The GOP's Slime Boat Springs Another Leak

[MrBenchley]

Yeah, this campaign is a work of jenius all right...

"COLUMBUS - Swift boat veteran Bob Anderson of Columbus is ticked.
It bothers him that Sen. John Kerry's swift boat history has become such a political hot potato. But he's even more irritated that his name was included - without his permission - on a letter used to discredit Kerry.
"I'm pretty nonpolitical," the 56-year-old Anderson said Tuesday. So, when he found out last week that his name was one of about 300 signed on a letter questioning Kerry's service, he was "flabbergasted."
"It's kind of like stealing my identity," said Anderson, who spent a year on a swift boat as an engine man and gunner.
"Had they asked me to use my name, I wouldn't have allowed them to," he said. "

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/09/01/build/state/25-swift-boat.inc

[Avalux]

1. Then why

did he sign the damn letter? Did he not have a clue what it would be used for? "Flabbergasted" - yeah, right.

[11 Bravo]

2. Did you read the post?

He didn't sign his name, someone else signed it for him.

[Avalux]

7. Sorry

I got it now. Well if that's the case; maybe he should take legal action?

[prodigal_green]

4. Perhaps he is suggesting that it is a forgery

Would you seriously put it past them?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Who says he signed it? n/t

[yellowcanine]

6. He did NOT sign the letter. His name was forged. Read it.

.

[glitch]

8. he didn't - that's the point

Read the article:

"Anderson does not know how the Swift Boat Vets for Truth got his name, but it appears exactly as it has appeared on rosters at swift boat vet reunions. He suspects the list was pulled from the Swift Boat Sailors Association, a nonpolitical, not-for-profit organization linking swift boat veterans."

[MrBenchley]

14. Ahem...

because he DIDN'T sign the letter.....they FORGED his name.

[hatrack]

3. Blub . . . blub . . . blub . . . ssssssssssssssssssss

I love the sound of foundering in the morning!

[Crachet2004]

9. Okay. Now. The Kerry campaign needs to make an ad featuring...

This guy, while also revealing other discrepancies and outright lies in the swiftboat ads.

Tie the ad into a general theme that Bush is a liar.

How hard can that be?

Stop asking Bush to disavow the swiftboat vets, as it sounds like whining...MAKE him do it.

[mainer]

17. Great idea! This is beyond the pale...

Kerry needs to exploit this issue NOW.

[Crachet2004]

21. Yep. You cannot wait to focus group everything.

Every single lie needs to be repudiated long and loud within minutes of the time it is uttered.

Sue the bastards. Get injunctions against their ads, until it can be brought to court.

Take the liars personally to court. Destroy them financially. Be sure they know you mean it...but publicly BLAME BUSH.

If we can beat the sb liars, this election is OVER. They have nothing on Kerry, except that sillyass flipflopper shit...and Bush has been doing a lot of that himself, lately. Run some ads showing Bush flippflopping! Run more showing GOP flipflops: juxtaoppose their fiscal conservative rhetoric with the huge debt we have, for example. They are so weak on so many fronts! Turn the flipflop back on them for crying out loud!

And stop 'asking' for resignations! Kerry needs to roar like a lion...there is no place at the top for hurt looks and subdued voices. That is the way a LOSER looks and sounds. And for God's sake, STOP using John McCain as a touchstone in speeches! He endorsed Bush...nuff said.

Walk proud, talk loud, and STOP letting Karl Rove set the agenda of this campaign!

Ridicule Bush's intelligence! Call him a liar! Go after Dick Cheney!

Damn. DO SOMETHING, even if it is wrong. Throw them off stride; take them out of their game. Hit them right between the eyes with a two by four.

Act like you want to win.

[glitch]

10. typical repuke tactics

from the article:

"Anderson said he first learned about the situation last week when he received an e-mail from a third party. The e-mail, from a Tom Pyle, said Pyle had contacted a dozen men whose names showed up on the list. Of the dozen, three said they had not given permission, Anderson said.

"That leads me to believe that as many as 25 percent of the names are fictitious supporters of that group," he said.>

[July]

18. Wasn't Bob Dole just saying that "250" swifties couldn't all be liars?

Wonder how many supporters they really have?

[ochazuke]

11. No surprise

They tried to alter the account that one of Kerry's boatmates gave to make it look like a quiet night on the Mekong when it was "the scariest night of my life". When they asked the guy to sign the affadavit, he refused.

[leftynyc]

12. These people need to be crushed

This crap needs to stop. Kerry need to put out an ad pointing out EVERY SINGLE lie these cretins have put out. And he should add a line that not even *Bunnypants thinks Kerry is lying - though he probably said that so nobody would think he was connected to them - use his words to discredit these losers. Enough is enough.

[blm]

13. Sent to my local paper.

.

[nomatrix]

15. There are two men who didn't sign on........

"Anderson's boat was about the fourth boat back in a string of 10. He describes the scene as an Armageddon. Fellow swift boat sailor Bob Wedge was so badly wounded, Anderson doubted he would survive."

-snip-

"Wedge, who lost a leg, was flown home. Thirty-four years passed before the two met again. Now they find themselves on the same side of another conflict.

Wedge, 60, of Mesquite, Nev., said his name, too, was on the list - and he's mad.

"This is the fourth or fifth time someone has called me or e-mailed me in regard to signing this damn letter," he wrote in an e-mail to Anderson. "I don't agree with it and want no part of it and especially don't want my name on it."

Both men have tried to contact the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to have their names removed from the list. Neither have had any success.

"I can't seem to get a response when I reply to their e-mail," Wedge said.

"They come back undeliverable."

I wonder how many more, didn't sign on?

[GiovanniC]

16. Check This Out, Too

SWIFT BOAT VETERAN MAKES ATTACK ON PRESIDENT'S CHARACTER
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1093963753309800.xml

From The Grand Rapids Press (uber-conservative):

It's precisely how the Bush campaign -- or operatives associated with Bush -- has worked in previous elections, Sanders said. Bush improved his standing by tearing down three Vietnam War veterans in the past four years, Sanders said, referring to Sen. John McCain in the 2000 GOP presidential primary, Sen. Max Cleland in 2002, and now Kerry.

"To know the power of life and death, to see friends mangled and maimed, John Kerry knows -- unlike George Bush -- the price of war," Sanders said. "This is a game Bush is playing. He's never experienced it. He hasn't got a clue what young men and women are going through in Iraq."

[Supersedeas]

19. More Forged Documents related to Bush Initiatives--will they out

Anderson's wife too?

[LuminousX]

20. Boy, time to ask each person listed if they actually support the liars

Swiftliars astroturfed their support.