CNN: Kerry Campaign Filing complaint With FEC (Swift Boat ads)

[Cush]

No link, Wolf Blitzer just announced it/

Kerry Campaign alleges illegal cooperation between the Swift Boats Vets and Bush Campaign

[WI_DEM]

1. This is important

I'm glad he is doing this. Now to expose the WH involvment.

[lovedems]

3. I would bet they have covered their tracks.

Just my humble opinion. I am sure the WH will stonewall any investigation anyway. Standard Operating Procedure.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. They certainly did but the fact that this is getting press

is all that matters.

[JoFerret]

31. Yes. It shifts the focus back to Bush on defensive

.

[UpInArms]

26. posting this information again

as I believe it to lead to the current administration:

O'Neill was recruited by Charles Colson (Watergate conviction) under Nixon

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_5...

excerpt:

Yes, the Swift Boats are sinking in their own sea of lies, sunk by a fusillade of reality that exposed the bitter old Vietnam Veterans as just another Republican led and funded shill operation for the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush.

<snip>

SBVT’s public leader is John E. O’Neill, a longtime GOP operative but he’s been in the middle of these things before. Back in 1971, O’Neill claimed to have formed a group called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, a bunch of pro-war veterans sent out to counter the antiwar activities of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, led by one John F. Kerry.

But, like SBVT, Vietnam Veterans for Just Peace was a shill, a creation of President Richard M. Nixon’s chief counsel (and hatchet man) Charles Colson.

"We found a vet named John O'Neill and formed a group called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. We had O'Neill meet the President, and we did everything we could do to boost his group," Colson admitted to reporter Joe Klein in a January 5 interview published in The New Yorker magazine.

...lots more...

here's poop on Colson (now in charge of "faith based prisons in Florida)

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/part_x.htm

excerpt:

In the past, members of Congress may have been of the view that the experience of the Watergate cases suggests that grants of use immunity do not significantly impede successful prosecution. Even at the time, that would not have been the proper lesson to draw from Watergate. Although two immunized witnesses in the Watergate matter -- John Dean and Charles Colson -- subsequently pleaded guilty, no immunized Watergate witness who refused to plead guilty was successfully tried and convicted. Gordon Strachan, the only immunized witness who was charged in the Watergate cover-up indictment, never went to trial because the Watergate Special Prosecutor concluded that there was a significant possibility that Strachan eventually might prevail on his claim of taint.4 The same thing happened in the case of Felipe De Diego, who was granted immunity by state authorities in connection with the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist.5 But in any event, the decisions in North and Poindexter should lay to rest any lingering sense that a congressional grant of use immunity is not a serious bar to future prosecution.

http://www.fact-index.com/c/ch/charles_w__colson.html

Charles W. Colson, better known as Chuck Colson, was the chief counsel for Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973.

He is an alumnus of George Washington University.

In 1976, following his release from prison for his part in the Watergate Scandal, Colson founded Prison Fellowship. Colson is an active Evangelical Christian and author of over twenty books. The royalties from those books are donated to that fellowship.

http://www.eadshome.com/Bushgivesgifts.htm

BreakPoint with Charles Colson

January 6, 2004

excerpt:

Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president that I had met Al more than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold of Al’s life, and he’s been working for us ever since. Then I told the president that Al’s son was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the president stopped, exclaimed, “We’re both Yale parents,” and threw his arms around Al Lawrence—an African-American ex-offender being embraced by the president of the United States in a church basement. The ground is indeed level at the foot of the cross.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0406/29/a07-171264...

