SwiftVets.com

[stupson]

From NewsMax

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004 10:38 a.m. EDT

Polls Show Swiftvets Scored Direct Hit

Media wags will say it was the successful GOP convention that catapulted President Bush to a double-digit lead over John Kerry in Time magazine and Newsweek polls released this weekend.

But insiders know that even before Republicans gathered in New York to re-nominate Bush, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had turned George Bush into a front-runner for the first time since John Kerry locked up the nomination in January.

The proof that the Swifvets had scored a direct hit against the SS Kerry came Thursday night when the top Democrat staged an emergency rally to accuse Dick Cheney of dodging Vietnam and complain that George Bush had "attacked my fitness to serve as commander in chief."
But it wasn't Bush or Cheney who challenged Kerry's fitness to lead. It was the Swiftees, whose book "Unfit for Command" now sits atop the New York Times best-seller list for the second week in a row.

For the mainstream press, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth didn't appear on the radar screen until late July, when the group began running TV ads in key battleground states attacking Kerry's Vietnam story.

But way back in April, when no one had heard of the Swiftees, NewsMax readers knew that the men who served with Kerry in Vietnam were preparing the bombshell revelations that would turn the 2004 presidential campaign upside down.

Specific details on the gathering firestorm actually surfaced on talk radio on April 4, when NewsMax contributor and WABC radio host Steve Malzberg interviewed B.G. Burkett, author of the definitive book on false Vietnam War claims, "Stolen Valor."

Under the headline "Navy Commanders to Cast Doubt on Kerry's War Record," NewsMax had the first print account of the bombshell to come:

Several Navy officers who supervised Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry when he commanded a Swift Boat in Vietnam are preparing to publicly question his war record – including the circumstances under which he was awarded three Purple Hearts – a noted Vietnam War historian revealed on Sunday.

Burkett, whose book, "Stolen Valor," is considered to be the definitive history of falsified Vietnam War claims, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg that Kerry's former commanders would allege that the top Democrat's Purple Hearts were awarded for "self-reported injuries that were virtually nonexistent."

"He never got a day of treatment, he never spent a day in a medical facility," Burkett said. "These were all self-reported wounds, which you're going to hear from some Swift Boat guys in the future as to the nature of those wounds."

Burkett said he had personally spoken to the Navy commanders who were preparing to go public about Kerry's decorations.

"You're going to get quite a showing [of those speaking out]," Burkett told Malzberg. "I don't know [the number] yet. They're trying to get it to be unanimous of every Swift Boat guy who ever served."

As to the timetable for the upcoming revelations, Burkett said that Kerry's superior officers "were still discussing that."

Burkett's book was the first to expose Kerry's false claims made in the early 1970s about U.S. war atrocities, as well as Kerry's claim – later found to be untrue – that he trashed his war medals.

"You've got some major rallys being planned against John Kerry by Vietnam veterans on the [National] Mall, at the convention – this type of thing," he said. "And we're going to make America aware of John Kerry's military record."

Less than a month later, on April 26 – and a full week before the Swiftees staged their debut press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce their group's plans – Malzberg interviewed the group's spokesman John O'Neill.

Again, NewsMax was first with exclusive coverage of one of O'Neill's first 2004 media appearances under the headline "Kerry Boatmate: Vietnam Troubles Just Beginning":

Sen. John Kerry's Monday morning meltdown on "Good Morning America" may be just the beginning of his troubles, according to one of his Vietnam boatmates, who is warning that more of the men who served alongside the Massachusetts Democrat are preparing to go public with their accounts.

Texas lawyer John O'Neill, who served on Kerry's Swift Boat after he left Vietnam just four months into his tour, told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday: "I was in exactly the same unit. There were many people who were there simultaneously with him who are all about to speak."

O'Neill gained brief fame in 1971 when he debated Kerry on "The Dick Cavett Show" and forced him to admit he never personally witnessed the war crimes he'd been accusing U.S. troops of committing.

Though he's been contacted by Kerry's opponents every time the Massachusetts Democrat has run for office in the 33 years since, O'Neill has refused to speak out.

