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APPENDIX
B: THE BUSH JR. DOUBLE-STANDARDS GAME
SUMMARY
FACTS
(For detailed proof, scroll down or click here)
- George W. Bush and his father
denounced and specifically discouraged such smear attacks against
opponents in 1992, when his father ran for President. What a pity
the son won't do it now (scroll down and read why I say this) - I guess this is what happens when you
turn into a compassionate conservative (in 2000 and 2004)
-
Part of
the same group that is trashing Kerry is a man (Ted Sampley), who
trashed Bush Jr.'s father! Here's the son, tolerating the man who
trashed his father (and his co-campaigner John McCain) and the
group he is now using to trash another war hero! Compassionate
conservative with moral clarity!
-
Michael
Dukakis denounced attacks on Bush Sr.'s war record back then. Bush
Sr.'s son unfortunately can't seem to find the words today.
-
John
Kerry denounced attacks on Bush's national guard record. He also
was one of five senators who wrote a letter to Bush in 2000
demanding an apology for Bush's use of partisan veterans to
falsely smear McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries. Unfortunately Bush Jr. has been having some difficulty, shall we
say, to respond in kind.
-
Bush Jr.
cried foul and threatened legal action after the book
"Fortunate Son" was published in 1999 citing unproven
allegations of Bush's use of cocaine. Now, of course, his campaign
mocks Kerry for suggesting Bush should denounce the egregious lies
against Kerry.
-
Bush Jr.
claims that Kerry's service was "noble" and something he
should be "proud" of, but allows his supporters to make
egregiously false statements in public, in his presence, without
correcting them.
-
Bush Jr.
refused to directly accept the letter from Max Cleland and others
asking him to condemn the SBV ads and instead had his stooge Jerry
Patterson hand over another letter to the Kerry camp questioning
Kerry's charges in 1971 about war crimes in Vietnam and expressing
hurt and offense at that. Of course, Patterson conveniently forgot
that he had himself condemned the war crimes in Vietnam back in
2000.
-
EPILOGUE:
Back in 2000, as Bush struggled in the polls against McCain, a
very similar attack occurred on McCain, followed by Bush's
non-condemning "distancing" from the attackers -- with
Bush referring to McCain's service as "noble". Now we
should believe it is pure coincidence that suddenly a group
emerges to subject Kerry to the same treatment that McCain endured
AND Bush reacts similarly? Deja voodoo, anyone?
DETAILED
FACTS
B1. George W. Bush and
his father denounced and specifically discouraged such smear attacks
against opponents in 1992, when his father ran for President. What a
pity the son won't do it now - I guess this is what happens when
you turn into a compassionate conservative (in 2000 and 2004)
B2.
Part of the same group that is trashing Kerry is a man (Ted Sampley),
who trashed Bush Jr.'s father! Here's the son, tolerating the man who
trashed his father (and his co-campaigner John McCain) and the group
he is now using to trash another war hero! Compassionate conservative
with moral clarity!
B3.
Michael Dukakis denounced attacks on Bush Sr.'s war record back then.
Bush Sr.'s son unfortunately can't seem to find the words today to
extend the favor to his opponent.
B4.
John Kerry denounced attacks on Bush's national guard record. He also
was one of five senators who wrote a letter to Bush in 2000 demanding
an apology for Bush's use of partisan veterans to falsely smear McCain
in the 2000 Republican primaries.
Unfortunately Bush Jr. has been having some difficulty, shall we
say, to respond in kind.
B5.
Bush Jr. cried foul and threatened legal action after the book
"Fortunate Son" was published in 1999 citing unproven
allegations of Bush's use of cocaine. Now, of course, his campaign
mocks Kerry for suggesting Bush should denounce the egregious lies
against Kerry.
B6.
Bush Jr. claims that Kerry's service was "noble" and
something he should be "proud" of, but allows his supporters
to make egregiously false statements in public, in his presence,
without correcting them.
B7.
Bush Jr. refused to directly accept the letter from Max Cleland and
others asking him to condemn the SBV ads and instead had his stooge
Jerry Patterson hand over another letter to the Kerry camp questioning
Kerry's charges in 1971 about war crimes in Vietnam and expressing
hurt and offense at that. Of course, Patterson conveniently forgot
that he had himself condemned the war crimes in Vietnam back in 2000.
