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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (23396)	5/17/2004 2:17:44 PM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 81568

Swift Boat Vets Accuse Kerry of Vietnam Photo Fraud Monday, May 17, 2004 12:50 p.m. EDT Twelve out of a group of nineteen Vietnam swift boat veterans pictured in Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign literature demanded on Monday that he stop misrepresenting them as supporters. "Many of us don't want to be included in that picture because we have a rather unsavory feeling about this fellow," Kerry swift boatmate Bob Elder told nationally syndicated radio host Linda Chavez. Citing the top Democrat's anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam, Elder told Chavez, "We regard the fact that he rallied the American public against his fellow comrades in arms as basically a betrayal of all of us." Swift boat veteran Bill Shumadine, who's also pictured in the campaign literature, told the Liberty Broadcasting host that he didn't want to be associated with Kerry in any way, calling his conduct after the war "very offensive." "Having my picture there it appears that I somehow support his cause," Shumadine explained, adding, "It's not something that I'm proud to be associated with." Elder, Shumadine and ten others have banded together in a group they call "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," which includes more than 220 Vietnam veterans who served in Kerry's unit. Of the remaining six veterans pictured in the photograph, "one is deceased and three do not wish to be involved in any manner; only two of the 19 are believed to support Kerry," the group said in a Monday press release. "His use of a photograph with his 18 comrades with knowledge that 12 of them condemn him . . . is a complete misrepresentation to the public and a total fraud," Shumadine added. Elder told Chavez that the group of twelve included not only Kerry's boat mates, but two of his superior officers who joined in condemning Democratic presidential candidate. He noted also that at a press conference Friday in Washington, the group was joined by Jim Zumwalt, son of the late Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, former chief of naval operations during the Vietnam war. "Even Jim Zumwalt, on his father's behalf, joined us in condemning the activities of John, saying they do not make this man a fit candidate for Commander in Chief," Elder told Chavez. In an open letter to Kerry included with the press release, the group said, "We did not give permission for you to use a photo including our image, nor do we support you. . . We join our fellow Swiftees who believe that someone who heaped scorn and lies on his own unit for his personal political gain is not fit to be Commander in Chief."