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BUSH BEAT

Bush moving to the middle?

The Boston Globe reports that President Bush’s recent campaign swing is a return to "compassionate conservatism."

The Globe reports:

In a narrowly divided nation, Bush appears to be attempting to keep moderate Republicans and independents in his fold, said Bill Whelan, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank at Stanford University.

Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative" in 2000, but has alienated many political moderates with his hard-line approach to social issues, Whelan said. By talking about prescription drug benefits and extending the principles of the No Child Left Behind Act to high schools, for example, Bush is emphasizing domestic policy issues, where Kerry is more trusted by voters, he said.

"It's a function of the polls," Whelan said. "These are issues where he does have a gap with John Kerry. It ties into reaching to the middle-of-the-road voters."

 Just POlitics

Kerry calls on Brinkley

Drudge is reporting that Sen. John Kerry is calling on his personal biographer Doug Brinkley to get him out of the lie that he was in Cambodia on Christmas. Brinkley is reported to be preparing an article for the NY Times that will state that Kerry was in Cambodia in January.

Back in 1986, Kerry offered this testimony on the floor of the Senate:

"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared--seared--in me."

John O’Neil’s, author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, comments on the ‘clarification:’

"John Kerry describes Christmas Eve in Cambodia as a critical turning point in his life. We now know that his story is completely false. My question is how many people do you know have invented a turning point, one that is seared in his memory? While it makes sense for John Kerry to come clean about the Cambodia story, it is one of several tales that the Kerry campaign will have to face and clarify."

"By claiming we were engaged in a war crime and crossing international borders, John Kerry damaged the credibility of all the commanding officers above him and insulted the sailors who served with him," said John O’Neill, member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

Cambodia editorial proven wrong

As the Kerry Campaign and the DNC work overtime to cover Kerry’s Christmas in Cambodia lie, an editorial to the Washington Times has magically appeared. The letter is written by Stephen Hayes, who served in Vietnam as an officer in charge of a swift boat during the same time as Kerry. Hayes claims to have taken his boat (without orders) into Cambodia as part of the Navy’s Coastal Division 11. He then says that Kerry was also part of Coastal Division 11. Hayes says it is ‘plausible’ that Kerry and his boat also entered Cambodia.

Problem: Hayes’ editorial is incorrect. Kerry was not in Coastal Division 11. He was in Coastal Division 13. The area patrolled by Coastal Division 13 extended as far north as Sa Dec, which lies about 55 miles from the Cambodian border.

An editorial sent in by Scott Swett was also published in the Washington Times which points out Hayes’ error and thus wrong conclusion.

Here are the two editorials:

'I also went into Cambodia'

I served as Officer-in-Charge of a Swift Boat (PCF-71) in Vietnam and my tour overlapped with that of John Kerry.  With regard to your editorial ("Kerry's 'Christmas in Cambodia'," Tuesday), I can tell you that my crew and I also went into Cambodia (without orders). As units assigned to Coastal Division 11, we patrolled the Ha Tien River and an adjacent canal that ran along the Vietnam-Cambodian border and, on occasion, crossed into Cambodia.

Mr. Kerry was assigned to Coastal Division 11 in December 1968, and, while I don't recall who was where on Christmas 35 years ago, it is certainly plausible to me that Mr. Kerry and his crew could have been across the border that night.

STEPHEN D. HAYES
U.S. Navy (1966-1969)
Alexandria

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040811-095729-7910r.htm

Cambodia conundrums

In his recent letter, "I also went into Cambodia," Stephen Hayes claims that he, like John Kerry, entered Cambodia as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a swift boat during his time in Vietnam. Mr. Hayes claims "Mr. Kerry was assigned to Coastal Division 11 in December 1968."

That is not the case. Mr. Kerry was stationed at Coastal Division 13 in Cat Lo at the time, not Coastal Division 11. The area patrolled by Coastal Division 13 extended as far north as Sa Dec, which lies about 55 miles from the Cambodian border.

Every surviving officer in Mr. Kerry's chain of command denies that Mr. Kerry was ever ordered to Cambodia or possibly could have gone there on Christmas Day 1968, as he claimed before the Senate in 1986.

Also, of the five crew members on Mr. Kerry's boat at the time, three - Bill Zaldonis, Steven Hatch and Steve Gardner - are on the record stating that neither they nor their boat were ever in Cambodia.

The other two have declined to comment. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth documented this further in the material they supplied to television stations with their recent ad, "Any Questions?": "At Sa Dec, where the Swift boat patrol area ended, there were many miles of other boats (PBR's) leading to the Cambodian border. There also were gunboats on the border to prevent any crossing. If Kerry tried to get through, he would have been arrested."

Given the above, I don't think Mr. Hayes' efforts are likely to solve John Kerry's Cambodia problem.

SCOTT SWETT
Falls Church

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040812-090519-2590r.htm

Veterans’ ad condemnation

Media is beginning a drum beat to have President Bush condemn the swift boat veterans’ group, who have criticized Sen. John Kerry’s self promotion that gained him his medals of service in Vietnam.

