Posted on 08/20/2004 4:09:47 AM PDT by johnny7
YESTERDAY John Kerry decided to take the offensive over his Vietnam War record. It's about time. For the last week or so, one has hardly been able to turn on the television without encountering John O'Neill, the public face of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, pronouncing Kerry a fraud and flogging "Unfit for Command," the carpet-bombing book he has co-authored about the Democratic nominee.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Hmmmm.
As Dr. Phil says: "Those who have nothing to hide hide nothing."
As Dr. Phil says: "Those who have nothing to hide hide nothing."
Funny how easily they just assume Admiral Schachte is lying while the two Kerry supporters can't seem to remember too much.
Soon the MSM I believe will go after the SBV with a vengence, and it's evident they are not going to press Kerry for an answer to any charge made against him.
So the "FOCUS" til the election is NOT going to be on Kerry's dismal senate record, but this VN thing...
The propaganda war of liberal media newspapers continues lying and hiding facts from American people; the Boston Globe is but one more communist propaganda arm of the liberal democrat party and can not be trusted to report facts and truth anymore.
I think the key to unlocking the door as to why his crew support him and the other SwiftWets don't is to look into the allegation that Kerry's boat fled when enemy fire came. If true, then I can absolutely see why Kerry has no supporters in that (Division? Battalion?- sorry, I don't know the structure) outside of those who sat on the boat with him.
Maybe, maybe not. There's nothing to say that the "focus" may not change during the convention or during the debates or afterward. There is still time to shine light on his record. Many people won't start paying attention until September.
Hey, Boston Glob, will you pay me $100 for every Kerry lie and flip-flop I find? I promise to stop when I hit 100.
"I am reasonably sure we didn't have an M-79," Zaladonis said. "I didn't see one. I don't remember it."
Runyon says the only weapons the trio had were an M-60 machine gun, two M-16 combat rifles, and, possibly, a .45 caliber pistol. Is he 100 percent sure there wasn't an M-79 grenade launcher in the boat?
"I wouldn't say 100 percent, but I know 100 percent certain that we didn't shoot them," replies Runyon. He does remember Kerry having trouble with his M-16. "His gun jammed or he ran out of ammunition -- I don't know which -- but he bent down to pick up the other M-16," he says.
Zaladonis, who was manning the machine gun, recalls Kerry telling him to redirect his fire to another area. "If we got return fire, I am not sure," he said. But he adds that there's one thing he does know: "I know that John got hurt." And not by shrapnel from a grenade launcher."
So here's another chink in the armor. No schrapnel from a grenade launcher, no sure return fire, but "John got hurt".
From what? How did "John get hurt"? Did he get a metal splinter from something on the boat?? What??
Inquiring minds...
I think the focus will be on this only for the next coupl of weeks (the CFR gag kicks in about that time. At least it's costing the K/E campaign some $$ to counter.
The President's campaign will then really start attacking Kerry's senate record and comparing plans for the future.
At lest that my take.
Over the last 30 years the Glob hasn't had an opportunity to investigate Kerry's "heroism," until now. Hmmmm...
Yep, but while everyone else is bringing up Kerry's VN record AND FOLLOWING HIS FOCUS it might just NOT be enough for people to find his dismal senate record NOT important enough for them to consider...
Is this an editorial or a NEWS article.
I would like to know when any of these Kerry flacks are going to read the book.
I know they don't want to because then they would know that Kerry is a LIAR.
Dr Letson said the schrapnel was not from a bullit but was the type that was consistent with a grenade.
But I guess that amount of research would amount to actually reading the book or listening to interviews.
Most likely Rassman "The Remington Ranger",(That is what military clerks called themselves),is the one that actually wrote and typed the citations. See below.
This from:
VIETNAM SPECIAL FORCES/ AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS OTHER VIETNAM VETERANS EX-POWS-KIA/MIA FAMILIES AND FRIENDS AND THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY AGAINST KERRY
http://www.vnsfvetakerry.com/
http://www.vnsfvetakerry.com/jim_rassmann.htm
A CQ reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent this over to me this morning. The reader claims that he had Special Forces experience in Viet Nam and has this to say about Rassman:
There are a lot of angles to the Kerry saga. I doubt anyone gets to every question, but some are compelling to me. The question that goes begging today is why was Rassman there at all?
