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> working politician like Kerry.
Have you ever looked at his attendance/voting records?
> whore for power and money.
That describes John Heinz Kerry perfectly!
Kerry's credibility is shot. I wouldn't trust this man as far as I can throw him. You Dems have no credibility because you continue to support limosine liberals like him. $5,000 dollar hair cuts, yachts, mansions, and a fleet of SUVs he doesn't own. But he's a man of the people, right?
Blow by blow account on how the media is being used to attack the Swift Boat Vets. Note how they ignore the charges and the facts. They're not at all interested in the truth.
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Kerry Blast at Bush Moves Nets to Finally
Show Swift Boat Ad
John Kerry achieved Thursday what 250 swift boat veterans from the Vietnam war could not: Some broadcast network attention for their contention that John Kerry greatly exaggerated and/or made up his exploits in Vietnam, even if the anti-Kerry vets were painted, without evidence, as insidious operators doing President Bush's bidding. ABC's World News Tonight, which ignored the May 4 press conference by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and hasn't since mentioned their charges or early August ad, led Thursday night with how, as anchor Elizabeth Vargas framed the matter: "John Kerry fights back against charges he lied about his war record. He accuses a veterans' group of doing the President's 'dirty work.'"
The CBS Evening News led with how the group's "ads may be working" since a CBS poll found a significant drop in support for Kerry amongst veterans. The CBS Evening News certainly couldn't credit or blame itself since its total coverage of the ad consisted of two sentences on August 5 when anchor John Roberts stressed criticism of it: "A harsh new television ad that attacks John Kerry is being denounced as quote, 'dishonest and dishonorable' by a Bush supporter, Republican Senator John McCain." See: www.mediaresearch.org
NBC Nightly News didn't lead with Kerry's Thursday blast, but their story did include the show's first playing of any audio from the ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the program's only previous story, back on August 6, NBC was far more concerned with suppressing the out of control free speech than in exploring the specifics of the charges. Anchor Tom Brokaw rued then that "a harsh political ad attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam war record is putting the spotlight back on the independent organizations which are called 527's. They're raising money and running ads separate from the campaigns and the parties themselves. And as NBC's Andrea Mitchell tells us tonight, the campaign finance law supposed to fix the system left this very big loophole." Mitchell's story failed to air any of the audio from the ad, but she ominously reminded viewers that "some of the same players organized anonymous attack ads against John McCain four years ago, when he was running against George Bush." Mitchell lamented how "at a campaign picnic today, the President refused to disavow it" and she fretted that the anti-Kerry vets "may get away with" running their ad. See: www.mediaresearch.org
For a RealPlayer video clip of part of Mitchell's story, see the August 10 edition of the Worst of the Week: www.mediaresearch.org
CNN's NewsNight, anchored by Daryn Kagen, devoted two full stories and an interview segment with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, with whom Kagen fretted about the negative ad on an irrelevant topic. Those represented only the second time NewsNight has touched the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The first ever came on Tuesday night when the Aaron Brown-anchored show tied a story to a new MoveOn.org ad denouncing the ad NewsNight had ignored. The MoveOn.org ad asserted, as played in part by CNN: "George Bush used his father to get into the National Guard, was grounded and then went missing. Now he's allowing false advertising that attacks John Kerry."
The MRC on Wednesday published a Media Reality Check study, "TV Gives No Respect to Swift Boat Vets for Truth: ABC, CBS & NBC Gave 75 Stories to Bush 'AWOL' Charge, 9 to Claims Kerry Embellished War Record." See: www.mediaresearch.org
Indeed, on Thursday's Nightline, while Chris Bury expressed awe at how "remarkable" it was that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "campaign evolved from a political molehill into a mountain in just a few months" after "the group made its public debut early in May, taking its case to a podium guaranteed to maximize exposure: the National Press Club here in Washington," he acknowledged that though "the swift boat stories were all the rage on talk radio," they "were mostly ignored in the mainstream media."
# Thursday night coverage highlights:
None of the broadcast evening networks stories, nor CNN's NewsNight mentioned, as did FNC's Carl Cameron on Special Report with Brit Hume, that as a result of John O'Neill and his Unfit for Command book, the Kerry campaign has had to back off Kerry's claim to have been in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968.
Three weeks after Peter Jennings acknowledged that "there are a few who served with him who dispute his record and question his leadership" and promised that "we'll hear from them in the weeks ahead," World News Tonight on Thursday finally got around to the Kerry detractors, though like Jennings ("a few"), reporter Brian Rooney minimized their number as he described Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as "a small organization with members still angry over Kerry's anti-war protests after he left the Navy." In fact, compared to the mere dozen or so Kerry colleagues from Vietnam who are part of his "band of brothers," the anti-Kerry group of veterans of the swift boat service, at over 250 members, is far larger.
ABC devoted the most time Thursday night to the controversy with Jake Tapper (who also contributed a long piece to Nightline later) outlining one of the specific charges. But anchor Vargas couldn't resist pleading: "But even Republican Senator John McCain has called on the President to condemn this ad. Why hasn't he done so?"
Picking up on a Washington Post story, NBC's Carl Quintanilla stressed how "today a new report said military records contradict one of Kerry's most vocal critics." But ABC's Jake Tapper provided that critic time for a retort: "This comes from John Kerry's report that day, which said we were under this extreme fire. We were not."
Even though Kerry was the one who hurled an unsubstantiated charge about how Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is "a front for the Bush campaign" which is doing Bush's "dirty work," CBS and NBC treated Kerry as the aggrieved party. NBC's Quintanilla saw "a political push back planned just last night. Kerry, arriving home in Boston, was said to be frustrated by the attacks and had his staff up until 3am, cutting this political ad debuting today:" Narrator from Kerry ad: "The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big-money supporters."
CBS's Byron Pitts similarly framed the issue: "Kerry, who's made his tour of duty in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign, realized today he could no longer let the ad go unanswered and took aim at President Bush for not condemning it." Pitts didn't hesitate to try to discredit a Kerry detractor by bringing up Nixon: "The men behind the Swift Boat Veterans ad refused to back off. Their leader, John O'Neill, was also Richard Nixon's point man in attacks on John Kerry's protest of the Vietnam War 30 years ago."