EPILOGUE:
Back
in 2000, as Bush struggled in the polls against McCain, a very similar
attack occurred on McCain, followed by Bush's non-condemning
"distancing" from the attackers -- with Bush referring to
McCain's service as "noble". Now we should believe it is
pure coincidence that suddenly a group emerges to subject Kerry to the
same treatment that McCain endured AND Bush reacts similarly? Deja
voodoo, anyone?
B1. George W. Bush
and his father denounced and specifically discouraged such smear
attacks against opponents in 1992, when his father ran for President.
What a pity the son won't do it now - I guess this is what happens
when you turn into a compassionate conservative (in 2000 and
2004)!
Jeffrey
Dubner, TAPPED:
WHEN
I WAS YOUNG AND RESPONSIBLE.
It wasn't so long ago that sitting presidents publicly disavowed
their unofficial supporters' nastiest tactics. Take George H.W.
Bush on Floyd Brown's "Bill Clinton Fact Line"
in 1992 (from the Washington Post, July 15, 1992):
The Bush reelection
campaign today filed a complaint with the Federal Election
Commission against Floyd Brown, a conservative activist who
produced the infamous Willie Horton ad in 1988 and recently has
been digging for dirt about Bill Clinton.
...
Speaking in San Diego after a meeting with Mexican President
Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Bush said, "We will do whatever we
can to stop any filthy campaign tactics," and "we will
do whatever we can ... to see that [Brown] does not use my name
for these nefarious purposes."
The 364
contributors listed on Brown's FEC reports have received letters
from the Bush campaign informing them that Brown's "Citizens
for Bush" is not affiliated with Bush/Quayle '92, according
to a statement by White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. The
same message -- and encouragement not to contribute to Brown's
effort -- also went to 85,697 "major contributors" over
the signature of the president's son, George W. Bush.
(Emphasis added.)
So, will we be seeing George
W. Bush asking Bob Perry not to write any more $100,000
checks to Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth? Will he make sure that Creative
Response Concepts, the PR firm that produced the attack ad,
doesn't put out any more ads in support of Bush's tax cuts (like the
spot
implying John F. Kennedy would support the 2001 tax cut)?
Just wondering.
Center
for American Progress:
A group of veterans
have launched a media blitz featuring a host of wholly
unsubstantiated and largely discredited charges against Sen. John
Kerry (D-MA) which call into question his record of honorable
military service in Vietnam. In particular, the group – called
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) – is airing an ad featuring 13
men who never served with Kerry calling him a liar and alleging
that he did not deserve the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two of
his three Purple Hearts. The allegations contradict all
of Kerry's crewmates who are still living, medical
records and an independent investigation by historian Douglas
Brinkley. Sen. John McCain – who was similarly
smeared by false charges during his 2000 campaign that he
fathered an out-of-wedlock black child – called the group's
advertisement "dishonest
and dishonorable." But asked specifically whether Bush
would join McCain in condemning the ad, White House Press Secretary
Scott McClellan demurred.
More
here from Bush's interview with Larry King, where he repeatedly
decides not to denounce the ad.
Dan
Froomkin (Washington Post):
That Was No Condemnation
...
President Bush
dumbfounded major swaths of the White House press corps yesterday.
Bush stuck to a script that called for him to decry all
independently-funded political ads -- and in no way single out the
one contentiously questioning Sen. John F. Kerry's military record.
But some reporters at his mini press conference yesterday decided
that he had condemned the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad and
called for it to be taken off the air.
He didn't.
Here's a mini-FAQ.
Did Bush specifically condemn the Swift Boat ad? No. Instead he said
he was against all independent ads.
Did he call on it to be taken off the air? No.
Did he renounce any of the specific, inaccurate claims made in that
ad? No. He said Kerry served "admirably," but then quickly
turned to the topic of who would be best to lead the country in the
war on terror.
And yet here's how it played on the Associated Press: Bush
Criticizes Anti-Kerry Television Ad.
Here it is on
Reuters: Bush
Says Kerry Ad Should Stop.
They were not alone.
Even the White House was frustrated at the misconstruing of Bush's
message.
