Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- When compiling a list of genuine reformers in the United States Senate, a name that does not spring automatically to mind is that of Trent Lott of Mississippi. But the Republican former majority leader has seized the role and is driving hard to end the worst abuses of the last presidential campaign. Those abuses stemmed from the expansion of so-called 527 groups, nominally independent political organizations that collected $400 million in essentially unregulated funds and poured them into TV ad campaigns, often of the nastiest variety. Democrats were the main abusers, with billionaire George Soros and friends financing...

Sen. Ted Kennedy has already announced his pick for the 2008 presidential race, and it's the same candidate he backed in 2004. Asked if he'd be climbing aboard the Hillary Clinton bandwagon, Kennedy told ABC's "This Week": "I'm from Massachusetts. And we have a candidate, I think, probably up there as well." Asked specifically if Sen. John Kerry had his support for 2008, Kennedy said, "Oh, yes . . My Man's John Kerry." And what about Mrs. Clinton? "I have enormous respect for Sen. Clinton," Kennedy said. "I admire her, I respect her. She's qualified for whatever job she achieves."

Maureen Dowd's column on Sunday was full of the usual hyperbole and ridiculousness, but one phrase in particular stood out: "This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names..." I'm confused. Every day Scott McLellan steps into a room filled with big-name journalists - some, like the now-retired Helen Thomas, with political leanings every bit as far to the left as Gannon's were to the right - who ask their "hardball questions." It may be a bit of an overstatement to say the White...

It's like a Washington sequel to "Reservoir Dogs." Finally rested up from their cynical assault last year on John Kerry's patriotism, the most ruthless smear squad in American politics is back together again. And they're revving up for another nasty job. Their latest ugly enterprise? Sliming the AARP, which had the nerve to come out against President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. This is the same gang of rhetorical hatchet men behind the deceptively named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. During last year's presidential campaign, they were telling vicious lies about Kerry's combat record in Vietnam. Now, they're turning...

Zell Miller to speak..

Euphoric after a big election victory, the organizers of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference say it's only fitting to pay tribute to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for helping to stop Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid. Former Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, the Democrat credited with giving one of the most memorable speeches in favor of President Bush at the Republican National Convention this summer, will present the award to Adm. Roy Hoffman (Ret.), founder and chairman of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "For a second time, the Swift Boat Veterans stepped up to serve their country honorably...

Sunday on "Meet the Press" John Kerry finally agreed to sign the famous Form 180, releasing his full military records. John O'Neill, co-author of Unfit for Command and many other critics of Sen. Kerry's war record have long called on him to release all records. No details were yet given on when or where Kerry would actually sign the long-sought-after release. Key excerpt from Sunday's "Meet the Press": MR. RUSSERT: Many people who’ve been criticizing you have said: Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access...

Stephanie Cutter, the controversial John Kerry for President mouth who was eviscerated by Newsweek and who was blamed for some of the campaign's worst blunders, reportedly is negotiating a return to Ted Kennedy's Senate staff. Sources say Cutter's second stint in Kennedy's communications office is a done deal, a development that has seasoned politicos shaking their heads. ``It's a mystery,'' said one Senate snitch. ``It's very puzzling. People don't know how to digest it.'' But the senior senator is apparently a big fan of the thirtysomething blonde. ``Stephanie is one of the best in the business and would be a...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

Leaders of prominent "527" military service veterans groups, film producers, Websites and authors who made substantial contributions to the veterans revolt against Senator John Kerry's 2004 Presidential bid were honored by their supporters at an "Un-augural" reception at the National Press Club Thursday. Unlike the scores of balls, parades and fetes typical of the frenetic day, the tongue-in-cheek event at the Club's First Amendment room was, according to organizer Lou Priebe, geared to "celebrate the absence of Senator Kerry from the Inauguration Day proceedings, most particularly the swearing-in ceremony." U.S. Army Infantry veteran Lou Priebe added, "These courageous advocacy groups...

Bush Sworn-In, Swift Boat Vets Glad It's Not Kerry Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:53 PM ET By John Crawley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With thousands of Republican faithful cheering the inauguration of President Bush to a second term on Thursday, a group of veterans at the forefront of the "Swift Boat" campaign banded quietly to salute their part in thwarting the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry. "Swift Boat guys were not unified in supporting George Bush. Many were independent or many were Democrats. The only point of union was that they did not want John Kerry to be president," Jerry Corsi,...