Pitts launched the same attack on May 4, the night of the group's press conference which CBS, unlike ABC and NBC, covered, sort of. Pitts went back to 1971 as he recalled how John O'Neill, who debated Kerry about Vietnam on ABC's Dick Cavett Show, "was handpicked by the Nixon administration to discredit Kerry." Pitts added, without any explanation, that "the press conference was set up by the same people who," in 2000, "tried to discredit John McCain's reputation in Vietnam service." Then Pitts connected the anti-Kerry veterans to a presumed nefarious "strategy" they had nothing to do with implementing: "It's the same strategy used to go after Georgia Senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam." See: www.mediaresearch.org
# Now a complete rundown of the broadcast network evening show coverage, as well as an excerpt from Keith Olbermann's hysterics on MSNBC, from Thursday, August 19 as collated by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth:
-- ABC's World News Tonight. Elizabeth Vargas teased: "On World News Tonight, politics post-9/11. John Kerry fights back against charges he lied about his war record. He accuses a veterans' group of doing the President's 'dirty work.'"
Vargas soon began: "Good evening. As the country prepares to decide who should be President, a key issue this year is which man voters believe will be the best Commander-in-Chief. Polls show fear of terrorism and the war in Iraq are foremost in voters' minds. And this makes a candidate's military credentials all the more important. Which is why John Kerry fought back so fiercely today on allegations that he lied about his war record. ABC's Brian Rooney is on the campaign trail in Boston and joins us tonight. Brian?"
Rooney explained: "Elizabeth, at a convention of firefighters here in Boston this morning, John Kerry came out swinging. And he issued a challenge using some of President Bush's own words."
Kerry to the International Association of Fire Fighters: "Of course, the President keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on."
Rooney: "Kerry was responding to several months of attacks by a Vietnam veterans group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It's a small organization with members still angry over Kerry's anti-war protests after he left the Navy. This commercial features men who served on swift boats at the same time and place as Kerry."
Rooney played a clip from the group's ad, its first ever mention on World News Tonight:
Louis Letson, Medical Officer, Lieutenant Commander: "I know John Kerry is lying about his first purple heart because I treated him for that injury."
Van Odell, Gunners Mate 2nd Class: "John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star. I know. I was there. I saw what happened."
Jack Chenoweth, Lieutenant J.G., Navy Commendation Medal: "His account of what happened and what actually happened are the difference between night and day."
ABC then jumped to another Kerry soundbite: "They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know. He wants them to do his dirty work."
Rooney: "For weeks, Kerry and his staff have debated whether answering the accusations would only give them more publicity. But Kerry took off the gloves after a bad reception by the Veterans of Foreign Wars yesterday. Today, Senator Kerry released his own commercial to counter his critics."
Narrator in Kerry ad: "Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved."
Jim Rassmann, U.S. Army Special Forces: "It blew me off the boat. All these Viet Cong were shooting at me. I expected I'd be shot. When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."
Rooney: "And it doesn't look like this issue is going to go away any time soon. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say they're going to issue their second commercial tomorrow. Elizabeth?"
Vargas segued: "All right, Brian I'm sure we'll hear much more about that, thank you. President Bush has refused to engage in the controversy, saying the swift boat group is an independent organization. ABC's Terry Moran is traveling with the President. Terry, these were serious charges by Mr. Kerry that this group is doing the President's, quote, 'dirty work.' Any reaction?"
Moran: "Strong reaction, Elizabeth. The President's campaign from the campaign chairman on down fired back saying there's no coordination, no connection at all. They also complained of what they call a double standard. They say they've been the receiving end of more than $60 million of negative advertising by these unregulated independent groups. And for the most part, Senator Kerry has stood by. Once again today, officials called on Senator Kerry to condemn all independent ads."
Vargas saw John McCain as the oracle of all that is good: "But even Republican Senator John McCain has called on the President to condemn this ad. Why hasn't he done so, this swift boat ad?"
Moran: "A couple of reasons, Elizabeth. First, the campaign says that these veterans, like all veterans, including the ones who criticized the President's war record, have the right to speak out, and it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is allowing the President to let this linger in the debate."
Vargas set up a third story: "All right. ABC's Terry Moran with the President in Texas. As we reported, the group behind this ad is called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It is a new group whose members have a long history with Mr. Kerry. Here's ABC's Jake Tapper."
Tapper began: "John O'Neill has been a nemesis of John Kerry's since the Nixon years. Now he's returned to help form a group of anti-Kerry veterans. The group has been angry with Kerry ever since he returned from Vietnam, joined the anti-war movement and accused soldiers of war crimes."
John O'Neill, co-author of Unfit for Command: "We have a guy that began by fabricating us as war criminals, fabricating even himself as war criminals. He's moved on to now fabricating himself as a war hero."
Tapper went into one of the incidents in dispute: "One of the group's biggest charges deals with the events of March 13, 1969, the day Kerry won a Bronze star for plucking Green Beret Jim Rassmann from the Behap (sp?) River while under enemy fire. Thirty-five years later, anti-Kerry veteran Larry Thurlow, commander of a nearby boat, says there was never any fire."
Larry Thurlow, former swift boat commander, August 4: "He embellished the story, in fact told lies about the situation that developed when he got his Bronze Star."
Tapper: "Kerry's Bronze Star citation says his boat and four others were, quote, 'receiving small arms and automatic weapons fire,' and that Rassmann, quote, 'was receiving sniper fire from both banks.' Thurlow's own citation, reported in today's Washington Post, mentions small arms and automatic weapons fire, as well. Thurlow explained this in a phone interview today."
Audio of Thurlow: "This comes from John Kerry's report that day, which said we were under this extreme fire. We were not."
Tapper: "Kerry's and Thurlow's citations were signed by then-Commander George Elliot, who appears in the anti-Kerry ad. In this heated election year, Elliot is now disavowing his own report, saying he okayed the medals based on a report by Kerry he no longer trusts."
Retired Lieutenant Commander George Elliott, Former Kerry Commanding Officer: "I did not expect my officers to be submitting inaccurate reports."
Tapper: "But Jim Rassmann, the man Kerry rescued, insists they were under fire."
Jim Rassmann: "I know what happened. I know that if it hadn't been for his efforts, I would have been killed."
Tapper: "There are other charges by this group. That two of Kerry's Purple Heart wounds were accidentally self-inflicted, for instance. These are also contradicted by naval records. Thirty-five years later, we may never know the exact truth. We do know this group has received major support from some wealthy Republicans. Jake Tapper, ABC News, Washington."
-- CBS Evening News. Anchor Scott Pelley teased up top: "Tonight, John Kerry fights back against political ads questioning his military record, as polls show those ads are costing him votes."
Pelley opened the broadcast: "Good evening. Dan is away tonight. I'm Scott Pelley. We begin tonight with what looks like a reversal of political fortune. Three weeks after the Democratic convention, it appears that John Kerry has suffered a significant drop in support among key voters -- independents, Catholics, and, at least for the moment, Kerry is also losing the battle for the hearts, minds and votes of fellow veterans. A CBS News poll out tonight shows that in the presidential race, Kerry and President Bush are now separated by just one point -- a virtual tie. Correspondent Byron Pitts reports that may explain Kerry's new counter-offensive today against campaign ads attacking his Vietnam War record."
