The Not So Swift Boat Veterans For Truth Need To Check Out The Facts...fyi...
JUST THE FACTS: SWIFT BOAT ADS AND THE ROVE SMEAR MACHINE
commondreams.org
FACT: "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is a front organization for Karl Rove and the Republican party. SBVT is funded primarily by Robert J. Perry, a multimillionaire Texas businessman and the state’s leading donor to Republican candidates and causes. Campaign documents and his representatives confirm that Perry has given more money to campaigns and political organizations in the last four years than any other Texan, over $5 million to scores of political candidates, including $20,000 to Bush's two campaigns for governor in the 1990s.
FACT: SWVT in its July 15 IRS filing reports raising $158,000 in total, of which Perry donated $100,000.
FACT: Media company behind Swift Boat ads produced anti-McCain ads in 2000. Spaeth Communications, listed as SBVT’s media contact, has long and deep Republican ties. In 2000, Spaeth participated in producing ads for 'Republicans for Clean Air' which falsely attacked the environmental record of Sen. John McCain in California, New York and Ohio. The funder of that group turned out to be Sam Wyly -- another big Bush contributor and beneficiary of Bush administration decisions in Texas -- and his brother, Charles, another Bush "Pioneer" contributor."
FACT: The charges in the ad are directly contradicted by the men who were on Kerry’s boat. The former Army lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the water, Jim Rassman, backs Kerry's account. In an August 10 opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Rassmann, a Republican, wrote that the ad was "launched by people without decency" who are "lying" and "should hang their heads in shame."
Some of those making the charges now are directly contradicting their own past public statements, and none of the veterans featured in the advertisements served on the river patrol boats Kerry commanded during Vietnam.
FACT: McCain Urges Bush: “Condemn this ad” … Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called the ad campaign "dishonest and dishonorable" and urged George Bush to “specifically condemn” the ad. Regrettably, George Bush has refused to do so. Said McCain: "I can't believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt…. It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me." Asked if the White House knew about the ad or helped find financing for it, McCain said, "I hope not, but I don't know. But I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad." So do we.
FACT: George W. Bush Has Condemned Such Smear Tactics in the Past … In 1992, George W. Bush called on Republicans to denounce a similar smear campaign against Bill Clinton. According to the 7/14/92 Washington Post, George W. Bush wrote a letter in 1992 on behalf of his father's presidential campaign to 85,697 campaign contributors condemning an operation attempting to smear Bill Clinton and encouraging them not to contribute to the effort. |
