Kerry running scared:
sends out attack lawyers

[HumanEventsOnline continues to bring to the public blistering information about Kerry’s service in Vietnam, as the story is told through the soon to be released book “Unfit for Command” and a television ad put together by the 527 PAC group Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. In an obvious scare tactic, the DNC and Sen. Kerry have sent out their attack lawyers, who penned and sent a letter to the stations running the Swift Boat Veterans’ ad. A letter so full of 'holes' you can practically see right through it. Here is an excerpt from the article on HumanEventsOnline:]

HUMAN EVENTS has obtained a copy of a letter (see below) which lawyers for the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry have sent to television station managers attempting to suppress the blistering anti-Kerry TV spot created by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (click here to view the ad) and first reported here on HumanEventsOnline.com.

The letter claims the ad is "false" and "libelous" and suggests, in not-so-subtle terms, that TV stations should use their "legal authority" to refuse any requests for advertising airtime, stating that "because your station has this freedom [to refuse the ad], and because it is not a 'use' of your facilities by a clearly identified candidate, your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor" (emphasis added).

As their first piece of evidence of the ad's supposed lies, the DNC/Kerry lawyers claim that the veterans in the ad "purport to have served on Senator Kerry's SWIFT Boat in Vietnam" but, "in fact, not a single one of the men who pretend to have served with Senator Kerry was actually a crewmate of Senator Kerry's." The problem is that none of these men claimed to have served on Kerry's SWIFT Boat. They simply said they "served with John Kerry" -- and they did. The letter goes on to make several more misleading statements about the advertisement, in an attempt to protect Kerry's "war hero" record. Read the full text below.

August 5, 2004

VIA FACSIMILE

re:            Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Dear Station Manager:

We are counsel to the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry, respectively. It has been brought to our attention that a group calling itself “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” has bought time, or may seek to buy time, on your station to air an advertisement that attacks Senator Kerry. The advertisement contains statement by men who purport to have served on Senator Kerry’s SWIFT Boat in Vietnam, and one statement by a man pretending to be the doctor who treated Senator Kerry for one of his injuries. In fact, not a single one of the men who pretend to have served with Senator Kerry was actually a crewmate of Senator Kerry’s and the man pretending to be his doctor was not. The entire advertisement, therefore, is an inflammatory, outrageous lie.

“Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” styles itself as a group of individuals who personally served with John Kerry in the United States Navy in the Vietnam War. In truth, the group is a sham organization spearheaded by a Texas corporate media consultant. It has been financed largely with funds from a Houston homebuilder. See Slater, Dallas Morning News, July 23, 2004.

In this group’s advertisement, twelve men appear to make statements about Senator Kerry’s service in Vietnam. Not a single one of these men served on either of Senator Kerry’s two SWIFT Boats (PCF 44 & PCF 94).

Further, the “doctor” who appears in the ad, Louis Letson, was not a crewmate of Senator Kerry’s and was not the doctor who actually signed Senator Kerry’s sick call sheet. In fact, another physician actually signed Senator Kerry’s sick call sheet. Letson is not listed on any document as having treated Senator Kerry after the December 2, 1968 firefight. Moreover, according to news accounts, Letson did not record his “memories” of that incident until after Senator Kerry became a candidate for President in 2003. (National Review Online, May 4, 2004).

The statement made by the phony “crewmates” and “doctor” who appear in the advertisement are also totally, demonstrably and unequivocally false, a libelous. In particular, the advertisement charges that Senator Kerry “lied to get his Bronze Star.” Just as falsely, it states that “he lied before the Senate.” These are serious allegations of actual crimes – specifically, of lying to the United States Government in the conduct of its official business. The events for which the Senator was awarded the Bronze Star have been documented repeatedly and in detail and are set out in the official citation signed by the Secretary of the Navy and the Commander of U.S. Forces in Vietnam. And yet these reckless charges of criminal conduct are offered without support or authentication by fake “witnesses” speaking on behalf of a phony organization.

Your station is not obligated to accept this advertisement for broadcast nor is it required to account in any way for its decision to reject such an advertisement. Columbia Broadcasting System v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U.S. 94 (1973); You Can’t Afford Dodd Committee, 81 FCC2d S79(1980). The so-called “Swift Boat Veterans” organization is not a federal candidate or candidate committee. Repeated efforts by organizations that are not candidate committees to obtain a private right of access have been consistently rejected by the FCC. See e.g., National Conservative Political Action Committee, 89 FCC2d, 626 (1982).

Thus, your station may freely refuse this advertisement. Because your station has this freedom, and because it is not a “use” of your facilities by a clearly identified candidate, your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor.

