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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (60238)	8/13/2004 8:50:53 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793895

We hear from one of the "Kerry 8." This comment by a Swiftee is included. Steve Gardner, the one Kerry crew mate who is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said he and Wasser came out of Vietnam with the same negative opinion of Kerry — and that Wasser changed his view after meeting with the candidate. "We both agreed that John Kerry had made a complete mess of everything," said Gardner, an Ohio native. "Now he works for the John Kerry campaign, and you’ll have to draw your own conclusions." Navy veteran who served with Kerry rips television ad Thursday, August 12, 2004 Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH JAMES D . DeCAMP \| DISPATCH Jim Wasser, who spoke in Whitehall yesterday, served under John Kerry on the swift boat at the heart of a disputed TV ad. A former Navy crew mate of Sen. John Kerry yesterday disputed charges that Kerry lied about his war record and said it’s time to "put a veteran’s veteran in the White House." Jim Wasser, who served for six weeks with Kerry on a Navy swift boat in Vietnam in late 1968 and early 1969, said Kerry never made a bad command decision and that a campaign by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth challenging Kerry’s military service is "rotten." "I am a swift boat sailor for the truth," said Wasser, a union electrician from Illinois. "They are swift boat sailors for George Bush." Wasser and Kerry’s former college roommate were among those who spoke last night at a gathering of local veterans and Kerry supporters at the United Food and Commercial Workers hall in Whitehall. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is running a TV ad in parts of Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia accusing Kerry of not earning his war medals, and this week the group is releasing a book critical of Kerry. But Wasser said none of those in the TV ad actually served on one of two boats Kerry commanded during his four-month stint in Vietnam. Wasser and eight of the 10 surviving men who did are backing Kerry and appeared onstage with him at the Democratic National Convention because "the John Kerry we knew then is the same John Kerry today," Wasser said. Steve Gardner, the one Kerry crew mate who is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said he and Wasser came out of Vietnam with the same negative opinion of Kerry — and that Wasser changed his view after meeting with the candidate. "We both agreed that John Kerry had made a complete mess of everything," said Gardner, an Ohio native. "Now he works for the John Kerry campaign, and you’ll have to draw your own conclusions." Wasser said he initially was angry when Kerry protested against the war but later came to agree with him. Wasser said he is an unpaid volunteer for Kerry and Gardner, whom he called "far right-wing," is lying. "Even though that saddens me, it will not change my view of Steve Gardner as my Vietnam brother," Wasser said. The latest controversy in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign is whether Kerry lied about being in Cambodia on Christmas in 1968. According to Senate testimony in the Congressional Record, during a 1986 debate about whether to support the Contras in Nicaragua, Kerry said he was in Cambodia when the government insisted no troops were there. "I have that memory which is seared — seared — in me," Kerry said. Gardner says he was on the boat with Kerry that Christmas in 1968 but they were 50 miles from Cambodia — and that there was no way anyone on the boat would consider going to Cambodia because of the risks. Wasser said it was nearly impossible to tell exactly where the boat was on the river but that if it wasn’t in Cambodia that day, it was "very close." FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group that monitors the accuracy of campaign ads, points to the crew members who support Kerry and notes initial funding for the opposition campaign came mainly from a Republican booster in Houston. But the group added that it can’t definitively say which set of veterans should be believed. "At this point, 35 years later and half a world away, we see no way to resolve which of these versions of reality is closer to the truth," the group concluded. Peter D. Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who has studied political attitudes of veterans and military members, said the Swift Boat campaign could cost Kerry some support among undecided voters. But he suggested Democrats want the controversy to continue brewing because it keeps the focus on Kerry’s service in Vietnam and off his tenure in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans want the spotlight. "The Democrats are very happy to keep that story alive," Feaver said. Copyright © 2004, The Columbus Dispatch