W E D N E S D A Y , A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 0 4If The Media Did Its Jobby Michael in New York on 8/25/2004 02:22:00 PMIf the media was doing its job, this is how the Swift Boat Veterans ForTruth story would have been covered from the very beginning."A group called "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth" has begun runningads in battleground states this week.</p><p> The ads make extreme,unfounded charges about John Kerry's military service.</p><p> A group ofVietnam veterans, most of them never served with John Kerry andthey have no documents to back up what they say."A main charge? That John Kerry's Bronze Star for rescuing acrewmember while under fire was a lie and that there was no enemyfire.</p><p> One of their main organizers signed an affidavit saying JohnKerry didn't deserve that Bronze Star.</p><p> However, he recently recantedand told the Boston Globe that it was wrong of him to sign thataffidavit.</p><p> The next day, the campaign said he had signed anotheraffidavit but was unavailable for comment."Other details of the group call into question their facts as well.</p><p> Theirwebsite lists soldiers who served with John Kerry and claims theydon't support his run for President.</p><p> At least two of the people listedsay that's a lie and that their repeated requests to have their namesremoved from the website and the campaign have been ignored.Another main organizer who argues Kerry shouldn't have received theBronze Star and wasn't under enemy fire also has come intoquestion.</p><p> Why? Because he also received a Bronze Star for braveryunder enemy fire -- for the very same military action.</p><p> He now claimsnot to have known why he received that Bronze Star some 30 yearsago -- a claim that would be scoffed at by most any veteran of anywar who can describe in vivid detail every action that led to theirreceiving a medal.</p><p> Repair notes for the boat John Kerry served onalso noted new bullet holes after returning from the incident."Furthermore, the application for his Bronze Star was signed byanother member of this group -- and that application explicitly citeshis action under enemy fire.</p><p> The only witness to the enemy fire itnotes is another veteran, not John Kerry.</p><p> There's still more: anothermember of this group was part of a Navy task force that reported onthe incident at the time.</p><p> It too detailed enemy fire from both shoresof the river during the incident in which mines exploded, entire crewsof some boats were injured, John Kerry was injured and pulled afellow crewmember out of the water.</p><p> In other words, these veteransaccepted the glory of receiving Bronze Stars and other praise for thevery same incident described in the very same way, they signedapplications for those medals making the same claims they now sayare in dispute, they served on military panels that filed reportsdescribing these events and they remained silent for more than 30years.</p><p> If they lied then, why should anyone believe them now?"As recently as 1996, a number of the members of this tiny grouphad praised John Kerry for his service in Vietnam and supported hisreelection to the Senate.</p><p> Others have praised John Kerry in the pastas not only a veteran who did his duty but as one of the best andbravest of the Swift Boat leaders."So why are they suddenly recanting 30 years of praise and singing adifferent tune? Well, two of the veterans received harsh criticism inan acclaimed, best-selling book about John Kerry called "Tour ofDuty" by Douglas Brinkley.</p><p> The criticism didn't come from Kerry, butthey may blame him anyway.</p><p> Furthermore, all the veterans readilyadmit their real beef with John Kerry isn't his service in Vietnam --after all, they've been praising him about it for the past 30 years.</p><p> No,their real beef is that he came home and criticized the war and theyfelt it was wrong of him to do so."But perhaps most significantly, the trail leads back to George Bush,who was also linked to a smear campaign against John McCain in hislast Presidential run.</p><p> More than 90% of the initial funds for this groupcame from two donors who are among the top supporters of GeorgeBush.</p><p> One of the main supporters is a close personal friend of KarlRove.</p><p> A Bush campaign employee works with the group and hassuddenly been asked to leave the Bush campaign since, legally, Bushcannot have anything to do with independent political groups.Furthermore, one of the top lawyers advising the Bush campaign isalso providing legal advice to the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for EschatonMonday Night Thread - I wonder if Peter will dosomething stupid on Heroes tonight.17 minutes agoDaily KosGoons at Cincinnati "tea party" bullied, intimidatedmedia - WKRC-TV, the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati,reports that in March one of their reporters wasforced to leave a so-called "tea party" protest aftera small ...32 minutes agoThink ProgressSenate Should Ignore Nutty Glenn Beck ConspiracyTheories And Appoint Harold Koh - Our guestblogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at theCenter For American Progress Action Fund.</p><p> AsThinkProgress recently noted, a small number ofc...36 minutes agoHuffPost PoliticsZP Heller: Why Dr.</p><p> King Would Break the Silenceon Afghanistan - We must invest in our owneconomic recovery and in fixing Afghanistan'shumanitarian crisis.40 minutes agoFiredoglakeOperation Stonewall Stalls Johnsen and Koh -While we wait for the last ballot count in theFranken-Coleman contest, I thought I'd tie inOperation Stonewall to the Republicans' bizarreand seemingly ...42 minutes agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show All Social Media MarketingIntegrate Social Media Into Your PR &Marketing Strategy with Vocus!www.vocus.com/socialmediaVA Streamline RefinanceRefinance now while VA rates are nearall-time lows!www.VArefinance.comEmail Marketing ToolsBarack Obama & 336,000 Others ChoseiContact for Their Email Marketing!www.iContact.com/Free_Trial AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: If The...http://www.americablog.com/2004/08/if-media-did-its-job.html 1 of 64/6/09 8:32 PM
