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Posted on 08/04/2004 11:02:41 PM PDT by Pikamax
August 5, 2004 Vietnam Veterans Buy Ads to Attack Kerry By JODI WILGOREN
group of Vietnam veterans has bought television time in three swing states for an advertisement that attacks Senator John Kerry, accusing him of lying about his war record, including the circumstances surrounding his medals, and betraying his comrades by later opposing the war.
"When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry," one of the veterans, Larry Thurlow, says in the 60-second advertisement, scheduled to begin running today in scattered markets in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Robert G. Elder, like Mr. Kerry a Navy lieutenant who commanded a Swift boat, declares, "John Kerry is no war hero," and Robert Hildreth, who held a similar post, intones, "John Kerry cannot be trusted."
The Kerry campaign immediately denounced the group, noting that none of the men had actually served on the Swift boats that Mr. Kerry commanded, like Gene Thorson, who told reporters, "These assertions are garbage; these people weren't there with John Kerry."
The advertisement, which layers snippets from recent interviews with a dozen veterans over familiar black-and-white photographs of Mr. Kerry and his men in uniform, is the latest tactic of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a 200-member group that held a news conference in Washington this spring to make similar accusations. It is one of several independent groups, known as 527's for the provision in the tax code that enables their operation, to run attack advertisements this season.
Tax documents show that from April to June, the group collected $158,750 from 11 people, $100,000 of it from Bob J. Perry, a Houston developer who is a major contributor to Republican campaigns.
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said he had not seen the advertisement and tried to distance the president from it.
"The Bush-Cheney campaign has never and will never question John Kerry's service during Vietnam," Mr. Schmidt said. "The election will not be about the past, it will be about the future."
Mr. Kerry's aides circulated an 18-page packet discrediting the veterans group and linking its backers to Republicans, noting that a public-relations consultant the group paid $27,000 this spring, Merrie Spaeth, was also involved in a advertising campaign attacking Senator John McCain during his tough race against Mr. Bush in the 2000 primary in South Carolina. The Kerry campaign also convened a conference call in which two of Mr. Kerry's crewmates, and a man he pulled from the Mekong River, defended his service.
"The fact is, John Kerry risked his life to save the lives of others,'' said Chad Clanton, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign.
Adm. Roy F. Hoffman, who is retired and who says in the advertisement, "John Kerry has not been honest," acknowledged that the men in the advertisement did not serve on Mr. Kerry's boat, but he said their time in parallel boats on coordinated missions, or as Mr. Kerry's superiors, made them valid commentators on his record. The group provided station managers with a 13-page memorandum, backed up by more than 60 pages of sworn statements, book excerpts and military records.
"We were on the same operations, we were operating within 25-50 yards of him all the time, and for them to suggest we don't know John Kerry is pure old bull," Mr. Hoffman said. "He has made this the centerpiece of this campaign, and we just don't think he's qualified to be the commander in chief of the armed forces. We have every right to be heard."
Produced by Stevens, Reed, Curcio & Potham, a Republican firm based in Alexandria, Va., the advertisement tees off with Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, saying that the best way to understand Mr. Kerry is to "spend three minutes with the men who served with him." Then the anti-Kerry veterans speak one by one:
"John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star," says one, Van O'Dell. "I know. I was there. I saw what happened."
Another, Jack Chenoweth, says, "His account of what happened and what actually happened are the difference between night and day." Adrian L. Lonsdale, one of Mr. Kerry's superiors in Vietnam, says Mr. Kerry "lacks the capacity to lead," Shelton White, a Swift boat commander, says he "betrayed the men and women he served with in Vietnam," and Joseph L. Ponder adds, "He dishonored his country, he most certainly did."
A doctor, Louis Letson, repeats accusations he made in newspaper interviews this spring that Mr. Kerry did not deserve his first Purple Heart because his wounds resulted from a ricochet off friendly fire, saying in the advertisement, "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury." The Kerry campaign pointed out yesterday, as it had previously, that another doctor, J. C. Carreon, signed Mr. Kerry's treatment record.
Mr. Hoffman said the group was spending $500,000 to run the advertisement but would not say how long it would be on the air; a Kerry aide said the buy was far smaller, $156,000 in seven smallish markets like Green Bay, Wis., and Toledo, Ohio, suggesting it was a "vanity buy'' intended to attract news coverage.
for lurkers/posters
The time is approx. 11PM Pac Time.
John Ziegler will be discussing THE commercial sometime between now and the end of
tonight's show (at 1AM PAC Time).
(Fair Warning, he's now discussing all the Kobe trial crap; he may be on the Petersen case at 11PM...
so THE commercial may not get discussed until the 3rd/last hour of the show, starting just
after midnight PAC Time.)
Ziegler can be heard on KFI 640AM in the Los Angeles Area and over the internet at
http://www.kfi640.com
Ziegler should give THE commercial a fair discussion. He is a fair commentator and
goes after "red meat" no matter the source.
What a wuss.
My grandson can salute better than that.
My DOG can salute better than that!
Heck, my daughter's stupid WIENER DOG can salute better than that!
He's a wuss.
Good night now.
---The Kerry campaign immediately denounced the group, noting that none of the men had actually served on the Swift boats that Mr. Kerry commanded, like Gene Thorson, who told reporters, "These assertions are garbage; these people weren't there with John Kerry."---
They're lying again! Unbelievable! They'll never get away with this!
Thank God Kerry was never a cop or a fireman for four months, otherwise we`d be hearing "I was a cop, I was a fireman" 24 hours a day as well. Excuse me Monseir Kerry, but 4 months doesn`t even qualify you as off probation. This greenie has the gall to come back and testify like he`s some type of expert "They cut off ears, cut off heads, cut off limbs.." What a POS.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1185197/posts
Here. Now. WE have the truth on our side...and we WILL win this thing. I don't care HOW MANY lies they tell...we can DO THIS!!!!!!
I have not seen any of this on TV on the west coast.
If someone really wanted to put a can on his tail they ought to ask him what Charley smelled like.
Then why is Kerry using a picture with them all in it for HIS ADS???
Number one, the ad was just realeased this afternoon.
Two, it's only supposed to run in limited target areas.
Three, we can change that, I believe, with donations to the cause at:
http://www.swiftvets.com
View the ad here... http://www.swiftvets.com/
Contribute here to help get the ad spread through battleground states!
https://coral.he.net/~swiftvet/swift/ccdonation.php?op=donate&site=SwiftVets
Only one officer per swift boat. But they served with him. Several boats were within yards of one another when he pulled that guy out of the water and put in for a bronze star. Apparently what happened was he high-tailed it out of range of enemy fire while other boats remained to do combat--then Kerry came back when the action subsided and beat another boat to a guy in the water. He just pulled him into the boat, that was it. He put in for his own bronze star, lying about the incident.
"Attack"? Why not "Oppose" or "Counter"? Sounds pretty biased right off the bat. I haven't heard of any rabid, gore-like or dean-like rants by any of these vets.
Why do they feel they are under "attack," anyway? Are they frightened little rabb--oh! Never mind!
They used the photograph of John Kerry and the 23 other swift boat Captains, that John Kerry has used. And they highlight many of the speaking Vets so you can see they were in the photo.
The New York Times seems to be in such a rush to descredit the Swift Boat Vetrens, they just assume facts along the way.
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