SwiftVets.com

[raincross]

I read that the Swift Vets are producing a new ad. I want to give them a little advice. Given the press coverage that the first Swift Ad has gotten, any new ad that talks about his medals isn't going to lead to any conclusive proof that Kerry is lying. It will just be people shouting back and forth at each other with one side saying the people on Kerry's boat support him and another side saying most of his chain of command is against him.
So, as they say in public relations and marketing, the Swifties need to focus their message. They need to simplfy it and play to their strongest point.
Of all the allegations brought forth by the swift vets, the only one that can be proven completely true is the "Christmas in Cambodia" story.
Why? Because the story doesn't even need any backing up from the Swift Vets themselves. They can just use Kerry's own words and compare it to what Douglas Brinkley has said "he was 50 miles away" and what his campaign has now said "he was near Cambodia."
Because of the way the media and Democratic Party attack machine has handled this the Swift Vets themselves don't have a ton of credibility. To many they are seen as a shadowy, right-wing funded group of people who never served on Kerry's boat. We know this isn't true, but that is the message the DNC has been effective at getting out.
But the Swift Vets can give themselves a HUGE boost of credibility if they play their cards right.
The Kerry campaign and Brinkley has said that Kerry was in Cambodia it just wasn't on Christmas. Let's leave the part about him possibly (very unlikey) being in Cambodia in Jan. or Feb. out for right now. Remember: focus the message, keep it simple.

Now image this ad.
It opens with two quotes from John Kerry:
"Mr. President, I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in
Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared -— seared -— in me, that says to me, before we send another generation into harm's way we have a responsibility in the U.S. Senate to go the last step, to make the best effort possible in order to avoid that kind of conflict." [see Congressional Record - Senate of March 27, 1986, page 3594]

And then this one:
"I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon [sic] claimed there were no American troops was very real." -- interview with the Boston Herald, 1979.

Then cut to the quote from Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley:
"On Christmas Eve he was near Cambodia; he was around 50 miles from the Cambodian border."

The public will recognize the absurdity of saying you are five miles inside Cambodia when you were actually 50 miles away.

Follow with the quote from the Kerry campaign saying that Kerry was near Cambodia, but not in it.

Then end the ad with a line about how John Kerry can't be trusted.
Also, "swiftvets.com" should run along on the bottom of the ad to get people to come here for more info and to buy the book.

So this ad will do 4 things:
1) Show to a wide audience that Kerry has been less than truthful about his Vietnam record over a span of manys years.
2) It will bring a hint of credibility to the Swift Vets other claims about John Kerry's service. It is much easier for someone to believe your version of the story if you have already been proven right once before.
3) Since this ad is using Kerry's own words and the words of his biographer and campaign spokespeople against him, the focus will be less on the individual credibility of the people making the charges (which is what happened with the first ad) and more on if the actually facts of the ad are true.
4) After the ad is released, Kerry's people will fan out and say that Kerry was just mixed up about the dates and was "near Cambodia" on Christmas Eve, but actually was in the country later in Jan. and Feb. dropping off CIA agents like he has claimed. This puts the ball in Kerry's court. To have any credibility left, Kerry must show that he actually did go to Cambodia at some point. He needs to find someone to back up his story either from his boat or from military records or one of these CIA agents needs to step up and say it was me who gave him the hat. All of this puts the Kerry campaign on the defensive and takes the burden of proof off of the swift vets. If he can't show that he was in Cambodia at some point he's screwed and his credibiliy as a candidate will be damaged beyond repair. If (by some miracle) he actually did go to Cambodia and can prove it, at the minimum, he will look like a fool for telling an obviously false story for so many years and saying it with so much conviction. Everyone knows the guy who always lies to makes himself look better even when he doesn't need to lie. NOBODY wants that guy as President.

[integritycounts]

moved my respone to this main thread http://www.swiftvets.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2515

[raincross]

integritycounts,
You are underestimating the DNC spin machine. If the swift vet ads keep just saying "this is what I saw" the DNC will continue to assult their motives and continue to say that "these people didn't serve on John Kerry's boat and the people who were on his boat suport him."
This is a very effective defense.
Using the Cambodia story and Kerry's own words establishes the Swift Vets as credible and then you can start using the "this is what I saw" angle.