August 21, 2004

A simmering feud between the Bush and Kerry campaigns over a TV ad that denigrates Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam war record moved toward the boiling point Friday as the Democratic nominee filed a complaint with federal officials that accused the president’s r

The Bush cabal is desperate. North Carolina is in play. Ohio, Fraudida and Misery are slipping away. These viscious lies are straws for their rapid rabble to clutch at. They are fighting for their own base, not the center or the "undecided." It is finished, unless they finish a significant % of the US electorate before the national referendum on the CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCE and CHARACTER of the increasingly unhinged and incredibly
shrinking _resident. The "US mainstream news media"
pretend that this farce hurts Kerry-Edwards. IF there
is an election, they are going to be proven wrong, but
not only wrong, also IRRELEVANT...

MSNBC: A simmering feud between the Bush and Kerry
campaigns over a TV ad that denigrates Sen. John
Kerry’s Vietnam war record moved toward the boiling
point Friday as the Democratic nominee filed a
complaint with federal officials that accused the
president’s re-election campaign of breaking the law.
Kerry’s complaint to the Federal Elections Commission
about the ads produced and aired by the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth alleges "overwhelming evidence”
that the veterans group is “coordinating its
expenditures on advertising and other activities
designed to influence the presidential election with
the Bush-Cheney Campaign,” Kerry spokeswoman Allison
Dobson told NBC News.

Clease the White House of the Chickenhawk Coup, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5771731/

Kerry says Bush broke the law in TV ad dispute President's campaign denies ties to vets' group
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 7:10 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2004

A simmering feud between the Bush and Kerry campaigns over a TV ad that denigrates Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam war record moved toward the boiling point Friday as the Democratic nominee filed a complaint with federal officials that accused the president’s re-election campaign of breaking the law.

Kerry’s complaint to the Federal Elections Commission
about the ads produced and aired by the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth alleges "overwhelming evidence”
that the veterans group is “coordinating its
expenditures on advertising and other activities
designed to influence the presidential election with
the Bush-Cheney Campaign,” Kerry spokeswoman Allison
Dobson told NBC News.

The complaint comes at the end of a week in which
Kerry himself accused Bush of having the Swift Boat
veterans do “his dirty work” and media reports have
exposed connections between Bush, his family and other
high-profile Texas politicians. In a Thursday speech,
the Massachusetts senator said: “The fact that the
president won’t denounce what they’re up to tells you
everything you need to know.”

Steve Schmidt of the Bush campaign said charges that
Bush is in league with the veterans’ group are
“absolutely and completely false. The Bush campaign
has never and will never question John Kerry’s service
in Vietnam.” But the Bush campaign has, in fact,
refused to specifically disavow the Swift Boat
veterans’ ad, in which fellow Vietnam veterans say
Kerry acted dishonorably to win the Bronze and Silver
Stars and three Purple Hearts that he was awarded for
his service in Vietnam.

RELATED STORY
WashPost: Some veterans still bitter


Formal ties would be illegal
Any formal ties between the Bush campaign and the
veterans group would be against the law. Swift Boat
Veterans for the Truth is organized as a non-party,
independent political group under section 527 of the
Internal Revenue Code, and coordination between a 527
group and a presidential campaign is illegal.

The Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney
campaign filed a similar complaint last March that
accuses the Media Fund, America Coming Together and
several other anti-Bush groups of illegal use of
so-called soft money (unlimited donations) and of
illegal coordination with the Kerry campaign. And
three campaign finance watchdog groups also have filed
FEC complaints against the Swift Boat veterans group.

Any legal resolution of the matter would likely take
months, if not years, campaign law experts told
MSNBC.com.

In a campaign shadowed by the war on terrorism and in
Iraq, Kerry’s valorous combat experience is a
cornerstone of his campaign. After using the
Democratic National Convention to improve his poll
ratings on national security, Kerry remained silent as
the criticism led to growing indications — much of it
anecdotal, some in polling, party officials say — that
his gains were eroding.

His medals are supported by Navy documents and the
memories of all but one of the swift boat crewmates
who served beneath Kerry, then a Navy lieutenant. The
anti-Kerry group includes several veterans who say
they witnessed Kerry’s actions from nearby swift
boats.

