Kerry files FEC complaint against critical veterans group

[gldstwmn]

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."

[strandinthewind]

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?

[dissention]

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.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by dissention

Thanks, Golide, that's a good article and more power to him.

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]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

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

LMAO!

[77Rumours77]

Dissention....

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

[dissention]

Originally Posted by 77Rumours77

Dissention....

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

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

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

It's not the two drunks, . . .

That is tasteless even for you

[77Rumours77]

Originally Posted by dissention

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

HA! LOL, I thought it was..!

[irishgrl]

Politics - AP
[AP]
Unit's Report Supports Kerry's Version

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Navy task force overseeing John Kerry 's swift boat squadron in Vietnam reported that his group of boats came under enemy fire during a March 13, 1969, incident that three decades later is being challenged by the Democratic presidential nominee's critics.

The March 18, 1969, weekly report from Task Force 115, which was located by The Associated Press during a search of Navy archives, is the latest document to surface that supports Kerry's description of an event for which he won a Bronze Star and a third Purple Heart.

The Task Force report twice mentions the incident five days earlier and both times calls it "an enemy initiated firefight" that included automatic weapons fire and underwater mines used against a group of five boats that included Kerry's.

Task Force 115 was commanded at the time by retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, the founder of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has been running ads challenging Kerry's account of the episode.

A member of the group, Larry Thurlow, said Tuesday he stood by his assertion that there was no enemy fire that day. Thurlow, the commander of another boat who also won a Bronze Star, said task force commanders probably relied on the initial report of the incident. Thurlow says Kerry wrote that report.

The document, part of thousands of pages of records housed at the Naval Historical Center, is one of several that say Kerry and other servicemen were shot at from the banks of the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969. The Associated Press located the document Tuesday during a search of available records.

Earlier this month, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth aired a television ad claiming Kerry lied about the circumstances surrounding his medals. Several members of the group who were aboard nearby boats that March 13 said in the ad and in affidavits that there was no enemy gunfire during the incident.

The anti-Kerry group has not produced any official Navy documents supporting that claim, however. The man Kerry rescued, Jim Rassmann, and the crew of Kerry's boat all say there was gunfire from both banks of the river at the time.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer for the Bush campaign, acknowledged Tuesday that he has given legal advice to the anti-Kerry group. Ginsberg said he never told the Bush campaign what he discussed with the group or vice versa, and doesn't advise the group on ad strategies.

The Kerry campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing the Bush campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth of illegally coordinating the group's ads. The Bush campaign and the veterans group say there was no coordination.
Kerry is the subject of complaints by the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee accusing his campaign of illegally coordinating anti-Bush ads with outside groups on the Democratic side, allegations he and the groups deny.

Kerry has denounced the assertions from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as lies made as part of a Republican smear campaign. Most of the group's members and early financial backers are Republicans and one member who appeared in an ad, Ken Cordier, was a volunteer member of the Bush campaign. The campaign cut its ties with Cordier last week.

President Bush has said his campaign had nothing to do with the veterans group and said all such advertising by outside groups should cease. An anti-Bush group has run television ads saying Bush shirked his duty in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war.

Kerry highlighted his Vietnam service during the Democratic convention last month, recounting the March 13 incident and having Rassmann join him on stage.

On that day in 1969, Kerry's PCF-94 was part of a five-boat group heading downriver. An underwater mine exploded underneath another boat, PCF-3, injuring its entire crew. Kerry's boat was then hit by another explosion that knocked Rassmann, an Army Green Beret, into the water. Kerry hurt his right arm in the explosion.

Kerry turned his boat around to rescue Rassmann, pulling the soldier into the boat with his injured right arm, while the other boats rushed to help PCF-3. All the official Navy reports on the incident say the boats were under heavy fire from the riverbanks at the time. Those records include the official after-action report, citations for Bronze Stars awarded for heroism that day and now the Task Force 115 report.

The weekly report cites the incident twice, referring to its code name of Sea Lords 358. The first reference says the boats "encountered an enemy initiated firefight with water mines and automatic weapons fire." The second reference also mentions "an enemy initiated firefight ... with water mines and automatic weapons."

Thurlow, the commander of another swift boat who won a Bronze Star for helping the crew of PCF-3, insists there was no enemy gunfire during the incident. The citation and recommendation for Thurlow's Bronze Star, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, also mention enemy fire, however.

Thurlow's medal recommendation, for example, says he helped the PCF-3 crew "under constant enemy small arms fire." That recommendation is signed by George Elliott, another member of the anti-Kerry group. It lists as the only witness for the incident Robert Eugene Lambert, an enlisted man who was not on Kerry's boat who also won the Bronze Star that day.

Thurlow stood by his claim that there was no gunfire that day and said his Bronze Star documents were wrong.

Kerry's campaign has released copies of the after-action report and Kerry's Bronze Star nomination and citation for the incident, but not the weekly report.

[irishgrl]

good grief, what an ASS!

Thurlow, the commander of another swift boat who won a Bronze Star for helping the crew of PCF-3, insists there was no enemy gunfire during the incident. The citation and recommendation for Thurlow's Bronze Star, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, also mention enemy fire, however. Thurlow's medal recommendation, for example, says he helped the PCF-3 crew "under constant enemy small arms fire." That recommendation is signed by George Elliott, another member of the anti-Kerry group. It lists as the only witness for the incident Robert Eugene Lambert, an enlisted man who was not on Kerry's boat who also won the Bronze Star that day.

Thurlow stood by his claim that there was no gunfire that day and said his Bronze Star documents were wrong.

Why the heck didnt he turn HIS medal in? or refuse it in the first place?
GAH!

and this:

The March 18, 1969, weekly report from Task Force 115, which was located by The Associated Press during a search of Navy archives, is the latest document to surface that supports Kerry's description of an event for which he won a Bronze Star and a third Purple Heart.

The Task Force report twice mentions the incident five days earlier and both times calls it "an enemy initiated firefight" that included automatic weapons fire and underwater mines used against a group of five boats that included Kerry's.

Task Force 115 was commanded at the time by retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, the founder of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has been running ads challenging Kerry's account of the episode.

So, the commander of the Task Force is now discounting HIS OWN report? WHAT is this man getting PAID? Judas got 13 pieces of silver...I bet Roy Hoffman is getting much MUCH more (what a disgusting human being)

[dissention]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

good grief, what an ASS!


Why the heck didnt he turn HIS medal in? or refuse it in the first place?
GAH!

Thurlow also said last week that if he received the bronze star for being under enemy fire, he wants to return it.

[irishgrl]

So Mr. holier-than-thou didn't know what he got his medal for? Bruh-ther! by all means, SOLDIER, turn yer medal in! Better yet, give it to KERRY!
this whole thing is such an obvious ploy, I am surprised people are even buying into it! and the whole "get Nader on the ballot to split the Democratic vote" scheme is pathetic...
If anyone truly wanted their vote to count, they would realize that any of those "third party" candidates are just vote wasters....even tho they may be very deserving...(its a shame really, but this Nation is STILL in reality, a TWO PARTY system. The other parties are just so much window dressing...)