McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/9327026.htm

Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service "dishonest and dishonorable" and urged the White House on Thursday to condemn it as well.

"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.

<snip>

"I wish they hadn't done it," McCain said of his former advisers. "I don't know if they knew all the facts."

Asked if the White House knew about the ad or helped find financing for it, McCain said, "I hope not, but I don't know. But I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad."

[mac56]

1. Just when I had written McCain off as a Bush shill -

he comes back with something like this.

Good for him.

[RamboLiberal]

3. I know a lot of us on DU emailed him last night

I'm betting he got a lot of messages. As much as I deplore his shilling for Bush I still think that when it comes to issues like this McCain is an honorable man.

[mac56]

6. Thanks for doing that.

I bet it made a difference.

[Carni]

19. Hey what's his email address?

I would like to send him an email also.

I am glad to see that he pulled his head back out of his butt to defend Kerry against this stupidity...I had pretty much written him off as a bushbot last month!

[DeepModem Mom]

20. Link to blm's DU post calling for McCain to speak out --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2157088#top

[democrat_patriot]

28. I read that post last night...

and this morning he condems the ad!

Way to go DU!!

[papau]

74. McCain Decries Ad, Vouches for Kerry (LA Times version of story)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mc...

McCain Decries Ad, Vouches for Kerry

By Matea Gold, Times Staff Writer


NEW YORK — While remaining committed to President Bush's reelection, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday rose to the defense of Sen. John F. Kerry, castigating the sponsors of a new television commercial that questions the military service of the Democratic presidential nominee.

McCain said the 60-second advertisement, which began running Thursday in three battleground states, misrepresents the record of Kerry, a decorated Naval officer who commanded a Swift boat on the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War.

<snip>The commercial features a several veterans who served in close proximity to Kerry in Vietnam and who accuse him of lying about his wartime injuries. None of them were on Kerry's Swift boat, and several of Kerry's crewmates have condemned the charges as politically motivated fabrications.

McCain, who spent five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, joined the criticism in comments to Associated Press. "I deplore this kind of politics," McCain said. "I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable…. None of these individuals served on the boat commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire."<snip>

[Rockholm]

2. Also being reported in Boston news!!!

Bush is gonna hate this.


http://www.boston.com/dailynews/218/politics/McCain_condemns_anti_Kerry_ads:.shtml

[Barkley]

72. ''I can't believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt.'' - Mc Cain

I can believe it.

[noahmijo]

4. I still wonder how things would've been so much better had he won

I mean if he had beaten Gore, I know maybe he wouldn't have been as good as Gore but he certainly wouldn't have been as bad as Bush not even close.

It's actually with almost a heavy heart that I vote against him in the senate race, however as a man overall I like McCain, and this is why I want him outta politics and into retirement already so that he can be free to speak out against what his party has become, and not have to shill for them anymore.

[JI7]

8. things would have been much better

he might have been something like a teddy roosevelt who he says is his hero . and he certainly would have put in the effort to work with those who don't always agree with him and listened to different sides.

[Insomnicole]

32. I agree...

I wouldn't have voted for him, but I get the sense that I could have lived with a President McCain. It's hard to imagine him polarizing the country the way Shrubya has.

[wildeyed]

65. Do you think he could

have won if he ran as an independent?

I would not have voted for him, I disagree with him on so many things, but I might have been able to be proud of him as president. Getting the special interest money out of politics was a powerful message and one I imagine most Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, support.

I give my pug friends endless hard times about losing McCain as the nominee. You guys could have had McCain, but noooooo, you had to go for W. WHAT were you people thinking?

[Richardo]

5. Wasn't there an "I appoved this message" disclaimer?

OR is that only for stuff from the campaign org itself?

[RamboLiberal]

9. Only for the campaign org

but you know there is a stealth "I approve" from Karl Rove! Damn I hope the Plame investigation takes that bastard down. I want to see that frog-march.

[calimary]

33. Sigh! Me, too! Praying for it, every day!

No one on this planet deserves it more. No one.

[mac56]

10. I think it's only for official campaign ads.

"Interest groups" can put out all kinds of crap. Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is on the Internet only. I think different rules apply.

[saigon68]

30. THE SWIFT BOAT VETERANS are missing their Hoods and Sheets

The laundry where they got them cleaned---- reported several had YELLOW STAINS ON THEM THAT WOULDN'T COME OUT.

