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Sunday, August 22, 2004 |
"Politics is the exploitation of loop holes and opportunities
for the Benefit of your candidate."
Thomas Oliphant
3:21:06 PM 
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Smear by veterans may hurt Bush
By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Staff | August 22, 2004
WASHINGTON
I HAVE VIVID memories of John E. O'Neill's first incarnation as an attack dog trained to go after John Kerry more than 33 years ago, using techniques that are quite familiar as he goes about the same task today.
As The New York Times reported last week, O'Neill had been selected by Richard Nixon's White House to counter the profound impact that Vietnam Veterans Against the War were having on public opinion in the spring of 1971. Full Article
The more complete truth is that O'Neill was recruited to front for something the Nixon White House was experienced in creating out of thin air -- "citizens" groups that supported various embattled administration policies.What gets short-shrift these days is that Nixon also wanted to bend heaven and earth to find some aspect of Kerry's Vietnam service -- anything -- that could be used to discredit him. In fact, much of what we call today the politics of personal destruction was pioneered by Nixon's White House. He had a firm control of a fearful government in those pre-Watergate days -- and he used it.
The big difference between what did and did not happen in 1971 and what is happening today involves the press. With no evidence that could withstand a laugh test, there was no point 33 years ago in spreading a smear. Today, thanks to the emergence of cable TV and a decline in standards, it is much easier to put muck in play, which is what has happened with Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace's 2004 counterpart, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
But there's another way in now. Raise some Bush buddy Texas money, create a TV ad, hire a right-wing loony to put together a smear book, and cable TV producers desperate for shouting matches are happy to oblige. The result then gets recycled into the serious press because "questions" have been raised about Kerry's record that couldn't survive a minute under traditional standards
As happened to O'Neill in 1971, the best counter to him today is the serious press attention that his group fears most. |
3:14:40 PM
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Maureen Dowd continues her pulitzer prize writing:
It's easy for the Bushes to stay gallant. They delegate the gutter.
There are always third-party political assassins, ostensibly independent, to do the dynasty wet work.
W.'s old pal and running partner, Lee Atwater, set up the Bush modus operandi: Lay in the weeds while craftily planting plausibly deniable surrogates to slice up your rival.
Full Article
It makes sense for W. to use surrogates to do his fighting, just as he did when he slid out of Vietnam and just as he did when he sent our troops to fight his administration's misbegotten vanity war in Iraq.
8:40:30 AM
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It is clear that the SBVFT is falling apart now. New evidence is appearing that the Bush campaign is involved.
The Bush campaign said Kenneth Cordier, who appears in a new advertisement to be aired by the anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will no longer serve in his voluntary position on Bush's veterans steering committee
What will they say now?
Robert Novak called Unfit "a shocking presentation of Senator Kerry's record" on CNN's Capital Gang on August 7.
Tony Blankly editorial page editor of The Washington Times, in his August 11 column :The book has the ring of sincerity to it, and the mark of careful research and writing.
Brit Hume FOX News Channel managing editor :The book is full of footnotes. It has an appendix. It's a pretty serious piece of work..
Fred Barnes executive editor of The Weekly Standard I think these charges on which most of them are many, many swift commanders saying one thing and only one person on the other side, John Kerry saying something else.
Sean Hannity "devastating to Senator Kerry." On August 18, Hannity claimed the book was "extremely well documented."
Rush Limbaugh agreed with Blankley that it was "meticulously researched and reported" and read Blankley's column on the air:
Mark R Levin: said on his August 16 radio show that he was convinced that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are "telling the truth about Kerry."
David Limbaugh 's breath was taken away by Unfit, according to his August 17 column (which Levin also read on the air on August 17):are making specific indictments against Kerry that cannot be rationalized away.
Thanks MMFA
8:18:10 AM
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Will conservative media Swift Boat apologists now apologize?
Media Matters.org
In recent weeks, conservative media figures -- such as Robert Novak, Brit Hume, Tony Blankley, and Fred Barnes -- have lauded and vouched for the credibility of the recently released Regnery book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, co-authored by anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth co-founder John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi. Due to reports by numerous credible news sources in recent days, many of the stories told in Unfit are falling apart, and the partisan ties of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are proving to run even deeper than previously known. Yet even after The Washington Post discredited a Kerry critic on August 19, The Washington Times published its third of three Unfit excerpts -- and with it allegations made by that same Kerry critic -- on August 20.
Following are recent reports that debunk and discredit claims made against Kerry in the book:
7:45:33 AM
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August 22, 2004
IMAGINE IF supporters of Bill Clinton had tried in 1996 to besmirch the military record of his opponent, Bob Dole. After all, Dole was given a Purple Heart for a leg scratch probably caused, according to one biographer, when a hand grenade thrown by one of his own men bounced off a tree. And while the serious injuries Dole sustained later surely came from German fire, did the episode demonstrate heroism on Dole's part or a reckless move that ended up killing his radioman and endangering the sergeant who dragged
The truth, according to many accounts, is that Dole fought with exceptional bravery and deserves the nation's gratitude. No one in 1996 questioned that record. Any such attack on behalf of Clinton, an admitted Vietnam draft dodger, would have been preposterous.
Yet amazingly, something quite similar is happening today as supporters of President Bush attack the Vietnam record of Senator John Kerry.
The situations are not completely parallel. Bush was not a draft dodger, but he certainly was a Vietnam avoider, having joined the Texas Air National Guard rather than serving in the regular military. Full story
7:37:20 AM
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Swift Boat response:
Officer Recalls Boat Mission With Kerry
By William B. Rood Chicago Tribune
There were three Swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago — three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on Feb. 28, 1969.
One is John Kerry (news - web sites), the Democratic presidential candidate who won a Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other.
For years, no one asked about those events. But now they are the focus of skirmishing in a presidential election with a group of Swift boat veterans and others contending that Kerry didn't deserve the Silver Star for what he did on that day, or the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for other actions.
Many of us wanted to put it all behind us — the rivers, the ambushes, the killing. Ever since that time, I have refused all requests for interviews about Kerry's service — even those from reporters at the Chicago Tribune, where I work.
But Kerry's critics, armed with stories I know to be untrue, have charged that the accounts of what happened were overblown. The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us. It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there.
7:33:51 AM
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Arabs Say U.S. Destroys Hope Over Jewish Settlements
By Mohammed Assadi
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians, backed by the Arab League, accused the United States on Sunday of destroying the Middle East peace process after Washington signaled it could accept some growth of Israeli settlements.
Until now, the United States had demanded a freeze on building all Jewish settlements on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. The communities are seen as illegal by most of the world, though Israel disputes this.
But the Bush administration signaled flexibility on Saturday on some limited growth in West Bank settlements to help embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) as he tries to get a plan for withdrawal from occupied Gaza past his far right.
"I do not believe that America says now that settlements can be expanded. This thwarts and destroys the peace process," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters
7:09:56 AM
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Bush Campaign Drops Swift Boat Ad Figure
Democrat's Team Says Veteran's Role in Drive to Discredit Kerry Shows a Link
By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A13
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 21 -- The Bush campaign said late Saturday that it dismissed an adviser on veterans issues after learning that he is part of an independent group that has been running anti-Kerry ads. The Bush campaign said Kenneth Cordier, who appears in a new advertisement to be aired by the anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will no longer serve in his voluntary position on Bush's veterans steering committee. A Bush spokesman said Cordier had not previously informed the campaign that he had been involved with the group, but the Kerry campaign said the matter provides evidence supporting its complaint to the Federal Election Commission alleging illegal cooperation between the campaign and the independent group. Full article
7:01:29 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Amato.
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