"McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad" AP's Ron Fournier reports

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42231-2004Aug5.html

McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad


By RON FOURNIER
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 5, 2004; 10:27 AM

WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service "dishonest and dishonorable" and urged the White House on Thursday to condemn it as well.

"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.

The 60-second ad features Vietnam veterans who accuse the Democratic presidential nominee of lying about his decorated Vietnam War record and betraying his fellow veterans by later opposing the conflict.

<>McCain said that's all in the past to him, but he's speaking out against the anti-Kerry ad because he believes it's bad for the political system. "It reopens all the old wounds of the Vietnam War, which I spent the last 35 years trying to heal," he said.

"I deplore this kind of politics. I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is, none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. I think George Bush served honorably in the Texas Air National Guard
during the Vietnam War."

more...

[annxburns]

1. YEAH!

I don't care if he is a republican. I still have a little bit of a warm spot for this guy.

THANKS MCCAIN!

[hlthe2b]

2. He still has remnants of integrity... unlike most current Repugs...

I thought he would come out against this immoral ad campaign. I'm heartened that he has.

[DaveinMD]

3. McCain

is an honorable man. This may not be popular, as he is supportive of Bush. But, I'd like to see Kerry name McCain Secretary of Defense.

[LiberalBushFan]

4. he's still a dumbass

What about all the official ads from Bush's campaign? Hello! I don't know why he chooses to condemn this one ad, but it's probably something other than integrity.

[ET Awful]

5. Why this one?

Because it's personal. Many of the same people involved in this ad also were involved in the attacks on him.

[LiberalBushFan]

7. Then he goes back to stumping for Bush

who no doubt thinks it's a great ad and whose official campaign ads say Kerry "voted against body armor for the troops" and doesn't care about them, and who himself cuts health care and everything else for the troops. Why isn't that personal?

[flpoljunkie]

6. I fail to see how McCain can continue to support Dubya's GOP, when he

disagrees with so much of their policies--the only one I can think that he wholeheartedly supports is the war in Iraq--and this is what scares me about McCain--a too quick trigger finger.

[DaveinMD]

10. its about

party politics, but he still has honor. Earlier this year, he spoke out when the Bush campaign was calling Kerry unfit to leave. He's a man of honor. The funny thing is that most of McCain's staff are Democrats.

[Cha]

8. This is Huge! This is what duers were calling for yesterday!

Kerry/Edwards should make a Big Deal of this because it is!!

[LiberalBushFan]

9. It's not an official BC ad, Bush can just dissociate himself from it.

and get away with it.

[flpoljunkie]

11. Except for this...article in today's LATimes reveals main donor

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/whitehouse/la-na-swift5aug05,1,2764364.story?coll=la-news-politics-white_house

The anti-Kerry group's leadership refused to disclose the source of funding for the ad and its other efforts. But it did confirm that one of its biggest donors is Robert J. Perry, a Houston homebuilder. According to Texans for Public Justice, an organization that tracks the influence of campaign donations on Texas politics, Perry gave $3.8 million to several Texas Republican candidates in 2000. He also has donated to President Bush's reelection campaign.

(I read somewhere else that Perry has given $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a 527 group)

Here it is: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/politics/national/txcn/stories/072304dnpolswift.9ac05.html

Houston Republican gave $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth


07:30 PM CDT on Friday, July 23, 2004


By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, a major supporter of President Bush and the Republican Party, is the biggest financial backer of a veterans group seeking to discredit Democrat John Kerry's military service, according to federal records.

Mr. Perry gave $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that has been critical of Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam. That accounted for two-thirds of the organization's receipts to date.


Swift Boat Veterans for Truth also has hired a Dallas-area private investigator to gather information about Mr. Kerry's three Purple Hearts. Group members, including some who served with Mr. Kerry, argue he did not deserve the medals and is not fit to be president.


The Kerry campaign has accused Swift Boat Veterans of being a politically motivated group with ties to the Republican Party and the Bush administration. The Bush campaign says it is not associated with the group.

more...

[Cha]

14. McCain could have just ignored it..the fact that he's speaking

out against it like Kerry spoke out against the ad against McCain in 2000 means a lot.

And those swifty LIARS can just suck repuke eggs when Kerry/Edwards win in Nov!

[LynneSin]

15. Here's more information from Salon and Joe Conason

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/05/14/gannon/index.html

May 14, 2004 | When the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" launched its campaign against John Kerry 10 days ago, leadership and guidance were provided by Republican activists and presidential friends from Texas -- notably Houston attorney John E. O'Neill and corporate media consultant Merrie Spaeth. Indeed, although the group made its debut at a press conference in Washington, it looked and sounded like a Texas GOP operation.

On closer inspection, the ostensibly nonpartisan "Swift Boat Vets" seem to have another pair of significant sponsors with deep and long-standing Republican connections in Missouri. Both are officers of Gannon International, a St. Louis conglomerate that does lots of overseas business in, of all places, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


Ties to Gannon can be traced via the Swift Boat Vets Web site (as an alert reader advised me last week). On April 14, the site was registered under the name of Lewis Waterman, Gannon's information technology manager, at 11301 Olive Boulevard in St. Louis, the firm's headquarters address. Although Waterman wouldn't discuss why he had set up the Web site, he didn't deny that his boss, Gannon president and CEO William Franke, had asked him to do so.

[peaches2003]

17. Weasal SOB

That chicken sh-t coward Bush is going to get away with this because his name is not on this ad and he will disavow it. The only thing that could hurt Bush from this is if McCain finally says 'ENOUGH- Bush is not fit for office and I won't support him anymore'. Would be nice if Hagel would do the same, but McCain is the key. You know they despise Bush's as-.

[DrFunkenstein]

16. Bush Does Not Denounce The Ad

Bush-Cheney '04 spokesman Steve Schmidt said the campaign had nothing to do with the group and "has never and will never question Sen. Kerry's service in Vietnam."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=1...

Thanks for the follow-up question, all you hard-nosed reporters. You really earn your paychecks.

[parasim]

12. I don't trust him.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that he came out and is saying this. I am just amazed at how politician's can just turn parts of their minds on and off at will.

The problem is that the damn ad has already been out there and has already affected at least some percentage of the voters. Since Bush can distance himself from the ad, even condemn it, if need be, McCain's comments won't affect him much. The damage may already be done.

It's pretty likely that while McCain will still be stumping for Bush, viscious, irresponsible attack ads like that will continue.

So, McCain gets the chance to bitch about something that is personal to him, yet he just turns off the part of his brain that tells him that perhaps he should not support this guy Bush.

Now, if McCain had the balls to do his own ad denouncing this latest anti-Kerry ad that would be something that might have a lasting effect.

[LynneSin]

13. This would be like my grandfather criticizing John Kennedy's war record

The reason for the analogy is because my grandfathered served on a PT Boat in the South Pacific for WW2. Of course when folks first heard about that they first thing they would ask was "Did you serve on JFK's boat?"

Well, my grandfather was actually on a different pt boat, and although he wasn't a big fan of Kennedy he would have never questioned Kennedy's service in WW2.

But that's the type of connection that the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth are: folks who served on swiftboats but not Kerry's.

:mad: