Salon/Conason: Republicans' Dishonorable Charge

[kskiska]

Now even John McCain has condemned the Swift Boat Veterans' outrageous attack on John Kerry's Vietnam record.

"Dishonest and dishonorable" is how John McCain described the attack ad now appearing on television in several swing states, courtesy of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Dishonest because the men who appear in the ad make false claims about John Kerry's wartime conduct and decorations. Dishonorable because these men have waited three decades to publicize their slurs, with partisan motives, during a presidential campaign.

With his passionate denunciation of the swift boat commercial and its sponsors, McCain again displayed the dignity and self-respect that once elevated him above other politicians. Calling on President Bush to repudiate the ugly anti-Kerry ad, McCain took a step back from his awkward embrace of the Republican ticket last month. "I can't believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt," he told reporters, while acknowledging that he didn't know whether Bush strategists were involved.

(snip)

Its guiding spirit is John E. O'Neill, a partner in Lezar's law firm and an early protégé of Nixon-era dirty trickster Charles Colson. (O'Neill's latest contribution to the cause is a book titled "Unfit for Command," selling fast thanks to promotion by the Drudge Report.) Its Web site was put up courtesy of William Franke, a St. Louis businessman with longstanding ties to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Missouri Republican Party. Its chief financiers, according to the group's last quarterly IRS filing, are Houston builder Bob J. Perry and the Crow family, both major Republican donors from Texas.

Last November, the Dallas Morning News profiled the mysterious Perry. During the past four years, he has given more than $5 million to candidates and causes, nearly all of them Republican and extremely conservative. The article didn't say whether Perry himself ever served in the military. The Crow family, a clan of megadevelopers based in Dallas, are close Bush friends as well as generous backers. Harlan Crow is also a trustee of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

In short, the financial supporters of the Swift Boat Vets are not exactly strangers to George W. Bush and Karl Rove.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/08/06/mccain_on_swift_boat_veterans/index.html

[sonias]

1. Excellent job by Conason

He's done a great job once again. Note that in the profile on the TX Finance connection Bob Perry, no military service has been confirmed for him. Probably a chicken-hawk.

And I also recommend that you read the Conason piece from July as well on the sleazy attack ads. Shows that Bob J. Perry and Karl Rove were probably separated at birth. Both were born heartless.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/07/16/swift_boat_veterans/index.html

They have no shame.

Sonia