There's no way there was any coordination with the Bush campaign. The Swift Boat Vets are political novices, so Bush & Rove would never coordinate or associate with their group even if they admire the courage and professionalism of the group.
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TRANSCRIPT of Tad Devine, Kerry Senior Campaign Advisor on "BIG STORY" with Judge Napiltano...
...on Dec 24th, 1968, let me tell you what happened. Two times on that day, december 24th, christmas eve, john kerry's boat was ambushed a third time on that night on christmas eve he had a friendly fire episode as welL. So john kerry got shot at three times on christmas eve. Now, his boat started off about 40 miles from the cambodian border and they headed towards cambodia that day. Are there some issues about whether or not it got to the border, did the shots come from the border, is there lack of clarity? I would admit there are. I think what was cedar into his mind and remains there to this day is the fact that three times on one day he was shot at. By the way, that's three times more than the president and the vice president who have been sending our troops to iraq were ever shot at in their life. Judge: Yesterday senator kerry really raised the level of this and caused it to come on the morning's front pages of all the newspapers and the mainstream media when he said the president of the united states is behind this. His texas buddies have financed it. They're doing his dirty work for him. What evidence is there for those allegations?
>> Judge, today in the "new york times" they talked about the web of connections, quote, end quote, between these people and the bush campaign. By the way, this is part of a larger pattern. We saw exactly the same thing in the year 2000. This is precisely what the bush campaign does against decorated vietnam veterans. They did it against john mccain. By the way, the attacks they then launch which we heard the governor just laurving a few minutes ago that somehow he is getting unhinged almost verbatim this is what they said about john mccain four years ago. So this is out of the bush family playbook. This is what they do. They take a decorated vietnam veteran, they put up a front group, they attack him for their service and try to diswrit credit him. You know what, the truth is too powerful. They're not going to win this argument. Judge: Haven't the democrats effectively done the same thing? Who finances moveon .Org. Isn't it george soros. Who financed fahrenheit 9/11, a vicious attack on the president ? Isn't turn about fair play, ted, and isn't that what politics is about today?
>> It is, and when john mccain challenged john kerry earlier this week to distance himself and to discredit the ad attacking george bush's lack of service in vietnam and lack of service in the national guard, john kerry within hours stood up, issued a public statement, and agreed with john mccain, distanced himself, and john kerry said I want a campaign about the issues, not a campaign of insults. The president of the united states has made his silence deafening. He refuses to this day to take up senator mccain's charge and to distance himself and to discredit the dishonest and dishonorable ad that the swift boat veterans have launched. The president -- judge: I know you guys run this campaign like to plan and blot, but some republicans have said that that campaign ad came out was so that john kerry could distance himself from it.
>> Well, i don't know. The conspiracy theories are overwhelming everything, judge. That's a little too much. Judge: Tad devine, senior adviser to the kerry-edwards campaign. Thank you very much.