Pitts began: "Today Senator Kerry did what he's always done when pushed in a corner: He pushed back."
John Kerry at the convention of fire fighters in Boston: "More than 30 years ago, I learned an important lesson: When you're under attack, the best thing to do is turn your boat into the attacker."
Pitts: "Kerry was responding to this TV by a Republican-funded group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
CBS ran an excerpt from the ad:
Larry Thurlow, Lieutenant J.C., Bronze Star: "When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry."
Bob Elder, Lieutenant, Bronze Star: "John Kerry is no war hero."
Grant Hibbard, Lieutenant Commander, 2 Bronze Stars: "He betrayed all his shipmates. He lied before the Senate."
Pitts resumed: "The ads may be working. Today's CBS News poll shows that Kerry's support among veterans has dropped from 46 percent right after the Democratic Convention to 37 percent. Support among veterans for President George W. Bush is up. Kerry, who's made his tour of duty in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign, realized today he could no longer let the ad go unanswered and took aim at President Bush for not condemning it."
Kerry: "And the fact that the President won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know: He wants them to do his dirty work. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on."
Pitts: "The men behind the Swift Boat Veterans ad refused to back off. Their leader, John O'Neill, was also Richard Nixon's point man in attacks on John Kerry's protest of the Vietnam War 30 years ago. His opinions haven't changed."
John O'Neill, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: "If it hinders the Bush campaign, if it helps the Bush campaign, we genuinely don't care. What we're talking about is something that's deeply personal to us. It relates directly to our service in that little unit."
Pitts: "Today the Kerry campaign put out its own TV ad in support of his war record, dipping into precious campaign funds a month earlier than planned. For John Kerry, the Vietnam War was controversial then and now. Byron Pitts, CBS News, Derry, New Hampshire."
For a summary of the new CBS News poll which puts Kerry ahead 46 to 45 percent: www.cbsnews.com
-- NBC Nightly News. From Athens, Brian Williams teased: "Decision 2004: John Kerry, stung by attacks by pro-Bush Vietnam vets, accuses the President of letting them do his 'dirty work.'"
John Kerry: "Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on!"
Following some stories on Iraq, Williams arrived at the Kerry in Vietnam subject: "Now to the presidential campaign and the fight that spilled out into the open today over John Kerry's tour of duty in the Navy in Vietnam. Some of his decorations and actions during and after combat have been questioned. And today John Kerry said, 'Enough.' Our report tonight from NBC's Carl Quintanilla."
Quintanilla began: "In Boston, the most bare-knuckled attack from John Kerry so far against the vets who dismiss his medals-"
Larry Thurlow, Lieutenant J.G., Bronze Star, from anti-Kerry ad: "When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry."
Quintanilla: "-and against the President, whom Kerry today said should denounce the Republican-funded Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
Kerry at the International Association of Fire Fighters: "They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know. He wants them to do his dirty work."
Quintanilla: "A political push back planned just last night. Kerry, arriving home in Boston, was said to be frustrated by the attacks and had his staff up until 3am, cutting this political ad debuting today-"
Narrator from Kerry ad: "The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big-money supporters."
Quintanilla: "-and writing a new challenge to the President."
Kerry: "Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on!"
Quintanilla: "Kerry's campaign insists it wants to talk issues like at this rally today focusing on health care. But instead, Kerry has stumbled in a series of recent attacks, all aimed at his ability to manage the war on terror. Today a new report said military records contradict one of Kerry's most vocal critics, who argues Kerry never faced enemy fire while saving the life of this man, Jim Rassmann."
Jim Rassmann: "He's been hurt by all of this and so have I."
Quintanilla: "But the Bush campaign stopped short of denouncing the ads."
Scott McClellan: "Senator Kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless. The President has condemned all of the ads by the shadowy groups."
Quintanilla: "And John O'Neill, the anti-Kerry group's leader, shrugged off that possibility."
John O'Neill: "It doesn't really matter to us whether it hurts or helps President Bush. We feel, this is a very deep and personal part of our lives, our service in Vietnam."
Quintanilla concluded: "New charges about what happened there 30 years ago suggest this fight isn't over and that some old wounds are far from healed. Carl Quintanilla NBC News, Derry, New Hampshire."
-- MSNBC's Countdown. Keith Olbermann opened his 8pm EDT show: "Good evening. Considering how much political time has speeded up since 1964, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial has had the modern shelf life of the Lyndon Johnson ad showing the little girl picking daisies while an atomic bomb goes off. And there's a second version of it coming out tomorrow morning. But in our fifth story on the Countdown, today two symbolic atomic bombs went off inside Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. John Kerry attacked back, and the 35-year-old Navy records of one of Kerry's chief attackers actually attacks the attacker's version of the day Kerry earned his Bronze Star. Brooks Jackson of the bipartisan watchdog Web site Factcheck.org will join us in a moment about that. First, the Senator himself. In Boston, Kerry took the gloves off. He blasted the President for still not disavowing the Swift Boat ad nor calling for its withdrawal. He blasted him for not acknowledging a connection to it, blasted the group portrayed in the ad itself."
Olbermann played a Kerry soundbite and then a clip of a new Kerry ad: "The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big-money supporters. Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved."
Jim Rassmann, U.S. Army Special Forces: "They blew me off the boat. All these Viet Cong were shooting at me. I expected I'd be shot. When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."
Ad narrator: "The Navy documented John Kerry's heroism and awarded him the Bronze Star. Today he still has shrapnel in his leg from his wounds from Vietnam."
Olbermann picked up: "A bigger, far more impartial hit to the anti-Kerry ad came from the United States Navy. Kerry and Larry Thurlow were two of the five commanders who led their swift boats into Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. For what he did that day, Kerry was awarded the Bronze Star. Last month, Thurlow, as part of the anti-Kerry campaign, swore an affidavit in which he said Kerry's craft was, quote, 'not under fire,' and that the Bronze Star citation was, quote, 'totally fabricated,' and, quote, 'I never heard a shot.' But the Naval records about Thurlow from 1969 tell an entirely different story. Released to the Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, the document that recommended Thurlow for his own Bronze Star says that Thurlow's craft and the other four boats, including Kerry's, were, quote, 'under constant enemy small arms fire.' The after-action reports in such cases are usually written by the senior officer in a flotilla. On that day, it would have been Larry Thurlow. Thurlow told the newspaper he thinks Kerry may have written it himself. Tonight, on Hardball, Thurlow told Chris Matthews he thinks that the medals and the reports were all pre-arranged by Kerry."
