What does the administration have on the swiftboat scumbags

[PragMantisT]

that would get them to lie in such an obvious way?

[Democat]

1. Cash

No one has asked these guys to sign an affidavit swearing they were not paid.

Many of them have completely changed their stories about Kerry from only a few years ago.

What would make people change 30 year old stories?

Cash. They are getting paid a lot of money to lie.

The media needs to get these liars on record about how much they are being paid for their lies.

[Alpharetta]

3. the book deals and appearance fees are what's paying them

News organizations pay them to fly in for studio interviews and put them up in fancy hotels and whisk them around.

Plus there's the promise of book deals. Ghostwritten, probably. Easy money dangling out in front like a carrot.

[elperromagico]

8. Follow the Money.

You can bet these gentlemen have received their thirty pieces of silver.

[King of New Orleans]

2. number one, there aren't very many of them

I wish someone would do a count of those that have corroborated Kerry's stories vs those who actually were with Kerry and say he lied. The ration has to be about 8 or 10 to 1 in Kerry's favor.

Secondly, they are angry about what Kerry said after he left Vietnam both in opposing the war and also question some of the tactics Admiral Zumwalt favored. They're angry enough that they are willing to lie.

The Bush henchmen merely provide the money and manipulate some of them, get them whipped up, maybe if they are a little unsure about their memory they "fill in the gaps" for them.

I don't have any sympathy for the Smear Boat Liars though, they've made their bed....

[indie_voter]

4. Jon Stewart nailed it "Swiftboad Veterans for Revenge" n/t

[AuntPatsy]

6. Ahh John Stewart..

you have to give some admiration to that man, he sure gets to the meat of the issues these days...

[justgamma]

5. What about the ones who defended him in 1996

Were they lying in the 70's or lying in the 90's or lying now? How bad do you think they need money?

[buycitgo]

7. that PRICK Hoffman is going to have some trouble explaining

HIS flip flop

that tribune article has him saying that those guys were among the best; innovative, or something--acting boldly, while causing ZERO casualties for their men

THEN, he comes out now, saying that Kerry was irresponsible, acting precipitously, endangering himself and his crew

can't wait to see how he weasels out of that one

and this lying PRICK had a reputation for being a bloodthirsty bastard, along the lines of Robert Duval in Apocalypse Now, wanting high body counts, and, as a result, getting a LOT of those under his command needlessly killed/wounded.

so they say

could be true; might not be

does it matter?

not to them; that's for sure

[bklyncowgirl]

9. Hoffman pissed at treatment in Brinkley's Kerry Bio

According to the New York Times several of the officers, including Hoffman, were incensed at the portrayal of them in Kerry's biography. These guys got together with Republican activists with ties to the Bush administration and the rest is history. As for the rest, having their former commanders urging them to take down this guy who defamed them and who testified to atrocities commited by American forces in Vietnam before congress could very well have swayed them.

I've heard that the one guy who actually served under Kerry's command was once threatened with a court marshal by Kerry for shooting at an unarmed boat--he claims he saw a gun on board. There seems to be something bitter and personal there.

Yeah John Stewart has it right Swift Boat Veterans for Revenge is a good name for this group.

[smb]

10. Old Score

They're probably POd about Kerry's wide-ranging "atrocities" comments.