May 18, 2004

QUOTABLES:

William Shumadine, shown in the photo and a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, stated, “His use of a photograph with his 19 comrades with knowledge that 11 of them condemn him and six who cannot or do not want to be involved is a complete misrepresentation to the public and a total fraud.”

"Yesterday, gas prices soared to more than $2 a gallon, but this administration still has not done anything to help" John Kerry said. "Their inaction is costing working Americans their jobs, their savings and the opportunity to get ahead."

JUST POLITICS

Battleground states & California

The two presidential campaigns are testing how they can create an upset in the marginal states. The Kerry campaign has given up on Tennessee, but they are still exploring Louisiana and Colorado. The Bush campaign is looking at New Jersey and Delaware.

There are those who suggest that part of the strategy is to cause the other side to spend money where they would otherwise not. This does not make much sense in light of the Federal Election Commission’s destruction of campaign spending limits for 527 campaign corporations. There will be more money than there are targets before this race is done.

The really big question in the targets of opportunity is California. Here is a whale that can consume campaign dollars at a rate equivalent to most other nation’s campaigns. If the Republicans put California in play, everything else is equivalent of an eye dropper in an ocean. Each side could run up $50 million -- or a lot more -- for an all out effort to win the state.

This is clearly a question that exists despite an LA Times article that explores the tenuous dance Governor Schwarzenegger does with the current weakness of Bush in California -- a dance Schwarzenegger does to maintain his political strength.

Putting California in play is possible... the money could be raised. And doing so would remove the question of minor states being an issue because California would suck all the oxygen out of the room.

Kerry on trade

The Chicago Tribune reports that Sen. John Kerry said that he would appoint a commission to report within 120 days of his taking office on the compliance of U.S. trading partners with the specifics of international trade deals.

"I'll tell you, we'll never get ahead if other countries don't live up to their end of the bargain," Kerry said. "Who's going to hold them up to their part of the bargain? That's the job of the people that you elect. This administration hasn't enforced our trade deals. Not only that, they haven't fought for better ones."

Senate investigates prison scandal

While Republicans may want the Abu Ghraib prison scandal to go away, it isn’t. Sen. John Warner chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee is going to swing the committee’s investigation toward the question of whether the Defense Department made changes in interrogations to increase the gathering of information. The Defense Department states that the loosening of interrogation rules were in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

In addition, the AFP reports that the CIA denies Seymore Hersh’s article in The New  Yorker that accuses Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of causing the scandal:

"The New Yorker story is fundamentally wrong," CIA spokesman William Harlow said in a statement. "There was no DoD/CIA program to abuse and humiliate Iraqi prisoners," it said.

"Despite what is alleged in the article, I am aware of no CIA official who would have -- or possibly could have -- confirmed details of the New Yorker's inaccurate account."

The L.A Times reports in depth on the peculiar institution of the U.S. Senate, and its patrician republic traditions.

"The role of the Senate at moments like this is to provide an educational role for the American people," said Michael Franc of the Heritage Foundation. "The senators can help frame what happened and help explain why."

Historically, the Senate Armed Service Committee has been a body that Presidents and Defense Department officials have catered to. This has not been the case in recent history... that may be changing.

Go big: MoveOn.org

MoveOn.org is asking their members to tell Sen. John Kerry to carry forward an extreme liberal agenda. They have sent an email to their members asking them to sign the following letter:

Dear Senator Kerry,

We all want to send George Bush home to Crawford, Texas, in November. He seems convinced that the way to win is by playing on our fears. You can prove that the answer lies in appealing to the "better angels of our nature."

Let Bush own September 11th and the politics of fear. You should own September 12th -- the spirit of generosity and community that poured forth in the aftermath of the attacks -- and the politics of hope.

Offer voters a bold moral vision of what America can be. A vision that is bigger than the things that divide us. A vision that brings hope and soul back to our politics and appeals to more than voters' narrow self-interests. A vision that makes America once again a respected force for good in the world.

