Kerry: Bush lets attack ads do 'dirty work'

[LRB]

Kerry: Bush lets attack ads do 'dirty work'

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate and Vietnam War veteran John Kerry on Thursday shot back at attack ads questioning his service record during the war and called on President Bush to denounce the TV commercials.

The group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have aired the ads. Its contributors include several major Republican donors. (GOP donor helps finance anti-Kerry veterans group)

"They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the president won't denounce them tells you everything you need to know -- he wants them to do his dirty work," Kerry told a cheering crowd at a meeting of the International Association of Fire Fighters in Boston.

"Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on!" Kerry challenged.

In response, Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry was aware his statements are false.

"Sen. Kerry knows President Bush has called his service in Vietnam noble ... and the Bush campaign has tried to have a debate about the future, not the past," Schmidt said. But Schmidt did not address Kerry's charge that Bush was sitting back and watching as other groups attacked Kerry's Vietnam service.

In the commercials, former sailors accuse Kerry of lying to win two of his combat decorations, a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, and criticize his anti-war activism after he returned home from Vietnam.

The Kerry campaign released its own ad Thursday in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, featuring former Green Beret Lt. Jim Rassmann talking about Kerry's heroic actions when he saved Rassmann's life during fighting in Vietnam.

A statement from the Kerry campaign said Rassmann is a registered Republican.

Kerry's campaign said none of the men in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial served in the same boat as the Democratic nominee.

The ad includes Larry Thurlow, who commanded one of five swift boats in the Mekong Delta during a March 13, 1969, incident for which Kerry was decorated and Thurlow himself earned a Bronze Star.

Thurlow has said the boats in the group were not fired on when Kerry went back to rescue Rassmann, who had fallen into the water after an explosion damaged one of the vessels.

But Rassmann told CNN's "Inside Politics" on August 5 that Thurlow "has a very unusual recollection of events."

"I was receiving fire in the water every time I came up for air," said Rassmann, who has campaigned for Kerry since January.

Rassmann said he agreed with another Vietnam veteran, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who has called the ad in which Thurlow appears "dishonest and dishonorable."

Thurlow's account differs not only from those of Kerry and Rassmann but also that given in the Navy's letter awarding Kerry the Bronze Star. The letter finds Kerry exhibited "great personal courage under fire" in rescuing Rassmann, an Army officer who recommended Kerry for the decoration.

The Navy citation for Thurlow's Bronze Star also said that "all units began receiving enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."

Thurlow said Thursday he did not even know he had received a Bronze Star until after he left the Navy, and he had not seen the citation in 30 years.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is registered as an independent "527" committee, named for a section of the federal tax code.

A number of 527 political groups have run issue ads during the campaign.

Earlier this week, Kerry denounced a commercial sponsored by the group MoveOn.org that criticized Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. (Kerry condemns anti-Bush ad)

In an interview last week on CNN's "Larry King Live," the president condemned 527 groups in general and said their ads shouldn't be aired.

[LRB]

So just when is Kerry going to come out and condemn Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11. I mean he's the one complaining about Bush, so why doesn't Kerry disown Moore's tactics. Kerry's being very hypocritical here bitching about Bush doing something that he himself is doing.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: LRB
So just when is Kerry going to come out and condemn Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11. I mean he's the one complaining about Bush, so why doesn't Kerry disown Moore's tactics. Kerry's being very hypocritical here bitching about Bush doing something that he himself is doing.

Kerry did denounce the moveon.org ad which accused Bush of getting preferable treatment by getting into the Natl Guard and not serving in Nam. So hypocrite doesn't fit as he walked the walk and talked the talk.

As far as Moore, yes it would be fair for Kerry to speak about the film as a political piece and not a true documentary. I can't find any comment by Kerry in regards to Moore, either positive or negative.

[LRB]

Kerry did speak out against moveon.org. That is true. However Kerry also refused to criticize a couple of other dems who are part of his campaign who spoke the same message against Bush at one of Kerry's rallies. While I haven't seen any quotes where Kerry has endorced Moore's movie, I haven't seen any where he condemned more's movie either. Furthermore Kerry did share the same stage as Michael Moore at the DNC. Can you imagine what Kerry would say of Bush if the swiftvets were invited to speak at the RNC?

Basically one instance of being hypocritical is all it takes. Kerry has more than one. Sure he hasn't been hypocritical in all instances, but that isn't necessary for him to be truthfully labeled a hypocrit. If Kerry publicly had denonced all who speak out on Bush's National Guard service and Moore's movie, I might ahve given his plea some credibility. As it is now it looks like another political move by Kerry to have it both ways.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: LRB
Kerry did speak out against moveon.org. That is true. However Kerry also refused to criticize a couple of other dems who are part of his campaign who spoke the same message against Bush at one of Kerry's rallies. While I haven't seen any quotes where Kerry has endorced Moore's movie, I haven't seen any where he condemned more's movie either. Furthermore Kerry did share the same stage as Michael Moore at the DNC. Can you imagine what Kerry would say of Bush if the swiftvets were invited to speak at the RNC?

The two who spoke out- Clark and Turner- are not a part of the kerry camapign. they are independent of him.

Let's see if any of these SBV- and especially O'Neill- are at the RNC Convention.

Basically one instance of being hypocritical is all it takes. Kerry has more than one. Sure he hasn't been hypocritical in all instances, but that isn't necessary for him to be truthfully labeled a hypocrit. If Kerry publicly had denonced all who speak out on Bush's National Guard service and Moore's movie, I might ahve given his plea some credibility. As it is now it looks like another political move by Kerry to have it both ways.

Moore's movie is a seperate issue from the obsession on the candidate's service record.

Kerry has stated that the service records of Bush should not be an issue. That's as straight as it can be. That is all it takes for him to take the high road, it's all encompassing.

[DwD]

Michael Moore called Bush a "deserter" - Why did Kerry not condemn that? Why did he still have him in a prominent position in the convention?

Bush A Military “Deserter?” Calm Down, Michael

[LRB]

The two who spoke out- Clark and Turner- are not a part of the kerry camapign. they are independent of him.

Thay are advisors to Kerry and were speaking at a Kerry rally. Kerry refused to condemn what they said and instead affirmed that they had the right to speak their mind.

The SwiftVets are neither advisors to Bush nor have they spoken at any Bush rallies to my knowledge. In fact Bush has no direct association with them at all.

Moore's movie is a seperate issue from the obsession on the candidate's service record.

Moore brings up Bush's National Guard service in his movie.

Kerry has stated that the service records of Bush should not be an issue. That's as straight as it can be. That is all it takes for him to take the high road, it's all encompassing.

Then Kerry should stop promoting his own service and making it an issue. If Kerry would leave it alone it would die down. What Kerry is really saying is that any negative comments on service records of the candidates should not be an issue. Positive comments are OK. And before you retort, no those are words issued from Kerry's mouth, but that's what he's saying with words and actions combined. He needs to stop using his military service, his "band of brothers", etc. as part of his campaign if he wants to remove military service as an issue.

Personally I think let Moore, clark, turner, the Boston Globe, the NY Times, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, LA Times, and the Washington post go to work on Bush and the SwiftVets, Fox News, Amazon.com, and the Blogs can go to work on Kerry. Let the voters decide the truth or falsehood based on facts. And then after deciding the truth, decide which candidate will make the better President at the voting booth.

[FishForLunch]

Swift Vet Rebuts Washington Post Story

By David Freddoso



Posted August 19, 2004

Former Vietnam Swift boat commander Larry Thurlow is rebutting a story on the front-page of this morning’s Washington Post while adamantly reiterating his charge that John Kerry did not come under hostile fire during a March 13, 1969 incident for which Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart.

"Nobody received even a fragment of bullets going through the metal" of the five Swift Boats present for the incident, Thurlow told Human Events today. "Nobody was even ducking for cover."

In a piece headlined, "Records Counter a Critic of Kerry—Fellow Skipper's Citation Refers to Enemy Fire," the Post reported that the citation for the Bronze Star that Thurlow himself received for the 1969 incident contradicts Thurlow's charge that Kerry falsely claimed he came under enemy fire during that incident. The citation, the Post says, praises Thurlow "for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat 'despite enemy bullets flying about him.'"

Thurlow, however, says his own Bronze Star citation is wrong about "enemy bullets flying," although he did indeed board and prevent from sinking a Swift boat that had been damaged by a mine explosion and whose captain had suffered a concussion. Thurlow stands by an affidavit he signed on July 22, 2004 in which he says of the 1969 incident, "I never heard a shot."

Thurlow told the Post that if coming under enemy fire--rather than rescuing the damaged Swift boat--was the basis for his own Bronze Star award than the award was "fraudulent."

"In terms of receiving hostile fire, it's false," Thurlow told Human Events of his Bronze Star citation.

Why would Thurlow's Bronze Star citation be wrong about "enemy bullets flying"? Former Navy Commander George Elliott, who signed Thurlow's citation, told Human Events he based the claim that there was enemy fire that day on an after-action report that Thurlow and two other officers on the scene believe was written by Kerry. I got the information from the after-action report," said Elliott.

Thurlow and his colleagues have good reason to believe Kerry authored this report because, other than Thurlow, there were only four Swift boat commanders on the scene that day in 1969. One was Kerry. One was Donald Droz, who is now deceased. And the two others were Richard Pees and Jack Chenoweth, who back Thurlow's claim that there was no hostile fire that day.

Thurlow, Chenoweth and Pees all say they did not write the after-action report that said there was hostile fire. All say they believe Kerry wrote it. "Kerry campaign researchers dispute that assertion,” the Post reported this morning, "and there is no convincing documentary evidence to settle the claim."

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth—a group claiming that Kerry has been untruthful about his swift boat service, and to which Pees, Chenoweth and Thurlow belong—called again on Kerry to allow the Navy to independently release all of his military records by signing Standard Form 180, which he has thus far refused to do. A complete examination of his records, they said, could prove who wrote the report on which this commendation was based. It could also verify or falsify some of the Swift Boat Veterans' other claims that Kerry has been dishonest about his service.

Thurlow told Human Events that he will sign a Standard Form 180, allowing his own records to be publicly released.

[dude1394]

Pretty durn interesting isn't that the washington post can not have ONE-WORD about the swifties while the rest of the country knows about them for 14 days. Of course they had to wait until they found an anti-swiftie angle before they would report anything.

Very sad state of affairs, our fourth estate is. They are going to be very sorry for their blatant partisanship. This ain't the 50's anymore and I'm not posting this message on a pamphlet.

[kg_veteran]

Let's see the After-Action Report, John. Sign the Form 180. What do you have to hide, er, lose?

[LRB]

Originally posted by: kg_veteran
Let's see the After-Action Report, John. Sign the Form 180. What do you have to hide, er, lose?

Wellllllll he has the election to lose for one. Maybe it's better to keep the public guessing if he did wrong instead of signing the form and removing all doubt.

[kg_veteran]

If he didn't write the After-Action Report, he has nothing to worry about. If, on the other hand, he did...

[LRB]

That's a mighty big if KG. For a man who couldn't remember where he was on Christmas Eve 1968, even though it was seared in his memory; how can he be sure if he did or didn't?