ohhhh.... There is soooo much to cover. I have had all kinds of ideas of things to write in the blog, but not enough time to collect my thoughts and write something cohesively. First lets start off.

Yeah ok it is time! Lets get the ball rolling on the old Campain 2004! No that is not a misspelling, this thing is getting painful! Instead of talking about the issues that matter to this country, the media is taking us 35 years into the past to argue about he said, she said.

Ok lets start this thing. The Swift Boat Vets for Truth are a fraud! I will debunk the entire thing now, so this may take some time, bare with me.

FactCheck.org Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record

Ok lets take a look at this non-partisan website's take on this matter.

""Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is a group formed March 23 after Kerry wrapped up the Democratic nomination. It held a news conference May 4 denigrating Kerry's military record and his later anti-war pronouncements during the 1970's. The group began running an attack ad Aug. 5 in which 13 veterans variously say Kerry is "not being honest" and "is lying about his record.""

Ok the fact that this group was formed on March 23 after Kerry had become the presumptive nominee, should alert careful viewers, but most of the media has failed to mention this.

..."initial funding came mainly from a Houston home builder, Bob R. Perry, who has also given millions to the Republican party"...

Hmmm ok, well a 527 group (for those still 527 virgins, a 527 group is an organization that is not tied to a political group and does not coordinate in any way with a political party, so that they can forego the new campaign finance laws which only allow a maximum donation of $2000 per individual) should be non-partisan, but anyways, there are many 527s that are against shrub, so I guess this is ~OK~. NEXT!!!!

"Elliott, who had been Kerry's commanding officer, was quoted by the Boston Globe Aug 6 as saying he had made a "terrible mistake" in signing the affidavit against Kerry, in which Elliott suggested Kerry hadn't told him the truth about how he killed the enemy soldier. Later Elliott signed a second affidavit saying he still stands by the words in the TV ad. But Elliott also made what he called an "immaterial clarification" - saying he has no first-hand information that Kerry was less than forthright about what he did to win the Silver Star."

Hmmmmm a flip-flopper in their ranks?! Seems to me that lying in an affidavit might be a punishable offense. I wonder what was going on behind the scenes with this man, when the group found out he had decided to break ranks and tell the Boston Globe something different then the group's story. What's even better is that in 1996 during Kerry's senate campaign Elliot flew out to Boston to stand behind Kerry at a press conference. HMMMMMMM!!!!

"On Aug. 22 an officer who was present supported Kerry's version, breaking a 35-year silence. William B. Rood commanded another Swift Boat during the same operation and was awarded the Bronze Star himself for his role in attacking the Viet Cong ambushers. He said Kerry and he went ashore at the same time after being attacked by several Viet Cong onshore.
Rood said he was the only other officer present. Rood is now an editor on the metropolitan desk of the Chicago Tribune, which published his first-person account of the incident in its Sunday edition. Rood said he had refused all interviews about Kerry's war record, even from reporters for his own paper, until motivated to speak up because Kerry's critics are telling "stories I know to be untrue" and "their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us.""

Well now here is another Veteran, completely contradicting what the veterans in this group are saying.

Now some said that Kerry's boat was receiving NO enemy fire from the banks of the river when he turned his boat around and pulled James Rassmann out of the water. One man who made this claim was Larry Thurlow. Well the Washington Post obtained Mr. Thurlow's own medal citation for HIS actions that day(they got the records by the Freedom of Information Act). What did that citation say?

""all units began receiving enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks" after the first explosion. The citation describes Thurlow as leaping aboard the damaged PCF-3 and rendering aid "while still under enemy fire," and adds: "His actions and courage in the face of enemy fire . . . were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.""

So how does Thurlow respond to THIS fact?!!

"The Post quoted Thurlow as saying he had lost his citation years earlier and had been under the impression that he received the award for aiding the damaged boat and its crew, and that his own award would be "fraudulent" if based on his facing enemy fire"...

WOW!!!!! Absolutely amazing! This man is casting doubt not only on his own medal, but on all the medals of ALL veterans in the United States armed forces! What a disgrace! Folks this is SICK! This group is beyond the lowest!

But wait, there's more!

"None of those in the attack ad by the Swift Boat group actually served on Kerry's boat. And their statements are contrary to the accounts of Kerry and those who served under him.

Jim Rassmann was the Army Special Forces lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the water. Rassmann has said all along that he was under sniper fire from both banks of the river when Kerry, wounded, helped him aboard."

For the details of what Rassmann said in response to these idiots read the article.

And for more details on the discrediting of the swift boat vets claims about Kerry's purple hearts read the actual article.

Now John McCain also came out immediately with a statement denouncing the ad.

"McCain : I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crewmates have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam."

