RedState Scoop: The Swift Boat Vets Final Ads By: krempasky · Section: Election 2004
We promised it, so here it is. And surprise - it's not one ad but two! These ads will debut tonight on the FoxNews Channel (Special Report w/ Brit Hume), but we have the transcripts.
This is going to be a MASSIVE ad puchase, and as was hinted earlier, they will be aired during Monday Night Football
The first ad is a 60-second spot featuring 90 swift boat veterans, in a a three-deep line, with the camera panning across the crowd - close-up and slowly. No vets speak, but the announcer delivers the following lines:
Announcer: They served their country with courage and distinction. They’re the men who served with John Kerry in Vietnam.
Announcer: They’re his entire chain of command, most of the officers in Kerry’s unit. Even the gunner from his own boat.
Announcer: And they’re the men who spent years in North Vietnamese prison camps.
Announcer: Tortured for refusing to confess what John Kerry accused them of. . . of being war criminals.
Announcer: They were also decorated. Many very highly. But they kept their medals.
Announcer: Today they are teachers, farmers, businessman, ministers, and community leaders. And of course, fathers and grandfathers.
Announcer: With nothing to gain for themselves, except the satisfaction that comes with telling the truth, they have come forward to talk about the John Kerry they know.
Announcer: Because to them honesty and character still matters. . . especially in a time of war.
Announcer: Swift Vets and POW’s for Truth are responsible for the content of this advertisement.
It's a powerful, moving, picture - these men coming forward, without aliases or surrogates. As another RedState editor wrote, there is no guile in these men. Read on for the second, and much more damaging ad:
Posted On: Oct 13th, 2004: 12:45:24, Not Rated
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The second spot, also a 60-second ad, showing several groups (about 10) of swift boat veterans, one after another - with each group of vets featuring one single man posing a question to John Kerry. And the most important of all the vets involved delivers what I believe is a serious, serious, body blow.
John Edwards: If you have an questions about what John Kerry’s made of (echo on “made of”)...
Van Odell: Why do so many of us have serious questions?
Dr. Louis Letson: How did you get your purple heart when your commanding officer didn’t approve it?
Steve Gardner: Why have you repeatedly claimed you were illegally sent into Cambodia. . .
Bob Elder: . . . when it has been proven that you were not?
Jim Werner: How could you accuse us of being war criminals. . .
Ken Cordier: . . . and secretly meet with the enemy in Paris. . .
Mike Solhaug: . . . and promote the enemy’s position back home. . .
Paul Galanti: . . . when I was a POW, and Americans were being killed in combat.
Bud Day: How can you expect our sons and daughters to follow you, when you condemned their fathers and grandfathers?
Joe Ponder: Why is this relevant?
Tom Hanton: Because character and honesty matter. Especially in a time of war.
Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman: John Kerry cannot be trusted.
Announcer: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is responsible for the content of this advertisement.
I wouldn't advise the Swift Vets to hold their collective breath for answers to these questions, but they damn well deserve them. |