Moreover, as a licensee, you have an overriding duty “to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.” Licensee Responsibility With Respect to the Broadcast of False, Misleading or Deceptive Advertising, 74, FCD2d 623 (1961). Your station normally must take “reasonable steps” to satisfy itself “as to this reliability and reputation of every prospective advertiser.” In re Complaint by Consumers Association of District of Columbia, 32 FCC2d 400, 405 (1971).

Under these circumstances, your station may not responsibly air this advertisement. We request that your station act immediately to prevent broadcasts of this advertisement and deny any future sale of time. Knowing that the advertisement is false, and possessing the legal authority to refuse to run it, your station should exercise that authority in the public interest.

Please contact us promptly at either of the phone numbers below to advise us regarding the status of this advertisement.

Sincerely yours,

Marc Elias

Perkins Coie

607  14th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005

(202) 434-1625

General Counsel

Kerry-Edwards 2004

Joseph Sandler

Sandler, Reiff & Young

50 E Street, S.E. #300

Washington, D.C. 20003 

(202) 479-1111

General Counsel

Democratic National Committee  

Gays pin hopes on Kerry

The Washington Times reports that individuals in the homosexual community are dedicating themselves to electing Sen. John Kerry the next President. After the stunning defeat of gay marriage in Missouri, they are rallying to elect Kerry because of the need to have a more favorable Supreme Court to uphold their gay marriage rights.

The Times reports:

Author Wayne Besen, a former official with the Human Rights Campaign, said this week that "the love-in at the DNC can be explained in two words: Supreme Court."

As horrible as Bush administration has been on homosexual issues — the president's support for a federal marriage amendment is particularly offensive — "what we really couldn't live with is another [Antonin] Scalia or Clarence Thomas," Mr. Besen said, referring to the two Supreme Court justices. "That prospect is more terrifying than four more years of Bush."

War hero Kerry?

Analysis by: Roger Wm. Hughes

Liberal Robert Scheer writes in an LA Times editorial that Kerry’s past as a war hero is the key to his future:

"At any time that an actual threat is posed to this country or to the security and freedom, I will be one of the first people to pick up a gun and defend it," testified Kerry at 27 years old. "But right now we are reacting with paranoia…. We may have to fight … somewhere based on legitimate threats, but we must learn, in this country, how to define those threats."

How timely to reread that testimony now, after the current U.S. administration so underappreciated the threat Al Qaeda posed before 9/11 and so overplayed the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the U.S. afterward. Unfortunately, the paranoia that young Kerry warned against is now a staple of the Bush reelection campaign, and Kerry must meet it head-on.

What has been known by some about Kerry’s past is now becoming known by many. The facts that are now being made known is that Kerry is a self-promoter who manufactured (at best) and was a coward at worst. I vote for manufactured, as this is in keeping with his self-promoting career.

We have learned that during Kerry’s service in Vietnam he would reenact his heroic exploits and film incidents that he felt were a record of his "heroic" accomplishments in Vietnam. He even acted as if he was being interviewed in some of his "alleged" reenactments.

What Vietnam veterans who served with him are now saying is that Kerry is a liar, he never was a hero and that he probably never should have received the medals that he received.

Harsh words are being said about Kerry, and it seems the motivation is nothing short of a patriot’s contempt for at best a coward and at worst a traitor. In fact, Swift boat veterans have a new television ad that is incredible in its indictment against Kerry.

Kerry has long made his service in Vietnam and his war medals as the shorthand code that makes him qualified to be Commander in Chief. This indictment takes away any credibility for the American people to trust Kerry to defend America against terrorist threats. Unless, Kerry can definitively prove these accusations as false, Kerry’s chances of being President are slim and none.

This is the first hurdle that Kerry must clear in proving to the nation that he can keep America safe from terrorist. The second is that he will not sell out America’s standing in the world to the French, Germans, and Russians. However, if Kerry cannot pass the first hurdle there will be no listening to his explanations of the second.

Why is this all happening? Part of the reasons is a book that is about to hit the stands, which will be more devastating than Fahrenheit 9-11. The title of the book is "Unfit for Command." The book is written by the by John O’Neil, who replaced Kerry as the commander of his swift boat in Vietnam.

The book is thorough and reports on first hand accounts by veterans who have only one reason to dish dirt on Kerry’s candidacy. Their reason - Kerry is a liar.

UNFIT FOR COMMAND is being rushed into bookstores this week. Reserve your copy today at Amazon.com

Battle of the Corn

President Bush and John Kerry were within spitting distance of one another as they battled for votes in Davenport, Iowa. Photo-opping Kerry even stuck his head and arms out of his campaign bus window, ears of corn --still unshucked --in each hand. Bush opted to partake of the cuisine, and was seen dining on fresh sweet corn.

Iowa is one of the 17 “battleground” states in this year’s Presidential Election. Bush narrowly lost Iowa to Al Gore in 2000.