Larry Thurlow, anti-Kerry swift boat veteran: "I'm saying that he had a plan that included not only being a war hero but getting an early out."
Olbermann snidely quipped: "Nice of the Viet Cong to have helped out with the shrapnel."
JOHN F KERRY MADE HIS SERVICE IN VIETNAM AN ISSUE!!!!!!!!!
Didn't you watch your convention..."reporting for service" Kerry????
Is he running on his record as a lawyer? NO
Is he running on his record as a Lt.Gov? NO
Is he running on his record as a Senator? NO
Is he running on his record as a member of the Intelligence Committee? NO
Well, let's not be confused by minor details! The WashPost and NYTimes can't be expected to search for the truth.
Last night, the author of Unfit for Command was on TV. He said he begged Dobbs, the NY Post author of yesterday's story, to come to a DC hotel and interview 7-8 eyewitnesses to the Bay Hap incident. Guess what? Dobbs refused.
The media is hell bent on supporting Kerry and they're not going to let the truth get in the way.
The truth is, Kerry is a liar.
He lied about Christmas in Cambodia
He lied about taking enemy fire at Bay Hap
He lied about four Swift boats fleeing at Bay Hap, when int truth, his boat was the only one that didn't come to the immediate aid of his colleagues
He lied about witnessing war atrocities
He lied about throwing away his medals
For Immediate Release August 19, 2004
Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Member Larry Thurlow
I am convinced that the language used in my citation for a Bronze Star was language taken directly from John Kerry's report which falsely described the action on the Bay Hap River as action that saw small arms fire and automatic weapons fire from both banks of the river.
To this day, I can say without a doubt in my mind, along with other accounts from my shipmates-there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day.
I submitted no paperwork for a medal nor did I file an after action report describing the incident. To my knowledge, John Kerry was the only officer who filed a report describing his version of the incidents that occurred on the river that day.
It was not until I had left the Navy-approximately three months after I left the service-that I was notified that I was to receive a citation for my actions on that day.
I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for my efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number three and to conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking. My boat and several other swift boats went to the aid of our fellow swift boat sailors whose craft was adrift and taking on water. We provided immediate rescue and damage control to prevent boat three from sinking and to offer immediate protection and comfort to the injured crew.
After the mine exploded, leaving swift boat three dead in the water, John Kerry's boat, which was on the opposite side of the river, fled the scene. US Army Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who was on Kerry's boat at the time, fell off the boat and into the water. Kerry's boat returned several minutes later-under no hail of enemy gunfire-to retrieve Rassmann from the river only seconds before another boat was going to pick him up.
Kerry campaign spokespersons have conflicting accounts of this incident-the latest one being that Kerry's boat did leave but only briefly and returned under withering enemy fire to rescue Mr. Rassmann. However, none of the other boats on the river that day reported enemy fire nor was anyone wounded by small arms action. The only damage on that day was done to boat three-a result of the underwater mine. None of the other swift boats received damage from enemy gunfire.
And in a new development, Kerry campaign officials are now finally acknowledging that while Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the other boats on the river ever left the damaged swift boat. This is a direct contradiction to previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in the Oregonian newspaper and a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left Behind" theme during the Democratic National Convention.
These ever changing accounts of the Bay Hap River incident by Kerry campaign officials leave me asking one question. If no one ever left the scene of the Bay Hap River incident, how could anyone be left behind?
Statement by Navy Veteran Van Odell, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
in Rebuttal to Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, August 19, 2004
A courageous, soft spoken man of the Midwest, Larry Thurlow has a heart bigger than the great plains and a commitment to truth and honesty that is boundless. He is under attack, because John Kerry is feeling the heat of truth at the hands of this honest man and others like him.
The Kerry Campaign is attacking the truthfulness of this man and the Bronze Star he so richly deserves for his actions on March 13, 1969. I was there. I saw what happened.
The mine's detonation lifted PCF-3 completely out of the water just yards ahead of me. All boats commenced suppression fire in case enemy small arms fire ensued. None did.
All boats came to the aid of PCF-3, except one: John Kerry's boat. Kerry fled.
Larry Thurlow piloted his boat straight toward the mine-damaged PCF-3 from which thick, black smoke billowed. He jumped aboard and personally led damage control operations that saved the boat and rescue operations that saved the lives of badly wounded men. Larry's leadership was in the highest traditions of the naval service. His leadership allowed the other men and boats of the mission to exit the river safely. This single act of meritorious service -- the chief requirement of the Bronze Star -- should be honored, not ridiculed, by the Kerry campaign and its allies in the mainstream media.
To reiterate, only one enemy weapon was deployed that day -- the command-detonated submerged mine that disabled PCF-3. Larry Thurlow's citation contained references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire," because that was the language chosen by John Kerry who penned the spot report on the action that day. There was no "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" received that day. John Kerry's report was fiction -- a hoax on the entire chain of command. Larry Thurlow's heroism and meritorious service, however, is real.
To me Larry is one of the heroes of our country. He is a man who served his country when called and who returned home to be a productive citizen. Larry and men like him are the strong backbone of our society. I am proud to have served with him.
Below is a statement from John O'Neill responding to Senator John Kerry's August 19, 2004, attack on The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Mr. O'Neill is the author of Unfit for Command.
-----
The Navy did not send Republicans or Democrats to the island of An Thoi. We are responding and dealing with something that is deeply personal - our own record and the record of our unit in Vietnam. These are issues Senator Kerry raised and we regret that he uses ad hominem attacks instead of dealing with the actual facts. He is doing that because he can't deal with the truth.
For example, for 35 years he said he claimed that one of the turning points of his life was spending Christmas Eve and Christmas illegally in Cambodia, libeling our commanders and our nation with accusations of war crimes. That is a totally false statement because he was no where near Cambodia on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The Kerry campaign continues to flip flop on the Cambodia issue.
In addition, Senator Kerry closed the Democratic National Convention with a story in which he claimed that five of the boats fled on March 13 after a mine went off and he came back. His campaign is now admitting that he fled and the rest stayed.
Attacking our organization does not respond to the facts that occurred in Vietnam. Senator Kerry says that he has learned to charge into an ambush in connection with this, instead he is fleeing down the river from the facts.
>"If 2 million Iranian troops invade southern Iraq, 100,000
American troops and 1000 smart bombs ain't gonna' stop 'em."
First of all, this is big bark and no bite talk from the Iranians. It isn't the first time they've made bellicose statements. Iran knows their political, military, and nuclear demise would be dealt swiftly if they amassed as little as 200,000 troops at their border. Second, if you think the US would use surgical tactics ("1000 smart bombs") to repel a ground attack from Iran, you know nothing about military tactics and strategy.
