The Jig is Up: Swiftboat Veterans a Tool of Bush Family
New York Times reports the Swiftboat Veterans have been directly funded by a longtime political associate Karl Rove, one of Bush the Younger's closest political advisors, along with one of the financial trustees of Bush the Elder's presidential library. Also, HW Bush's speech coach is lending his strategic advice while the TV ads are produced by the same firm that successfully portrayed Dukakis in the tank back in '88 as foolish.
The group's ultimate plan is create the impression that decorated war hero John F. Kerry is a "baby killer" and a liar. This may at first seem ironic in light of the recent misadventure in Iraq the US is engaged in. However, they had only to look to the current president for such a character model when it comes to lying and the killing of innocents.
On closer examination, the Times reports, the many of the members of the Swiftboat Veterans for "Truth" in fact directly contadicted their former sworn statements to the Navy regarding this whole affair.
In March of 2003, Roy F. Hoffman , a leading member of the Swift Boaters, told a Times reporter in reference to Kerry, "I am not going to say anything negative about him ... He's a good man." Later, in reference to Kerry's Silver Star, Hoffman declares, "It took guts, and I admire that."
Offended by Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley's portrayal of him, Hoffman says now he just wants to set the record straight, but seems far more focused on vengeance against Kerry. Before long Republican party officials got wind of the Hoffman's discontent and ppassed him and his colleague Adrian L. Lonsdale to Texas-based attorney and 30-plus-year-Kerry arch-nemesis John O'Neill, now a political player dug in to the Lone Star state, aka Bush country. In fact, O'Neill represented one of the leading players in the infamous Texas redistricting debacle, David Dewhurst. Further, O'Neill's group is funded by Texas's largest Republican contributor, Bob Perry, who has so far doled out $200,000 to the Swift Boaters after having donated $46,000 to Bush and nearly $4 million to Texan consrervative cause-celebres. Further, many of O'Neill's law parters have come to intimately know the Bush clan an its operatives by representing them vigorously over the years ...
This only the tip of the iceberg. Read the following article to learn the details of how O'Neill's group tried indoctrinate former Vietnam-era swiftboat veterans into joining his 'crusade' against Kerry. Many intriguing tidbits here.
The New York Times %3E Washington %3E Campaign 2004 %3E Friendly Fire%3A The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad
posted by Jimbo Trout @ Friday, August 20, 2004