[0rganism]

58. The TV networks are complicit in airing the ad, as well

Remember how they'd refuse air time to MoveOn ads, on the basis that they were unsuitable for their audience? Apparently, this kind of bullshit is among what they find suitable.

[wicket]

7. Thank GOD

I'm glad McCain is standing up to this BS.

[gratuitous]

11. The usual double standard

John Kerry is called to account for and explain everything everyone says on his behalf or against Stupidhead. But the Bush campaign, which is far more involved in coordinating the message of its associates and affiliates, is never asked why it doesn't shut down such a blatantly wrong organization like the self-styled swift boat veterans.

I wonder why?

[wabeewoman]

36. Excellent point!

We should all email every time a news organization prints something about Whoopie or anyone else but doesn't on bush. Call them on their favoritism.

[The Spirit of JFK]

12. YES!!!

Good job DU'ers...hopeully we DIDN'T have any influence on his decision, though.

[RamboLiberal]

14. I think McCain would've done on his own

but the emails couldn't hurt!

[The Spirit of JFK]

15. I think so, too

But you just can't take any chances sometimes.

[wtmusic]

13. YESSSS!!!!!!!!!!

McCain steps up to the plate. I would almost vote for the guy.

[dolstein]

16. If McCain feels that way, there are two things he can do

First, he can refuse to make any more campaign appearances on behalf of BC04 as long as these ads are running. Everybody knows that Karl Rove and the RNC are behind this. It's not enough to simply ask Bush to condemn these ads.

Second, he can cut his own ad stating that, while Republicans of good faith can still disagree with Kerry on issues, there should be no dispute about Kerry's service to the country in Vietnam.

[Dhalgren]

21. I think that this would be a good place for all Republicans

who are truly patriotic to make their stand. They should all (there must be a few of them) publically state that they will not actively campaign for Bush until those "dishonest and dishonorable" ads are pulled. This could be a stand of principle for these few Republicans who actually care for their country.

[LauraK]

17. Have you been on a binge John?

Welcome back.

[kskiska]

18. Let him put his money where his mouth is

and refuse to campaign for * until they repudiate the ad.

[MallRat]

22. Asked if the WH... "helped find financing" for the ad?

IF BC04 had any role in assisting the Swift Boat Vets in acquiring funding for their ad campaign, it would be a gross violation of campaign finance laws.

Candidates and their campaigns are prohibited from coordinating with 527s which support their causes. The FEC should bring down the hammer HARD if this ends up being true.

If the FEC had any balls, something like this should cost Bush a few million from that $75M he's due to get in September.

I'm not holding my breath.

-MR

[cthrumatrix]

24. WH says deceiving is "fair game".... criminal

[Dhalgren]

23. I would just love to see this Rovian move

backfire on these bastards! If this McCain stand can get some news coverage, I can see this causing huge damage to Caligula's campaign.

[searchingforlight]

25. Does anyone have a link for this ad? n/t

[snooper2]

48. Here it is...need to start searching these peoples names..

http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_video_wmv.html

[snooper2]

49. Here's the names of the "vets" in the ad..

George Elliott
Al –French
Lewis Letson
Van Odell
Jack Chenoweth
Roy Hoffmann
Adrian Loonsdale
Larry Thurlow
Bob Elder
Grant Hibbard
Shelton White
Joe Ponder
Bob Hildreth

[snooper2]

52. Here's qoutes from the first guy, George Elliot (POSITIVE OF KERRY)

It was not at all unusual that a Swift boat crew member might be wounded more than once in a relatively short period of time, or that injuries meriting the award of a Purple Heart might not be serious enough to require time off from duty. According to a Boston Globe overview of John Kerry's Vietnam experience:

Under Zumwalt's command, swift boats would aggressively engage the enemy. Zumwalt, who died in 2000, calculated in his autobiography that these men under his command had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded during a typical year.

"There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts — from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said George Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception."

When Kerry returned to his base, his commanding officer, George Elliott, raised an issue with Kerry: the fine line between whether the action merited a medal or a court-martial.

"When came back from the well-publicized action where he beached his boat in middle of ambush and chased a VC around a hootch and ended his life, when came back and I heard his debrief, I said, 'John, I don't know whether you should be court-martialed or given a medal, court-martialed for leaving your ship, your post,'" Elliott recalled in an interview.

"But I ended up writing it up for a Silver Star, which is well deserved, and I have no regrets or second thoughts at all about that," Elliott said. A Silver Star, which the Navy said is its fifth-highest medal, commends distinctive gallantry in action.