Here's the text
of Bush's remarks, made on his Crawford, Tex., ranch.
Here's the text
of press secretary Scott McClellan's gaggle, in which he tries to
clear things up, mostly with repetition.
Parsing
The confusion seems to have come mostly over the parsing of the
phrase "that ad."
Here's an excerpt from the questioning:
"Q Do you -- when you say that you want to stop all --
"THE PRESIDENT: All of them.
"Q Does that mean --
"THE PRESIDENT: That means that ad, every other ad."
Here, for instance, is CNN's Wolf
Blitzer: "Until now, the president's White House and
campaign aides had refused to specifically call an end to those
swift boat veteran ads -- insisting only that all independent attack
ads, including those blasting Kerry, should be withdrawn."
What He Said
Lois
Romano and Dana Milbank write in The Washington Post that Bush,
"pressed several times by reporters at his ranch in Crawford,
Tex., about whether he would specifically condemn the ad, Bush would
only say: 'That means that ad and every other ad. I'm denouncing all
the stuff.' "
They point out that Bush's position wasn't even new.
"The president's comments yesterday were similar to those he
made on CNN's 'Larry
King Live' on Aug. 12, when King asked him if he would denounce
the anti-Kerry ad. 'Well, I haven't seen the ad, but what I do
condemn is these unregulated soft-money expenditures by very wealthy
people,' Bush said."
And Romano and Milbank explain the why:
"Privately, Bush aides said they felt under no pressure to
change their position on the Swift boat ads because the controversy
seems to be hurting Kerry more than Bush. . . . The Bush aides are
determined not to give Kerry an opening by criticizing Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth directly."
Elisabeth
Bumiller and Kate Zernike write in the New York Times:
"President Bush said on Monday that political advertisements
run by a broad swath of independent groups should be stopped,
including a television advertisement attacking Senator John Kerry's
war record. But the White House quickly moved to insist that Mr.
Bush had not meant in any way to single out the advertisement run by
veterans opposed to Mr. Kerry. . . .
"Only when pressed by reporters whether he specifically meant
the commercial from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, did he say
'all of them.' . . .
"His press secretary, Scott McClellan, said Mr. Bush had not
intended to single out the Swift boat advertisement as one that
should be stopped."
Anne
E. Kornblut writes in the Boston Globe: "President Bush, on
the defensive over his supporters' attacks on John Kerry's war
record, sidestepped a barrage of questions yesterday about the
content of ads assailing his Democratic opponent and instead
repeated his broader call for an end to all third-party advertising
in the election. . . .
"Bush, speaking to reporters at his ranch near Crawford, Texas,
did not respond to allegations by Kerry that he is running a 'smear
campaign' and declined to address the allegations by the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth -- the soft-money organization at the heart of
the current controversy -- that Kerry lied about his combat service
in Vietnam for political gain."
Ron
Hutcheson writes in Knight Ridder Newspapers: "The closest
the president came to a direct condemnation of the ads was when a
reporter asked if 'ads of this nature are unpatriotic' and
'un-American.'
" 'Yes,' Bush replied, adding, 'I think we ought to be debating
who (is) best to be leading this country in the war against terror.'
"Although the president undercut the central premise of the
televised attacks -- that Kerry had lied about his war record -- he
didn't condemn any specific ad. Instead, he put the anti-Kerry ads
in the same category as all other ads funded by organizations
independent of the official presidential campaigns or the national
political parties."
Deja Vu?
Zachary
Coile and Marc Sandalow write in the San Francisco Chronicle:
"Four years ago, as George Bush struggled in the polls,
supporters of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination
unleashed a ferocious attack on rival John McCain, questioning his
commitment to veterans and his fitness to serve.
"After the charges took root, Bush distanced himself from the
veterans group that made the attacks, called the Arizona senator's
service 'noble' and cruised to a nomination-saving victory in the
South Carolina primary.
"Monday, in a series of events that some observers say are
eerily familiar, Bush distanced himself from a veterans group
running fierce attacks on John Kerry's military record and called
his rival's service in Vietnam 'admirable.' "
B2. Part of
the same group that is trashing Kerry is a man (Ted Sampley), who
trashed Bush Jr.'s father (and John McCain)! Here's the son,
tolerating the man who trashed his father (and Bush Jr.'s current
co-campaigner John McCain) and the group he is now using to trash
another war hero! Compassionate conservative with moral
clarity!
