posted on August 20, 2004 07:54:52 AM new
Do as I say not as I do.....from the Kerry camp
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MoveOn Ads Okay; Swift Boat Ads Not Okay, Kerry Campaign Says
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
August 20, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - The Bush campaign has suggested that Sen. John Kerry join President Bush in calling off the dogs -- those "shadowy" 527 groups that run ads for and against Bush and Kerry.
The liberal group MoveOn.org and the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are both 527s, named after a section of the tax code.
But on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign backed away from the suggestion. She said what MoveOn.org is doing is perfectly fine, while what the Swift Boat Veterans are doing is "dishonest" and "dishonorable."
Debra Deshong of the Kerry campaign told Fox News there's a difference between MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: "MoveOn.org is an independent organization that existed well before the Kerry campaign," she said, whereas Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "is not an independent group."
Deshong invoked Friday's New York Times article as proof: "And in today's New York Times, it details exactly all the ties this group (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) has to the Bush White House."
Deshong condemned Bush for not telling Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to stop running their ad. (Swift Boats say it wouldn't matter what Bush said -- see related story)
"Again, we (the Kerry campaign) have nothing to do with these independent ads, like MoveOn.org. That is an independent organization that existed well before the Kerry campaign. They have every right to be running what they are under the campaign finance laws." According to Deshong, "This is about the Swift Boat Vets that are running dishonorable ads that Bush refuses to condemn."
What about the barrage of 527 ads thrown at President Bush? a Bush campaign spokeswoman asked on Friday.
"The fact is, not only has this president had over $62 million dollars spent attacking him by these shadowy groups, but let's not forget about Michael Moore's movie," said Bush campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise, also speaking on Fox News. She noted that for weeks, Americans could "hardly turn on a TV" without seeing Michael Moore "launch unbelievable attacks on this president."
Millerwise said the Bush campaign would rather focus on the major issues -- including Sen. Kerry's spotty attendance at Senate Intelligence Committee hearings.
posted on August 20, 2004 08:23:27 AM new
Who's Behind the Anti-Kerry Vet Group?
Updated 10:55 AM ET August 20, 2004
- Houston lawyer John O'Neill has been a nemesis of Sen. John Kerry's since the Nixon years. Now, three decades later, O'Neill has formed a group of anti-Kerry veterans to challenge four of the five medals Kerry was awarded in Vietnam - two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star.
The group has been angry with Kerry after since he returned from Vietnam, joined the antiwar movement and accused soldiers of war crimes.
"We have a guy who started out fabricating us as war criminals, fabricating even himself as war criminals," said O'Neill, co-author of the book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. "He has now moved on to fabricating himself as a war hero."
But the men who served under Kerry's command stand by him.
"John Kerry earned every one of those medals. We were with him for the Bronze Star and the Silver Star. We validate, we authenticate, you know, his right to receive those medals," said Del Sandusky, the leading petty officer who served alongside Kerry.
"Every time they attack John's record, it attacks my record. I wish they'd stop," said Kerry's former crewmate Bill Zaladonis.
Making sense of the precise charges, however, depends upon which veterans one wishes to believe.
The group of anti-Kerry veterans, called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has many ties to Republican financial backers. With one exception they did not, however, serve on Kerry's boat or with his actual crewmates.
'A Front for the Bush Campaign'
So why did John Kerry even bother responding? Advisers to the Democratic presidential candidate had been hearing from party politicians that the anti-Kerry veterans group was beginning to be heard, that voters were starting to ask questions.
On Wednesday Kerry went to his Senate office. There he read a story in the Dallas Morning News that the group had received $200,000 from Bob Perry, a Houston real estate magnate and longtime Republican donor with ties to Bush's powerful political adviser, Karl Rove.
The White House denies any contact with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth whatsoever, but has not condemned the group's ad.
"They're funded by thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas," Kerry told a convention of the International Association of Fire Fighters on Thursday in Boston. "They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know - he wants them to do his dirty work."
In addition to the involvement of Perry, other GOP donors, and former Reagan White House media liaison Merrie Spaeth, O'Neill told ABC News that when his group was forming, he sought and received free legal advice from Jan Baran, an expert on election law who also just happens to have been the former counsel for George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign, and for four years counsel to the Republican National Committee.
posted on August 20, 2004 08:59:43 AM new
Yep...it's their old double standard alright.
Just this morning on Fox News...one guest for kerry one for President Bush. The kerry one calling for President Bush to stop the SwiftBoat vets from using their free speech rights....BUT when asked if kerry would do the same with the groups like moveon who support his candidacy ....oh no...they are different.
posted on August 20, 2004 09:46:16 AM new
PSA moment, please accept my contriteness.
This politico-babble about he said she said is fine and good, but like pool players we should always keep one foot planted firmly on the ground. Review your emergency preparedness, food stores, emergency water, and medical supplies. Do you have/need matches, candles, batteries, even a generator and fuel to run it? WHAT emergency are you planning for? A short-term interruption of deliveries and utility services? Long-term disruption in civil services? Remember failing to plan is planning to fail.
We now return you to your incessant verbal sparring.
posted on August 20, 2004 09:51:22 AM new
lol parklane....
I think your suggestion is a great one. We all need to be ready for not having our local services available to take care of us. I think we're all a little nervous as to what might happen as this election draws nearer.
And looking the recent statements/threats coming from Iran right now and what their plans are for our soldiers stationed in Iraq....I'm more than a little concerned as we debate our election differences. We need to unite against those who wish us defeat.
posted on August 20, 2004 01:26:08 PM new
The problem or not the problem? here is that Neither Kerry or Bush can tell any orginization to stop their ads with funds raised on their own, or soft money. There is a limit on soft money, according to a new? (2002) campaign reform bill by McCain and someone else. SO, President Bush or Senator Kerry, cannot tell these independent groups to stop their 'issue ads'
But I see and read that people, and one being McCain, who wrote part of this bill, at one time was urging the Bush admin to stop the Swift Boat ads. He should know better. And Kerry cannot urge any 'issue group' ie; one being Moveon.org from doing their thing. But there is something in the Bill that says that the issue ads cannot endorse a candidate, they can say things about them, but can't endorse them.
posted on August 20, 2004 01:58:56 PM new
McCain is no saint with this. He sponsored this bill and LEFT IT WIDE OPEN with loopholes. - Like he didn't know what he was doing? Yeah, right!
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Each one sees what he carries in his heart - Goethe
posted on August 20, 2004 04:43:29 PM new
Hello All, John O'Neill and I share the same last name. Every Irish family has a few what my Grandfather called "Black Irish". The name black Irish has nothing to do with skin color. What my Grandfather meant by calling another Irishmen "Black Irish" was that their soul and heart was black. That they are bad people the kind of person you can't trust, that lies and steals. A person that would sell his soul to the Devil for a few bucks. That is what a Black Irishman is and I believe that John O'Neill fit that description.
If John O'Neill was around my Grandfather. My Grandfather would belt him with a throned stick. If John O'Neill was around my Father my Father would spit on him. I say John O'Neill would not make a PIMPLE on a REAL IRISHMAN'S BEHIND.
John O'Neill was lucky he only had to survive Vietnam. I don't think John O'Neill would have made it in the Rail Yards of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the early to mid 1900s.
IF YOU LIKE THIS BLACK IRISHMAN JOHN O'NEILL THAN YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR BUSH AND CHENEY BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST LIKE HIM.
[ edited by bigpeepa on Aug 20, 2004 04:47 PM ]