RATHER STAYS HOME; EXECUTIVES SPLIT; MOONVES LOOKS TOWARDS FUTURE *Exclusive** CBSNEWS veteran Don Hewitt called Dan Rather's disappearance from Monday's Evening News "really stupid" during a damage control meeting on Monday, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. One top source inside the CBS Broadcast Center claimed Rather was told to stay off the air on Monday, as a form of punishment! Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer was called in to anchor the damaged ship. CBS staffers were shocked Monday when CBS president Les Moonves suddenly tied Rather's upcoming resignation to the phony document flap, a departure from CBS's official storyline. Moonves...

"Newsweek talks exclusively with John Kerry about why he lost" promised the cover story this New Year's week, and it turns out that Senator Kerry's reflections boil down to the Nixonian. "The pundits have never liked me," he said. "Is it the way I look? The way I sound?" The rest of the press hasn't done much better. Immediately after the campaign, they decided the election was won on "values." A few days later the consensus shifted like a school of fish. Mr. Kerry lost because, as Newsweek's Evan Thomas put it, "sitting presidents are never defeated in wartime." So...

When it comes to choosing leaders, integrity comes first--and no man showed more integrity in 2004 than John O'Neill, the 2004 HUMAN EVENTS Man of the Year. He helped to teach us the truth about John Kerry and counter the lies Kerry spread about the image of the Vietnam veteran, whom Kerry maligned three decades ago when, as an anti-war agitator, he presented slanderous testimony in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kerry wanted voters to see him as a war hero who stood by his "band of brothers." But John O'Neill and the Swift Boat veterans had a different view--of...

WASHINGTON - The end of the 2004 presidential election campaign doesn't spell the end of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the well-funded alliance of former servicemen that remains dedicated to preventing Sen. John Kerry from becoming president. The group, which recently changed its name to Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, plans to convene next month to celebrate its successes and to consider speaking out further about Kerry's military service, his anti-war activities afterward, and other issues, says William E. Franke, who ran the organization's day-to-day operations. In his first interview about his role in the anti-Kerry group, Franke,...

Post mortems in the liberal press on the role that Vietnam veterans played in presidential candidate John Kerry's defeat mask the key role of the liberal press, which tried to suppress the vets' story and is distorting it now. I was there at the creation of a veterans group and all along, and know better. The American people deserve to know better too. In 1971 I organized Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. John O'Neill enlisted to counter the smears of American servicemen in Vietnam. No one else spoke up for us, so we had to. The mainstream press was...

The end of the 2004 presidential election campaign doesn't spell the end of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the well-funded alliance of former servicemen that remains dedicated to preventing John Kerry from becoming president. The group, which recently changed its name to Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, plans to convene next month to celebrate its successes and to consider speaking out further about Kerry's military service, his anti-war activities afterward, and other issues, says William Franke, who ran the organization's day-to-day operations. In his first interview about his role in the anti-Kerry group, the Navy veteran said his...

Dec. 13 issue - In the closing weeks of the campaign, a reclusive Texas home builder pumped nearly $7 million into two "independent" political groups to help finance TV ads against John Kerry. The builder, Robert Perry of Houston, got attention in August when he gave $200,000 in seed money for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth—the so-called 527 group that attacked Kerry's war record. Campaign records examined by NEWSWEEK show that, in October alone, Perry gave $3.8 million more to the Swift Boat vets and $3 million to Progress for America, a separate 527 organized by a GOP consultant...

NEW YORK Feeling a bit lost lately? You should, at least according to a compendium posted today at Jay Rosen’s popular PressThink Web log, because the biggest loser on Election Day was not John Kerry but the mainstream media. Daniel Henninger, writing in The Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal, put it this way: "It is often said that the only sure winner in American politics is the media. Amid GOP victory parties or the ruined dreams of the Kerry candidacy, the one constant is that the media marches on. Maybe not this time. Big Media lost big." "I was interested...

Pundits have cast around for the reasons behind President Bush’s remarkable victory. Some have seized on moral values, or a poorly run Democratic campaign, even Kerry’s personality. One cause most overlooked in the mainstream media is a small group of Vietnam veterans, a bunch of political amateurs, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who redefined the central issue of the election. The Swifties, as they call themselves, made the election a referendum on character. Their ads, and best-selling book Unfit for Command, said that Senator Kerry is a man who lacks the character to be Commander-in-Chief. He gamed the system...