Posted on 08/06/2004 8:06:14 PM PDT by kristinn
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - A commercial by a group of veterans accusing Senator John Kerry of exaggerating his decorated Vietnam War record was strongly challenged Friday by Democrats as new questions arose about the claims of one of the men calling Mr. Kerry a liar in the advertisement.
The Boston Globe quoted the man, Lt. Cmdr. George Elliott, retired, who as Mr. Kerry's commander in Vietnam had recommended him for a Silver Star, as recanting a recent sworn statement that he did not believe Mr. Kerry deserved the decoration because of allegations that he earned it by shooting a fleeing, wounded Viet Cong in the back.
The advertisement's sponsors, an anti-Kerry group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, later said the newspaper misquoted Commander Elliott and released another affidavit from him, in which he stood by his initial charge.
The Boston Globe denied misquoting him. A woman answering the phone at the Elliott home in Delaware said he would not answer questions about the dispute and referred a reporter to the anti-Kerry group.
The Swift boat group provided the initial affidavit to reporters this week when they released the spot, in which Commander Elliott says, "John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam."
He is one of several veterans featured in the spot who call Mr. Kerry a liar and claim to have served in boats near the one that Mr. Kerry commanded in the Mekong Delta.
"I still don't think he shot the guy in the back," The Globe quoted CommanderElliott as saying. "It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words." The paper also quoted him as saying he did so out of haste because the group, which is also behind a new book questioning Mr. Kerry's record that is set for release next week, was eager to have his statement in hand.
Commander Elliott had already shown some inconsistency concerning Mr. Kerry's record, especially regarding Mr. Kerry's storied encounter with the Viet Cong, who was armed with a rocket launcher.
When charges surfaced during Mr. Kerry's 1996 senatorial re-election campaign that he had shot the Viet Cong in the back as the man was wounded and fleeing, Commander Elliott spoke in Mr. Kerry's defense, telling reporters, "The fact that he chased an armed enemy down is something not to be looked down upon, but it was an act of courage."
Lawyers for Mr. Kerry's campaign and the Democratic Party used the inconsistencies to convince another television station, WTVG in Toledo, Ohio, not to run the spot on Friday. But the station reversed itself later in the day when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released another affidavit from Commander Elliott attacking the article and affirming his earlier statement. The Globe found itself further embroiled in the fight when the online Drudge Report posted an article contending that the reporter who wrote the piece about Commander Elliott, Michael Kranish, had been "Commissioned to Write Official Campaign Book Foreword - While Covering Kerry."
But Public Affairs, publisher of Mr. Kerry's campaign book, said Mr. Kranish had been retained to write the foreword for a different book, and that when it struck a deal to publish the campaign's platform, it dropped plans to publish that book.
Martin Baron, editor of The Boston Globe, backed up that version of events in a statement and also stood by the quotes from Commander Elliott in his paper. "The quotes attributed to Mr. Elliott were on the record and absolutely accurate," he said.
All the charges and counter-charges only served to give more attention to the advertisement, which is running in three swing states, West Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Even as they kept their distance from the furor, Republicans gloated, saying that by responding so forcefully to the advertisement, the Kerry campaign and Democratic Party were only drawing more attention to questions about one of Mr. Kerry's greatest strengths as a candidate.
"They're crazy for making a big deal of it, everybody was ignoring it,'' said one Republican close to President Bush's campaign.
Democrats said that the spot would only serve to anger voters for attacking a decorated veteran's war record, and that the anger would eventually be directed at Mr. Bush.
The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.
What Republicans gloated.
BS.
What a cheap way to try to link Republicans to this.
this is a bipartisan effort.
grrrr.
I'm getting fired up.
Well, hell has frozen over. I actually found this NYT's article somewhat balanced. Go figure.
Just a rehash of today's events with a veneer of spin to cover over the Boston Globe's lies.
NY Times doesn't mention the Boston Globe writer. Could it be that the writer is working on Kerry's book?
Shocker.. the Slimes lies...
If you are going to talk about the connection between a financeer and Rove, why don't you also talk about MOREON.ORG and Soros and their connection to the Kerry campaign.
I'd expect nothing less from the DNC's paper of record that "Prints all the News the DNC tells it to print."
The reporter is mentioned toward the end of the article.
All these "experts" know about this is what they catch on cable, a few newspapers, and talking points.
Wait until the book comes out...
type in this url: www.swiftboatvets.com
That domain was setup in May of this year. They planned to misdirect legitimate net traffic to a location designed to cloud the story. The media is only too happy to help the far left.
