Posted on 11/23/2004 5:48:42 PM PST by freespirited
The controversial veterans group that trashed the war record of Democratic Sen. John Kerry during the presidential campaign and helped hand President Bush a second term will remain a potent force, according to an associate of the group.
Chris LaCivita, who was a paid political consultant to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the campaign but said he is no longer on the payroll, asserted that the organization, with 280 members nationwide, is pondering its next step.
patrick g. ryan An associate of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth says the group, known for attacking Sen. John Kerry’s war record, will remain a powerful force.
One possibility is that the Swiftvets will become a full-time public-relations outfit for veterans, LaCivita said.
The Kerry-Edwards campaign filed a complaint against the Swiftvets with the Federal Election Commission, but LaCivita said many conservatives are disgusted with what they see as a left-wing caricature of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam as “crazed hippies that went around mowing people down.”
The Swiftvets would seek to counter negative impressions of veterans. Referring to U.S. soldiers in battle, LaCivita, a former Marine who fought in the first Gulf War, said: “They endure a lot more, and they do a lot of good things people back home never hear about.”
Retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who oversaw the Swift boat operation in Vietnam and founded the anti-Kerry group, said members would probably be interested in fighting a future Kerry bid for the White House, which some Democrats say is possible.
“We have definitely an interest in continuing our work on the discharge and activities in regard to the POWs,” said Hoffmann, who retired from the Navy in 1978. He added, “At this point, we really haven’t made any firm decisions. We feel that our primary mission has been accomplished.”
John E. O’Neill, a co-founder of the group, sees the Swiftvets moving from political activity to veteran services. O’Neill, who served as a lieutenant in Vietnam, said he is heading back to his law practice full time.
Hoffmann said his group was not tied to any political party and will stay independent. Democrats allege that the 527 group, a category of political groups that is named after a clause in the tax code, worked illegally in concert with the Bush campaign.
David Wade, national press secretary in the Kerry campaign, characterized the Swiftvets as “a discredited and despicable Republican smear group caught doing George Bush’s dirty work.”
They were “scorned by real heroes like Max Cleland and John McCain,” Wade added.
Former Sen. Cleland (D-Ga.) lost three limbs in Vietnam, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spent years there as a prisoner of war.
Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network and a contender for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, disparaged the group for “scandalous lies” and “underhanded campaign tactics” and said the media was “unbelievably irresponsible” for not being, in his view, a better watchdog.
Mike Russell, a Swift Boat Veterans spokesman who works at Creative Response Concepts, a media-relations firm in Alexandria, Va., says none of the group’s contentions about Kerry has been refuted.
Donations to the group had come from every state and sales of the book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry by O’Neill and Jerome Corsi, which helped propel the group to national attention and sold more than 800,000 copies, Russell added.
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, said Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had “neutralized” the image of Kerry as war hero. “In viewing Kerry through that lens, the public saw a very different Kerry than they had just seen at the Democratic National Convention. It was not Lieutenant John Kerry reporting for duty. It was a scruffy, antiwar activist in fatigues dumping on his colleagues,” Sabato said, referring to images, repeatedly shown on television during the campaign, of Kerry testifying before Congress.
Sabato said he plans to question LaCivita about suspected ties between the veterans group and the Bush campaign when LaCivita takes part in the seventh annual American Democracy Conference, Dec. 3 at the Hotel Washington. The conference is co-sponsored by The Hotline and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
It is the same way the establishment GOP think of us...useful for bodies, but the want to avoid us because we are filled with the huddled masses, not debutantes.
From article: "One possibility is that the Swiftvets will become a full-time public-relations outfit for veterans, LaCivita said. "
Great idea -
And perhaps people should wonder why McCain was so happy to see - and hug - the guy who held him captive - Might McCain have gone the same way as Kerry - only people didn't know it -
"I am alone is sensing an anti-SBVT bias in this piece?"
Watch for more anti Viet Nam Vet media.
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
will be sure to bring you Hanoi Kerry's latest propaganda.
Hanoi Kerry lost now his attack dogs are being unleashed.
And they are out for blood.
The election is over so now they have come after us.
They know that 99 US Senators won't lift a finger.
BRING IT ON!
That is what I'm hoping.
Unless he finds some way to worm out of it, which is likely what he's researching right now.
"He shouldn't be involved in any national decision making."
Too bad Rush refuses to say this.
But then again Rush has sponsors and subscribers.
And he doesn't have the guts to bring this up.
Then again when was the last time you heard or saw a
"right wing" media person bring this up?
Could they be afraid of Kennedy?
My sense is that Kerry is no longer of use to Kennedy. Kennedy has one last shot to control the presidential strings, and it won't be through Kerry. (Nor through Hillary.)
That could signal that Kerry is throw-away in Mass. It could be just the time to unload on him in his own state. Knock him so far out of the ring that he never gets back in.
"...with what they see as a left-wing caricature of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam as
“crazed hippies that went around mowing people down.”
Watch for plenty of this in the media
How long till the next anti Viet Nam war?
Enough of their crap. It is time for O'Neill to sue them and get people in court under oath. Let's end Kerry once and for all.
Rush and the "right wing" media are in it for the $$$
That's all they care about.
Unlike us who get no pay at all.
We have nothing to lose.
I think I read someplace that he's got 4 years left on this Senate seat. If so, it's far enough away that he could ride out any early attacks.
I'd say there should be H&I fire for about 3 years while research is being done.
Then open up with the big guns.
Other way around, Doug. Let the Kerry crowd file suit and go a little too far so that discovery applies and a counter suit can be filed. O'Neill can be patient and bait his hook.
He needs to be impeached now.
Enough evidence is already on hand.
Timeline of Hanoi Kerry
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
Agreed. At a minimum, they (and we) should work to make it impossible for John 'Hanoi' Kerry to mount a serious presidential campaign again. Even better, it needs to be revealed\publicized on a very wide scale how much the MSM and political elites covered up for 'Vichy' Kerry, how they enabled a traitorous scumbag to come rather close to becoming President of the USA. His real record and the disinformation campaign that allowed him to rise so far must still become known to tens and hundreds of millions of people. The Swiftees have done a great job so far, but I cannot understand how people can say it's all over, go home and forget about it.
Often wondered about that myself. After that POW committee and revisit to Vietnam, McCain underwent a significant change.
I could never figure out what caused it - an epiphany or something he discovered or was told?
His little soul-searching session with Kerry on the trip, where they became bosom buddies, always puzzled me. There had always been a significant breach between him and Kerry.
From opposite poles to close friends, virtually overnight? -odd.
Some shenigans with the MIA list and sudden closure of the "Vietnam issue", distressed a lot of MIA families. McCain had to be at least aware of the situation, but didn't support efforts of Rep. Bob Smith
McCain's politics mellowed dramatically, too.
I understood that the Swifties were going to continue investigating JF'n about his discharge and to get his military records, which if proven would eliminate him from eligibility to serve as a senator. I, for one, hope they do.
Yes. In the process, maybe those millions will also see once and for all how the MSM worked against the country to allow that rise. Something many of us woke up to when they covered up for Clinton. It's mind-boggling to consider how close this country was to falling into an abyss.
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