[Digby]:
Lower
Than Low
The redoubtable Hesiod, in the comments below, wonders why nobody
has unearthed the story of George H. W. Bush Sr's 1988 brush with
controversy over his navy heroics in WWII. Apparently, there were
some fellow aviators --- not on his own plane mind you (ahem) ---
who claimed that he bailed prematurely on two of his comrades on the
Barbara II and got them killed.
I only bring this up because it's interesting that even though a man
came forward to make these charges in an August 12, 1988 NY Post
story by Allan Wolper and Al Ellenberg, called "The Day Bush
Bailed Out," the Democrats didn't then use it as a line of
attack to destroy Bush Sr's reputation. In fact, the story died down
quite quickly. Had they chosen to smear him, there was enough mud
around to make it ugly. They didn't.
And, it's not as if Bush Sr. didn't run on his war record. In fact, CNN
is currently helping his son run on it too. In every campaign it
was front and center. But, in all the years of running against
George Bush our side never stooped to questioning his bravery or
integrity in the Big One.
But somebody did. His name is Ted Sampley, Godfather of the Swift
Boat Liars. If you'd like to read all about Bush Sr's alleged
cowardice in WWII, here
it is, from the chief veteran smear artist himself. Seems he has
problems with a lot of war heroes.
I have often said that Junior is a bad son. I can't think of
anything worse than standing with the scum who smeared your own
father's war record. Unless you hate your father, which it seems he
does.
It's going to take a Shakespeare to do justice to this sick little
story.
Update: Here's
da word on Ted Sampley
eRiposte ASIDE:
Hesiod emails to mention a Bush Sr. story and asks:
Why is it that
veterans who challenge John Kerry's military record are given all
kinds of attention, while a veteran who challenged George Herbert
Walker Bush's military record in 1988 barely got any press coverage
at all?
Check this out from [August 12] 1988
...
HEADLINE: War Buddy Reluctantly Disputes Bush's Account Of Bomber
Bailout
BYLINE: By LARRY ROSENTHAL, Associated Press Writer
...
I'm not reproducing the full article
because I don't want to slime Bush Sr. (nor does Hesiod). But he is
asking a valid question.
Media
Matters:
From the August 10
edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country:
BUCHANAN: What did
they say?
O'DONNELL: Ted --
Ted --
BUCHANAN: What did
they ...
O'DONNELL: Ted,
after you were convicted of assault and battery on a Senator
McCain staffer and you said that Senator John McCain was a member
of the KGB, is there anything about that that you'd like to
retract to show us what journalistic standards you want to use
today?
SAMPLEY: If you
would like to invite me on this show to talk about John McCain,
let's do it. I can back everything I say about -- I'm here to talk
about --
O'DONNELL: We have
to talk about you.
SAMPLEY: I'm here
to talk about John Kerry.
O'DONNELL: When you
come forward to criticize someone else, we then have to talk about
you.
SAMPLEY: Let's ask
about --
O'DONNELL: You said
John McCain -- you said John McCain was brainwashed and is a
"Manchurian Candidate" and is an agent of another
government. That's who we now have. That's who we're sharing this
broadcast with right now.
SAMPLEY: Let's ask
about --
O'DONNELL: You've
said those things, haven't you?
B3.
Michael Dukakis denounced attacks on Bush Sr.'s war record back then.
Bush Sr.'s son unfortunately can't seem to find the words today to
extend the favor to his opponent.
Via an email
from Hesiod:
The New York Times
August 14, 1988, Sunday, Late City Final Edition
SECTION: Section 1; Part 1, Page 33, Column 5; National Desk
LENGTH: 262 words
HEADLINE: Dukakis Defends Bush Over Record in War
BYLINE: Special to the New York Times
DATELINE: FALMOUTH, Mass., Aug. 13
Michael Dukakis
DEFENDED Bush against this attack back during the 1988 campaign
Publicly...and loudly!
"Gov. Michael S.
Dukakis, questioned about a World War II gunner's challenge to Vice
President Bush's account of being shot down over the Pacific, said,
''I don't think that kind of thing has any place in the campaign.''
