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Me#1You#10
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 Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject: "Kerry Goes Down with His Swift Boat, Again" |
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Kerry's self-promoting grandstanding is not going un-commented upon. Dennis Byrne of the Chicago Trib gives him the what-for...
| Quote: | January 24, 2008
Kerry Goes Down with His Swift Boat, Again
By Dennis Byrne
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) now has accused Hillary Clinton's campaign of the worst possible--in his mind--evil: "Swiftboating" his choice for president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
Kerry, demonstrating a child-like inability to let go, on Tuesday dragged out the swiftboating analogy in an e-mail responding to what he called "disgusting lies" that "they" are floating that Obama is a secret Muslim and refuses to observe the Pledge of Alliance.
Kerry doesn't say who "they" are, but it's clear, considering the deteriorating civility of the two campaigns that he was referring to the Clinton camp. Kerry equates the "disgusting lies" told about Obama with what happened to him when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth challenged Kerry's claims, made during his presidential campaign, of bravery and heroism in the Vietnam War.
"As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we [presumably the editorial "we"] loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta have been rendered, in Karl Rove's twisted politics, an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone's character just to win an election," Kerry said in the email, supposedly emailed to 3 million "supporters." (I'm not a supporter, but it also showed up in my email.)
"But as someone who cares about winning this election and changing the country I love, I know it's not enough to complain about a past we can't change when our challenge is to win the future--which is why we must stop the Swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears."
Can we, Sen. Kerry, also stop this lame wallowing in self-pity over the campaign blunder you made? And unlike the anonymous attacks you claim are being made against Obama, these responses to your heroic assertions were made by identified people in the light of day.
Moreover, you brought up your Swift Boat record, not the Swift Boat veterans. You made the unabashed claim that you were some kind of hero. You attacked folks who dared challenge your assertions. You and your ilk were the ones who muddied up the reputations of people who exercised their right to free expression. Your folks coined the term Swiftboating and your ideological bedfellows are the ones who keep it alive. You are the one who continues to engage in a smear of naval veterans who served honorably.
Does Kerry really believe that he can bring up these bogus claims again without response? I was a naval officer at the same time as was Kerry, and when I read his book of his supposed Navy exploits, something immediately struck me as kinky, even before the Swift Boat group was formed. (For example, he asserted that officers in training at the Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I. were routinely ordered to hit the deck and "do 50." This is bull, and Kerry knows it. No one I knew there ever was subjected to such punishment. Instead, they were issued "red gigs," which, if you gathered enough, cut into your liberty.)
But I wasn't in the Mekong Delta, and in honesty, I have to say that I find credible assertions on both sides. A good idea might have been for Kerry to let it all rest, but he can't stop himself. Witness this recent episode, related here by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., editor in chief of The American Spectator:Just a few weeks ago Kerry blundered into buffoonery once again. Impatient with unsubstantiated claims that the 2004 Swift Boat advertisements lied about Kerry's hoked-up military record, Boone Pickens, one of the funders of those ads, publicly challenged the critics to demonstrate the ads' inaccuracies. He promised to provide $1 million to anyone who succeeded. Astonishingly, Kerry took the bait. With the consummate presumption that makes him the "comic perpetual motion machine" that he is, Kerry wrote Pickens: "While I am prepared to show they [the Swift Boat Veterans, often his fellow officers] lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false, I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt." That said -- and only that said -- Kerry asked for his cool million.
Pickens's perfectly reasonable response was to ask for Kerry's proof. As of today, no proof has been tendered by the Massachusetts Braggart. Pickens also cleverly asked for the journal that Kerry allegedly maintained in Vietnam and "Your military record, specifically your service records for the years 1971-1978, and copies of all movies and tapes made during your service." Megalomaniac that he is, Kerry filmed himself in Vietnam. Some of his fellow servicemen thought the films faked injuries and actions.... As retired Marine Corps Major Michael E. McBride wrote in Townhall.com, Kerry "has always had the power to clear up any of the Swiftboater challenges; all he had to do is allow the Navy to distribute unaltered copies of his service record, medical records, and DD214. It is essential that these records come from DOD, so that they cannot be tampered with by Kerry or his supporters. The DOD copies are the true copies of record and the only viable evidence for these maters." McBride, citing Kerry's long reluctance to do, so goes on to write, "it is unlikely that any credible evidence exists to refute the base charges of the Swiftboaters." He concludes, "If any of my ex-squadron mates dumped on me like the Swift boat vets are dumping on Kerry, my records would have been available the next day...."
I suppose it is "divisive" of us to try to rebut any of Kerry's charges, which now are taken as the given truth by the Left. But, again, folks who challenge Kerry's account of his heroics aren't the ones who brought this up. Kerry brings this on by himself, this time in the wearisome belief that this presidential election is about him.
