hey jean Phouqin keri... PROVE IT!!!
Posted on 08/20/2004 3:48:18 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 — President Bush's chief spokesman said today that the White House had nothing to do with ads accusing Senator John Kerry of lying about his service in the Vietnam War. But the spokesman, Scott McClellan, also said that Mr. Kerry was guilty of unfair attacks upon the president.
"I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks," Mr. McClellan said at Mr. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., shortly before the Kerry campaign filed a complaint before the Federal Election Commission.
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Mr. McClellan was replying to questions about an article in The New York Times today reporting that some people behind the anti-Kerry ads had connections to the Bush family, to prominent Texas politicians and to President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove.
When he was asked to comment on those connections, Mr. McClellan said in effect that there was nothing to comment on. "You're trying to draw us into this, and we've made it very clear, the president has made it very clear that we're not going to question Senator Kerry's service," Mr. McClellan said. "The president has made it very clear that he feels his service was noble."
A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has said that Mr. Kerry lied about or embellished his Vietnam War actions as a Swift boat officer to win medals he did not deserve and to build a political career. The group's accusations have challenged accounts by more than a dozen of the men who served aboard Mr. Kerry's boat and who have described their former commander as a brave and dedicated officer.
On Thursday, Mr. Kerry called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "a front for the Bush campaign," a charge the Bush campaign immediately rejected, noting that any coordination between such a group and a political campaign is illegal.
And such coordination is just what is happening, the Kerry campaign charged today in its complaint with the F.E.C. The complaint against Swift Boats Veterans for Truth asserts that is guilty of "violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign."
It was not immediately clear what evidence the Kerry campaign was offering to support its accusation.
Complaints before the F.E.C. are not uncommon in the midst of heated political races. The practical effect, if any, that the Kerry campaign's move might have was uncertain, though if nothing else, it seemed to signal that the Kerry forces both now recognized the potential danger in the Swift boat attack ads and were no longer going to let such assaults go unanswered.
Reaffirming the Bush-Cheney campaign's denial today, Mr. McClellan said it had "not been involved in this ad whatsoever."
"And Senator Kerry, you know, appears to have lost his cool, and now he's just launching into false and baseless attacks against the president," Mr. McClellan continued. Referring to similarly harsh ads questioning Mr. Bush's stateside National Guard service, Mr. McClellan charged, "The Kerry campaign has fueled these very kinds of attacks against the president."
When he was asked whether the White House had moved to call for an end to the anti-Kerry ads, Mr. McClellan said President Bush had made his position clear months ago when he signed new campaign-finance legislation into law.
The recent anti-Kerry material is "another example of the problems with these shadowy groups that are funded by unregulated soft money," Mr. McClellan said. "And that's why the president has spoken out against kind of advertising."
I wish McClellan would stop bunching the SBVFT in the same category as " shadowy " groups running ads.
He should say any questions should be directed to the SBVFT themselves.
Even O'Neill says this is between Kerry and the SBVFT-the WH should stay out of it.
The New York Time quoting The New York Times investigating a New York Times story. But noboddy else can advertise within sixty days of the election. McCain Feingold here we go!!!
Look what is happening here people! Somehow the dems and MSM are going to turn this into a repub conspiracy and Kerry is gonna skate...Just leave the bumbling fool alone and he'll cause his own undoing.
True. But they're taking the political high-road (thankfully.) Patience and perserverance for the Swifties.
The more I read this the more disgusted I am. The New York Times will stop at nothing to get their guy in. Truly pikeworthy.
Sorry, pukeworhty
Fox News panel was really good on this.
They said linkage in the past is absolutely no proof of anything, and the charge won't hold water.
In fact Krauthammer was funny, he said any of us (using the criteria the Times used) could probably abe linked to Osama by six degrees of separation.
Forgot to mention, they believe the latest ad is the one that will really do damage, and it can't be refuted because it uses Kerry's own words.
Sorry, pukeworthy....very carefully
The Swifties aren't a "shadowy group", they're screaming their message at the tops of their lungs and we all know their names.
ABC radio ain't playing along. They just came out and said these connections were made by news organizations and there was no "independent" confirmation of the connection. And this was the guy traveling with the Kerry campaign. Also said it was unlikely the FEC would even act on it.
I actually have done this exercise. I have fewer than six degrees of separation from Bin Laden, believe it or not. And I'm perfectly serious. My degrees of separation from GWB is only 4.
The only famous person I've tried and haven't been able to do this with is Hitler. It gets harder when you start going into the past. But if you do this exercise, I'll bet most people could find six or fewer degrees of separation between themselves and Bin Laden.
hey jean Phouqin keri... PROVE IT!!!
Pray for W and Our Troops
That 2nd Swiftboat ad is even better than the first, if that's even possible. No wonder the Kerry camp is 'freaking out'.
The complaint against Swift Boats Veterans for Truth asserts that is guilty of "violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign."
Narcissistic Kerry put in the complaint; therefore, it will be up to him to prove it and not the Bush folks.
"It was not immediately clear what evidence the Kerry campaign was offering to support its accusation. "
Should be interesting.
I know someone who knows President Bush - is that 1 degree or 2? I never have been able to figure it out.
The guy following the Kerry campaign said it was only based on news accounts.
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