Text 747, 94 rader
Skriven 2004-08-05 10:41:34 av RICHARD JOHNSON (1:10/345)
Ärende: Lying repub scum outed
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Submerging the truth about Swift Boat Vets on Hannity & Colmes, Scarborough
Country

FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes and MSNBC's Scarborough Country both gave
free airtime on August 4 to a new, misleading ad sponsored by Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth, a recently formed group dedicated to attacking Senator John
Kerry's record during and after his service in Vietnam. Both programs devoted
segments to the ad, airing it the day before its scheduled release, but left
out key facts that discredit Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In an August 5 interview with the Associated Press, Senator John McCain (R-AZ),
"a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called the ad criticizing John Kerry's
military service 'dishonest and dishonorable' and urged the White House on
Thursday to condemn it as well."

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did not serve alongside Kerry

In the new ad, members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claim that they "served
with John Kerry." Hannity & Colmes co-host Sean Hannity echoed the false claim,
saying that the veterans in the ad are "the people that know him best," and
referred to them as "some of his fellow crewmates." Even Pat Halpin, who was
filling in for co-host Alan Colmes, called them "some of John Kerry's
crewmates." Scarborough echoed Swift Boat Veterans' misleading claim that they
"served with John Kerry in Vietnam."

While the veterans attacking Kerry in the ad are veterans of the Vietnam War
and may have served at the same time as Kerry, as The New York Times reported
on August 5, the Kerry campaign noted that "none of the men had actually served
on the Swift boats that Mr. Kerry commanded." Adm. Roy F. Hoffman, one of the
veterans in the ad, has even "acknowledged he had no first-hand knowledge to
discredit Kerry's claims to valor," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on
May 7, "and said that although Kerry was under his command, he really didn't
know Kerry much personally."

In contrast, many of the veterans who have appeared on the campaign trail with
Kerry did serve alongside him. The Wall Street Journal's Albert R. Hunt noted
in his August 5 "Campaign Journal" column, titled "Sham Charges Against a War
Hero" (subscription required): "Indeed, 10 of the 11 men who served on his two
swift boats all have sworn by John Kerry; nine living members were in Boston
[for the Democratic National Convention]."

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's Republican ties

As Media Matters for America previously noted, on May 4, Salon.com's Joe
Conason detailed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's ties to the Republican Party.
In addition to pointing out that the group's founder, John O'Neill, has
long-standing ties to the GOP that can be traced back to the Nixon
administration, Conason also reported that among the people behind Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth is "veteran corporate media consultant and Texas Republican
activist Merrie Spaeth, who is listed as the group's media contact."

As MMFA has documented, both Hannity & Colmes co-host Alan Colmes (on May 28)
and FOX chief political correspondent Carl Cameron (on May 4) reported the
group's Republican ties on FOX News Channel; on May 4, Scarborough mentioned
criticism of O'Neill's "dirty tricks" for the Nixon administration. While
Scarborough did mention on August 4 that the group was part of the "Republican
counteroffensive" "prepar[ing] to release blistering attacks in John Kerry's
Vietnam record," Hannity completely ignored the group's ties to the GOP.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth doctor did not sign Kerry's medical record

Neither Hannity nor Scarborough bothered to note that Dr. Louis Letson, who is
featured in the ad claiming to have treated Kerry for the wound that earned him
his first Purple Heart and claiming that it was undeserved, was not the medical
official who signed Kerry's medical records for the wound. The Kerry campaign
noted this fact in a report in The New York Times and a report in the Los
Angeles Times that surfaced when Letson first unleashed this attack in May.

In criticizing the ad, McCain told the Associated Press, "'It was the same kind
of deal that was pulled on me'... referring to his [McCain's] bitter Republican
primary fight with President Bush," according to the AP. As Conason reported on
May 4, "The 'swift boat' veterans attacking John Kerry's war record are led by
veteran right-wing operatives using the same vicious techniques they used
against John McCain four years ago." Conason explained that Spaeth (the group's
media contact) participated during the 2000 Republican primary contest in TV
ads that "falsely attack[ed]" McCain's environmental record in California, New
York, and Ohio.

McCain might have been referring as well to attacks on his military record by
Ted Sampley and Thomas Burch, both Vietnam veterans, during the 2000 primary
season. As Media Matters for America previously reported, Sampley hounded
McCain as a "Manchurian Candidate" -- suggesting that the decorated veteran and
former prisoner of war was a brainwashed communist agent -- and was convicted
for misdemeanor assault related to an attack on one of McCain's legislative
aides. Sampley is the leader of a group called Vietnam Veterans Against John
Kerry. During the 2000 Republican primary in South Carolina, Burch, according
to a February 22 report in the Chicago Tribune, "stood with George W. Bush at
his side and accused Sen. John McCain of Arizona of opposing health care for
Persian Gulf war veterans and blocking efforts to locate POW-MIAs, saying the
former prisoner of war "came home from Vietnam and forgot us."

˙ K.B. & N.C. 
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