Don't be tempted to adopt the familiar -- and failed -- Republican-lite swing voter strategy. You can reach out to and inspire the fifty percent of eligible voters who have given up on voting. If you do, you will win not in a toss-up but a landslide.

Senator Kerry, I'm ready to vote my hopes and not my fears. So please: Go Big, Ask More!

It's clear that Kerry has it in him to be a visionary candidate. In a speech to the California Democratic State Convention, he referred to Robert Kennedy's famous quotation: "Some men dream things that are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not?" Then Kerry said:

That is the question at the heart of our campaign. That is our cause.

Why not have an economy where equal opportunity is a fact? Where people who work hard and do the right thing can not only make ends meet but can actually reach higher and hope for more?

Why not give every working American access to high-quality, affordable health care?

Why not have public schools where children set out on a lifetime of learning and possibility? Where "no child left behind" is a promise kept, not broken and forgotten.

Why not preserve our environment so our great grandchildren can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and know that they too live in a land that can be called "America the beautiful."

John Kerry needs to hear from us -- that we want him to offer a bold vision for our country's future and play to our hopes rather than our fears.

Poll watch

Poll	KERRY	Bush	Date
Time/CNN	51%	46%	5/13/04
CNN/UST/Gallup	50%	46%	5/9/04
ARG	46%	44%	5/6/04
AP/Ipsos	41%	44%	5/5/05
Fox/OD	43%	46%	5/5/04
Gallup	49%	47%	5/4/04
Quinnipiac	43%	44%	5/3/04
NBC/WSJ*	42%	46%	5/3/04

*Includes Nader (3-way horse race)

Kerry Fraudulently Using Picture of Swift Boat Vets
who Condemn him in National Advertising

In a stunning press release, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth reveal John Kerry is using a group photo of his unit from Vietnam in his national advertising – but only 2 of the 19 pictured support him. The remaining 17? Two are deceased, four are “not involved”, and eleven DO NOT SUPPORT HIM. In fact, those eleven have signed a formal letter declaring John Kerry unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief. And they want him to stop his fraudulent use of their images in his national advertising.

Here is the press release, courtesy of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website: 

 (May 17-Alexandria, VA)  Today, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of more than 220 Swift Boat veterans from the unit in which John Kerry served, call on Kerry to stop the unauthorized use of their images in national campaign advertising.

For example, the photo in Kerry’s national campaign ads contains 20 officers, including Kerry, 11 of whom signed a letter condemning Kerry yet their image is being widely used in his own campaign. It was taken on the island of An Thoi on January 22, 1969. These officers together with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth call upon him to cease the unauthorized use of their photo by his campaign. They are jointly submitting the attached letter to John Kerry. (Photo, letter to Kerry, link to authorized use of the photo and earlier letter to Kerry below.)

Of the remaining eight officers in the photo: two are deceased and four do not wish to be involved in any manner; only two of the 20 are believed to support Kerry.

William Shumadine, shown in the photo and a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, stated, “His use of a photograph with his 19 comrades with knowledge that 11 of them condemn him and six who cannot or do not want to be involved is a complete misrepresentation to the public and a total fraud.”

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s sole purpose is to bring the truth about John Kerry’s service to the American public and is not affiliated with any political organization. It includes more than 220 Swift vets, virtually the entire chain of command Kerry reported to and a large majority of peers who served with him during his short and controversial stay in Vietnam. The group’s purpose has struck a cord with the American public with more than two million hits on its website Swiftvets.com

“John Kerry will find that the truth is hard to contain. It’s been evident in the overwhelming support we have received over the last two weeks. We’re grateful to the veterans and Americans who are rallying behind us,” said Admiral Roy Hoffman, Chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is a Special Purpose Political Action Committee. It is a tax exempt non-partisan public advocacy “527”organization consisting of, and limited to, former military officers and enlisted men who served in Vietnam on U.S. Navy Swift Boats or in affiliated commands. Chairman, Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (retired). Treasurer, Weymouth “Wey” Symmes, PO Box 26184, Alexandria, VA 22313 www.swiftvets.com

Link to Unauthorized Use of Photo: http://www.johnkerry.com/videos/

 

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