The Democratic
Presidential nominee said the challenge to Mr. Bush's war record was
''unfair'' and ''unfortunate.''
Mr. Bush ''served
this country,'' Mr. Dukakis said. ''He served it well and with
tremendous courage, and you don't fly 58 missions without enormous
courage and tremendous patriotism.''
Mr. Bush, who was a
Navy pilot, , has said his airplane was in flames when it plunged to
the ocean Sept. 2, 1944.
Chester Mierzejewski
of Cheshire, Conn., a turret gunner on another plane in Mr. Bush's
squadron, said that the plane was not engulfed in flames, as the
Vice President has recounted, and that Mr. Bush might have saved the
lives of two other men on the plane had he tried a water landing.
In his autobiography,
Mr. Bush wrote that his Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber began burning
after it was hit in an attack on a Japanese radio installation and
that he ejected after radioing his gunner and radioman to jump.
Mr. Bush's
decorations in the war included the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Mr. Dukakis, who is
taking a couple of days off from campaigning, made his comments
while meeting with reporters on Cape Cod. He is scheduled to return
to Boston Sunday night and will campaign next week in Minnesota,
Illinois and Florida before embarking upon a ''whistlestop''
campaign swing by train on Friday from St. Louis to Austin, Tex.
B4.
John
Kerry denounced attacks on Bush's national guard record. He also
was one of five senators who wrote a letter to Bush in 2000 demanding
an apology for Bush's use of partisan veterans to falsely smear McCain
in the 2000 Republican primaries.
Unfortunately Bush Jr. has been having some difficulty, shall we
say, to respond in kind.
Los
Angeles Times article (via Common Dreams):
Kerry Condemns
Anti-Bush Ad
'This should be a
campaign of issues, not insults,' the Democrat says after MoveOn
attacks president's Air National Guard record.
by Richard Simon
WASHINGTON — Sen.
John F. Kerry took a cue from Sen. John McCain on Tuesday and
denounced a television ad by one of his allies attacking President
Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
In the latest twist
in an ongoing debate about military credentials, Kerry condemned the
new ad by the MoveOn political action committee, even though it was
produced in response to an ad questioning Kerry's Vietnam War
record.
"This should be
a campaign of issues, not insults," Kerry said in a written
statement.
Kerry called the ad
"inappropriate" after McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Vietnam
prisoner of war, criticized the MoveOn commercial. The 30-second ad
accuses Bush of using family connections to avoid the Vietnam War.
Josh
Marshall, Talkingpointsmemo:
Today, though, the
Kerry campaign came out with a very powerful ad, one which in its
tone and focus is exactly where the Kerry campaign needs to go.
It's called Old
Tricks and the entire ad is a brief exchange from a debate from
February 15th 2000 (which the political junkies among us probably
remember) in which John McCain -- then in the thick of Bush's smears
-- told Bush to his face to stop getting others to smear him over
his war record. He ends by telling him he should be ashamed. The
camera focuses on Bush and catches him not knowing how to respond,
with what I think even his supporters would have to agree is a
callow, trapped look on his face.
...
[Bush is] a coward
because he has other people smear good men without taking any
responsibility, without owning up to it or standing behind it. And
when someone takes it to him and puts him on the spot to defend his
actions -- as McCain does in this spot -- he's literally speechless.
Like I say, a coward.
As I said earlier,
this is vintage Bush. And it's also a subtle nod to all the ways
that Bush is someone who's always gotten by with help at all the key
moments from family friends, retainers and others similarly hunting
for access and power.
There's another
element to this ad that we'd be remiss not to note too. It puts
McCain on the spot and pulls him right back to the center of this
battle. Given the fervor of his words, he can hardly disavow them or
complain of their use. But there's something else too. If you listen
to the ad you'll see McCain hangs his demand for an apology on a
letter signed by five senators, each Vietnam vets, calling on Bush
to apologize for his smears against McCain.
The five, as reported
by the Times on February 5th, 2000: Senators Max Cleland of
Georgia, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, John Kerry of Massachusetts and
Charles S. Robb of Virginia, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.
DailyKos
has a link to the letter signed by Kerry.