>>The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.<<
Is that a whole $100,000? George Soros and Moveon.org eat your heart out!
Jeesh.
DK
Prayers up for these brave vets. They're going to need all the spiritual support we can give them.
Frankly, I don't think anybody at the NYT can think in such a complex manner anymore. That's what happens when management fails to demand drug tests.
I see it now. I just assumed coming from the NY Times it was the case. I should never assume anything before completing the article.
I'm going to post this again. Perry is no rabid right-winger, to say the least:
| NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE | |||
| 05/14/2002 | 250.00 | 22020361533 | |
| 07/23/2002 | 200.00 | 22020601930 | |
| 09/03/2002 | 500.00 | 22020771220 | |
| 09/10/2002 | 250.00 | 22020771220 | |
| 10/25/2002 | 250.00 | 22020911544 | |
| 11/26/2002 | 250.00 | 23020042491 | |
| 01/10/2003 | 480.00 | 23020112507 | |
| 02/03/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020140791 | |
| 03/07/2003 | 250.00 | 23020180362 | |
| 04/25/2003 | 200.00 | 23020221159 | |
| 05/07/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020242133 | |
| 05/27/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020242134 | |
| 06/06/2003 | 250.00 | 23020323444 | |
| 06/09/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 06/27/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 06/27/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 07/22/2003 | 500.00 | 23020342851 | |
| 07/29/2003 | 500.00 | 23020342852 | |
| 08/25/2003 | 500.00 | 23020360555 | |
| 04/14/2004 | 1000.00 | 24020342176 | |
| CORNYN, JOHN VIA TEXANS FOR SENATOR JOHN CORNYN INC |
|||
| 09/20/2002 | 250.00 | 22020672170 | |
| 04/08/2003 | 250.00 | 23020260285 | |
| NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE | |||
| 09/24/2001 | 240.00 | 21020222087 | |
| 12/24/2001 | 240.00 | 22020061871 | |
| 02/20/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020163112 | |
| 03/13/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020272178 | |
| 04/03/2002 | 300.00 | 22020311551 | |
| 06/28/2002 | 250.00 | 22020512401 | |
| 10/03/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020830509 | |
| SPECTER, ARLEN VIA CITIZENS FOR ARLEN SPECTER |
|||
| 09/30/2003 | 2000.00 | 23020383293 | |
The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.
Let's talk about move-on.org ads and George Soros, shall we? These folks are losing so big........bigger every time they pull a stunt like this. Kerry is toast!
Not to mention that Moveon gets money from the Tides Foundation which gets money from Teresa Heinz Kerry.
"Could it be that the writer is working on Kerry's book?"
The information that Kranish is working on the Kerry/Edwards campaign book appears to be incorrect due to a mistake on the Amazon site. There is a thread about this that was put up and is, I think, in breaking news.
President Bush can't release kerry's records; only kerry can. The SBVfT group has called for him to sign a form (a '180' form if I remember the number correctly) that would authorize the release of his records. Until he does, his records remain sealed.
This is from Savage's site. Here are the men who all media are saying are lying. Read for yourself. Incidentally, the Gunner that served with Kerry on the Swift Boat, was interviewed by Savage tonight.
IT WAS GREAT ! And there is not ONE network that will listen to them !! NONE.
What is REMARKABLE about this quote is that, even someone being complimentary of Kerry's actions STILL does NOT DENY that Kerry shot an already-wounded and fleeing man and killed him with a shot to the back.
Are Democrats, are Americans ready to elect a man who committed a war crime?
Welcome (back) to FR Moby.
Bye
Actually very slanted...
...the NYT completely skips over the refusal of Kerry to release his military and medical records which would clear up all questions about this "controversy".
>> I actually found this NYT's article somewhat balanced.
Balanced? Compared to what? If you compare this article with any NYT article on any Bush Basher, you will realize it is far from balanced. The NYT is a left-wing propaganda machine. It is NOT a news organization.
The swiftboat veterans story has been on FR all year but now that the media is forced to give it legs the trolls have really come out to play.
I don't think this was a war crime. As I understand it, the problem is that Kerry was awarded a silver star for simply killing a person.
Last night/this morning Tony Snow played extended quotes from Kerry old and "new" regarding his war crimes. In one of the tapes, Kerry makes the claim that he is willing to let people see his medical records if they come to his headquarters (he won't just release the documents and seemed to even start to say something like "Look, I won't..." before dropping that sentence).
