfit for Command," which refutes many of Kerry's war stories, claim that...

Thirty-five years ago when his swift boat on patrol in Vietnam was under heavy fire from the shore, John Kerry turned his craft right into the fire, beached the boat, chased down the enemy, and killed him. Now, Kerry ... is under a different kind of attack. ... (A) group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) has taken to the airwaves in three battleground states with an ad claiming that Kerry lied to get his first Purple Heart and his Bronze Star." snip Now, any political consultant worth his retainer would say that for any candidate--much less a...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Fact and fictionBy Andrew AntippasPublished August 13, 2004 I was startled to read the Aug. 10 issue of the editorial page of The Washington Times concerning the assertion attributed to Sen. John Kerry that he had spent Christmas 1968 aboard his swift boat some five miles inside Cambodia and had been shot at by our Vietnamese allies, as well as the Khmer Rouge.     I would like to offer some insights and some background about the subject of Cambodia as it related to the U.S. war effort in Vietnam in that period. I served as a Foreign Service...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - President Bush (news - web sites) is refusing to condemn an ad that criticizes rival John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Vietnam war record, even though the president's campaign partner this week, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), urged the White House to do so. "I haven't seen the ad, but what I do condemn is these regulated, soft-money expenditures" by outside groups that have filled the airwaves with attacks on both candidates, the president said Thursday night on CNN's "Larry King Live." In a wide-ranging interview that included a discussion of the war in...