B5. Bush Jr. cried
foul and threatened legal action after the book "Fortunate
Son" was published in 1999 citing unproven allegations of Bush's
use of cocaine. Now, of course, his campaign mocks Kerry for
suggesting Bush should denounce the egregious lies against Kerry.
Media
Matters:
Flashback:
In 1999, media virtually ignored anti-Bush book -- except to report
on author's credibility
Fortunate
Son was pulled by publisher after Bush legal threats
In light of the
relentless media coverage of Swift
Boat Veterans for Truth [sic] and their thinly sourced,
consistently contradicted-by-official-documents attacks on Senator
John Kerry (D-MA) -- most notably in the new book Unfit
for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry
-- it's worth revisiting how the media covered another controversial
book with a controversial author.
In 1999, St.
Martin's Press published a book by author James H. Hatfield
called Fortunate
Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President.
The book, which contained allegations that then-candidate George W.
Bush had used cocaine in the 1970s, received barely any media
coverage -- until Hatfield's own past came into question, at which
point Hatfield, not the allegations in his book, became the media's
primary discussion topic during the story's short life.
Fortunate Son,
like Unfit for Command, contained false and unverifiable
claims about a presidential candidate. Fortunate Son's
author, like Unfit for Command's co-authors John
E. O'Neill and Jerome
R. Corsi, had serious credibility problems.
While the media
virtually ignored Fortunate Son (other than to condemn the
book and its author), the Bush campaign was quick to threaten legal
action, and many in the media suggested the press had a
responsibility to either ignore the book altogether or to debunk its
claims. When St. Martin's eventually suspended publication and
recalled the book, the Bush campaign lauded the decision as
"the right thing to do."
In stark contrast
with the treatment given Fortunate Son, the media is heavily
covering Swift Boat Vets' allegations. New
polling by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg
Election Survey found that more than half of the country has
"heard about or seen" the Swift Boat Vets TV ad. "The
influence of this ad is a function not of paid exposure but of the
ad's treatment in free media," Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director
of the survey and of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, explained.
"The advertisement has received extensive coverage,
particularly on conservative talk radio and cable news channels and
has been the subject of some attention in broadcast news as
well."
Josh
Marshall, Talkingpointsmemo:
Apropos
the Bitch
Slap theory,
see these coordinated comments from the Bush campaign, reported in
this article in the Post ...
Underscoring how
personal the dispute has become, Bush's campaign chairman, Marc
Racicot, went on CNN and said the Kerry campaign has come
"unhinged," and that Kerry himself "looks
wild-eyed." Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Scott
McClellan said Kerry is "losing his cool." In 2000, the
Bush campaign used similar language to portray rival Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) as potentially too unstable to run the country.
It's the same
cowardly rich-boy viciousness we've seen so many times from this guy
and his family.
eRiposte note: Of course,
Kerry's campaign gave a fitting response to the Bush campaign (see
below)
Atrios
(Eschaton):
Bush
2000:
- "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." [Washington Post, Elizabeth Drew, "Those
Whispers About McCain," 11/19/99]
Bush 2004:
- Scott McCellan:
"I do think that Senator Kerry losing his cool should not
be an excuse for him to lash out at the President" [White
House Press Briefing, Crawford Middle School, Crawford,
Texas8/20/04]
Marc Racicot: "I think they have comepletely unhinged.
Senator Kerry, Tad, although I've certainly had time to get to
know him, he looks to me to be wild-eyed." [CNN, Inside
Politics, 8/20/04]
...from Kerry
communications director
Cutter:
- Mr. McClellan
needs to understand that John Kerry is not the type of leader
who will sit and read `My Pet Goat' to a group of second graders
while America is under attack.
DailyKos:
In
the new ad from the Kerry campaign, McCain says that a letter was
written by five "war heros" in the Senate to Bush, calling
on him to denouce the attacks against McCain and apologize to him.
One of those five war
heros was Senator John Kerry. I have been trying to
track down this letter... so far thanks to kossack Snapper,
we have two contemporaneous news articles.
...
Senator McCain
seemed very appreciative of the support at the time:
Referring to the
senators, Mr. McCain said: "Their friendship is all the honor
I need in my life, and more than compensates for the temporary
irritation of baseless attacks by apparently desperate political
campaigns."
But still, he supports
Bush. Inexplicable.