Dennis Byrne is a Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist. dennis@dennisbyrne.net
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gmez2001
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Joined: 17 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject: Kerry |
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Kerry--- "As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we [presumably the editorial "we"] loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta"
I think he means in-country Cambodia not Mekong Delta,sorry bas###
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Navy wife
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Joined: 09 Aug 2004
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Location: Arlington, VA & Ft. Worth, TX
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| What a great article! I'm going to send it to friends!! |
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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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Not surprisingly, the Globe sees it a bit differently...but "Helming the Democrats' Armada?"...there goes my lunch...
| Quote: | 'Swift-boated' once, Kerry now helms Democrats' armada
Vows to defend colleagues against political smears
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / January 24, 2008
Kerry, according to top aides, deeply regrets that he did not aggressively confront the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks. He said yesterday he is still trying to set the record straight.
Boston Globe - cont'd |
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Navy wife
Research Director
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 353
Location: Arlington, VA & Ft. Worth, TX
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| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:10 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | But Kerry worries the political smear tactics will only get worse.
"The attacks in 2004 started as an anonymous e-mail campaign," he said in the interview yesterday. "This is a highly developed process by which [Republicans] try to destroy people on a personal level. l think it's cowardly and I dislike it intensely." |
Does anyone remember the above happening??? To my recollection, it was all above board. Who needed an anonymous email campaign when they had the Swifties appearing on talk radio, etc. I sure wish someone would challenge him on this! |
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gmez2001
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| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:54 pm Post subject: Vietnam Vets |
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As Vietnam Vets we've been stuffing anger for decades. More appropriately for myself it has been 'RAGE'. It wasn't till the book Tour of Duty came out in early 04 where Mr.Kerry was taking credit for heroic deeds of others and rewriting Swift history that this RAGE surfaced.
Recently-
Request for medical records.............stonewalled
Request for info on Cambodian secret missions..............stonewalled
Requests for proof of SVPT lies................stonewalled
Need I mention another 100 lies and Swift job firings.
Mr.Kerry can blame only one for the backlash that has occured in the last 4 yrs.
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Me#1You#10
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| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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Taranto comments...
| Quote: | Best of the Web Today - January 24, 2008
By JAMES TARANTO
Musty French Whines
John Kerry* who recently endorsed Barack Obama for president, blogs at the Puffington Host to say he's still suffering over all the beastly things people said about him when he was running for president:
I hate the term "Swiftboating." I hate how the name of the boats we honored when we were in uniform in Vietnam has become a verb for the twisted politics of Karl Rove.
But today we need to fight the right wing's tactics not just to reclaim a word, but to reclaim our democracy.
And for anyone who thinks, "we don't even have a nominee yet, are the Republicans really attacking Democratic presidential candidates already?"--the answer is not just yes, but it matters (and, yes, some people are really asking that).
Just think back to April of 2003. Yes, 2003.
In the New York Times the Republican narrative was first introduced:
"Another Bush adviser said of Mr. Kerry, 'He looks French.' " In fairness to the unnamed Bush adviser, the French were a lot more antagonistic in those days. Kerry goes on:Bottom line, we can't wait until we have a Democratic ticket to combat the right wing's efforts to "frame" our candidates.
Yesterday, I sent out an email to Barack Obama's email community urging people to fight against the vicious smears from the modern conservative movement (they began in a right wing magazine) that have been bouncing around the Internet for months. . . .
The right-wing has nothing to offer but fear and smears, and they are gearing up to deliver plenty of it. . . . I think we all know enough about how the right-wing operates to know that this money won't go to helping voters make informed choices. . . .
And right now, the most egregious right-wing smears are being spread about Barack Obama. . . .
We can't let the right-wing steal another election with lies and distortions. Is Kerry aware of who has been smearing Barack Obama of late? Does he really think the Hillary Clinton campaign sits at the center of the vast right-wing conspiracy?
* "I have the hate to this day." Whoops, make that "hat."
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ocsparky101
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Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 479
Location: Allen Park. Michigan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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Could it possibly be that the dems are using the word "Swiftboating" as a way of covering up their lies. Instead of defending what is said about them they say "I've been Swiftboated" and the voting public has to go out themselves and find the truth. You will notice they never say, " I've been Swiftboated and here is what the truth is and here is the documented proof."
Kerry could prove the Swiftboat Veterans to be liars by releasing his Military records, FBI Files, his diaries and any other documents that have not be Rather/Burketted to Kerry's benifit. |
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streetsweeper95B
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Location: Texas
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: |
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That'll never happen......
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