Iran warns of preemptive strike to prevent attack on nuclear sites
Wed Aug 18, 4:14 PM ET
DOHA (AFP) - Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.
"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly," Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV when asked if Iran would respond to an American attack on its nuclear facilities.
"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq (news - web sites)," said Shamkhani, speaking in Farsi to the Arabic-language news channel through an interpreter.
"The US military presence (in Iraq) will not become an element of strength (for Washington) at our expense. The opposite is true, because their forces would turn into a hostage" in Iranian hands in the event of an attack, he said.
Shamkhani, who was asked about the possibility of an American or Israeli strike against Iran's atomic power plant in Bushehr, added: "We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our strength.
"Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the two."
A commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted in the Iranian press earlier Wednesday as saying that Tehran would strike the Israeli reactor at Dimona if Israel attacks the Islamic republic's own burgeoning nuclear facilities.
"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be responsible for the terrifying consequence of this move," General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr warned.
Iran's controversial bid to generate nuclear power at its plant being built at Bushehr is seen by arch-enemies Israel and the United States as a cover for nuclear weapons development.
The latest comments mark an escalation in an exchange of threats between Israel and Iran in recent weeks, leading to speculation that there may be a repeat of Israel's strike against Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981.
Iran insists that its nuclear intentions are peaceful, while pointing at its enemy's alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel neither confirms nor denies possessing.
Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera it was not possible "from a practical standpoint" to destroy Iran's nuclear programs because they are the product of national skills "which cannot be eliminated by military means."
He also warned that Iran would consider itself no longer bound by its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the event of an attack.
"The execution of such threats (to attack Iran's nuclear installations) would mean that our cooperation with the IAEA led to feeding information about our nuclear facilities to the attacking side, which (in turn) means that we would no longer be bound by any of our obligations" to the nuclear watchdog, he said.
Diplomats said in Vienna Tuesday that the IAEA would not say in a report next month whether Iran's nuclear activities are of a military nature, nor will it recommend bringing the case before the UN Security Council.
The IAEA board is due to deliver the report on Iran's nuclear activities during a meeting at the organization's headquarters in Vienna from September 13 after the last of a group of IAEA inspectors returned from Iran last week.
The UN's nuclear agency is conducting a major probe into Iran's bid to generate electricity through nuclear power.
The Islamic republic has agreed to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment pending the completion of the IAEA probe, but is working on other parts of the fuel cycle and has recently resumed making centrifuges used for enrichment.
The PPO line is above zero but below it's signal line. That makes the PPO histogram < zero. The PPO Histogram is displayed in bars anchored to the zero line - the bars are currently below zero.
The reporters have gone totally whacky.
"Kerry received a polite if not overwhelmingly positive reaction from the VFW."
WTF does that sentence mean? Isn't there a huge difference between "polite" and "overwhelmingly positive"???
"But there was a clear divide, with scores of veterans sittings with their arms folded while others clapped."
If scores of veterans sat "with their arms folded", how could you say "if not overwhelmingly positive reaction"??? Give me a break.
>About the only thing you have raised in objection is what military records the Washington Post is referring to. The article says they are Thurlow's records. I see no reason to doubt that.
The military records are based on what? Kerry's after action report? If Kerry was the official "reporter" of the incident, obviously the records would support his view. That's my point, and WashPost failed to get to the bottom of it. This set of military documents was so damn important that the WP had to immediately run the story, post PDFs of the documents, without researching the genesis of the original sources/accounts?
Don't you see a problem here?
Read the headline and lead in:
---------------------
Military records counter a Kerry critic
Fellow skipper's citation refers to enemy fire
By Michael Dobbs
Updated: 11:12 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2004WASHINGTON - Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.
---------------------
The headline and intro paragraph implies the military records support Kerry's version of events suggest Thurlow is lying. The article does little to get to the truth of what actually happened. I have a few questions for this reporter:
1. How many eyewitnesses did he interview?
2. How many eyewitnesses agree with Kerry's version of events and how many agree with Thurlow?
3. Who were the first hand sources for the information included in the military records?
4. Will the Washington Post follow up with Thurlow's response to this story?
For Immediate Release August 19, 2004
Statement By Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Member Larry Thurlow
I am convinced that the language used in my citation for a Bronze Star was language taken directly from John Kerry's report which falsely described the action on the Bay Hap River as action that saw small arms fire and automatic weapons fire from both banks of the river.
To this day, I can say without a doubt in my mind, along with other accounts from my shipmates-there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day.
I submitted no paperwork for a medal nor did I file an after action report describing the incident. To my knowledge, John Kerry was the only officer who filed a report describing his version of the incidents that occurred on the river that day.
It was not until I had left the Navy-approximately three months after I left the service-that I was notified that I was to receive a citation for my actions on that day.
I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for my efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number three and to conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking. My boat and several other swift boats went to the aid of our fellow swift boat sailors whose craft was adrift and taking on water. We provided immediate rescue and damage control to prevent boat three from sinking and to offer immediate protection and comfort to the injured crew.
After the mine exploded, leaving swift boat three dead in the water, John Kerry's boat, which was on the opposite side of the river, fled the scene. US Army Special Forces officer Jim Rassmann, who was on Kerry's boat at the time, fell off the boat and into the water. Kerry's boat returned several minutes later-under no hail of enemy gunfire-to retrieve Rassmann from the river only seconds before another boat was going to pick him up.
Kerry campaign spokespersons have conflicting accounts of this incident-the latest one being that Kerry's boat did leave but only briefly and returned under withering enemy fire to rescue Mr. Rassmann. However, none of the other boats on the river that day reported enemy fire nor was anyone wounded by small arms action. The only damage on that day was done to boat three-a result of the underwater mine. None of the other swift boats received damage from enemy gunfire.
And in a new development, Kerry campaign officials are now finally acknowledging that while Kerry's boat left the scene, none of the other boats on the river ever left the damaged swift boat. This is a direct contradiction to previous accounts made by Jim Rassmann in the Oregonian newspaper and a direct contradiction to the "No Man Left Behind" theme during the Democratic National Convention.
These ever changing accounts of the Bay Hap River incident by Kerry campaign officials leave me asking one question. If no one ever left the scene of the Bay Hap River incident, how could anyone be left behind?
I object to the headline and the spin of the story. The premise is official military documents support Kerry's claim. I don't see much digging into 1) the sources for the info in those documents and 2) eyewitness reports from other veterans who were on the scene of the explosion and rescue.
This is hit and run reporting...getting to the truth isn't an objective.
