Posted on 08/19/2004 12:12:45 PM PDT by dread78645
After weeks of standing by as a group of Vietnam veterans criticized his wartime record, Senator John Kerry fired back today, saying the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is "a front for the Bush campaign" and that the president "wants them to do his dirty work."
Members of the organization, led by a commander of one of the Swift boats that served alongside Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, have accused the Massachusetts senator of lying about his wartime record to win several medals.
The Bush campaign has declined to denounce the Swift boat advertisement, saying it had nothing to do with it and did not itself question Mr. Kerry's wartime service. But today, speaking at a convention of the International Association of Fire Fighters in Boston, Mr. Kerry did not mince words in accusing Mr. Bush of disingenuousness in trying to distance himself from the ad and the group.
"Here's what you really need to know about them," Mr. Kerry told the cheering firefighters. "They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know — he wants them to do his dirty work."
In his remarks to the firefighters, a group that supported him even when his campaign to win the Democratic nomination was foundering early in the primaries, Mr. Kerry talked of heroism and sacrifice. He likened the courage of men and women in the military to that of firefighters and police officers, who risk their lives daily and sometimes lose them, as hundreds did on 9/11.
"As firefighters you risk your lives everyday. You know what it's like to see truth in the moment. You're proud of what you've done — and so am I," he said. "I'm not going to let anyone question my commitment to defending America-then, now, or ever.".
A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, Steve Schmidt, said Mr. Kerry's assertions that the campaign was behind the ads "is absolutely and completely false," The Associated Press reported.
"The Bush campaign has never and will never question John Kerry's service in Vietnam," Mr. Schmidt said, offering the standard response to the ad that the campaign has given for weeks. "The president has referred to John Kerry's service as noble service."
Mr. Kerry's new offensive, which also includes an ad rebutting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial, comes on the same day that The Washington Post reported that it had obtained military records for one of Mr. Kerry's former comrades, Larry Thurlow, now a leading critic of the senator's, that conflict with Mr. Thurlow's own version of events.
Mr. Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Mr. Kerry in Vietnam, has disputed in newspaper interviews and a best-selling book assertions by the senator that on March 13, 1969, their boats came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory. Mr. Kerry received a Bronze Star for his actions that day. Mr. Thurlow has recently insisted that their boats were not under fire.
But The Post said that the military records for Mr. Thurlow, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, seem to dispute Mr. Thurlow's recent accounts. They contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla, The Post said. Mr. Thurlow received a Bronze Star himself for his actions that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."
In response to the Post story, Mr. Thurlow said in a statement that the military used "language taken directly from John Kerry's report which falsely described the action" on March 13.
"There was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day," he said in his statement today.
That the roles both candidates played in a distant war 35 years ago would cause such a furor in this presidential election underscores the importance that the issues of war and leadership have taken on in the world of post-9/11 politics.
Voters have shown in opinion polls that national security is an important issue that will guide their choice for president in November, more so than in other recent elections. And while Mr. Bush thought his handling of the war in Iraq would help carry him to an easy re-election victory, polls show that voters are increasingly questioning his handling of foreign policy, even as they support how he has handled the threats from terrorism.
As the two candidates argue over who would be the better leader, their service during the Vietnam War has come into question.
After the Swift boat veterans' group began airing their ad, a liberal group, MoveOn.org, began running its own ad questioning Mr. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.
The ad, which was appearing in three states this week, accuses Mr. Bush of using family connections to get into the Air National Guard to escape combat in Vietnam and revisits accusations that he did not adequately meet his service requirements — charges that he has rejected.
Earlier this week, the Kerry campaign denounced the MoveOn ad, after a plea from Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is a friend of Mr. Kerry and a fellow combat veteran in Vietnam.
Mr. Kerry's denunciation of the anti-Bush ad seemed likely to increase pressure on the Bush campaign to denounce the anti-Kerry Swift boat ad. But although Mr. McCain has similarly called on Mr. Bush to denounce the Swift boat advertisement, the Bush campaign has refused.