Asked why he had raised the issue of a court-martial, Elliott said he did so "half tongue-in-cheek, because there was never any question I wanted him to realize I didn't want him to leave his boat unattended. That was in context of big-ship Navy — my background. A C.O. never leaves his ship in battle or anything else. I realize this, first of all, it was pretty courageous to turn into an ambush even though you usually find no more than two or three people there. On the other hand, on an operation some time later, down on the very tip of the peninsula, we had lost one boat and several men in a big operation, and they were hit by a lot more than two or three people."

Elliott stressed that he never questioned Kerry's decision to kill the Viet Cong, and he appeared in Boston at Kerry's side during the 1996 Senate race to back up that aspect of Kerry's action.

http://www.mackreport.com/MACKREPORT%20Kerry%20in%20Vietnam.htm

[Dhalgren]

56. So why has the turncoat son of a bitch

changed his story, now? The yellow MF!

[PATRICK]

26. On one level

I am enjoying this because McCain is trying so hard to lick the hand that slapped him while the idiots in the WH who need him to counterbalance Kerry are disaffecting him with the very strategy they think they need against Kerry.

This is something way beyond hypocrisy, cognitive dissonance, and theater of the absurd.

"If the Bush campaign condemns itself, I will support all the way to hell...and whatever." Free yourself John, there are so many more intelligent responses to the slurs against veterans and soldiers and heroes.

[saigon68]

27. Ask Max Cleland HE CAN TELL YOU WHAT THOSE FUCKERS did to him

Little Ralph Reed and his butt buddy SAXBY CHAMBLISS--

Rove knows what works on subhuman minds--- Prepare to see more of this.

[calimary]

35. "Rove knows what works on subhuman minds" - takes one to know one.

BASTARD.

[0007]

50. The ugly fucking monkey man and the two legged pig Rove

have to pull out all stops. Expect worse.

[wryter2000]

29. I'm glad and grateful, but...

If challenged, he'll revert back to "I support the President 100%" and be back on the campaign trail with him. That's what he's done before about * attacks on Kerry.

[Mizmoon]

31. Reminder - McCain is a thief of the worst kind

His S&L crapola cost my grandparents $100,000 of their retirement money. They had the money in a Texas S&L and lost every penny of it. I bet Neil Bush spent it on one weekend's worth of dope, too.

[delete_bush]

54. You're wrong about Neil....

he only spent $75,000 on drugs. The other $25,000 went for sex with underage girls.

[Snellius]

34. You can't you sleep with the fishes, John, and not expect to stink

Just what is it that McCain supports about George Bush? McCain is either a liar or a hypocrite.

[PhuLoi]

39. He is both. He offers only infrequent glimpses of honor.

[Got WMD]

41. This is going to backfire big time on Rovie!!!

As my "independent" brother says, "I really like and trust what John McCain has to say". How could Rove not have seen that McCain would come out and condemn this BS? Big time screw up!!

[iamjoy]

66. McCain Is Neither

Niave maybe, if he thinks the White House has nothing to do with it.
And a bit of a whore to support Dubya after what that man did to him (in the 2000 primary) and knowing that he (McCain) personally likes Kerry and Edwards more than he likes Bush and Cheney.

But, I think having suffered so greatly in Nam, the only way McCain could heal is to not attack the actions Americans took during that era.

[underpants]

37. Good for you John

I wonder how many Repubs (surely this is on Fox) will hear this and ask "What is he talking about happening to him?"

[demgrrrll]

38. Robert Perry, a good friend of Karl Rove's donated 100,000 to this

slime ball effort. They ARE connected to the White House. McCain has to know. If I can find this out any respectable journalist should be able to get the same information in a heartbeat. Disgusting.

[reprehensor]

40. bump

[yardwork]

42. Good for McCain. I'm going to write him a letter!

This is an honorable man and I want to support him. I hope John McCain will take a closer look at the Democratic Party. He sounds like our kind of people.

[progressivebydesign]

43. THANK YOU JOHN McCAIN!!!

While I'd never confuse him for a Democrat, the reason he is so popular with Democrats is that he is willing to call bullshit when necessary. Regardless of party, McCain is a straight shooter. I"m SO grateful he appears to realize that Kerry is falling victim to what happened to him.

Okay, is it too much to ask that McCain looker deeper into his heart and ask himself, 'why am I travelling around the country to support the man who did those very things to me?". That's a question that begs to be answered, especially since McCain acknowledged the ads.