"Military records counter a Kerry critic"
If the military records were based on Kerry's after action report, the headline is ridiculous. The headline could read "Kerry's report counters a Kerry critic". Actually, the headline could read "Kerry's report counters several veteran eyewitnesses"
Kerry's not a reliable source. He lied about Chrismas in Cambodia, witnessing war atrocities, etc.
The last signal was a (D2) long exit (Cash). Because both long term indicators are bearish, the mode is "strong downtrend". That means the system can generate leveraged short entry signals on countertrend rallies (so long as there isn't a broad positive divergence present).
I'm saying garbage in = garbage out
If Kerry's after action report for the incident were lies, the military records are bogus. Ever hear about falsified police reports?
Newsweek’s Comic-Book Kerry Coverage
by L. Brent Bozell III
August 18, 2004
The week after the Democratic convention, two of the nation’s three largest news magazines, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, had fun with two-page photo spreads emphasizing the Democratic nominee’s acceptance speech opener: "I’m John Kerry, And I’m Reporting for Duty."
But by the morning of Kerry’s speech, the critics of Kerry’s military tenure at Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were again knocking at the door of the national press corps, pounding on what they insist are holes the size of meteor craters in Kerry’s stories of jut-jawed heroism in Vietnam.
By now, most of America has heard of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and their book, titled "Unfit for Command," quickly rose to #1 at Amazon.com. Talk radio is chewing it over from coast to coast. Cable news viewers have watched a number of debates with these Kerry comrades on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. But if you were to receive all of your news from Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report, you wouldn’t know one solitary thing about them. The censorship has been complete.
Why does this happen? How do the cream of the liberal media crop have the audacity to declare by their actions that the Kerry comrades that support their superhero Kerry are credible, and should be given endless license to boast of his virtues, while those who knew him in Vietnam as less than a hero are to be ignored?
In February, when the story was George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard, Bush’s most prominent accusers weren’t his colleagues in the Texas Guard. They were Terry McAuliffe and Michael Moore, political hatchet men who were given an immediate and warm reception by the press. So why are the Swift Boat veterans automatically disqualified from the major media?
On "Fox News Sunday," long-time TV journalist Brit Hume had a different take on the Swift Vets book: "It is full of detail. It is full of specifics. The charges that are being made of Kerry, of irresponsible and indeed in some cases mendacious conduct in his service in Vietnam, are made by people who were there. They're making the charges in their own names... this isn't a bunch of anonymous people whispering things. It's all out there in the open. The book is full of footnotes. It has an appendix. It's a pretty serious piece of work." He declared it deserved as much attention as the piles of February media stories on Bush’s service.
That final point is especially true considering how the news magazines harped on Kerry’s heroism and his "Band of Brothers" and their crucial role in his rise to the top of the liberal Democrat heap.
In February, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman touted: "His advocates are the men who served under his command of Swift Boats in the Mekong Delta – one of whom, Jim Rassman, Kerry saved by hoisting him out of the Bay Hap River under enemy fire. Rassman's unscripted appearance in Des Moines was worth millions of ads and months of strategy." (So, you could add, are syrupy articles in Newsweek.)
Fineman added that "delighted" top Kerry strategist Bob Shrum had presented Rassman with a copy of liberal historian Douglas Brinkley’s Kerry war-hero hagiography "Tour of Duty" with the inscription, "To Jim, who fished us out of the river."
So where is Fineman now to interview the other veterans on the other Swift Boats? The Swift Boat veterans opposing Kerry say there was no enemy fire as Rassman was pulled out of the river, meaning Fineman may have forwarded a myth in front of millions of readers by helpfully accepting whatever the Democratic candidate and his buddy said on the stump.
In Newsweek as late as the August 2 issue, reporters were still oozing like kids reading a comic book. "Kerry's coolness under fire was remarkable," they claimed. "It is hard to forget the image of his turning his boat around and reaching over the bow to pull – with a wounded arm – a man from the water while the bullets splattered around them." They declared "Kerry's war record has been endlessly discussed and picked over" – a ridiculous assertion given the major media’s silence about Kerry’s critics.
Kerry has been caught in fibs on his Vietnam service – for example, how the anti-Kerry veterans exposed his long-standing claim that he was serving in Cambodia during Christmas in 1968, a claim contradicted by the facts. Yet the media still just whistle right past it, even as Kerry admits error and Douglas Brinkley prepares another correction for his paperback edition.
Our media aren’t judging the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth based on the quality of their facts. They’re judging them on the seriousness of their threat to the media’s ultimate goal: putting John Kerry in the White House.
ABC, CBS & NBC Gave 75 Stories to Bush “AWOL” Charge, 9 to Claims Kerry Embellished War Record
TV Gives No Respect to Swift
Boat Vets for Truth
Back in February, the three broadcast networks were obsessed with the story of President Bush’s National Guard service. But in May, when John Kerry’s former Navy colleagues from Vietnam went to the National Press Club to charge that Kerry’s tales of heroism as a Swift Boat commander were highly exaggerated, those same networks acted as if their job was to bury the news, not report it.
Back on May 4, ABC and NBC ignored the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s press conference, while CBS’s Byron Pitts claimed the veterans had merely “unleashed decades of bitterness.” His Evening News story ignored Kerry’s record, but challenged his critics: “If you think this is just a concerned group of veterans, think again.”
Even though the Swift Vets have now published a book, Unfit for Command, and sponsored a TV ad, the networks still aren’t investigating their charges. MRC analysts examined ABC, CBS and NBC’s morning and evening news shows. They found 75 stories this year questioning Bush’s National Guard service, but only nine detailing any of the Swift Vets’ anti-Kerry charges, an eight-to-one disparity. But the networks’ double standard runs far deeper than the amount of coverage:
• Partisanship: The “AWOL” story got its legs February 1 when Democratic boss Terry McAuliffe appeared on ABC’s This Week to declare how he wants a debate in which “John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard,” and reporters began badgering the White House to prove McAuliffe’s charges false. But the hint of a GOP connection to the Swift Vets has reporters holding their noses. The first mention of the Swift Vets on NBC Nightly News came on August 6 when Andrea Mitchell complained the groups’ anti-Kerry “ad is paid for by Bush contributors using a loophole in the McCain- Feingold law.” Mitchell’s story did not examine the vets’ charges against Kerry, just complained about the fact that they could get them on TV.
• Evidence. Reporters put the onus on Bush to prove the critics wrong. “Given the absence of any witnesses who could fill in those gaps and corroborate the President’s recollection,“ ABC’s Terry Moran insisted on February 10, “the issue is not going to go away.” CBS was even more demanding (see box).