Churches put faith on line at Fla. prison

excerpt:

Four other states — Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota — have tried something a bit different, turning over wings of prisons to Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Reston, Va., evangelical Christian ministry run by convicted Watergate conspirator Charles Colson. Early last year, Americans United filed suit against Iowa’s program in federal district court, charging that it violates the First Amendment by using state money and revenues from inmates’ phone calls for sectarian purposes. The trial, set for October, will be the first test of such programs nationwide.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4534274 /

Nixon targeted Kerry for anti-war views
White House tapes reveal then-president’s attempt to discredit Kerry during 1971 war protests, Senate testimony

March 16, 2004

Nixon's counter-attack
Colson was Nixon’s point man against Kerry, and he found a weapon in another veteran: John O’Neill. He was a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, which backed Nixon administration policy in Vietnam, and in turn was supported by the White House.


The White House file



John O’Neill, selected to debate John Kerry about the Vietman War, in the Oval Office with President Nixon and White House aide Charles Colson.

Fresh out of the Navy like Kerry, O’Neill was angry at Kerry for saying U.S. servicemen in Vietnam routinely committed war crimes. The weekend before the Washington protests, Kerry made the accusations on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying, “I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed, in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones.” And, Kerry claimed, “I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All this is contrary to the laws of warfare.”

[demon67]

29. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

Have we learned nothing about negative publicity? Controversy sells -- period. Consider just the following recent examples: Fahrenheit 9/11; Al Fraken's "Fair and Balanced" book; Passion of the Christ. If there is one way to get people interested in a book and bring an issue to every water cooler in America -- tell people not to read it or see it or, better still, tell bookstores and theaters not to let carry it. Today, "Unfit for Command" is No. 1 on Amazon.com. Kerry's camp has now spent two days pouring gasoline on this fire storm. Next week, it will be No. 1 on NY Times Bestseller list and every person in my office -- who otherwise don't care much about politics or Vietnam -- will be looking for a copy.

Do you let people tell lies and not respond? No, of course not. You respond in a dignified, dismissive manner -- focusing on your service and allowing it to be compared to *. Doing that, the issue might have already passed. Would the effect of the book be negative, probably a little. But now, having raised the profile of this book to a "must read," it will surely be worse. Now, a focus on Kerry's four months in Vietnam (and subsequent anti-war activism) will burn brightly through the debates and into election day. This is NOT a winning issue for us, I don't believe.

Not wanting to be Chicken Little, but I do not see this debate playing out favorably. We may "win" the credibility contest vis-a-vis the Swift Boat guys, but regardless it keeps the focus on defending Kerry's credibility, when it should be on *'s.

[lancdem]

34. It was already getting plenty of publicity before Kerry's attacks

I think Kerry did the right thing by focusing on the swift boat liars' ties to the WH.

[Z-E-R-0]

35. Exactly

This a major mistake. Kerry should just respond by comparing his service to Bush's AWOL service.

[yardwork]

51. He's done that, and t the news media still ignore the truth

The only way to reveal the truth in today's media market is to create a bigger fuss than the opposition.

Kerry had to do this. Now BushCo is back on the defensive. Good.

[shockingelk]

68. What media is ignoring it

The NYT had a huge article exposing the group - the WP front page article two days ago ... the media is already all over the scoundrels.

The more people hear of Swift Boat Vets the worse it looks for Bush. And that was happening w/o help from the Kerry campaign.

I am hoping they've thought this strategy out and it's not merely that they were goaded into entering the fray. If they can, for instance, prove a meeting occurred between Rove and O'Neill ... or that the Bush/Cheney campaign funded the group, something along those lines, the FEC complaint will work for Kerry.

If it's just "Mr. X is friends with Ms. Y who was married to Mr. Z", it will only serve to popularize the group's claims ... which may not be a bad thing, as most Americans seem to be seeing it's a hack job.

[joefree1]

2. Hope they got the goods on these bums

Sink 'em.

[michigandem2]

4. I just heard it too...this is very good....and so it begins

[tlcandie]

5. CHECKMATE!!!

Hey, I don't know chess... is there a better call for this move? LoL!!

[bahrbearian]

7. Check , Check , then Checkmate

You check the king to move him to a place to Checkmate him

[Arcturus]

11. Another appropriate call

owned!

