Dimsdale
Captain
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 527
Location: Massachusetts: the belly of the beast
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 Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject: Swiftee notes on ABC's "The Note" from Aug 24, 200 |
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From http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_Aug2304.html
Let's see how things compare now and then....
| Quote: | —What the Los Angeles Times wrote last Tuesday is more true — not less true — after a weekend of reporting by several serious news organizations:
"What military documentation exists and has been made public generally supports the view put forth by Kerry and most of his crewmates — that he acted courageously and came by his Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts honestly. This view of Kerry as war hero is supported by all but one of the surviving veterans who served with him on the two boats he commanded."
"None of the critics quoted in the ad actually served on the boats with Kerry. Some of them also have given contradictory accounts and offered conflicting recollections." |
Those two paragraphs seem to conflict with each other, don't they?
| Quote: | —There is no sign that the controversy has fundamentally affected the race (There is no dramatic change in the horserace number … ), but plenty of feeling that it can erode Kerry's credibility and tarnish his war record.
—This blind quote in the New York Times from a Democrat "close" to the Kerry campaign is very key: "When you're basically running on your biography and there are ongoing attacks that are undermining the credibility of your biography, you have a really big problem." |
Bwaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa!!!! You gotta be kidding!!! Clearly, these two paragraphs also contradict each other.
| Quote: | —There is no evidence that the Bush campaign is orchestrating the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and the known ties between them are significantly less close than between John Kerry's campaign and the 527s supporting him.
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Can't argue with that!
| Quote: | | —The traditional media has shown no capacity to resist the story — for a week and counting this stuff has been the dominant narrative of the presidential race. |
Please explain the months of May through early September.
| Quote: | | —In the days left before November, name all news organizations who will devote more space and time to the health care proposals of President Bush and Sen. Kerry than to Senator Kerry's war record. (The answer: none.) |
Senator Kerry will devote less space and time to his health care proposals
than his war record. It is all he has, and it is a sinking ship!
| Quote: | | —If John Kerry can't build a campaign organization that can de-fang 250 guys spending a million bucks, how good a president could he possibly be? |
Another well written point!
| Quote: | —Undermining ONE of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charges — such as William Rood did — does not undermine them all. The reporting on Rood by many news organizations over the weekend — painting him as repudiating all the charges being made after "dramatically breaking his silence" — was embarrassing.
—Kerry's truthfulness is significantly more in question on the Cambodia "issue" than it is on any of his medals, which is why the anti-Kerry group returns to Cambodia whenever its credibility is challenged. |
The truth is a stubborn thing, isn't it Kerry?
| Quote: | | —The traditional media can never cover this story in enough volume to satisfy Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. |
Good for them!!
| Quote: | | —Bob Dole knew exactly what effect his statements would have on keeping the story alive. |
Good for him!!!
| Quote: | | —Kerry and his campaign have been inconsistent on the question of whether President Bush's National Guard record should be and will be an issue in this race. |
Clearly that is out of date!!! CBS has made sure it will fade into the sunset, despite Kerry's best efforts to distract from his shameful Vietnam career, post Vietnam career, and pointless Senate career. Did I mention that he was Dukakis' Lieutenant Governor? (as useless as teats on a bull, and still is).
| Quote: | | — The unwillingness of the Bush capaign and the White House to directly answer questions focused on the CONTENT of the Swift Boat Veterans attack on Kerry's war record (rather than their view of 527s) should ashame and embarrass the whole nation -- despite reporters' best efforts. |
Why should they? Free speech is for the Swiftees too, the same kind Michael Moore enjoys, without the lies!
| Quote: | | —If the terrain switches to Kerry's protest-era statements, the story will be kept alive even longer, and Kerry's capacity to win the "truth" war will be more limited. |
The Swiftees are already pounding him on this!!! Sic 'em boys!!!
The rest for your viewing pleasure or fury....(have to hit the road!)
| Quote: | Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: morning show wrap:
Questions about Sen. Kerry's war record were still front and center on the morning shows. The stories appear to have more elements that are positive for Kerry than they did last week — though the topic's continued dominance is taking attention away from issues Kerry would prefer to focus on.
Today's stories featured former Sen. Dole's Sunday charge (which ABC's Jake Tapper smartly pointed out was, in part, factually flawed), Kerry's new ad charging "smears" and "lies," Ken Cordier being dismissed by the Bush campaign after appearing in a "Swift Boat" ad, two vets stepping forward to support Kerry's version of events, and Edwards calling (once again) on Bush to take the ads down.
CNN's Kelly Wallace said Kerry is scheduled to give a speech tomorrow in which he will try to bring the focus back on the issues while staying on the offensive on the Swift Boat charges.
