Salon/Conason: Sinking Fast

[kskiska]

The holes in retired Rear Adm. William Schachte's claims that he is nonpartisan would sink the Lusitania. Isn't it time the Swift Boat Veterans removed the "Truth" from their name?

Every embittered critic stepping forward to attack John Kerry under the auspices of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is a nonpartisan, independent patriot, motivated solely by a passion for honesty and integrity -- or so they all tell us. William Schachte, the retired rear admiral who launched a media blitz against Kerry on the eve of the Republican Convention, was no exception, telling every reporter who would listen that his decision to assault his former shipmate was strictly a matter of "personal honor."

Yet while most of the veterans and operatives who have sought to denigrate Kerry's Vietnam service are in fact Republican partisans, Schachte may be the most tainted witness of all. Although his current employment went unmentioned in press accounts, the former Navy officer now works at Blank Rome LLC, a leading Republican law and lobbying firm.

Schachte's colleagues at Blank Rome include not only top Bush-Cheney donors, several former Bush administration officials, a cochairman of the 2000 Republican Convention and a cochairman of the 2004 Republican Convention, but also the former director of the Republican National Committee's "opposition research" department.

(snip)

And finally, perhaps nobody at Blank Rome invited poor Bill Schachte to the lavish celebration the firm hosted for more than 500 guests on the second night of the Republican Convention at the legendary Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan. If Schachte wasn't there to raise a glass of champagne, however, no doubt his partners toasted his "nonpartisan" and "patriotic" smear of John Kerry.

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http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/09/10/schachte/index.html