Bush said on the CNN television talk show, Larry King Live: "Senator Kerry is justifiably proud of his record in Vietnam and he should be." Bush referred to Kerry's Vietnam tour as "noble service."

Bush expressed his now often repeated theme that the problem is independent uncoordinated political actions committees under 527 of the Internal Revenue Code (such as Iowa Presidential Watch.) He offered this statement on Larry King Live as well:

"They've said some bad things about me. I guess they're saying bad things about him. And what I think we ought to do is not have them on the air," Bush said.

Kerry spokesman, former Sen. Max Cleland and the rest of the Democrats are taking the tactic of trying to tie the swift boat veterans to Karl Rove because their major donor is from Texas and knows Rove. Rove is a long time key political advisor to the President.

Cleland also calls the ads dishonest and dishonorable. Those are the words that Sen. John McCain used when he heard of the ad.

Swift boat veterans are continuing to press their account of how Kerry does not deserve his medals and that Kerry was a danger to all who served with him.

Cheney: not more sensitive

Vice President Dick Cheney made the case that America does not need a more sensitive war on terror, as Sen. John Kerry promised last week.

Cheney said, "America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive." "President Lincoln and General Grant did not wage sensitive warfare nor did President Roosevelt, nor Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur," he said. "A 'sensitive war' will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans and who seek the chemical, nuclear and biological weapons to kill hundreds of thousands more.''

The Kerry campaign came back stating that in March President Bush used the word sensitive in a speech. "We must be sensitive about expressing our power and influence.''

Kerry offered a counter dig at Cheney, who had draft deferments, and Bush, who was in the National Guard. After one of his standard speech lines later in the day, "I defended our country as a young man," Kerry added, "when others chose not to."

Another of Kerry’s foot soldiers came out with the same line in a more challenging way, Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill McPeak contrasted Kerry's service in Vietnam with Bush's service in the Texas National Guard and Cheney's lack of military service. "Do the president and vice president really want to have a debate about who is more suited to fight the war in Iraq and the war on terror?" he said in a statement. "Do they really want a debate about which candidate has the toughness to make America stronger?"

Cheney is expected to take the retired general up on his challenge, "He [Kerry] has even said that by using our strength, we are creating terrorists and placing ourselves in greater danger," Cheney said. "But that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the world we are living in works. Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness."

MoveOn.org’s real goal

MoveOn.org has the real goal of defeating President Bush and its winning ad is about reducing the numerous reasons that America invaded Iraq down to just one: finding weapons of mass destruction.

MoveOn asked real people to get before their camera and tell why they are not voting for Bush. The winner is Lee Buttrill, who just returned from service in Iraq.

Here is MovOn’s latest e-mail concerning their wanting to raise money to run it during the Republican National Convention:

Dear MoveOn member,

Over the last three days, more than 100,000 MoveOn members have voted on the seventeen finalists in our Real People ad campaign. And we have a winner. The top rated ad features Lee Buttrill, a MoveOn member and Marine who has recently returned from Iraq. In this ad, Sergeant Buttrill simply and eloquently says:

"We were given these ideas that there were weapons of mass destruction...It was just a lie. That wasn't a proper use of American troops. It wasn't a proper use of my life, or my friends' lives, or the marines who I've seen die around me."

With your help, we can get this ad on TV during the Republican Convention, countering their slick spin with this simple and powerful indictment of Bush's failures as Commander in Chief. To see Sergeant Buttrill's ad (and the other finalists) and pitch in to get them on the air, go to:

https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/switchad_winners.html

Starting with the Republican convention, the Bush campaign and the RNC are going to move into high gear. They have the resources - more than a hundred million dollars. And they have the slick ads. But we've got the voices of ordinary people telling the simple truth. And that could make all the difference.

Amplifying these real voices is something we can only do together. The Republican National Convention will be funded by Bush's big-business friends. We don't have a few people who can give a lot, but together we're a lot of people who can give a little. And that's part of what will make this campaign unique: never before have both the content and the funding for an ad campaign come from the grassroots membership of an organization.

Taxing America

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report that states, fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be published Friday.

Households with incomes in that top 1 percent were receiving an average tax cut of $78,460 this year, while households in the middle 20 percent of earnings - averaging about $57,000 a year - were getting an average cut of only $1,090.

Kerry has continued to argue that he will be able to fund a trillion and half of new programs by taxing the rich. Of course, those numbers do not ad up. However, Kerry at his economic summit offered even more programs of government control and incentives as the solution for America.

Bush gained attention when he responded to a questioner about reforming the tax code with a sales tax. Kerry picked up on that point in his economic summit.

“To add insult to injury, just yesterday the other side talked about a national sales tax. At least that's what they call it," Kerry said. "I call it one of the largest tax increases on the middle class in American history. This is from an administration that has offered almost no new ideas for our economy -- and the few they have offered have only hurt middle-class families."