I don't believe SF will take an official position on this, so I'll post what I have heard. I have never bad mouthed fellow SFers before, but I do have these comments from some sources I trust.
Rassman was reportedly the Asst S-1, which means he was the assistant admininistrative officer. Not exactly a key sought after job for an SF officer LOL. In fact I don't recall knowing of any official Asst S-1 officer slots in the field. Jobs like that are created to keep idiots off the teams.
He was supposedly in charge of awards and decorations (A&D) in a field unit. SF didn't issue many, so it was hardly a taxing assignment. The man doing that job at SF HQ RVN was a Sergeant. Giving it to an officer in a field unit as a primary duty is beyond unusual.
He was probably AWOL when he was with Kerry. At best someone may have said, OK go, just to get him out of the way.
My comments and speculation.
If Rassman was an A&D clerk, his knowledge of how to get awards approved was probably very interesting to Kerry. Since reports indicate he wrote the citation for Kerry's SS, I believe this speculation is well-founded.
And how does an SF LT fall out of a 50' boat? I have been through days and weeks of small boat training and drills, we never had anyone fall out.
Rassman says he was under fire. Anytime anyone was shooting within 50 yds of me I always assumed I was the target until I could prove otherwise. Rassman could not do that while in the drink. I will take the word of the other boat crews that there was no enemy fire at all. They had the best view to assess the situation. My mind keeps going back to Rassman's A&D job. He knew if there was no enemy fire there would be no award citations.
This entire operation smells bad to me. Kerry was in command he gets credit for everything his unit did and everything it failed to do. The Swiftvets are getting heavy pressure and questioning. I would like to see a reporter question Rassman in detail.
To me, the Bronze Star story is really the least of Kerry's problems. However, if the official after-action reports ever come out from the other teams there that day, it may prove rather embarrassing for Rassman, regardless of how many times he can say Spaeth Communications and John McCain in a 1500-word essay. And that's really the crux of the matter: we need to see the entire file on John Kerry to determine who's telling the truth. Is it John Kerry and a handful of people, or over 200 combat veterans who were also there and saw him in action?
Until John Kerry releases his complete military records, the credibility of the Swiftvets will continue to grow. As long as Kerry keeps answering their well-documented allegations with nothing but intimidation tactics, his credibility will be completely suspect. Jim Rassman cannot save John Kerry from himself.
Posted by Captain Ed at 09:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/
"I would like to know when any of these Kerry flacks are going to read the book."
Keep in mind - not everything in print can be taken as 'truth'. I think Kerry wrote a book, did you read it - would it change your mindand be considered the 'truth' just because it's in a book. I think even Al Gore wrote a book - must be true.
Valid question... the catagory it's isted in on the Globes website is 'Politics'. They have another catagory for 'Editorials'.
The column deals with current 'hot' news but it is really a swab-job for Kerry. I'll tell you what it means though.
Kerry was forced yesterday before a group of fire-fighters(supporters) to address the issue himself! He is taking hits from 'Unfit for Command' and the TV ad the Swift vets put out. This means the main-stream propaganda networks will have to devote time to it! IT IS NOW A STORY!
Somebody is slingin' the shit pretty heavy here and the media cannot avoid it any longer.
There was an old politician in Boston who knew how to deal with charges like the one's Kerry's gettin' from the Swift vets.
“You don't respond to them... you ignore them!”
CHILL!!! When this story broke in May, we were nonplussed that the MSM totally ignored the story. More recently, we have been pushing to get the story any play at all. Now, the MSM is in full Kerry-protection mode. But that is a great sign, that the story is out there causing Kerry real pain. More importantly, now that the story is in MSM play, the conservative MSM, such as the WashTimes, can now publish exerpts from the book and ask serious questions. Before much longer, some enterprising liberal journalist will decide to make his or her name with Kerry's scalp. Which one will it be . . . ?
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