Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Tom K]

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."