Until now. Referring to reports this week in the Boston Globe questioning whether Kerry may have exaggerated his combat record, O'Neill told Malzberg: "This is just the first opening. They'll be many different people. But I'd prefer to let the people who were actually there speak directly."

O'Neill cited a Jan. 29, 1969, firefight that Kerry claims on his campaign Web site he and his boatmates were in.

"But according to the Boston Globe," said the Swift Boat veteran: "Kerry was not even on the boat that night. The guy that was really on the boat was a fellow officer of ours named Ted Peck. He remembers well that fight because he was terribly wounded in three places."

"There was no Kerry anywhere around," O'Neill said. "And yet it appears on his Web site as some pitched battle that Kerry was involved in."

Noting that the Democratic presidential candidate has made his Vietnam war experience the centerpiece of every campaign for office, O'Neill complained, "It's [Kerry's] self-promotion that infuriates most of the people from his unit, who actually know what he did."

"He would be a terrible commander in chief of U.S. forces in the world at a time of crisis," the Kerry boatmate warned.

Even before Burkett and O'Neill spoke out, the Liberty Broadcasting Network's Geoff Metcalf had the inside track on plans within the Vietnam veterans community to challenge Kerry's war record.

Way back on March 15, Metcalf reported for NewsMax:

Republicans may be scared spitless to criticize a "decorated war hero," but thousands of "decorated war heroes" with significantly greater service, scars, experience and insights hate the pampered prince’s guts ... and they are not only willing but also anxious to articulate their myriad concerns. . .

There is a growing group of Vietnam vets who are openly challenging the derring-do of Kerry in combat. These guys, not content to pick at the scabs politicians don’t dare acknowledge, are intent on ripping the scabs off. . . .

[Fort Campbell]

A great article and right on target! The SwiftBoat Ads have done more to account for Bush's lead in the polls than anything else.

[producehawk]

Its going to get worse for the sanitor. Wait tillthe general public gets ahold of the FBI files on his Paris trips

[integritycounts]

Something about the Truth that trumps all the spin and BS.
And talk about bad judgment upon a supposed leader and his staff....the Swift Vets had a press conference long before the Democratic Convention.

YET...they still decided to do the entire convention as "John Kerry...Vietnam Rambo"......that is just failed leadership and planning.

[BuffaloJack]

Let's not get cocky!
It ain't over 'til it's over.
Overconfidence will get us clobbered every time.
Just keep the pressure on.
Our current tactic is working. It's repetitive and relentless and doesn't give the Kerry camp the time needed to counter effectively.
Let's just keep it up.

[cjg]

I agree with the fact that the Swiftvets had a great deal to do with
the change in the polls before the convention.
Their true imput is going to overcome the spin from Kerry's group
of liars.
People are not as stupid as they like to think, and are busy with
the book now and then come to this website to find even more
truth and they find it.
_________________
Swiftvets rock!

[Integrity]

_________________
"What our enemies have begun, we will finish,"
- President George W. Bush

[Diogenes123]

Admin Note: This forum is dedicated to supporting the Swifts' message that John Kerry is unfit for command.

We do not provide a forum for spreading lies and disinformation about the President.

[Polaris]

Diogenes,

We don't care about Bush either way. We are all unified in agreement that a pet rock would be a better C-in-C than Kerry for reasons that have been outlined very well elsewhere.

As for Bush top advisors, name one? Before you answer that, I suggest that you go to www.spinsanity.com where a non-partisan fact-checking organization takes the mainstream media to task for spreading this canard. The SBVT has nothing to do with Bush; never did and never will.
_________________
-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[Indianbaboon]

this group WOULD NOT exist if Kerry wasn't running for President. ONeill has been approached by every Kerry opponent over teh past few decades and has always turned them down. He turned them down again.

THis is about what Kerry did to veterans. It has nothign to do with Bush. THis group would not exist if say Dean were teh candidate.

btw, I'm not even voting Bush.

Badnarik 2004 (w00t!)