Alternately:

pwned!

[TlalocW]

12. Yes, it's called...

Fool's Mate. There a way to put one's opponent in checkmate in just 4 moves, and when you do that, the other guy feels like a fool.

Since Chimpy is a fool...

TlalocW

[Shoeempress]

20. Yes, it's check, they could still wiggle free. If not, then it's

checkmate. God what a wasted youth I had.

[Walt Starr]

27. This is actually, "Check"

Checkmate cannot occur until the king is taken, November 2nd.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. But * said on LKing that he didn't see the ad...

LIAR!

[tlcandie]

14. Your picture of Clinton .. makes me giggle and think he must

be absolutely enjoying the show with Kerry, as someone else said, pwning em!

:+

[Politicub]

9. No retreat, no surrender

Hold Bush's feet to the fire to abide by the campaign finance reform law that he signed.

It explicitly says there can be NO collusion between the candidate and the 527s. The Kerry camp wouldn't be doing this unless they have a smoking gun.

Now -- that's the legal argument. The next test to see how this is spun by the national media.

[aikidoodler]

15. groovy!

I think as a former prosecutor, Kerry would have a pretty good idea of whether he could make a case of it or not.

Of course, just the press coverage of filing might be enough to turn this back on the 'pukes.

[Cocoa]

19. I think he has to win

the people that complained to the FEC about Michael Moore didn't hurt Moore any, just by filing.

And the Bush campaign waged a losing battle over 527s, and that didn't help them any.

[Politicub]

30. Let's hope so

Maybe the press will be on the side of truth for a change. Wouldn't that be something?

[tedoll78]

16. BINGO.

As a former prosecutor, Kerry knows better than to make accusations without having something to back them up..

[aikidoodler]

18. ...great minds think alike

or are at least able to quickly point out the obvious. :)

[cal04]

10. even slimy Drudge has it on his site

Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry's campaign formally alleged Friday that a group attacking his Vietnam war record had illegal ties to US President George W. Bush's reelection bid...



KERRY FILES FEC COMPLAINT OVER SWIFT BOAT ADS

[xyboymil]

13. Here is a link from MSNBC....

If Kerry’s team can establish that Bush adviser Karl Rove or any Bush campaign operative coordinated in some way with donor Perry or with Swift Boat veterans officials, that might result in legal penalties and damage the Bush re-election effort

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5772722/

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. That doesn't say that he filed suit or lodged a complaint.

Read carefully, please.

[Tight_rope]

24. It was on CNN...If they can prove Karl Rove is behind it then....

that means serious trouble for Bush.

[Beetwasher]

25. Doesn't Have to Be Rove!

It can be anyone connected to the Bush campaign OR the WH...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

32. OK, gotcha

[Can o Beans]

45. Any idea what the legal reprecussions would be?

If Chimpy were to be caught with his hand in the liar-jar, could he lose some funding?

[Gyre]

59. Maybe an injunction

If there is merit on the face of the complaint, and the likelihood of "irreparable harm" to the complaining party. This is assuming a legal complaint has been filed.

Gyre

[Tight_rope]

17. It's about damn time....I'm sick Karl Rove...He needs to grow up....

These highschool pranks are out of hand.

[KT2000]

28. Exactly right

It looks like Kerry needs to get a 12 year old little boy on his staff as a campaign advisor to keep up with the immature crap coming from Rove.

Remember the young girl at the convention who said Cheney should get time out? No kidding - they should put her on with response to Bush tactics and then Kerry could keep the focus on Iraq and the economy.

[gatlingforme]

66. Yes, and to think Bush (our President) hangs out with this Piece of S*&%.

[saracat]

69. He isn't "our" President.He certainly isn't mine.

And he is no better than the Piece if S*&% he hangs out with. He is worsr. He condones the effort.Why are you surprised? No one else is!