How did Bush respond
to this?
Aides to Mr. Bush said
he never questioned Mr. McCain's status as a war hero and called
the McCain campaign's efforts to counter Mr. Burch's criticism
desperate.
Exactly, exactly
what Bush is saying now!
Will the media catch
on this time? Who knows...
See also this Salon
article from Feb. 11, 2000:
Friendly
Fire Then the five Vietnam veterans in the Senate -- Max
Cleland, D-Ga., Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., John Kerry, D-Mass., Chuck
Robb, D-Va. and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., four Democrats and a McCain
supporter -- fired off a letter to Bush calling on him to
"publicly disassociate" himself from the
"false" allegations.
"We believe it
is inappropriate to associate yourself with those who would impugn
John McCain's character and so maliciously distort his record on
these critical issues," the letter said.
And how did Bush
respond?
Bush refused to do so,
however, responding that Burch was "entitled to his
opinion."
EXACTLY WHAT HE IS
SAYING NOW ABOUT THE SWVs!!!
It's exactly the same
plan! How can the media not notice this?
Also see The
Daily Beast.
B6. Bush Jr. claims
that Kerry's service was "noble" and something he should be
"proud" of, but allows his supporters to make egregiously
false statements in public, in his presence, without correcting them.
David
Corn:
At one of his
"Ask President Bush" events--those faux townhall meetings
attended only by Bush fans screened by the Republicans--Bush took
questions from the crowd in Oregon. As usual, many of the remarks
were fawning comments praising Bush, rather than serious questions
about his actions and policies. And two Bush backers in the crowd
referred to the Swift Vets' campaign against Kerry. Here are those
exchanges, taken from the transcript
on the official White House website:
Q: Mr. President,
Mr. Kerry seems to have a lot of trouble remembering dates--when and
if he was in Cambodia; who was President--Nixon or Johnson--when he
was assigned to Vietnam; what bills in Congress he worked for and
when; cannot remember if he campaigned in Oregon or California for
George McGovern. Your last opponent you exposed with fuzzy math.
It's time to expose John Kerry with fuzzy memory. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: You
got a question?
Q I, too, want to say
God bless you, Mr. Bush. My husband and my twins and I pray for you
daily, as do many home schoolers. (Applause.) Thank you for
recognizing home schoolers.
THE PRESIDENT: You
bet. Thanks. (Applause.) I appreciate you saying that.
And later....
Q: On behalf of
Vietnam veterans--and I served six tours over there--we do support
the President. I only have one concern, and that's on the Purple
Heart, and that is, is that there are over 200,000 Vietnam vets that
died from Agent Orange and were never--no Purple Heart has ever been
awarded to a Vietnam veteran because of Agent Orange because it's
never been changed in the regulations. Yet, we've got a candidate
for President out here with two self-inflicted scratches, and I take
that as an insult. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well,
I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Six tours?
Whew. That's a lot of tours. Let's see, who've we got here? You got
a question?
Bush was playing
footsie with the charges against Kerry: that Kerry wounded himself
to earn his Purple Hearts, that he has lied about being ordered to
Cambodia while in Vietnam. Bush listened to these echoes of the
Swift Vets' attacks and said nothing, implying, of course, that he
concurred. At the least, he showed he was willing to accept the
political gains of these blasts against Kerry's "noble
service." Is it really honoring Kerry's service essentially to
nod as others denigrate it?
B7. Bush Jr.
refused to directly accept the letter from Max Cleland and others
asking him to condemn the SBV ads and instead had his stooge Jerry
Patterson hand over another letter to the Kerry camp questioning
Kerry's charges in 1971 about war crimes in Vietnam and expressing
hurt and offense at that. Of course, Patterson conveniently forgot
that he had himself condemned the war crimes in Vietnam back in 2000.
Damfacrats,
via Corrente:
JERRY
PATTERSON "CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS"
This is the guy the cowardly Bush Boy sent out to obstruct Max
Cleland today, when Max was trying to deliver a letter to said
Shrub. Patterson, who was never
wounded during his service, had his own letter.
[The letter]
steered clear of the Swift boat veterans' charges, saying instead
that they are "concerned about the comments you made AFTER
you came home from Vietnam," referring to Mr. Kerry's role as
an antiwar leader in the early 1970's, after his decorated naval
service.