Although the ad was released early in the month and
created a stir then, more contention over it erupted
this week when Kerry made his “dirty work” remarks at
a Boston campaign stop. Those remarks came the day
after the Washington Post published a story that
showed official military records countered the
statements made by one of Kerry’s most vocal critics,
Larry Thurlow. Thurlow has disputed Kerry’s Bronze
Star-winning assertion that he came under fire during
a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory. But
Thurlow’s own military records contained several
references to small arms fire that day, according to
The Washington Post.

Thurlow said in a statement Thursday that his records
were based on Kerry’s account.

Knowing several news organizations, including the
Post, were investigating the claims of anti-Kerry
veterans, the Democratic campaign swung into action
late Wednesday — rewriting the candidate’s speech to a
firefighters’ union overnight, flying two of his swift
boat colleagues to Boston and producing a new campaign
commercial, despite earlier plans to stay off the air
until September.

The 30-second ad features a former Green Beret saying
Kerry saved his life under fire. “He risked his life
to save mine,” Jim Rassmann says.

On Friday, another newspaper report detailed ties
between the veterans' group, Bush and his family,
other high-profile Texas politicians and Bush’s chief
political aide. The piece, in the New York Times, also
listed inconsistencies in some of the veterans' own
public statements on their regard for Kerry.

How the group known as the Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth "came into existence is a story of how veterans
with longstanding anger about Mr. Kerry's antiwar
statements in the early 1970s allied themselves with
Texas Republicans," The Times said.

"A series of interviews and a review of documents show
a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile
Texas political figures and President Bush's chief
political aide, Karl Rove," the Times reported.
"Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry 'unfit' had
lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year.


As Kerry denounced the criticism as “lies about my
record,” aides privately acknowledged that they and
their boss had been slow to recognize the damage being
done to his political standing.

Three Purple Hearts, Bronze and Silver Stars
Kerry won three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and
Silver Star for Vietnam War combat. Bush served
stateside in the Texas Air National Guard. Both men
say the other served honorably, but their supporters
are pouring tens of thousands of dollars into
television ads and other tactics to insist otherwise.

MoveOn.org, a liberal group funded by Kerry
supporters, is airing an ad accusing Bush of using
family connections to avoid the Vietnam War.

Kerry advisers said they had heard from several
Democratic politicians that voters were starting to
ask questions about the candidate’s war record. The
politicians urged him to fight back. Internally, there
was an initial reluctance from senior advisers for
Kerry to respond — because they believed that Bush
would condemn the critical ad, or that the allegations
would blow over.

As for the candidate himself, this was personal, aides
said. He had heard the group was raising money for
more ads, and was tired of his integrity being
assaulted.

“Thirty years ago, official Navy reports documented my
service in Vietnam and awarded me the Silver Star, the
Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts,” Kerry said.
“Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still
is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a
wound in Vietnam.”

Kerry aides said they will maintain the offensive
through surrogates, if not Kerry himself. Democrats
welcomed the response.

“Out of desperation, the Bush campaign has picked the
wrong fight with the wrong veteran,” said Jim Jordan,
former Kerry campaign manager who now runs an outside
group airing ads against Bush. “Today’s the start of
the mother of all backlashes.”

Kerry surrounded himself with friendly veterans and
union workers to criticize the group airing the ad
against him.

Bush and the White House refused to condemn the
anti-Kerry ad, which stopped airing this week. When
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asked Kerry to condemn the
MoveOn.org ad, Kerry quickly did so — though he has
personally raised questions about Bush’s Vietnam-era
service.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which is funded in
large part by Bob Perry, a Texas Republican, has
knocked the Democratic nominee's campaign off stride
with a small but effective advertising buy in the
battleground states of Ohio, West Virginia and
Wisconsin. The group spent about $500,000 on the ad,
but its allegations that Kerry exaggerated his combat
record to win medals have been on the Internet, the
24-hour cable channels and, most recently, the
nation's major television networks and newspapers.

Bush leads in veterans' votes
During the week ending Aug. 8, 966,000 people visited
the anti-Kerry group's Web site, 34,000 fewer than
those who visited Kerry's official site, according to
Nielsen/Net Ratings. The new CBS poll found Kerry
winning 37 percent of veterans' votes to Bush's 55
percent. (The two were tied at 46 percent after last
month's Democratic National Convention, where Kerry
highlighted his service.)

"They have been very effective at using the August
lull to drive a story" in news outlets, said Rep. Rahm
Emanuel (D-Ill.). Kerry, who planned to conserve
resources by not buying television ads this month,
will spend at least $180,000 to respond, his aides
said.

Posted by richard at August 21, 2004 11:30 AM