[ewagner]

22. Doesn't have to be connected to Rove

Just needs to be connected with the Bush/Cheney Campaign or somebody within the campaign. If a link can be made...even somewhere down the chain of command....then they've got a case.

[Dickie Flatt]

23. They must have something solid

Can't afford to lose this one.

[rsmith6621]

38. Can't afford to lose this one.

But we can afford lose Shrub and Dick.....


I brought this sort of issue up before in a pevious thread that It is my feeling that now that GWB has made a mess he has no capibilitys of cleaning up he will now just toss the checkerboard on the floor and walk away and let the winner pick up the broken pieces.


Lets just hope that Kerry will not have to spend two terms fixing the CHIMPS mess.

[Ducks In A Row]

33. wolfie is using the complaint as an excuse to run the ads even more

the bastard

[Doosh]

36. so this is why Kerry let the story fester

they must have some damning evidence Rove's grubby hands have gotten all over it. Figures turd brain would get sloppy.

nail 'em!

[Neshanic]

Oh no! Not that! Rove is shaking in his penny loafers.

Why not just get a study group? No, better yet, a focus group.

This plays RIGHT into the hands of the scum. "Kerry runs off and crys to a government agency". "Kerry can't deal with it himself, so he files a complaint; is this the type of leadership you want?"

To the "give them anough rope" crowd. Guess what...they have enough rope for everyone.

To the "above it all crowd". That's right, he will be above it all when he gives his concession speech.

What does it take to wake some of you up? Kerry needs to fight this head on, with a MAJOR speech on the Chimp and his ways of destroying the country. No namby-pamby Donna Brazille, crap. The real thing.

Bush wants to divide us and this is how he does it, and stop with the nuance and code words. The way things are going, if he can't barely stay ahead of chimpy in NEW JERSEY of all places, he will not be president.

And for you new Tweety devotees. GE still signs his check.

[aikidoodler]

40. easy there...

This seems to be a perfectly good way of fighting back, particularly if they have the goods on Team Primate.

What else should he do? Have a fistfight in the parking lot?

I'd like to see that, however....

[Doosh]

41. so we just stand idly by, let Bush break the law.....again?

[Neshanic]

47. He breaks the law every day. He does because .....

No one will give the speech. You know THE speech. The one that lays it all out on the line. The one that you imagine in your mind that you would give to make people understand the nightmare we live in.

The speech that makes the audience and the media gasp. The one that makes ROVE spit his coffee out.

No...we attain rice paper walking, to achive the inner harmony of getting our asses handed to us. The Hong-Kong Fooey of politics that serve us so well when republican scum come out like locust.

[Catch22Dem]

42. Whoa!

You're crazy if you think the majority of folks will respond well to Kerry "making a major speech on the Chimp's way of destroying the country." We would absolutely LOVE it, but a lot of people would be very put-off by something that brazen.

Kerry's doing the right thing here. Using the resources set up by the constitution and our laws to go after criminals. That's the way it's supposed to work, and most people will respect that.

[Neshanic]

49. Sorry, we were looking for "Joe Sixpack", not the NYT 's...

Sunday brunch crowd at the beach house.

What is the difficulty? Is it bad enough the media spins against him? What makes you think that average American knows the political spin and counter spin?

It's out there. BIG. The people we need to get to understand this are not the NYT readers. We are lucky if we can get the people who even buy any newspaper in a blue moon to get this.

Complaint filing. Pathetic, because if it has come to this about the story itself, this new chapter digs another hole for them to climb out of. Even if they have Rove dictating notes to these guys....you think anything will happen?

[DU GrovelBot]

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[rsmith6621]

39. GROVELBOT.EXE v3.0

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[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

46. LOL!!!!

nt

[Doosh]

48. these hit men have been after kerry since the 70's

If kerry was in collusion with the moveons of the world, no way he'd accuse bush. Kerry is smarter than that, seems like they have the repugs nailed here.