He also went on the demand that the shrub administration denounce the ad as well. So what did those fine folks do? Well let me just say that these people are geniuses, diabolical geniuses. They had the perfect come back. They didn't denounce the ad in particular, but they did say that they think all 527 ads should be pulled, and called on the Kerry camp to come out and say that they agree that all 527 ads should be pulled. Well see, the shrub camp was getting alot of heat over all the anti-bush ads that were being played. So this made perfect sense for them to do this.

BUT!!!

There is a HUGE difference between the swift boat ads and these other 527 ads against shrub. Those ads against shrub are opinions based on facts of shrub's dismal record as president, the swift boat ads are straight lies, trying to smear Kerry and claim that he lied. One ad by Moveon.org that did try to claim something that was not proven, that georgie shrub got into the National Guard because of his dad, who was a Texas congressman, was condemned by Kerry. So now what?

Is your head spinning yet? Good! That is what the shrub camp wants, they don't want you to think about the war in Iraq, or the economy, or the over 1 million jobs lost to date since King shrub took the reigns.

So you want a nice graph of some of the connections of this group to the shrub people? Ok (Click on the image to enlarge to readable format *[make sure Internet Explorer doesn't shrink it when you click on it])



Ok lets take a look at the authors of the book this group put out, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Jerome Corsi. In the interest of space please take a look at the ad on your own.

MMFA investigates: Who is Jerome Corsi, co-auth ... [Media Matters for America]

Lets just put it this way, Corsi has posted some things to discussion boards that rival the distastefulness of Rush Limbaugh, and I don't say that lightly.

Ok how about the other author of the book, and backer John O'Neill.

Well what to say, there is alot of history with this one. Kerry came back from Vietnam and gave testimony to the Senate about what he saw, and what he heard from other veterans in Vietnam. This included atrocities that were allegedly conducted by our troops. Some veterans were very angry at Kerry, as was the president at the time, Richard Nixon. Nixon was peeved that Kerry was making him look bad, and recruited John O'Neill, who was mad at Kerry for supposedly making veterans look bad(although Kerry has stated his indictment was towards the people in power in our government, not the soldiers who were following orders.). Nixon met with O'Neill and coached him on how to debate Kerry on the Dick Cavett show in 1971. By all accounts Kerry cleaned up the stage with O'Neill. So there is some seeds of anger for John O'Neill towards Kerry. Hmmmm.

Here's another good read:
IHT: Ad wars: Behind an attack on Kerry
It talks about the meeting of this group and how it got started, and some of its backers. One such backer being a "close friend" of Karl Rove, shrub's senior advisor. HMMMMMM!!!!!

Want more? NO?! WEll anyways.
t r u t h o u t - Vietnam Vet Leaves Bush Campaign over Kerry Ad:"A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush's campaign has left over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging Democratic candidate John Kerry's war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday."

HMMMMMM!!!!!! Ok that is nothing, I am sure!

And there is moooreeeee. Oh god I can't take it!!!!

Vietnam vets rally against Clackamas County prosecutor
Well apparently The Oregonian now wants to collect user data from you before letting you view the article, so I will summarize: a prosecutor in Oregon signed an affidavit which reads:

"My name is Alfred J. French III. I am over the age of 21 years, and I am fully competent and able to make this affidavit. I am able to swear, as I do hereby swear, that all facts and statements contained in this affidavit are true and correct and within my personal knowledge or belief."

Then goes on to accuse Kerry of exaggerating and there not being enemy fire, pretty much the standard at this point for these people. So what is the problem then? Well in that affidavit it states that all of the following statements are true and correct within his personal knowledge. But he later told the newspaper that his claims are based on what he HEARD from others.

"Stewart of Oregon City and Don Kirsch of Canby drew about 45 people to a rally to criticize French, a senior deputy district attorney who said in an affidavit that Kerry lied about his service record. French later admitted his sworn statements were based on the accounts of others.

French's comments have been used in anti-Kerry ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of Vietnam veterans who have said the Democratic presidential candidate lied about or exaggerated his actions during Swift boat river duty in 1969.

The ad campaign has become a national issue, and French's admission to The Oregonian last week that his signed affidavit was not based on personal observations raised the emotional level of the veterans-versus-veterans debate in Oregon."

HMMMMM!!!!! So now some people of Oregon are calling for this man's job, saying he violated the law. HMMM!

Ok well I could go on and on, but lets just stop there. The big story is that whether or not the shrub campaign has ANYTHING to do with these ads, they have successfully taken the agenda (set by the mainstream media) and moved it from the war, the economy, the job losses, etc. to John Kerry's Vietnam service questions.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the biggest crime here. Its disgusting and I hope the public sees the truth, and holds the shrub responsible for HIS record in the last 4 years.