Roll Call 's Morton Kondracke said on "Fox and Friends" that the net political effect of the story has been negative for Kerry since he is now a "hero with a question mark."
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: political implications:
The Wall Street Journal 's John Harwood and Jeanne Cummings write that Kerry was "hurt" by the Swift Boat Veterans ads, is trying this week to blunt a possible pre-convention bounce for President Bush, and that the Bush campaign was "embarrassed" by a Florida Republican flyer advertising a Swift Boat Veterans rally and by the resignation of a Bush-Cheney volunteer who appeared in the second Swift Boat ad. LINK
"Polls suggest the attacks by the group 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' have harmed Mr. Kerry significantly, whittling the four- to five-percentage-point lead the Democratic nominee built following his party's convention last month. A CBS News poll released late last week showed Mr. Kerry leading Mr. Bush by 46% to 45%, down from 48% to 43% earlier. . . . . But without a quick halt in the erosion, Kerry aides face the prospect that the president could emerge from the Republican convention with a national edge heading into the election homestretch."
The New York Times ' Adam Nagourney made this key point in Saturday editions: LINK
"For one thing, this was no ordinary issue, since it was so central to Mr. Kerry's candidacy. For another, it was no ordinary time, coming right after his convention. And finally, one Democrat said, even if the White House was not behind the attacks, stories questioning Mr. Kerry's account of this central moment in his biography had the effect of reinforcing a main line of Republican attack — that Mr. Kerry was not trustworthy."
Today, Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg get that "Democrat close to the [Kerry] campaign" to give this dire synopsis: "When you're basically running on your biography and there are ongoing attacks that are undermining the credibility of your biography, you have a really big problem." LINK
The duo also Note that in the midst of criticizing Kerry and saying he owed answers and an apology to veterans on CNN this weekend, Sen. Dole said Kerry has "the edge" in the Electoral College and battleground states.
Maureen Dowd used her splashy Sunday column to take President Bush and Karl Rove to task for allowing others to do their fighting. LINK
Ditto Joe Klein:
"The Swifties' ability to dominate the news with incendiary nonsense is, I believe, a direct result of Kerry's unwillingness to dominate the news with tart, controversial substance by challenging the president on Iraq."LINK
Howard Kurtz writes that the Kerry campaign's new ad reflects "anxiety and astonishment" over the Swift Boat Veterans ad. LINK
In his Sunday Boston Globe column, Thomas Oliphant makes the argument that John O'Neill and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth may backfire and end up hurting George Bush and not John Kerry. LINK
A sampling of conservative opinion columnists on Kerry and Vietnam, listed in order of decreasing frequency of phone contacts with Karl Rove (Note: that's a joke):
Michael Barone: LINK
(Cambodia)
Bob Novak: Ok, well, he's moved on to another subject: BRAC and North Korea: LINK
John Leo: LINK
(Cambodia)
Thomas Sowell: LINK
(liberals and Vietnam)
Key weekend stories: LINK and LINK and LINK
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: what's next:
The New York Post is WRONG. There is nothing "new" about the documentary, "Brothers in Arms." It is the hour-long documentary made last year. LINK and LINK
The Washington Post 's Romano and Nakamura quote the co-chair of Wisconsin Vets for Bush calling the Swift Boat Veterans ads "un-American." LINK
Josh Marshall re-read Bob Dole's autobiography and discovered that Dole was once the victim of a self-inflicted wound, too. LINK
Newsweek's Evan Thomas and T. Trent Gegax look at the "hostile fire" between the SBVfT and Senator Kerry — Senator Kerry is personally involved in the fight-back strategy — he himself choosing the words "dirty tricks" to describe the Bush team's involvement — and looks at the facts in the Vietnam veteran's favor.LINK
Re: the new Kerry ad: "The campaign is not purchasing new advertising time for the commercial, but is instead rotating it with another ad it began running last week in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia that features a former Green Beret who was saved by Kerry in Vietnam," reports Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times. LINK
Anne Kornblut gets in the SBVft controversy with her full account of the charges back and forth. If you feel you've missed some of it, read this Boston Globe report and you'll be all caught up. LINK
Kornblut seems to have this by herself: "In California, the Santa Clara County Republican Party included a posting from the Swift Boat group on its website."
The New York Post 's Deb Orin once again chatted with the folks at "HCD Research and Muhlenberg College Institute of Politics" and found the experts there to say the first response ad from team Kerry with Rassmann was not all that effective. In addition, Orin reports the analysts believe the first Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad is more effective than the second. LINK
We still have deep doubts about the "methodology" of this voodoo. |
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Everytime he had a choice, Kerry chose to side with communists rather than the United States. |
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