SwiftVets.com

[RocketFett]

PMC, I don't think anyone here is having a pity party really. It's clear that the SBVs have been brilliant and executed the movement very well. I'm not feeling sorry about anything, I'm quite simply p****d in several shades of red and ready to get in someone in the medias face and rip them a new one. Self pity is hardly the emotion I'm feeling after seeing a day full of slanted anti-SBVT reporting on tv. The emotion I'm feeling is full out unfiltered rage and contempt. I don't WANT to get used to the msm. I REFUSE to get used to the MSM. I want them GONE! Replaced! Removed! Eliminated! I just have no clue how to do that! If someone has a plan, I'm there. It's gone on long enough with them and seeing how they've all gotten in bed with kerry like the $3 hookers they've always been just makes me want to descimate them even more.

The msm is literally nothing more than an aggressive cancer and it needs to be cut out before it kills the remaining healthy surrounding tissue that is the real America. If I had millions of dollars I'm to the point I'd give it all up and live content on a tight budget if that's what it took to eliminate the msm and replace them with people who just reported the news and didn't interject their small simpleton liberal opinions as though it was real news.

[cipher]

One thing I am absolutely certain about is that John O'Neill -- not in his WILDEST dreams -- thought that "Unfit For Command" would be #1 Bestseller on the TOP of the NYT charts in TWO weeks.

The POWERFUL message in the book is out there, being digested even as we speak, by many who do NOT use the internet, and who think the "Blogs" are some long-hair one-hit-wonder bubblegum rock group of the 60s.

It's going to take time. But time is on our side. We have some momentum, which translates to inertia. Once the ball starts rolling, it's hard to stop it.

Most Americans can tolerate a lot of flaws in a man. Lying is not high on that list. Look at what lying bought Clinton. Except to the Kool-Aid crowd, he's an anathema. His book only sold *barely* a million copies. Unfit will sell FAR more, and Kerry isn't even as good a liar as Bubba by half!

The sky is NOT falling. Or rather, it is not falling on US.

I can't imagine what it must be like in the HQ of the Kerry campaign. I do wish, however, that I was a fly on the wall....
_________________
USMC 69-72, 7th Comm, 3rd MarDiv, FMFPAC
US Army 75-79, 97th Sig, SHAPE, NATO
Arkansas National Guard 79
Defense contractor for US Navy, SSPO, SP-20, SP-24, OP-12 84-92

[RocketFett]

Hallelujah that's great! #1 on the NYT Best seller list! FANTASTIC! That's great news! I was hoping for that and in just two weeks! That beat the snot out of both clinton books! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! I needed that today! Feel much better now. Eat that johnny boy!!!

[sevry]

[Billman]

We're spoiled.

We've been the lead story every day for weeks, which is nearly unprecedented post-OJ. Let's not feel *too* bad if some other world news intrudes for a day or two. It's natural and normal. Meanwhile, as others have pointed out, that soft "dig dig dig" sound you hear is the sound of several dozen journalists filing FOIA's and interviewing Navy comms specialists and poking around historical archives and perhaps (ala Watergate) pursuing potential leakers, who are very, very aware this story could make their careers ala Woodward/Bernstein.

This is a watershed story in political campaign history, a campaign-changing event on the level of the Nixon/Kennedy TV debates or the anti-Goldwater "Daisy" ad. It represents the first major example of new media trumping mainstream media as a credible gatherer and disseminator of the truth, dwarfing Drudge/Lewinski or Howard Dean's Internet effort. And a "tipping point" for both Democratic Party and MSM credibility - MILLIONS of people, including plenty of everyday Joe Six-Packs, have begun noticing the contradictions and the extremes they've gone to spike this story.

Yes, I'm angry and dismayed at the media's utter laziness in letting people like Mike Meehan spout uncontested lies (everybody catch him saying "yes!" on Friday to Tony Snow's query whether they'd released "every scrap of paper" from Kerry's record?). It kills me. Their spin machine is working well. But because it's built on lies, it is ultimately unsustainable, and they will fall that much harder in the end, as the truth inevitably outs.

One other thing. Most people, including journalists, haven't read Unfit for Command yet, I only got my pre-ordered Amazon copy last week. Expect another wave of interest and media pressure as folks digest it.
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-- Bill in Seattle

[Wolfgang]

There are some very perceptive comments in this thread--I very much agree (and have stated elsewhere in this forum) that the MSM are indeed trying to slam the door, using whatever excuse is most superficially plausible (that's the "official documents" line for the moment), and proactively ignoring the rest. (It's astonishing to me how little the press, even given its heavy list to the left, cares about Kerry's character.)

One thing that would really help here is to update the FAQ (last updated in June!) to incorporate these most recent issues.

