Wstera once again sides with smear campaigns vs. truth
Here is a description of some of Wstera's "sources" for his "facts"
"People in this group are behind the fraudulent anti-Kerry book "Unfit For Command" and the fraudulent anti-Kerry film "Stolen Honor".
SBV claims to be a "non-partisan" organization. Once you've stopped laughing and picked yourself off the floor (or applied to Fox News for a job as a substitute for Sean Hannity if you believe it), here is what you should know. SBV's claim is plainly false. Just because one's organization is registered as "non-partisan" in the eyes of the Government doesn't make it so, especially when key members of the group are known Republicans and contributed large sums of money to Republicans.
Their claim of being "non-partisan" is belied by the fact that some of the top people involved in SBV are staunch, right-wing Republicans, including those with a history of creating egregious and false hit pieces on opponents (especially Bush Sr.'s or Bush Jr.'s opponents - e.g., Senator John McCain). John O'Neill himself is a Nixon stooge who clerked for now-Chief Justice William Rehnquist (U.S. Supreme Court). SBV is also funded by wealthy right-wing Republicans. One of the co-authors of "Unfit for Command", Jerome Corsi, has a history of writing hate-filled, bigoted, articles on the web. Merrie Spaeth, a communications executive behind the anti-Kerry ads (and also behind the despicable ads that were run against John McCain in 2000) once coached Ken Starr during the Clinton impeachment hearings. Bob Perry is a key sponsor of SBV, and he has been "carefully cultivated" in the past as a GOP donor by Karl Rove. Harlan Crow is a trustee of the George Bush Foundation.
Moreover, the fact that SBV members or backers have direct or indirect connections to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign has become very clear now.
Do scroll down and read more about these "fine" citizens of the country...
ASIDE: Not surprisingly, a bunch of hate-mongering ultra-right-wing frauds who played a key role in cooking up myriad fake stories about Bill Clinton in the 1990s - Citizens United - are now taking aim at John Kerry, using the fabrications of SBV for a new "movie". Are David Neiwert points out, these "are guys whose ethos makes Dick Nixon look like a choirboy".
DETAILED FACTS
SBV's BOGUS CLAIM OF BEING "NONPARTISAN": WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS BEHIND SBV?
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is a non-partisan organization.
FACT
Some of the key players behind SBV are listed below. In addition, I have a separate section covering SBV members or backers who have direct or indirect connections to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.
1. Jerome Corsi: Ultra right wing, rabid hater of Democrats, Catholics, Muslims and God-knows what else. Expressed a desire that a plane should have crashed into the set of the West Wing, which had Martin Sheen acting as President. Expressed the belief that a lot of people he didn't like were Communists and that the Pope is senile. And so on. Recently flip-flopped and claimed to "apologize" in light of these revelations, but the fact is that he has made countless racist or bigoted statements.
2. John O'Neill: Protégé of Watergate felon Chuck Colson and Richard Nixon (the former President), who set him on the then-anti-war Kerry to attack Kerry's high credibility - and has been a strong Kerry-hater since. His law firm has strong connections with the Bush White House (e.g., one of his partners was the former (scandal-involved) general counsel to Bush Jr. in Texas). Formerly clerked with now Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who was Nixon's favorite. Also, Bush Sr. had considered O'Neill for a federal judgeship.
3. Merrie Spaeth: Highly connected Republican communications executive who once worked to build propaganda pieces for Ronald Reagan - and wife of O'Neill's late law partner. She was a coach for Kenneth Starr in the Clinton impeachment hearings, via Ted Olson (until recently Bush's Solicitor General and a participant in the dirty tricks campaign against the Clintons). She was also responsible for creating the egregious, false smear ads against John McCain in 2000, when he ran against Bush.
4. William Franke, Lewis Waterman and Stephen Hayes (of Gannon International): Franke, a major Bush supporter, has longstanding ties to John Ashcroft and the Missouri GOP. All of these people are part of the firm Gannon Intl. which has had profitable dealings with Vietnam, especially thanks to Kerry's efforts to normalize relationships with Vietnam. The irony!
5. Bob Perry and the Crow Family: Generous supporters of Bush and the Republicans, Perry has given them millions of dollars. Perry is a key sponsor of SBV. Karl Rove and Tom Delay have "carefully cultivated" donors like Perry. Harlan Crow is a trustee of the George Bush Foundation.
6. Robert Hahn: Runs the Free Republic Network, part of which is the right-wing hate-mongering, extremist website Free Republic which Corsi frequently contributes to.
1. JEROME CORSI
Media Matters
While much has been written about the identity and history of John E. O'Neill -- one of the authors of the forthcoming Regnery book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (whose links in the GOP go back to his days as "protégé of Nixon-era dirty trickster Charles Colson") -- little has been said about his co-author, Jerome R. Corsi, PhD.
• Corsi on Islam: "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion"
• Corsi on Catholicism: "Boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press"
• Corsi on Muslims: "RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together"
• Corsi on "John F*ing Commie Kerry": "After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?"
• Corsi on Senator "FAT HOG" Clinton: "Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she?"
...Corsi asserted that, in 1971, Kerry's anti-war activism amounted to a proclamation by him that "Communists were right in maintaining that American values were corrupt and that the only solution was for America to capitulate so Communism could continue to spread." As Media Matters for America has noted, Kerry was quoted expressing exactly the opposite sentiment in a December 12, 1971, Boston Globe article: "I don't like Communists," Kerry said. "In fact, I hate them. I hate all totalitarians. I'm totally dedicated to representative, pluralistic, free democracy."
...
Scott Swett, who is listed as the webmaster of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website, swiftvets.com, also appeared on FOX News Channel host Sean Hannity's August 5 radio show to discuss the group. Swett posts frequently to FreeRepublic.com, using the pseudonym "Interesting Times," and is also a director of the Free Republic Network. The wintersoldier.com website to which Swett has contributed articles is a project of the Free Republic Network.
Corsi is also a frequent participant in FreeRepublic.com's online forums, posting under the pseudonym "jrlc" since 2001. (Click here to read a full set of Corsi's posts; click here to read the post in which "jrlc" admits to being Jerome Corsi.)
On FreeRepublic.com, Corsi has, among other things, said that "ragheads" are "boy buggers"; referred to "John F*ing Kerry"; called Senator Hillary Clinton a "Fat Hog"; referred to her daughter as "Chubby Chelsie" Clinton; referred to Janet Reno as "Janet Rhino"; called Katie Couric "Little Katie Communist"; suggested Kerry was "practicing Judaism"; and expressed the wish that a small plane that had crashed into a building in Los Angeles had instead crashed into the set of NBC'S The West Wing, thereby killing actor Martin Sheen. |