[ronnykmarshall]

46. If they keep pulling this crap

W's gonna find himself without McCain's support.

[Kolesar]

44. He did it because blm asked him to ... see link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2157088

[0rganism]

59. Seriously, he probably doesn't even know blm or DU exist

Sen. McCain's done this kind of thing in defense of veterans before, and Sen. Kerry's done the same for McCain. This was a predictable response.

Now the ball's in bush's court. My guess is he'll fumble badly, being the sad sack of AWOL shit that he is.

[spotbird]

45. McCain plays both sides, he doesn't give a damn about this.

This condemnation comes at the same time he is campaigning for * in Florida.

To find out where someone stands watch what they do, not what they say.

[Jack The Tab]

57. McCain will campaign with these immoral cretins...

that slandered and vilified his once good name. They savagely slandered this man's FAMILY for goodness sake and he swallows his pride and goes out and stumps for a godless immoral greedy administration that would like nothing better than to be rid of him, really.

He's a patsy and he's being used and to all outward appearances doesn't really mind.

Forget McCain and his feeble condemnation. Actions speak much louder than words.

[SammyBlue]

47. Good Job, John McCain

You still don't have my vote. Unless you develop the nuts necessary to stand up to our Vacationer-In-Chief and expose him for what he is, you're just another GOP mouthpiece with a view rouge ideas.

Sorry, John. . .lips service doesn't got far for me, considering all the pork you give to Arizona goes to Phoenix because they vote for you in droves, while my city (Tucson) get jack!

Shove it up your ass, John. You still don't have my vote.

[Zorra]

51. As much as I don't like how McCain votes most of the time,

I have to give him credit for being one of the only republicans that actually speaks the truth at times.

[snooper2]

53. Here's an Hour Long Video of the Assholes Doing this...

http://members.aol.com/viperash50/resume/nam.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

55. McCain urged the White House to condemn it as well.

Push this meme.

[OKNancy]

60. Here is a link

Where you don't have to register
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040805_1092.html

[Disturbed]

62. "Actions speak louder than words."

McCain should stop stumping for the Neo Fascists if he wants real respect.

Why doesn't that "honorable" Colon speak out against this crap and resign?

[Reciprocity]

64. Thanks for the link.

How typical these people are pure evil.


McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad

>Snip>
McCain said that's all in the past to him, but he's speaking out against the anti-Kerry ad because "it reopens all the old wounds of the Vietnam War, which I spent the last 35 years trying to heal."

"I deplore this kind of politics," McCain said. "I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is, none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. I think George Bush served honorably in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War."

>Snip>
Hoffmann said none of the 13 veterans in the commercial served on Kerry's boat but rather were in other swiftboats within 50 yards of Kerry's. The group claims that there was no gunfire on the day Kerry pulled Rassmann from a muddy river in the Mekong Delta and that Kerry's arm was not wounded, as he has claimed.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040805_1092.html

[Zorra]

61. Kick for truth

[Reciprocity]

63. Isn't McCain supposed to be a prime time speaker at the RNC?

Damn I may have to tune in for that one.

[w4rma]

67. This article is written in a confusing way. (nt)

[steely]

68. Thanks John.

I came out against him last nite here on DU. But now I think the guy let himself be used. He's gotta be pissed at Karl and company after this burn.

[SayitAintSo]

69. I just sent an EMAIL to McCain

We need deluge all potential sources with letters, calls - write letters to the editor in our local papers, magazines, call in to local radio stations. Write our local senators to protest and condemm the negative politics of personal destruction. We need to rival the "noise machine". This really pisses me off. I hope it backfires bigtime :mad:

[ItsMyParty]

70. Good Cop---Bad Cop

The message got out. The railing about it makes more people watch it. McCain shields Bush from taking the heat over playing "dirty politics". I have no respect for this guy and I don't trust him.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

71. Love it.

Karl Rove (Fat bastard's twin - seperated at birth) tried to fling some shit but it looks like the neo cons got a big old turd shoved down their throats in the process.

[SKKY]

73. You see, I just don't get McCain...

...Seeing what's going on, and knowing they did the same thing to him, someone please explain to me how he can continue to support Bush (Anyone who says Bush didn't have advanced notice of this add is fooling themselves)? I don't freakin' get it. I want to like McCain, I really do. But I just don't get him.

[VolcanoJen]

75. Kick

:dem: