Kerry files FEC complaint against critical veterans group
 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...oat/index.html

Swift boat veterans release new anti-Kerry ad
Friday, August 20, 2004 Posted: 5:59 PM EDT (2159 GMT)

(CNN) -- The Kerry presidential campaign on Friday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging ads from an anti-Kerry veterans' group are inaccurate and "illegally coordinated" with Republicans and the Bush-Cheney campaign.

The complaint was filed against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It states that "based on recent press reports and SBVT's own statements there is overwhelming evidence that SBVT is coordinating its expenditures on advertising and other activities designed to influence the presidential election with the Bush-Cheney campaign."

Members of that group have denied any coordination with the GOP campaign, as have members of the Bush-Cheney team.

A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign dismissed the complaint as "frivolous and false," but said it welcomed a broader look at the role 527 groups -- named for a section of the federal tax code -- have played this election season.

"For months we've been trying to shine a spotlight on the coordination between the John Kerry campaign and 527 groups," Bush campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin told CNN.

Kerry's complaint came as the veterans' group released a new ad Friday, reaching back more than 30 years to take issue with some of Sen. John Kerry's comments as an anti-war activist.

The 30-second spot compares Kerry's comments upon his return home from service to confessions sought through torture inflicted on American captives in Vietnam.

The ad, part of a $600,000 ad buy in battleground states, is funded primarily by Republican contributors from President Bush's home state of Texas, according to federal records.

"This Republican front group for Bush is out of credibility after being caught in lie after lie day after day," said Kerry campaign press secretary David Wade.

The group, however, has no direct connection to the Bush campaign, and group members said they have acted independently of the president's re-election effort.

It was during a campaign stop Thursday that Kerry, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, said the fact that Bush won't denounce the ads "tells you everything you need to know -- he wants them to do his dirty work."

The White House rejected that criticism. "I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not be an excuse for him to lash out at the president with false and baseless attacks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Friday.

The latest ad from the swift boat group selects quotes from Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 about fellow soldiers. He is seen saying, "They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads," "randomly shot at civilians," and "razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Kahn."

Selected comments
Not shown on the ad is Kerry's preface to those comments, in which he said he is reporting what others said at a conference of Vietnam veterans in Detroit. Instead, a member of the Swift Boat group refers to the statements as "the accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam."

A Swift Boat member says, referring to captives in Vietnam, "That was part of the torture, was to sign a statement that you had committed war crimes" and says Kerry "betrayed us" by his comments upon his return.

Another says Kerry "gave the enemy for free what I, and many of my comrades in North Vietnam, in the prison camps, took torture to avoid saying. It demoralized us."

An official transcript of Kerry's testimony shows he was referring to the meeting in Detroit, part of what was called the Winter Soldier investigation. He told the Senate committee that at that meeting "many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia" and relived the "absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."

"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Kerry has said he regrets some of the comments he made as a young man just back from war three decades ago, but he stands by his protests against the Vietnam war.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth recently released another ad accusing Kerry of lying to get his Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, a charge Kerry and some veterans with whom he served vigorously dispute.(Full story)

"The bottom line is this: The United States Navy awarded John Kerry a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts for his service in combat," said campaign spokesman Wade.

The "Republicans running these lying ads" told the Navy of Kerry's leadership decades ago, "before Karl Rove's attack squad convinced them to lie about it because George Bush is afraid to talk about jobs, health care, and making America safe," Wade said.

Ad's reach
Meanwhile, a new survey suggests the ad about Kerry's service medals is reaching a wide audience.

More than half the country has seen or heard about that ad, a survey by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found.

The ad, began airing in battleground states August 5. But the survey of more than 2,200 people between August 9 and August 16 found it was the heavy news media attention that gave the ad its reach.

"The influence of this ad is a function not of paid exposure but of the ad's treatment in free media," said Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the survey, in a written statement. "The advertisement has received extensive coverage, particularly on conservative talk radio and cable news channels, and has been the subject of some attention in broadcast news as well."

Of all people polled, 59 percent believe Kerry earned all of his medals, while 21 percent believe he did not. Responses fell largely along party lines -- more than three-fourths of Democrats believe Kerry earned his medals, while 59 percent of Independents do, and only 39 percent of Republicans.

Bush has said he would not question Kerry's service in Vietnam. He has called for an end to all political ads being put out by 527 committees. Many such groups favor Kerry.

The Bush campaign has challenged Kerry to echo the call for an end to the 527 ads. And the Kerry campaign has challenged Bush to denounce the ads attacking the Democrat's military service.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a Republican and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, has also urged the White House to condemn the swift boat ads. Bush has not done so.

McClellan asked "where has the Kerry campaign been for the last year while more than $62 million in funding from these shadowy groups have been used to negatively attack the president?"

One, MoveOn, released an ad accusing Bush of using family connections to get into the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, and then failing to report for duty for part of his time. The Bush campaign says the president fulfilled his Guard obligations and was discharged honorably.

Kerry has denounced the MoveOn ad.

The Kerry campaign also released its own ad Thursday, featuring former Green Beret Lt. Jim Rassmann -- the man Kerry pulled from the water in the now-disputed engagement. "All these Viet Cong were shooting at me," Rassmann says. "I expected I'd be shot. When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine."

Good article - thanks for posting.

Interestingly, if W condemns the ads, how does that benefot Kerry. I think all it will do is make W look good. I mean he in a rounbd about way already agrees the ads are false because he consistently says Kerry served with honor and W has said he is against such ads, granted that is not condemning these exact ads. So, if W condemn them, what does that get Kerry that W is not already "giving" Kerry?

Thanks, Golide, that's a good article and more power to him. These ads and the actions of these vets are vile, pure filth.

On another note, I want Bush to lose just so I can see Alphonso Jackson get the pink slip. He's a real motherf*cker.

:xoxo: Happy to be of service. :) Now, for dessert: Cake. ;)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._swift_boats_1
Volunteer Links Anti-Kerry Flier to GOP

26 minutes ago

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas - A volunteer for John Kerry said Friday he picked up a flier in Bush-Cheney headquarters in Gainesville, Fla., promoting Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group the Bush campaign has insisted for weeks it has no connection to.

The Kerry campaign e-mailed the flier to news organizations Friday, declaring that the Bush-Cheney campaign was "busted" for coordinating "in their smear campaign against John Kerry."

At Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters outside Washington, spokesman Steve Schmidt said: "The Bush-Cheney campaign has nothing to do with that piece of paper. ... I don't know how it showed up at the campaign headquarters."

"The Bush-Cheney campaign would object to any flier like this being displayed in any Republican headquarters," said Schmidt.

The flier distributed at Alachua County Republican Party headquarters promotes a weekend rally sponsored by "Swift Boat Vets for Truth" and other groups.

Bill Shilling, a Kerry volunteer in Gainesville, says he went to the GOP offices there Thursday and picked up the flier from a pile of literature on the table.

"The flier they gave me was on the same table as some Bush-Cheney bumper stickers," said Shilling. "I asked them if the Swift boat veterans were coming to Gainesville, and the woman I talked to said yes."

Shilling said he went back to Kerry headquarters and turned over the flier.

"I thought there was supposed to be some separation between Bush-Cheney and the Swift boat controversy but I didn't understand there was a big deal about this," said Shilling. "I think this whole thing attacking Kerry's war record is a diversion by Bush-Cheney from the real issues of the campaign."

Financed by a Texas businessman with longtime ties to prominent Republicans in the state, including President Bush, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth sponsored an ad featuring several Vietnam veterans who accuse Kerry of lying about the circumstances surrounding events for which he won his medals. Kerry received a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts while in Vietnam.

The anti-Kerry group distributed a second commercial to the news media and said it would begin airing the ad next week in Pennsylvania, Nevada and New Mexico, the last a state Bush plans to visit next Thursday. The ad intersperses clips of a youthful Kerry talking about war atrocities during an appearance before Congress in 1971 with images of veterans condemning his testimony.

The Kerry campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was illegally coordinating its efforts with the Bush-Cheney campaign.

The Kerry campaign cited recent press reports and the group's own statements. The Bush campaign denied the allegation, as did the organization that aired the ad.

Dissention....

I love your sig picture with the bush girls! Its hilarious!

:eek: LMAO! :lol: :xoxo:

It's not the two drunks, it's Charla and Mirna from The Amazing Race! :laugh: :xoxo:

That is tasteless even for you :cool:

HA! LOL, I thought it was..! :laugh: :thumbsup:

You obviously haven't seen the photo of one them sprawled out topless over a picnic table with a beer in hand.

Good Grief!
 

If I woulda had anything in my mouth, I woulda choked! HOW FUNNY!
guys, Im joinin this little soiree so make room, make room!
ps: you probably know me better as celtic4evr, but this is my REAL name!
pps: who stole my homer? (that's one of my nicknames...dont ask)

No I have not and I am not sure I would believe it (it is easy to make stuff on the net up) without verification from the photographer.

But, and on another topic, people ofter accuse the US press of not investigating things. Every talk show this evening and every 30 or so minutes on CNN an related and other similar stations, they ran the ad and Kerry's response to it. What more can the media do?

Trust me, it's real. ;)

Their job, for one.

There are numerous ways the media can be biased against someone and concentrate mainly on one side, it's very easy to do, Jason. And it's an unwritten rule that for every liberal you ahve on, you have two conservatives. :laugh:

Even if it is, it is tacky to exploit it. These girls are not running for office. It is just tasteless and you know it. But, anything to poke fun and demean anything associated with W is fodder for the far far left :shrug:



Well, that is what they are doing :shrug: Even Scarborough had both sides on this evening and grilled the side challenging Kerry noting the guy he had on was the only guy who actually served with Kerry and one of the only guys whose story had not changed over the years. I mean they are reporting it and the talk show hosts are giving both sides of the story and engaging debate in it. So, I think the press is doing their job. If not, what else can they do?

I mean even, of all people, CBN questioned the integrity of the SBV and said the real issue is how can Kerry claim his war hero status, not his 20 plus years of govt. service, as his main strongsuit and then say the U.S. and he and others acted horribly in Nam. While that is a generalization, it is a real issue :shrug: I think Kerry can combat this by saying he served with honor, but he tried to correct the bad things he saw going on when he got back. It is an explanation, but the fact still remains Kerry seemingly wants to rely on his hero status in a war he said the U.S. behaved badly in. So, we shall see how this comes out in the end.

We can argue about this until the cows come home and while I agree that putting that picture out there was tasteless, these girls invited it by becoming a part of their fathers campaign. I also found their behavior of sticking their tongues out at passerbys and reporters was tasteless, but what can I expect? Don't even get me started on Noel. I've never heard of a Bush would din't have a run-in with the law or overindulged in substances.

If you think so, fine. But they didn't do their job when it came to iraq, they're not doing it now. Faux News has yet to report about the questionable backgrounds of Jerome Corsi and John O'Neill, other than a passing reference. neither have MSRNC or CNN. They are not doing their jobs by selecting what little bits to report, darling. Present it all or present none. You need to read Media Matters or TVNewLies.org.

Also, to use Scarborough as an example of someone presenting both sides is ridiculous, especially when you consider that his whole show is devoted to tearing down Kerry and his campaign, and building up Bush. No sale. :xoxo: