GOP Delegates: Purple Heart = Band-Aid

[Patrick M]

This would be enough to piss me off.

August 21, 2004
New Internet Ad: George Bush is Up to His Old Tricks
For Immediate Release

* Sign the Petition

Washington, DC - As a desperate President Bush and Karl Rove once again resort to the smear page of their campaign playbook, the Kerry-Edwards campaign today launched a new Internet ad that will give viewers across the country a severe case of Déjà vu.

The ad, titled “Old Tricks,” features Senator John McCain rebuking then candidate Bush during a 2000 Larry King debate for refusing to disavow or condemn hateful and vicious attacks on McCain’s military record during the South Carolina Republican primary.

McCain’s comments will ring true for Americans who are once again seeing their Commander-in-Chief dishonor America’s veterans through his silent support of the group “Swift Boat Veterans for Bush” while they smear John Kerry’s military service and the service of those who served in great danger with him on the Navy’s Swift Boats.

Beginning today, the Kerry-Edwards campaign will begin a systematic campaign to expose the president’s tactics, with a special emphasis on the veterans community. “Old Tricks” will be emailed to 200,000 veterans activists who will share it in their communities, posted on veterans websites and emailed to the entire Kerry online community of well over 1 million supporters.

“This is an unfortunate and classic move by a Bush-Rove campaign,” said Kerry-Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. “It says a lot about the Commander-in-Chief that when the going gets tough, his first reaction is to sit back and allow others to disparage the service of veterans. The president should condemn this ad today, as he should have condemned attacks against McCain in 2000. The American people want to hear how we’re going to strengthen the economy, cut health care costs and make America safer and more secure. That is what they deserve, not smears.”

This new group of “Swift Veterans for Bush,” isn’t interested in the truth – and they’re not telling the truth. Thirty years ago, official Navy reports documented John Kerry’s service in Vietnam and Navy commanders decorated him for his service. Thirty five years ago, this was the truth, and it’s still the truth today.

Senator McCain has called the television ad run by these Bush supporters ‘dishonest and dishonorable,’ and called on President Bush to condemn it. Thus far, Bush has sat silent.

SCRIPT:

McCain: Let me tell you what really went over the line. Governor Bush had an event, and he paid for it, and standing, and stood next to the spokesman for a fringe veterans group. That fringe veteran said that John McCain had abandoned the veterans. Now I don’t know how if you can understand this George, but that really hurts.

Bush: Yeah.

McCain: That really hurts. And so five United State senators, Vietnam veterans, heroes. Some of them really incredible heroes, wrote George a letter and said “apologize.” You should, you should be ashamed.

FACT SHEET:
Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000

Bush Supporters Called McCain “The Fag Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the fag candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.” [Washington Post, 2/18/00; Rich op-ed, Austin American-Statesman, 2/29/00]

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife. Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.” [Ivins column, The Nation, 6/18/01]

Bush Campaign Used Code Words to Question McCain’s Temper. “A smear campaign of the ugliest sort is now coursing through the contest for the presidency in 2000. Using the code word "temper," a group of Senate Republicans, and at least some outriders of the George W. Bush campaign, are spreading the word that John McCain is unstable. The subtext, also suggested in this whispering campaign, is that he returned from 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam with a loose screw. And it is bruited about that he shouldn't be entrusted with nuclear weapons.” [Drew op-ed, Washington Post, 11/19/99]

Bush Supporters Questioned McCain’s Sanity. “Some of George W. Bush's supporters have questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's fitness for the White House, suggesting that his five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam drove him insane at the time.” [Lansing State Journal, 11/23/99]

Bush Supporters Spread Racist Rumors About McCain’s Daughter. Bush supporters in South Carolina made race-baiting phone calls saying that McCain had a “black child.” The McCains’ daughter, Bridget, was adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh. In August 2000, columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the McCains “are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter.” [Time, 3/6/00; Boston Globe, 3/4/00; Dowd column, New York Times, 8/9/00]

Rove Suggests Former POW McCain Committed Treason and Fathered Child With Black Prostitute. In 2000, McCain operatives in SC accused Rove of spreading rumors against McCain, such as “suggestions that McCain had committed treason while a prisoner of war, and had fathered a child by a black prostitute,” according to the New Yorker. [New Yorker, 5/12/03]

* After Rove Denied Role In McCain Whisper Campaign, Reporters Concluded He Was Behind It. A December 1999 Dallas Morning News linked Rove to a series of campaign dirty tricks, including his College Republican efforts, allegedly starting a whisper campaign about Ann Richard being too gay-friendly, spreading stories about Jim Hightower’s involvement in a kickback scheme and leaking the educational history of Lena Guerrero. The article also outlined current dirty tricks and whisper campaigns against McCain in South Carolina, including that “McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.” (DMN, 12/2/99) After the article was published, Rove blasted Slater in the Manchester, NH airport, “nose to nose” according to one witness, with Rove claiming Slater had “harmed his reputation,” Slater later noted. But according to one witness, “What was interesting then is that everyone on the campaign charter concluded that Rove was responsible for rumors about McCain.” [The Nation, 3/5/01]
* Rove Was In Close Touch With McConnell, McCain-Feingold’s Chief Opponent. Senior White House adviser Karl Rove was in close contact with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) during McConnell’s effort to fight the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill in the U.S. Senate. According to Newsweek, though Rove and Bush have publicly kept their distance from McConnell on the issue, “sources tell Newsweek that Rove is, in fact, in close touch with McConnell as GOP experts study the bill for hidden land mines.” [Newsweek, 2/25/02]

Bush Campaign Accused of Using Push Polls Against McCain. College of Charleston student Suzette Latsko said she received a telephone call from a woman who identified herself as an employee of Voter/Consumer Research, and that the caller misrepresented McCain’s positions and asked if Latsko knew McCain had been reprimanded for interfering with federal regulators in the savings and loan scandal. Voter/Consumer Research is listed as a polling contractor on Bush’s Federal Election Commission filings; the Bush campaign has paid Voter/Consumer Research $93,000 through December 31, 1999. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer denied the call was a push poll, but said it was important that the Republican Party remember McCain’s role in the S&L crisis. [Houston Chronicle, 2/8/00]

* Bush Campaign Acknowledged Making Phone Calls. Tucker Eskew, Bush’s South Carolina spokesman, acknowledged the Bush campaign made such calls, but claimed they were not “push polls.” Eskew added, “Show me a baseless comment in those questions.” [Post and Courier, 2/8/00]

Bush Used Fringe Veterans Group to Attack McCain as “Manchurian Candidate.” “In the case of Ted Sampley, the same guy who did Bush's dirty work in going after Sen. John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries is doing the job against Kerry this year. Sampley dared compare McCain, who spent five years as a Vietnam POW, with ‘the Manchurian Candidate.’” [Dionne op-ed, Washington Post, 4/27/04]

* Sampley Called McCain a “Coward” and a Traitor. “Sampley… accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.” [Salon.com]



Paid for and authorized by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

[Dob]

It would be enough to piss me off too. But if McCain is willing to let "bygones be bygones," why shouldn't I?

What I'd like to know is what McCain was promised in exchange for wagging his tail at the convention like a good little GOP doggie. The full support of the party for his presidential run in 2008? Or for his senate reelection? Maybe a running mate slot in 2008? Or maybe it was a "do it or else" situation, because someone "has something" on him...

The beat goes on. What a sleazy occupation. And "we the people" are even worse. Not only do we tolerate it, we heartily approve - by voting the mud slinger into office.

[czeskleba]

I realize McCain is just going along with the party, but it must hard as hell for him to endorse Bush.

He REALLY wants to be the nominee in 2008.

[Rspaight]

I think 2008 is it exactly. But he probably had to take a long, hot shower after giving that speech Monday night.

BTW, Kerry has withdrawn that ad at McCain's request.

Ryan

[Matt]

Quote:
If the wound is not from enemy fire it is not eligible either.

Not true.

I based my statement off of this: http://www.purpleheart.org/explanation.htm

"The PURPLE HEART is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action. It is specifically a combat decoration."

So the only way for you not to suspect Kerry of tricking the entire Navy into giving him medals is for him to have died?

No, if he has nothing to hide, why not release the records then? Since he wont, we must assume he has something to hide.

If Kerry was so eager to get out of combat, why did he volunteer for it? Why not dodge the draft like Bush and Clinton, or rack up endless deferments like Cheney?

That is a good question. Maybe after he saw combat he wanted out any way he could. Maybe he wanted to see Combat? Given the way he acted after the war, I can not say for sure.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/politics/clintondraft.asp

How does Cheney stack up to Clinton after reading the Snopes article?

[Rspaight]

How does Cheney stack up to Clinton after reading the Snopes article?

Under the same circumstances as Clinton, Cheney would probably have done similar things. He has famously said that he had "other priorities" during the Vietnam years than serving there, and one would assume he would avoided service with the same vigor as Clinton did.

However, deferments were easier to come by in the early sixties, when Cheney was of draft age, than in the late Sixties, when Clinton was of draft age, so Cheney didn't have to go to the same lengths. Though Cheney apparently did work pretty hard at it...

http://www.rense.com/general52/chenn.htm

Ryan

[krabapple]

Quote:

So the only way for you not to suspect Kerry of tricking the entire Navy into giving him medals is for him to have died?

No, if he has nothing to hide, why not release the records then? Since he wont, we must assume he has something to hide.

Yeah, and Cheney should release the minutes of his post-election meetings with energy executives. And Bush should release all of his records related to his time in the service. And Bush , CHeney et al should release the unexpurgated records relating to the buildup to the war in Iraq, and the response to 9/11. (And they shouldn't have tried so hard to stonewall what records they *did* end up releasing, to the 9/11 commission...remember that?)

And you're bitching about whether John Kerry was *properly* wounded during his undisputably meritorious service in the Vietnam war? What a fucking joke.

[Xenu]

No, if he has nothing to hide, why not release the records then? Since he wont, we must assume he has something to hide.

That approaches Scientologist-Level Reasoning. "Why would you mind us prying into your personal life, recasting events set in stone for thirty years, combing through your tax records....UNLESS YOU HAD SOMETHING TO HIDE?"

Instead of, say, wanting privacy, or not wanting to give any legitimacy to a spurious charge, or something vaguely similar.

[Matt]

And Bush should release all of his records related to his time in the service.

I thought Bush did release his military records in February?

And Bush , CHeney et al should release the unexpurgated records relating to the buildup to the war in Iraq, and the response to 9/11. (And they shouldn't have tried so hard to stonewall what records they *did* end up releasing, to the 9/11 commission...remember that?)

Yes they should, and maybe Sandy Berger can return the documents he borrowed.
Remember how that was swept under the table?

And you're bitching about whether John Kerry was *properly* wounded during his undisputably meritorious service in the Vietnam war? What a fucking joke

Indisputably meritorious service? Ultimately I don't know the complete truth and I have no problem admitting that. It is funny though, Moveon.org and plenty of other hate organizations can dish out all sorts or political rhetoric. But when someone knocks Kerry in any way, it's a fucking joke.

[lukpac]

Yes they should, and maybe Sandy Berger can return the documents he borrowed.
Remember how that was swept under the table?

Maybe he should, but it's not like he was hiding anything: he didn't take out originals. Even the liberal rag The Washington Times seems to agree:

The report appeared July 30 in The Wall Street Journal and said investigators "looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton national security adviser Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks."

Not to worry, though, they'll get him yet...:

The source said the Journal report was missing the point and the investigation is not just about whether anything is missing.

Berger has acknowledged he inadvertently removed some document copies while preparing to testify before the commission. Removing classified documents from the archives violates federal law.

[Rspaight]

I thought Bush did release his military records in February?

Some, but not the important stuff. Because if what was released in February is everything, then there is no documentation whatsoever to show that Bush fulfilled his obligations while in Alabama. (Beyond a single dental exam.)

Yes they should, and maybe Sandy Berger can return the documents he borrowed.

They were. Nothing is missing and never was. All the documents Berger had were copies, not originals. Yeah, Berger screwed up, but it in no way impeded the work of the commission.

Remember how that was swept under the table?

You're kidding, right? That was a media circus for days on end, complete with total fabrications about Berger stealing original documents and hiding them in his socks.

But when someone knocks Kerry in any way, it's a fucking joke.

No, only when the knock is based on hearsay and contradictory evidence from biased sources.

Ryan

[Rspaight]

[Rspaight]

I thought Bush did release his military records in February?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/ ... index.html

Ryan