Jeb Bush To the "Independent" Swift Boat Liars: Thanks

The New York Times reported on Sunday that John Kerry has been assembling evidence to completely disprove every lie thrown at him by the Swift Boat Veterans (why he didn't do this in 2004 is a whole different and frustrating question). This evidence includes pictures of Kerry with a bandage on the arm that the Swifties claim was never really injured, pictures of the weapon held by the teenager that Kerry shot to save members of his crew (Swifties claimed the man was unarmed) and logs showing the route of his boat towards Cambodia. And some Swifties are admitting the truth behind their disgusting 2004 effort:

Mr. Kerry's defenders have received help from unlikely sources, including
some who were originally aligned with the Swift boat group but later objected to
its accusations against Mr. Kerry. One of them, Steve Hayes, was an early member
of the group. A former sailor, he was a longtime friend and employee of William
Franke, one of the group's founders, and he supported the push to have Mr. Kerry
release his military files. But Mr. Hayes came to believe that the group was
twisting Mr. Kerry's record.

"The mantra was just 'We want to set the record straight,' " Mr. Hayes
said this month. "It became clear to me that it was morphing from an
organization to set the record straight into a highly political vendetta. They
knew it was not the truth."

Mr. Hayes broke with the group, ending a 35-year friendship with Mr.
Franke, and voted for Mr. Kerry. He has provided a long interview to Mr. Kerry's
supporters, backing their version of the incident for which Mr. Kerry received
the Bronze Star.

It is clear the news organizations that aired these allegations as if they had a basis in fact were badly misled and mistaken, all the while castigating CBS over documents while ignoring legitimate questions over Bush's National Guard record, which, to this date, has not been satisfactorily explained.

It has always been clear to me that the Swifties were motivated by one thing: anger over Kerry's anti-war comments when he returned to the U.S. and they were willing to lie about Kerry's record in order to get back at him over a perceived wound that had festered for 30 years. The Times article appears to confirm this view, as John O'Neill, one of the group's leaders, seems more interested in the anti-war speeches than Kerry's record:

Members of the Swift boat group have not seen Mr. Kerry's newly gathered
evidence. But they seem unwilling to cede much.

Mr. O'Neill said he "would be thrilled to look at anything he wants to
send." Still, he added, "I'm sorry he never apologized for his 1971 speech,"
referring to Mr. Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, in which he told other soldiers' accounts of ravaging Vietnamese
villages and citizens. "I think it would have been a very positive thing to do
in terms of the many thousands of people who survived Vietnam and felt that was
very hurtful."

That's what this whole thing was about -- Kerry's courageous anti-war activism -- and groups like Fox ate up the lies.

But the whole time this was going on, the Bush campaign (and Karl Rove) claimed that it had nothing to do with their efforts and Cheney even commented at the Republican convention that Kerry's war record should not be attacked. More lies. It appears that, immediately after the election, on January 19, 2005, Jeb Bush wrote a letter to one of the Swift Boat Liars thanking them for their work:

Colonel Day, I know that you will be joining other Swifties - POWs in
Orlando soon. Please let them know that I am personally appreciative
of their service to our nation. As someone who truly understands the risk
of standing up for something, I simply cannot express in words how much I value
their willingness to stand up against John Kerry. Their efforts, like
their service to their country, speaks volumes about what matters most.

Truly outrageous. "Their willingness to stand up against John Kerry"? Was that what they did? Was Kerry out there attacking them and they were defending themselves against him? Unbelievable. Pulls the veil off of the whole thing, now doesn't it? Karl Rove strikes again.
- posted by Joshua @ 5:19 PM (0) comments