Having Toledo, Ohio, mentioned in the NYT, and the circumstances thereof...
"priceless"!!
(now to the real story...but GOOD FOR THEM! far as I know, so far...and it ain't going away in any case, IMHO)
I wonder if it is possible that this was a setup by Swiftvets to get your attention to the ad?
Probably just my mind thinking too much there and going tinfoil....:)
But if it is, it is simply brilliant.
Of course the voters don't get angry at all when democRATs demean, attack and try to undermine the president every time they open their hateful mouths, while he's trying to keep the country safe from their terrorist buddies. < /sarcasm >
Of course the NYT's isn't a real news organization. That's why hell has frozen over. This article was something similar to reporting.
I heard some more local interviews with some of the men on KSEV 700AM (Apollo astronaut Walter Cunningham filling in) here in Houston. They laid out just which boats in the convoy (if that word can be used to descibe the united block of swiftboats) had which members and described specific events. They observed Kerry in action.
So kind of the Democrat strategists to be looking out for President Bush's poll numbers, not.
hanoi john did 132 days in Vietnam vs 730 days as an anti-war protester with hanoi jane, really shows where his priorities are.
Thanks for that link, I'm not paying for the rest of the article but the intro is enough to tell me that this smear has been planned for a long time. If you have access to the whole article you should post it, a portion at a time on different threads (with links).
"Somewhat balanced" compared to the usual left-wing drivel that drips out of the NYSlimes. I agree that it was shocking to read this article in the Slimes. Now, objective? Hell no.
Another sign of the endtimes?
Note the equivocal linking of the group to the President, and the placing of this graph at the very ass end of the story. You know they've been digging harder than ever before looking for this link that (in their feeble little minds) will completely destroy the credibility of these vets and of the White House. If they had found anything at all definitely linking the two, even just a bit of supposition that they could at least hang their hats on for starters, it would have been blasted at the reader in the very first sentence, under a banner headline proclaiming a definitive link between these "liars" and the "Republican attack machine." So far the DNC enforcers and their media lackeys have come up dry.
I should have taken my own advice and made sure not to say that was definitely the source for the error when Drudge reported it, but it seems pretty darn likely.
I remember seeing on Monday video of Kerry holding up his official book in Iowa. It was already completed.
Drudge claims the foreward to the official Kerry book was cancelled yesterday (and links to a NY Daily News article to try to bolster his claim) and replaced with the Kerry book.
But, that makes no sense since the official book was already completed on Monday. I don't know how Drudge missed this, but he takes the NY Daily article (which really only says his book won't be printed since the official book is and the publisher said forget it, no need for 2 books) and makes it into some conspiracy to hide the reporter's connections to Kerry. I think that is not really logical.
So, while I should not have said on the thread that the Amazon mix-up definitely was the reason for Drudge's false report, it makes the most sense.
The SWIFT boats travelled in squadrons. The boats were close to each other and travelled together on missions. The commanders of the boats were able to observe what was going on on the other boats. Furthermore, there is a Vet who has been speaking out, Sam Gardner, who actually WAS on Kerry's boat. Arguing that these Vets weren't ON Kerry's boat is Clinton-talk. They all served together on the mission.
What the Vets are saying is important because the whole crux of Kerry's campaign is his service in Vietnam. It needs to be checked out.
The latest angry assertion from the Left is that no one in Kerry's Swift Boat squadron could possibly know how he performed unless they were actually on his boat. What nonsense. The Left has not a clue. When my air squadron was in Vietnam we had 16 crews and ten aircraft. Let me assure you that not only was every air crewman in the squadron intimately familiar with the performance of everyone aboard his aircraft, we were intimately knowledgable about the performance of the 15 other crews and of every member of every crew. It was also common to be well versed in the performance of people in other squadrons. The nature of serving in the Navy is such, especially during war.
The DLP cannot and will not understand the Ugh! military. They have been forced to deal with it because Kerry apparently went into suspended hypernation in 1971, only to emerge several months ago to run for President. If I had his Senate record, I'd run from it, too. One of the Left's great continuing failings is their stubborn refusal to understand the armed forces and what it means to America.
They definitely would, but Kerry won't. I wonder what he has to hide...
I believe it DD Form 190.
Kerry wants to use Viet-Nam...fine.
May of this year is when the Swifties had their "big" news conference at the Washington Press Club that was roundly ignored by the MSM. However, it appears that the Demons took it as a potentially serious threat and registered that domain name as insurance. And they were correct in their threat assessment!
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