"You
accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities and, to this
day, you have never apologized," they said. "We served
honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your
comments." ...
... "I tried
to accept that letter and he would not give it to me," Mr.
Patterson told The Associated Press, referring to Mr. Cleland.
"He would not face me. He kept rolling away from me. He's
quite mobile."
With all due respect for
Patterson's son,
who is apparently an active Marine, besides the well-reported money
Patterson has gotten from Bob
Perry, who funds the Swifty Liars, and Patterson's gun-nut
(this too)
and Oil
& Gas devotees, we found the following, which was part of a
Patterson screed in defense of the Confederate Flag:
Even though I am
not proud of slavery, I can continue to honor symbols of the
Confederacy as I honor the American flag. I am as proud an
American as they come. I am, however, not proud of what my country
did to the American Indian. I
have pride in my service as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam, but I am
embarrassed at the atrocities that occurred at My Lai. I still
wear a small Vietnam service pin on my lapel, knowing that not
everything done in Vietnam is worthy of pride.
Damfacrats clearly does more research
than the New York Times or any newsmedia in the U.S. for that matter.
EPILOGUE:
Back in 2000, as Bush struggled in the polls against McCain, a very
similar attack occurred on McCain, followed by Bush's non-condemning
"distancing" from the attackers -- with Bush referring to
McCain's service as "noble". Now we should believe it is
pure coincidence that suddenly a group emerges to subject Kerry to the
same treatment that McCain endured AND Bush reacts similarly? Deja
voodoo, anyone?
Dan
Froomkin (Washington Post):
That Was No Condemnation
...
Bush stuck to a script that called for him to decry all
independently-funded political ads -- and in no way single out the
one contentiously questioning Sen. John F. Kerry's military record.
But some reporters at his mini press conference yesterday decided
that he had condemned the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad and
called for it to be taken off the air.
He didn't.
...
What He Said
Lois
Romano and Dana Milbank write in The Washington Post that Bush,
"pressed several times by reporters at his ranch in Crawford,
Tex., about whether he would specifically condemn the ad, Bush would
only say: 'That means that ad and every other ad. I'm denouncing all
the stuff.' "
They point out that Bush's position wasn't even new.
"The president's comments yesterday were similar to those he
made on CNN's 'Larry
King Live' on Aug. 12, when King asked him if he would denounce
the anti-Kerry ad. 'Well, I haven't seen the ad, but what I do
condemn is these unregulated soft-money expenditures by very wealthy
people,' Bush said."
And Romano and Milbank explain the why:
"Privately, Bush aides said they felt under no pressure to
change their position on the Swift boat ads because the controversy
seems to be hurting Kerry more than Bush. . . . The Bush aides are
determined not to give Kerry an opening by criticizing Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth directly."
Elisabeth
Bumiller and Kate Zernike write in the New York Times:
"President Bush said on Monday that political advertisements
run by a broad swath of independent groups should be stopped,
including a television advertisement attacking Senator John Kerry's
war record. But the White House quickly moved to insist that Mr.
Bush had not meant in any way to single out the advertisement run by
veterans opposed to Mr. Kerry. . . .
"Only when pressed by reporters whether he specifically meant
the commercial from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, did he say
'all of them.' . . .
"His press secretary, Scott McClellan, said Mr. Bush had not
intended to single out the Swift boat advertisement as one that
should be stopped."
...
Deja Vu?
Zachary
Coile and Marc Sandalow write in the San Francisco Chronicle:
"Four years ago, as George Bush struggled in the polls,
supporters of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination
unleashed a ferocious attack on rival John McCain, questioning his
commitment to veterans and his fitness to serve.
"After the charges took root, Bush distanced himself from the
veterans group that made the attacks, called the Arizona senator's
service 'noble' and cruised to a nomination-saving victory in the
South Carolina primary.
"Monday, in a series of events that some observers say are
eerily familiar, Bush distanced himself from a veterans group
running fierce attacks on John Kerry's military record and called
his rival's service in Vietnam 'admirable.' "
John
Kerry.com provides details on the sordid McCain saga:
New Internet Ad: George
Bush is Up to His Old Tricks
...
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.
...
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]
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