But holes in Kerry’s record aren’t treated as suspicious. On the issue of Kerry’s first wound in 1968, then-Coastal Division 14 Commander Grant Hibbard says Kerry came to his office asking for a Purple Heart for what amounted to a scratch. As recounted in Unfit for Command (page 38), “I told Kerry to ‘forget it.’ There was no hostile fire, the injury was self-inflicted for all I knew, besides it was nothing more than a scratch. Kerry wasn’t getting a Purple Heart recommendation from me.” But when the issue became news in April, the networks made it a one-day story, even though the records Kerry released failed to include the paperwork supporting the Purple Heart award.
• Enthusiasm. On February 10, White House reporters badgered Press Secretary Scott McClellan for 30 minutes, demanding detailed proof that everything Bush said in the past was true. But the networks now call the Swift Vets’ ad “ugly,” and reporters’ demand is for Bush to condemn it, not Kerry to factually rebut it.
— Rich Noyes
Another example of left-wing media bias from the Washington Post
Other news organizations are picking up and running this "story" with the same spin. My contention is the headline misleads the reader into believing the military record definitively discredits Swift Boat Vets for Truth. What's buried in the story is 1)Kerry may have had a hand in writing the after action report the military record and citations were based on (paragraphs 10 and 13) AND 2)at least 3 eyewitness supports the claim that the Swifties were not under enemy fire (paragraph 17).
The media continually has a problem with researching their stories in depth, doing the necessary digging, doing exhaustive interviews to get to the truth. They're either not interested in the truth or just plain lazy. My question is this: How many eyewitnesses did this reporter interview about the incident and what did they say? Oh, I'm sorry, that might have required some work! Forgive me.
Also buried in this article and others; Kerry's boat turned tail and ran when the Swift boat was hit by a mine. The other Swift boats in the group came to the immediate rescue of the crew, Kerry's boat didn't return to the scene until minutes later.
---------------------------------------
Military records counter a Kerry critic
Fellow skipper's citation refers to enemy fire
By Michael Dobbs
Updated: 11:12 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2004WASHINGTON - Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.
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In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.
But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."
• More politics news
As one of five Swift boat skippers who led the raid up the Bay Hap River, Thurlow was a direct participant in the disputed events. He is also a leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry's subsequent antiwar activities, which has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record.
In interviews and written reminiscences, Kerry has described how his 50-foot patrol boat came under fire from the banks of the Bay Hap after a mine explosion disabled another U.S. patrol boat. According to Kerry and members of his crew, the firing continued as an injured Kerry leaned over the bow of his ship to rescue a Special Forces officer who was blown overboard in a second explosion.
'Constant enemy small arms fire'
Last month, Thurlow swore in an affidavit that Kerry was "not under fire" when he fished Lt. James Rassmann out of the water. He described Kerry's Bronze Star citation, which says that all units involved came under "small arms and automatic weapons fire," as "totally fabricated."
"I never heard a shot," Thurlow said in his affidavit, which was released by Swift Boats Veterans for Truth. The group claims the backing of more than 250 Vietnam veterans, including a majority of Kerry's fellow boat commanders.
A document recommending Thurlow for the Bronze Star noted that all his actions "took place under constant enemy small arms fire which LTJG THURLOW completely ignored in providing immediate assistance" to the disabled boat and its crew. The citation states that all other units in the flotilla also came under fire.
"It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case," Thurlow said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation. "My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting."
Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire," he said. He speculated that Kerry could have been the source of at least some of the language used in the citation.
In a telephone interview Tuesday evening after he attended a Swift Boat Veterans strategy session in an Arlington hotel, Thurlow said he lost his Bronze Star citation more than 20 years ago. He said he was unwilling to authorize release of his military records because he feared attempts by the Kerry campaign to discredit him and other anti-Kerry veterans.
The Post filed an independent request for the documents with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which is the central repository for veterans' records. The documents were faxed to The Post by officials at the records center yesterday.
Thurlow and other anti-Kerry veterans have repeatedly alleged that Kerry was the author of an after-action report that described how his boat came under enemy fire. Kerry campaign researchers dispute that assertion, and there is no convincing documentary evidence to settle the argument. As the senior skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow might have been expected to write the after-action report for March 13, but he said that Kerry routinely "duked the system" to present his version of events.
For much of the episode, Kerry was not in a position to know firsthand what was happening on Thurlow's boat, as Kerry's boat had sped down the river after the mine exploded under another boat. He later returned to provide assistance to the stricken boat.
Thurlow, an oil industry worker and former teacher in Kansas, said he was angry with Kerry for his antiwar activities on his return to the United States and particularly Kerry's claim before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that U.S. troops in Vietnam had committed war crimes "with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."
Anti-Kerry TV ad
" 'Upset' is too mild a word," said Thurlow, a registered Republican, of his reaction to Kerry then. "He did it strictly for his own personal political gain, and it directly affected every single one of us as we were trying to put our lives together."
Two other Swift boat skippers who were direct participants in the March 13, 1969, mine explosion on the Bay Hap, Jack Chenoweth and Richard Pees, have said they do not remember coming under "enemy fire." A fourth commander, Don Droz, who was one of Kerry's closest friends in Vietnam, was killed in action a month later.
The incident featured prominently in an anti-Kerry television ad produced by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth earlier this month. "John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star," says Van Odell, a gunner on PCF-23, one of the boats that came to the rescue of the stricken boat. "I know. I was there."
The Bronze Star controversy is also a major focus of an anti-Kerry book by John E. O'Neill, "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," which will hit No. 2 on The Post's bestseller list this weekend. The book accuses Kerry of "fleeing the scene" and lying repeatedly about his role.
Members of Kerry's crew have come to his defense, as has Rassmann, the Special Forces officer whom he fished from the river. Rassmann says he has vivid memories of being fired at from both banks after he fell into the river and as Kerry came to his rescue. The two had an emotional reunion on the eve of the Iowa Democratic caucuses in January, an event that some political analysts believe helped swing votes to Kerry at a crucial time.
The Bronze Star recommendations for both Kerry and Thurlow were signed by Lt. Cmdr. George M. Elliott, who received reports on the incident from his base in the Gulf of Thailand. Elliott is a supporter of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and has questioned Kerry's actions in Vietnam. But he has refused repeated requests for an interview after issuing conflicting statements to the Boston Globe about whether Kerry deserved a Silver Star. He was unreachable last night.
Money has poured into Swift Boat Veterans for Truth since the group launched its television advertisement attacking Kerry earlier this month. According to O'Neill, the group has received more than $450,000 over the past two weeks, mainly in small contributions. The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that the organization has also received two $100,000 checks from Houston home builder Bob Perry, who backed George W. Bush's campaigns for Texas governor and for president.