[markses]

53. Here's a clue, genius

The American people do not like people who break the law, and coordination between the Bush/Cheney campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth BREAKS THE LAW. Do like people who break the law? Do you think it is proper for the Bush Campaign to break the law? You must! You must think that Americans love law-breakers! That's the substance of your post.

Kerry's reaction is that of most people when they observe somebody breaking the law. They alert the authorities that the law is being broken.

[sampsonblk]

54. Back to your cave (link provided)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1195830/posts#11

[AngryOldDem]

44. GOOD!

About damn time. Whether this gets resolved now or not until after the election is beside the point. Kerry cannot let this go unanswered.

It's time people caught on to these lying slugs.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Neshanic]

50. The way he is going, President Bush can look into it.

[cal04]

52. Kerry takes legal action against Vietnam critics

In a statement released to reporters, Kerry's campaign announced it had "filed a legal complaint against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) before the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) (FEC) for violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign."

The move by the Kerry campaign came shortly after the Swift Boat group released a second ad attacking the Democratic presidential candidate, who was wounded three times while serving on a Swift Boat in Vietnam and decorated twice for valor.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have accused Kerry of lying about one of the wounds he suffered and of embellishing his acts of heroism during his four months in Vietnam, charges strongly rejected by the senator from Massachusetts. Kerry on Thursday accused the Bush administration of using the Swift Boat veterans as a front group to do the "dirty work" of attacking his Vietnam War record.

The New York Times on Friday reported that there is a "web of connections" between the Swift Boat group and the "Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush (news - web sites)'s chief political aide, Karl Rove."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&u=/afp/20040820/ts_alt_afp/us_vote_kerry_vietnam_040820214246&printer=1

[Myrina]

55. Very nice, but ....

The Dems are still on the defensive and the GOP is still framing the debate.

WHY IS NOBODY TURNING THIS INTO "OK GEORGE, WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU AND DICK WHILE JK WAS DODGING SCHRAPNEL ????"


:shrug:

[demgrrrll]

56. Woo Hoo Got Em! Check out this Atrios post

<http://atrios.blogspot.com/> and in Florida no less!

[Karenina]

57. Well, I tend to think

it's because Americans are just a little s-l-o-w and need the Jerry Springer framework to make the simplest of connexions.

[goodboy]

63. I second that. nt

[Bo]

58. This is getting huge....

Its all over the net

[demgrrrll]

60. I just read that the freepers are going to try and freep Weintraub

the FEC chair. OOOoooo they are soooo shrewd.

[goodboy]

61. press sec. says no connection, then they're caught passing out

leaflets with bush-cheney on one side, and the not-so-swift vets on the other...that's direct involvement...the lies and connections are exposed. When will the american people wake up?

[wicket]

62. BRING IT ON!!!!

GO KERRY!!!!! :D :D

[Beetwasher]

64. Their ASSES ARE SOOOOO BUSTED!!!!

hahahahah...

The campaign was caught passing out fliers...How fucking stupid!! Ha Ha! I'll bet that ain't all Kerry's got!

[radwriter0555]

65. the best part is, once accused the bushies have to prove they're innocent.

doesn't matter what the charges are, now ALL the skellies get dug outta the GOP closet.

This is GREAT NEWS!

[sonias]

67. link to the flyer story on Yahoo - rate it

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040821/ap_on_el_pr/bush_swift_boats
Volunteer Links Anti-Kerry Flier to GOP
(snip)
"The flier they gave me was on the same table as some Bush-Cheney bumper stickers," said Shilling. "I asked them if the Swift boat veterans were coming to Gainesville, and the woman I talked to said yes."

Shilling said he went back to Kerry headquarters and turned over the flier.

"I thought there was supposed to be some separation between Bush-Cheney and the Swift boat controversy but I didn't understand there was a big deal about this," said Shilling. "I think this whole thing attacking Kerry's war record is a diversion by Bush-Cheney from the real issues of the campaign."
-------------

Busted!

Sonia