SwiftVets.com

[mudderfudder77]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5853704/site/newsweek/

Nauseating article from Newsweeks worst journalist. Someone with more knowledge than I needs to email him and set the record straight about the SwiftVets and how they differ from MoveOn.org

A choice section of this "piece"

[Me#1You#10]

Jonathan Alter lost any pretense of objective "journalism" many moons ago.

Consider the source, then move on.

[noc]

I sent this...

Jonathan wake up and smell the BLOGS

"Contrast those with the case of the Swift Boat veterans, whose thoroughly discredited accounts of John Kerry's Vietnam service...."

1..You must be referring to the 'Christmas in Cambodia' story. Right? Oh, wait, they admitted that was a lie.

2..How 'bout the first purple heart award. Right? Oh, wait, Kerry campaign admitted that it may have been self inflicted.

3..Must be the bronze star then. Right? Oh, wait, Kerry did leave down river for 3 miles and then come back to the other boats that stayed to help PFC3.

4..What about the third purple heart? Shrapnel to the left buttocks from the mine 60 yards away under water. Shhh don't tell em it was the rice stockpile explosion from earlier that day.

5..No really it was that he never threw away his metals. Right? They were his ribbons or er um someone else's.

See the forth ad yet Jonathan?

[republicanveteran]

Same advice I gave before, cancel your subscription and don't read any more of those liberal rags: time, newsweek, people...


I quit reading them about 7 years ago, at the same time I quit watching Network television.

My life is so much better...

[drjohn]

Alter is a totally lost cause.

Literary bravura is mostly accompanied by physical shelter.

He is a very opinionated wimp who would dare not ever put himself in the position of having to actually defend some of the stupid things he says.

[Stevie]

good letter sent noc!

you tell 'em....

these journalists are gonna see the light soon.... there are to many people checking into Kerry stuff now.... military won't take lightly altered citations.... and the guy who got the other fakes (I don't remember his name)...... we'll get 'em....

[noc]

[tvaughan]

My letter to to MSNBC/Newsweek regarding that Alter fellow.

To the Editor:

Jonathon Alter refers to the accounts of John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's as "thoroughly discredited".

It's a rather simple statement to write, but far more difficult to back up. I'd like to know just which accounts he's talking about and just how they have been discredited.

Is Mr. Alter referring to Mr. Kerry's first purple heart? The purple heart that was refused the first time because there was no hostile fire? Because it was merely a scratch? Has this been discredited? No, it has not. It has been backed up by all available evidence.

Or is Mr. Alter referring to Mr. Kerry's third purple heart, which by Mr. Kerry's own version of events, was actually just a deep bruise (assuming there was hostile fire that day)? Has this been discredited? No, it has not. It has been backed up by all available evidence.

Is Mr. Alter referring to the citation that clearly states that there was hostile fire on March 13, 1969? Unfortunately, the "official version" of events is hardly discrediting to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as it is the "Official Version" itself that the Swift Boat Vets dispute. A thing's existence does not prove its accuracy.

It would be quite a conspiracy indeed if the official paper work did not give good reason for that Bronze Star. What else would that paperwork say? To my knowledge, no one disputes that fact that Mr. Kerry was actually awarded the Bronze Star. The dispute is what information was pushed up the chain of command, who pushed it up and whether that information is in fact what happened.

As a personal opinion from someone who was not there: if there was hostile fire that day, can someone explain to me how they endured 5000 meters of it for over an hour and a half as they towed another boat? Not only how did they survive, but how did they get through without any bullet holes?

Whether there was hostile fire that day or not will remain in dispute until John Kerry signs his SF180. But more importantly, what disturbs me about the press coverage regarding the Bronze Star incident is that while so many are pointing to the Navy documents as proof that there was hostile fire that day, these same reporters neglect to mention that these same documents, documents that they clearly find reliable, contradict every version of that story as told to the world by John Kerry and Jim Rassmann. Every version, and there are many.

Every new account that has surfaced has backed up the Swift Boat Vets for Truth with the exception of small details. Was the the VC a boy or a man? Hardly a discrediting disagreement. "I thought we were under fire" is not a sentence oozing with conviction. The only thing that veteran seemed to know for sure was that Kerry was no where in sight. Just like the Swift Boat Vets said.

Jim Rassmann was not left behind. John Kerry fled. This is no longer in dispute. Every story, every version backs this up except Kerry's and Rassmann's. And when interviewed by the Washington Post, Rassmann no longer bothers disputing it. So has this version of evnets been discredited? No, it has not. It has been backed up by all available evidence.

Frankly, I cannot list a single version of any event, as relayed by the Swift Boat Vets to have been "discredited" in any way. Disputed, absolutely. But proven wrong? Not one time. Not one incident.

So I ask that Mr. Alter clarifies himself. What does he mean when he says, "thoroughly discredited"? Does he mean that he has done so in his own mind? Or is he referring to the kind of discrediting that I just performed on his journalistic ethics and standards?

I don't mind Mr. Alter being ignorant about this story. That is his business. I only ask that if he chooses to be ignorant (he has clearly chosen to do so), he refrains from writing about the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. They deserve better.

Please tell Mr. Alter that I making another donation to The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
_________________
Talking point #1: Sign 180
Talking point #2: Sign 180
Talking point #3: Sign 180

[BrianC]

It's articles like this Alter-trash that cause me to refer to it as "Newsweak".