The number 1 new FAQ question: "I've been following this in the NYT: If all the evidence against Kerry is anecdotal, subjective, and purely partisan, while the objective evidence and official records all support him, why shouldn't we believe Kerry when he says he's telling us 'God's honest truth'?"

The FAQ will have to dissect the question, pointing out that much of the evidence against Kerry is objective (and much of the "anecdotal" evidence is first-person observation, not hearsay or just-so stories), by no means are all or all the leading Swift Vets Republican (and even those who are have much more to lose than gain by fighting this fight), and by no means do all the official records support him, and even of those that do, if Kerry is the author or source for the records, and there's strong reason (which will have to be offered in the FAQ) to believe that's often the case, particularly with some of the more controversial documents, then those records have no evidential value whatever supporting Kerry.

It should also point out that Kerry is witholding myriad relevant documents, and implicitly demanding that the government hide relevant information as well.

Finally, it should point out the nature of Kerry's counterattacks: vicious and dishonest smears, which viciousness and dishonesty is easily shown, even to most Kerry supporters. This observation should be joined with the obvious question: why would an honest man respond to his critics with transparent dishonesty and distortions instead of with the supposed truth he claims to possess? And this from a self-declared war hero running primarily on his record in Vietnam?

Perhaps this part of the FAQ should point out as a P.S. that the MSM is predominantly pro-Kerry, and that when you get 13 reporters in a room with 12 of them Kerry supporters, you're not going to get very aggressive or probing reporting--they may trust Kerry (most of what the MSM says makes complete sense if and only if you go into the story knowing that Kerry was being wholly truthful), and they (eagerly) believe their own smears about the Swift Vets. (And to the extent they don't trust him, no matter: they hate Bush a lot more. But that probably doesn't belong in the FAQ.) It's a lot easier and more immediately gratifying to let the a priori leftward group consensus pre-empt any need to look for surprising, unpleasant, and damaging truths. Better to stick with the program, as the media did with Clinton's pre-election scandals. Victory now, shame later--a perfectly acceptable tradeoff.

[OsanFAC]

As Rush has said the MSM were the biggest supporters of Campaign Finance Reform. Now you know why. They want to be the only voice out there, a voice unchallenged who can push their agenda to the "useful idiots."
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OsanFAC

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke

[jataylor11]

I read through this entire thread and a few thoughts came to mind.

Hannity is always saying "let not your heart be troubled". I think this applies here. The MSM which I now officially name the LLSM Liberal Lamestream Media (credit due to many others) will never be on the side of the SwiftVets.

Second, I believe that the majority of Americans are people of integrity and the Swift Vets appeal to our "better angels" because there is the ring of truth in everything that comes from the SwiftVets. All of the negative words and impressions spouted out there are coming from DNC mouthpieces and the LLSM shills. I believe that those who internally are still guided by their better angels discount what these people say. The truth has a different tone and the truth still matters to a majority of people.

There are two stories that will have legs through November.

(1) Official Navy investigation into Kerry's records --- I suggest everyone write their Congressmen and demand this investigation, and

(2) The true ramifications of the 1971 testimony, meetings in Paris, and the anti-war movement in general.

America was too raw to examine Vietnam in the 70's or 80's. In the 90's we were too busy and told it did not matter. Kerry made a big mistake when he said his 4 months in Vietnam qualified him to lead the war on terror. Now we Americans can look back without tender, aching wounds and examine the effects of the anti-war movement. We are not wincing in pain to examine our history.

The only result will be that people will finally acknowledge the damage done by the Kerry and his ilk and not want the same thing to happen to the servicemen today.

[7rrfs]

[MartinKnight]

My own question for the SwiftVets is why are you guys not focussing on John Kerry's absolute refusal to execute Standard Form 180?

There's no way the Press would be able to ignore (not that they wouldn't try) that story after their frenzy to prove that Bush was AWOL while serving in the Texas Air National Guard.

Pound and pound on that issue, again and again. John Kerry says that he should be elected President based entirely on his four months in-country in Vietnam. This means that the people of the United States deserve to look at his full and complete record, not just the sanitized bits of it on his website and in his hagiography.

I honestly don't see any negative consequence in this. Does anybody?

