email message I just a bush supporter whom I have now put on the fence

[noahmijo]

A family friend who was Fuddrucker's today who is a staunch Republican (he is a RINO though the guy is a Doctor who actually speaks favorably of the benefits of Socialized Medicine, ect) but he gets all his info of course from soundbites and talk radio.

Well I was reading a Tucson Weekly (known for its leftist bias) and he asked me if it contained anything on the swiftboat vets, and he went into this spiel about how swiftboatvets.com has some very interesting facts on Kerry ect.

I proceed to counter with what I knew about them, I essentially told him about everything from the lies of Elliot, ect, you all know how to counter this argument. Then the talk turned to healthcare, and he actually was saying how as a doctor he's disgusted as to how HMO's get away with screwing people over ect, and overall I gave him a viewpoint that seemed as though got him to think and he actually thanked me for the discussion. I offered to email him some more facts and figures and here's what I just sent him tell me what ya think:

There's too much to throw it all on here, but clicking this link

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/

Will bring you to a screen that sort of summarizes everything and on the bottom left area you can click on links that give detailed summaries of the hows and the whats.

The two areas that found interesting were these:

Pretty much the overall plans in detail

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/health_care.html

Info on patient's bill of rights

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/fairness.html

To view all the issues at a glance you may visit the site's main page here:

http://www.johnkerry.com/index.html

By also clicking on the link titled "Rapid Response" this will bring you to an area where Kerry's people have worked to debunk popular attacks from the Bush administration including the swiftboat vets. This area is updated on a regular basis.

Here's an instance where even Republicans such as Rudy Guiliani have come out and said that the swiftboat vets for truth are running on unfounded claims and lies.

http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/archives/002445.html#more

Check for yourself be objective, by all means if something is not right let me know.

Now onto the swiftboat vets for truth group.

First off I stand corrected on my statement that Gardner backed out. It was a man named Elliot who is featured in the book "Unfit For Command" written by O' Neil

"John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam."
 
George Elliott was NOT a crewmate of John Kerry's

Was Elliott Honest in 1996 When He Said This of Kerry?
"The fact that he chased an armed enemy down is not something not to be looked down upon but it was an act of courage. And the whole outfit served with honor..."here was no question that it was above and beyond anything that we had seen down there in that case at that time frame...It just so happened that this one was so outstanding that the Silver Star was eventually awarded."

In 1969, Elliott Wrote This to Describe John Kerry's Fitness as a SWIFT Boat Commander
"In a combat environment often requiring independent, decisive action, LTJG Kerry was unsurpassed. He constantly reviewed tactics and lessons learned in river operations and applied his experience at every opportunity. On one occasion, while in tactical command of a three boat operation his units were taken under fire from ambush. LTJG Kerry rapidly assessed the situation and ordered his units to turn directly into the ambush. This decision resulted in routing the attackers with several KIA. LTJG Kerry emerges as the acknowledged leader in his peer group. His bearing and appearance are above reproach. He has of his own volition learned the Vietnamese language and is instrumental in the successful Vietnamese training program. During the period of this report LTJG Kerry has been awarded the Silver Star medal, the Bronze Star medal, the Purple Heart medal (2nd and 3rd awards)."

Elliott on Presenting Kerry the Silver Star: He Went "Above & Beyond the Call of Duty."
"The ceremony was meant to be a morale booster,' Commander George Elliot recalled. 'We were trying to pay tribute to Kerry and the others for going above and beyond the call of duty. The Silver Star is always a big deal."

From here

http://www.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/080504_truth.html


The real skinny on the swiftboat vets for truth can be found here. They're (factcheck.org) pretty good and they go after Democrats too, so they don't play partisan too well

http://factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=231

From this site you get another view of these people and how Kerry's medals were earned.


What I personally don't like is just how these attacks are so reminiscent of what happened to McCain (whom I supported in the Republican primaries) they run on smears and lies because they have nothing of positive substance to offer. I understand this group is not the same group that went after McCain, but nonetheless share the same influences


Kerry has also posted his military records on his website. Now of course I understand how documents may be forged and so forth, yet until I hear or see proof as to how these documents were forged I'm willing to give Kerry the benefit of the doubt on this one.

http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/military_records.html


Combat reports

http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/combat_reports.html

Overall I think the focus should be on the far more important issues, but apparently the Bush camp being that they have nothing positive to run on, have to do everything they can to show you that Kerry is evil and divert all attention away from probably the worst presidency in the history of America.

My biggest issues are the economy (that’s my #1), technology (obviously, this includes stem cell research) education, and of course the combating the terrorist threats. People accuse Kerry of having no plans for any of these issues (even though he’s been offering his platform on these positions since at least the Iowa primaries on his site and in his speeches) What exactly is Bush’s grand scheme for our economy? continue to tell us to shut up and accept the fact that we got a tax cut that wouldn’t even be able pay for my books this semester? That the economy has grown so well based on what figures? The GDP? 18% of the GDP is govt spending, how is this impressive given the fact that the he has used our treasury like a 13 year old Beverly Hills brat who got a hold of her daddy’s credit card and went to the mall? The rise in inflation which has been instrumental in rising costs for simple items like groceries, and we’re not even getting into the mass number of private sector jobs lost (somewhere around 3 million last I checked)

This is just one of MANY reasons I can dig up as to how despite what many Republicans think of Bush he is NOT a Republican in the same name as a guy like Rudy Guiliani, the way he has shortchanged our troops, the way he’s even put his rich buddies ahead of our troops (this issue alone proves that: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/21/sprj.irq.congress.iraq.ap/) the way he’s given so many passes to his Saudi friends for fear of endangering the great friendship and business ties he shares with them (Unlike Kerry who has said that our energy policy should not be dictated by the Saudi Royal Family)

People (including the swiftvets) complain about Kerry testifying against war atrocities (here is the transcript by the way: http://www.independentsforkerry.org/uploads/media/kerry-vietnam.html Check under “Winter Soldier” to view the passages where Kerry discussed war atrocities)


I think that’s enough for today, my apologies for such a long list, take it in bits to make it more bearable, however agree or disagree, I feel it’s important to get both sides of the issues.


I would also like to note that should Kerry get elected I’ll be the first one to call for his tarring and feathering should he fail to work to implement the ideas he has promised. His only acceptable excuse in my opinion for not passing along his campaign initiatives would be a Republican controlled congress blocking his initiative to roll back the tax cuts which are centerpiece to everything else including his healthcare policies.

[Cha]

1. Grreat! It is my view that if rational people are

given the facts and not rw talking points as screed then they can come to their own sane conclusions.

I can't imagine the swift boat liars having any good points that can't be refuted for the bunk that they are.