Bush campaign officials have said they have no connection to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which is not permitted to coordinate its activities with a presidential campaign under federal election law.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
> Neither the influential mainstream newspapers nor the broadcast television networks have reported the meltdown of Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia story.
Not surprised. The mainstream press doesn't want to get to the truth of the matter...accuse Kerry of lying. They want Kerry to win.
John Kerry Confuses Himself With Bob Kerrey
Of course John Kerry is afraid to run on his left-wing Senate record, but does that mean he should pose as a colleague?
Imagine the screaming headlines and nationwide media ridicule if President Bush confused himself with another pol. But don't expect the New York Times and company to report this:
In trying to defend his horrendous record on intelligence "and spin their way out of his lousy committee attendance record," Kerry's campaign "claimed on its website Monday, 'John Kerry served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for 8 years and is the former Vice Chairman of the Committee.' Fact is John Kerry has never – ever! – served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence," the Republican National Committee noted today.
"Turns out, there as a senator named Bob Kerrey from Nebraska who was vice chairman for a while. Kerry’s website later pulled the plug on the page, which might be construed as a metaphor for the whole campaign."
The RNC suggested: "Instead of posting false qualifications on the campaign website, maybe it would be wiser for John Kerry and the Gang That Couldn’t Spin Straight to follow the advice of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who called on the Kerry campaign Monday to end the controversy by simply releasing his committee attendance records. What are the odds?"
And thanks to Bush-Cheney '04 for finding this quote Feb. 10, 1994, in the Congressional Record from Kerry's Democrat colleague Dennis DeConcini, then a U.S. senator from Arizona: "Mr. President, the Kerry amendment includes a $1 billion cut in fiscal year 1994 and $5 billion over the next 5 years from intelligence activities."
Here's what Rep. Hastert said Monday: "John Kerry served on the Intelligence Committee from 1993 to 2000, and according to official records, John Kerry missed 76 percent of the public Senate Intelligence Committee hearings during that time. This figure doesn’t include his attendance at closed door meetings. Those records can only be released to the public at John Kerry’s request. This is something that needs to be done, and I join Senator Roberts, Senator Chambliss, Senator Cornyn, and Senator Coleman and others in calling on him to do so, so that the American people can judge the whole picture for themselves."
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Sunday on "Meet the Press," "The easiest way out of this is for John Kerry and John Edwards to request of Senator Rockefeller and myself to release the attendance hearings; not only the public hearings, which they have rebutted, but the closed hearings."
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said Sunday on CNN: "So I would go to what is solid, uncontrovertible fact, and that is the records that each committee keeps with regard to the attendance at every hearing of all the members, whether they're there or not. Now, those records are available. John Kerry, if he questions the authenticity of this ad that's out there now, should simply get those records and put them into the public domain."
Let's see, is there a positive spin to the fact that Kerry missed 38 of 49 public hearings of the Intelligence Committee, including the June 8, 2000, hearing on the National Commission on Terrorism's warning about the terrorist threat? Well, at least his 22 percent attendance rate was better than his Senate attendance recently.
...IS flat on it's back?
I won't even waste my time:
http://www.economagic.com/
Without the tax cuts this economy would be flat on it's back. When an economy is contracting, tax revenues decrease...EVEN IF YOU INCREASE THE TAX RATE! What's so hard to understand about that?
There two parts to the equation. Income and spending. RR proved lower tax rates could generate higher levels of federal revenue. Spending is the other part of the equation - everyone likes to give lip service to cutting it.
Kerry is trying to make everyone believe all he has to do is rollback the tax cuts on the top 1% and he'll be able to reduce the deficit, increase domestic spending, and give every American a government financed healthcare system. You know his math doesn't add up.
What were stock valuations in 1999? Sarals should have kept dumping her money into the market. Obviously things should have kept going up, up, up!
> I propose a roll back in the big tax break that Bush gave the rich...
What you're really saying is you would increase taxes on the group that already has the highest tax liability, pays the largest percentage of taxes.
>I propose restrained spending and a balanced budget...
I agree with you here, but Kerry is proposing even more spending. His economic plan doesn't add up. Go to factcheck.org
> I point out to you that Bush took a giant surplus and blew it and has run up record deficits.
Bush does deserve some of the blame (not for the tax cuts, but for the increases in spending, the Medicare legislation, etc.) The tax cuts only account for one-fifth of the deficits, and without them, our economy would still be flat on it's back, reducing federal income further. Everyone (especially liberals) seem to forget 911, the stock market bubble, the Tech bubble, and the corporate corruption of the '90s (under Clinton I remind you). Clinton also cashed in on the Defense dividend (remember that?), a freebie gratis RR.
What's your definition of "middle class?"
Go to this site"
http://www.taxfoundation.org/ff/cbostudy2.html
Look at the second chart. Look at the top quintile? What do you think their % of tax liability should be?
The "widening gap" has absolutely nothing to do with tax policy. If the "rich" are paying the highest in terms of percentage of their income, and the bottom 40% pay NOTHING, what do you propose? A communist state?
More big lies from Kerry.
Go to the CBO site and read the facts.
And what's the point? Am I supposed to be jealous and angry? Did they accumulate this wealth illegally? Don't they pay taxes on this income? What's the point?
Sarals, look at the charts.
The data is presented in quintiles (this is CBO data). Look at the chart that shows the effective tax rate. John Kerry and the DNC doesn't want voters to see this chart.
You can also find reports on the IRS site, but the data is always a couple years behind(don't ask me why). I think they break income groups down further, but I don't think they give slices by each %.
The term "top 60%" is just giving you a reference point. How else would you phrase it?
The CBO isn't "run by conservatives"
The charts on taxfoundation.org are based on CBO data. They (the CBO) break in income groups into quintiles. Read the report on the CBO site if you don't trust Taxfoundation.org
What's your point with knowing 1%, 2%, 5%? It wouldn't change the premise of my argument.
Sarals, do your homework before you pop-off.
The top 20% pay 64% !!!!!!
Read the entire CBO report and look at the charts on taxfoundation.org
CBO report
ftp://ftp.cbo.gov/57xx/doc5746/08-13-EffectiveFedTaxRates.pdf
Look at 'Table 4' on page 13
New CBO Study Confirms Wealthiest Americans Bear Income Tax Burden
By Scott A. Hodge
In its new study of tax burdens, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms what recent Tax Foundation research has shown: 40 percent of Americans pay no income tax. (See more on "zero-filers" here).
http://www.taxfoundation.org/ff/cbostudy2.html
LOOK AT THE CHARTS!!!!