[LongKnife56]

I have written the following draft of a letter to the editor which I intend to send to several local newspapers. I know it probably won't get published as it is way too long, but I have already left out way too much. How can I cut out more and still make my point?
########################
Most readers and viewers of the mainstream media have only seen or read a very one sided view about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). They will know that one donor to Bush also gave them some ($200,000 seed) money, but not that this is perfectly legal and that now over 30,000 have donated millions of dollars. They will never hear or read that many Democrat fat cat donors such as George Soros or Peter Lewis gave many millions each to the 527’s that Kerry and the DNC organized and run. They will have heard or read about the (unnecessary) resignations of one Bush volunteer and one lawyer, but not about Zack Exley, Harold Ickies, Joe Sandler and the many other people continuing to serve on both the Kerry/DNC staff and their 527’s, such as Move On and ACT (because the media will give them a pass). They will have heard about the demand for all Bush’s Guard records, but not that all had been released. They will not have heard any call for the release of all Kerry’s records and that he continues not to release them. They will not read that Kerry withdrew some from his website (the January 1969 spot reports). They will have heard that Bush volunteered for the Guard (ostensibly to escape Vietnam but not that he volunteered to fly dangerous F102 jets or later to be assigned to Vietnam). They will have heard that Kerry volunteered, but not that it was for the relatively safe Naval Reserve and certainly not that he first sought a deferment (that was refused) and then later sought assignment to swift boats which until then had only conducted relatively safe coastal missions. They will not have heard that Kerry admitted he went to Vietnam to build a political resume similar to JFK’s and was one of the few who bought a movie camera to film himself and probably one of the very, very few to dress up and go back and re-enact an event for filming. They will have heard the Kerry campaign’s mantra that only enlisted personnel on his boat (and not more knowledgeable (officer) observers 25 yards away) can testify to events and that the Navy records agree with Kerry’s version, but not that he himself wrote (and admitted to writing) those very same reports. They will not have read that expert military analysis of these reports indicates that they do not support his version (for instance, the lack of weapons fire battle damage or casualties in his Rassmann rescue after action report do not a support the under enemy fire claim.) They will not have heard that Kerry’s boat was the only one to (initially) run away while they others stayed to pick up other survivors of the mine damaged boat). They will not have heard or read that he has now had to retract his often told tale that Nixon (somehow prior to taking office in 1969) ordered him into Cambodia to spend Christmas 1968 - an event that was seared, seared in his memory and a turning point in his life. They will not have heard that the Navy/US Military has never had such a medal as his silver star with a “V.” Kerry spent a lot of time building his record as a war hero and decided to make it the main stone of his campaign. He spent most of his acceptance speech discussing his abbreviated 4 month Vietnam tour rather than his lengthy anti-Vietnam war record or his 19 year Senate career. He invited all to “bring it on” and made it a legitimate campaign issue. Now that the SBVTs have brought it on, rather than defending his record by releasing all 100+ pages of his military files, he is trying to make them stop. He and his campaign have smeared the people who sought to exercise their free speech rights and have tried to get TV stations not to play their ads, and the publisher not to print and bookstores not to sell “Unfit for Command.” Vietnam Vets are used to being spat upon so that won’t stop us. But to better understand why the SBVTs won’t stop exercising the free speech rights for which they fought, imagine that you had been captured and that your only hope of receiving some of the Geneva Convention POW protections had been dashed by a Naval officer publicly testifying that you were a war criminal because you had committed war atrocities on a daily basis. We Vietnam Vets do not think such a person should be the commander in chief at a time when we have military personnel in harm’s way.
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1/9th Air Cav
Phuoc Vinh, RVN '69-70

[Billman]

"My own question for the SwiftVets is why are you guys not focussing on John Kerry's absolute refusal to execute Standard Form 180?"

Martin, with all due respect (and welcome aboard), you've got to be kidding.

This has been the Swift Vet's mantra from the beginning. Refer to their initial letter to John Kerry (available on this site). Refer to "Unfit For Command". Thousands of letters to editors have been sent pounding this point (though few get printed). The Washington Post is finally on board, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38492-2004Aug27.html and note how often the question was asked and that the reporter agrees.

The issue isn't lack of focus. It's that the media has utterly refused to make it an issue. We can't control what they choose to write about. The Post and Chicago Sun-Times are the only major papers I know that are pushing for the records, and they came belatedly. OF COURSE it's inconsistent with the Bush/National Guard records treatment. Which makes more sense when you note that Beltway reporters favor Kerry over Bush 12:1, per an NYT poll. All we can do is keep pushing, you're quite correct there's no downside.

Again welcome.
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-- Bill in Seattle

[7rrfs]

[ruby]

Hi folks. Just a gal reared in West Texas here, who now lives in the heart of the liberal city of Austin...

I'm posting to tell ya'll that I am now reading B.G. Burkett's book Stolen Valor. My 13-year old daughter was supposed to read Fallen Angels for history class (won't waste time describing it). I was prompted to look into a book that would debunk all of the myths. A mom of a classmate of my daughter told me that "the VietNam war was fought by poor blacks - more of them died than anybody else".

I know that I am not the only person who lived through the 60s and 70s that is just now getting a clue about the corruption/collusion of the media. Thank you Swiftvets for having the character and fortitude to withstand the tongue.

[Support Our Troops!]

News is bound to concentrate on the convention this week. No way a 527 can penetrate all that. When things are over, all the issues the Swifties have brought up will still be there.