That spot, in which fellow Vietnam War veterans said Mr. Kerry lied about the incidents for which he won his combat medals, stopped running last week but the group says it plans to run another one soon.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and MoveOn are so-called 527 committees, named for a provision in the tax code that created them. Federal law allows such groups to raise unlimited donations and run advertisements so long as they do not expressly call for the election or defeat of a federal candidate and do not coordinate operations with a candidate's campaign.
Today, Mr. Kerry made his strongest retort to those who would attack his military record.
"Thirty years ago, official Navy reports and every person there documented my service in Vietnam and awarded me the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts," he said. "Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a wound in Vietnam."
The firefighters responded with a standing ovation.
"The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country," he said. "Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on."
In the new Kerry campaign ad, a narrator refers to the Swift Boat veterans' ad, and says, "The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters."
The ad also features Jim Rassmann, a former Green Beret officer who was aboard Mr. Kerry's Swift boat on March 13.
"He risked his life to save mine," Mr. Rassmann says.
Then, showing images of a young John Kerry in Vietnam, the ad says, "the Navy documented John Kerry's heroism" and awarded him a Bronze Star for heroism.
I love the positive new tone that Kerry is setting for the campaign.
Kerry drawing more attention to the Swiftees. Good!
Not bad but they still insist Bush hasn't denounced the ad when he actually denounced ALL 527 ads.
What a doofus. When people do "Bring it on", Kerry whines about it.
Aug. 06, 2004 - The White House yesterday distanced itself from a political ad that questions John Kerry's Vietnam service and called on the Democratic presidential nominee to join President Bush in demanding an "immediate cessation" of all advertisements by outside groups. "We have not and will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity."They also filed a complaint...which resulted in this opinion...June 23, 2004 - In a major shift in fundraising strategy, President Bush’s finance team has begun asking wealthy Republicans to cut checks as large as $1 million to GOP state parties in key election battlegrounds rather than steering their funds to independent groups created in recent months to support Republican candidates this fall.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Federal Election Commission Thursday rejected a proposal to rein in the unlimited fundraising and spending power of independent political groups attempting to influence the outcome of this year's presidential race. Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot and Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie called the FEC decision "irresponsible" in a joint statement.Therefore, John Kerry's argument doesn't wash...and to put the icing on the cake...
Kerry hires online chief from MoveOn (collusion with 527 org alert)
Oh for crying out loud, will this filthy cretin ever get it? I have a lot more to say, but I think I'll stop there for now.
OK. Lets recap.
Excluding the SBVFT charges that Kerry Disputes, here is what we know for certain he lied about.
Christmas In Cambodia 12/24/68. (Seared....Seared into his memory)
Nixon as President 12/24/68. (Also S...Sihm)
Being Vice Chairman of Senate Intel.
SBVFT a 'Front for the Bush Campaign'.
And Thats just this week....lol
I find this funny, considering how Moveon.org, NOW, Miramax, MTV and many other billionaire funded scam organizations are just fronts for DNC indocternation.
Let's change just a FEW words:
"Here's what you really need to know about them[MOVEON.ORG]," Mr. Kerry Bush [could tell] told the cheering firefighters. "They're funded by hundreds of thousands millions of dollars from a Republican Democrat contributor out of Texas Hungary. They're a front for the Bush Kerry campaign. And the fact that the president candidate won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know — he wants them to do his dirty work."
Of course, Bush would never do that. Democrats are hyprocrites.
Calling them "a front for the Bush Campaign?" Nice to see the TIMES is regurgitating KERRY CAMPAIGN PRESS RELEASES....sheesh.....
Hey, "I" say MoveON.org is a TOTAL FRONT for the Democratic Party....so report that NYTIMES!!!!
"Call off the Republican attack dogs." </dnc whining>
I keep trying to see how this would play positively to people, but all I see is a whining John Kerry losing his temper and having a tantrum. The new ad with the "Bush's big money supporters" can't possibly help, either. This has to cast a cloud over Kerry, people understand lying to get medals, that's not a difficult concept.
So WTF is MOVEON.ORG?
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