Mainstream Press Faces Problem:
How to Smear These Swift-Boat Vets? |
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August 5, 2004 |
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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: If you just tuned in, that's a shame, because you have missed a barn burner, a bamboozler of an initial hour. We're going to continue -- and, by the way, those of you on the phones, we got a couple libs that want to get in on this, and I'm glad you all are there, please be patient. We'll get to you in the next segment. That I promise.
What we are discussing, ladies and gentlemen, is this ad.
(Replaying of swift boat veterans television ad - video)
RUSH: There you have it. It's probably one of the first Republican 527 organizations out there that combats the George Soroses and the MoveOn.orgs, and, I mean, this never-ending list of Democrat 527 organizations. As we discussed, these men are in the process now of being smeared. If you're a Vietnam vet and you come forward to defend Kerry, you're a hero. If you're a Vietnam vet, if you are one of 21 Congressional Medal of Honor winners who have sworn opposition to John Kerry in support for Bush, you are trashed or ignored. If you are a member of Congress and a Vietnam vet that opposes John Kerry you are ignored and sometimes smeared. But if you are a Vietnam vet that supports Kerry -- and, by the way, if you are a swift boat vet, you are accused of being paid to oppose John Kerry -- but if you support Kerry, why, nobody questions you at all. It's sweetness and light.
The New York Times today says, hey, these 527s that are helping pick up the slack during this month when Kerry can't advertise, why, these peachy keen. Why, they're not allowed to coordinate, the New York Times says, but look how similar the messages are. It's a sign of coordination. No concern about the violation or spirit violation of the new campaign finance reform law, but let this ad come out, all of a sudden there's a problem in the system. How can this be? Rich Republicans put this together... |
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And, by the way, this rich Republican is some guy named Perry from Texas, from Houston. He's a developer. He gave a hundred thousand dollars to the effort. Compare that to George Soros' 15 to 20 million. There's not one bit of criticism of George Soros in the mainstream press, but this poor guy from Houston is being tarred and feathered as a rich  Republican operative. A hundred grand versus 15 to 20 million.
And as I said in the last hour, if you libs think that we're just going to sit around and let you build a balsa wood foundation campaign on the likes of Michael Moore and Richard Clarke and the Woodward book and Joe Wilson and MoveOn.org and George Soros, if we're just going to sit around and let you rule the day, you can trash Bush, you can accuse him twice, you can spend three years trying to prove he was AWOL, you can do all that and you can have the press as willing accomplices aid and abet you and one little 60-second ad and you start having conniption fits! It sort of indicates to us exactly just how little confidence you have in your own effort and how frightened of the truth that you might be.
Of course, when your whole campaign is based on lie after lie after lie after lie it's quite understandable to me that the greatest enemy you fear and face is the truth! I am happy to be on the side of truth. |
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John McCain, former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called this ad dishonest and dishonorable, urged the White House on Thursday to condemn this ad as well. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has responded to Senator McCain with this statement, and I quote:
 "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 members, many of whom were wounded or highly decorated in Vietnam. We purchased with our blood and service the right to be heard, to set the record straight about our unit, and to tell the truth about John Kerry's military service record. We respect Senator McCain's right to express his opinion, and we hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry. We knew him well, and Senator McCain did not."
This statement from Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman (Ret.), founder and chairman, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Let me read the statement again, because I want this to have max impact.
"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 members many of whom were wounded or a highly decorated in Vietnam. We purchased with our blood and service the right to be heard, to set the record straight about our unit, and to tell the truth about John Kerry's military service record. We respect Senator McCain's right to express his opinion. We hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry. We knew him well, and Senator McCain did not."
This statement issued by Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman, (Ret.), founder and chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Now, the mainstream press and the libs are going to have a little bit of a problem because when somebody like Pat Buchanan or George Will or me is critical of say a John Kerry, what we get -- And, by the way, let us state again and remind you for the record, all this is relevant because John Kerry has invited it. John Kerry is parading vets behind him at every campaign appearance, at the stage at his convention; John Kerry is basing his qualifications for president on the four months he served in Vietnam. He's telling us because of those four months he can run, get this, "a more sensitive" terror war. He said that today. Wait till you hear that bite. What the hell is a more "sensitive" terror war? |
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But nevertheless. He invited this. He ignores his 19 years in the Senate; he doesn't ask us to look at his record as a senator to find his qualifications. He takes us back to the Vietnam War. I always thought this was a curious strategery, and it may be coming back to bite him now. But if he's going to invite it, and the mainstream press --
You know, in truth, folks, these men are out there. These men are saying what they're saying. These are decorated Viet Nam veterans in the swift boat unit. In the old days, when the media used to do its job, the New York Times would have found these guys on its own. They wouldn't have had to run an ad. And I will guarantee you if any of these guys had served in the National Guard with George W. Bush, the New York Times would have found them.
But now the New York Times and the mainstream press is faced with the challenge of smearing these men, and they can't smear them as chicken hawks. They can't smear them as guys who had the chance to go but didn't. All they can do is try to smear them because they've been funded by some developer in Houston, to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars, while they ignore George Soros funding the whole Democrat 527 apparatus, or a large part of it, at 15 to 20 million dollars.
So I guess only certain vets are allowed and supposed to speak up. Only the vets who line up behind Kerry and McCain are allowed to speak up. Twenty-one Congressional Medal of Honor winners have signed a letter condemning Kerry and supporting Bush. You probably didn't know that. It's not being reported.  Is that dishonorable? Several POWs from the Vietnam War have spoken out against Kerry and for Bush. Now it's these swift boat vets, many of whom know Kerry, know what he did in Vietnam. They are speaking out. This is dishonorable, McCain says? It's honorable when vets support Kerry. Is it dishonorable when Kerry lies about the atrocities he saw other vets commit? Does anybody want to talk about the dishonor of that? I guess we don't.
I guess the swift boat vets and the 21 Congressional Medal of Honor winners and the other POWs from the Vietnam War are motivated by politics when they oppose Kerry. The Vietnam vets that can be found that support Kerry are said to be honorable and not motivated by politics? They can be trusted? They don't need to be smeared?
John Kerry asked the nation to examine his service record. He invited this. His fellow vets have and are now reacting to it, and they are under attack for it. I mentioned before the first hour ended, I made a prediction to you, don't be surprised because McCain's call for this ad to be denounced by the White House, I wouldn't be surprised if the White House denounced it, simply because the new tone that Bush has said he wants to set.
I don't know. It's a wild guess, but here's my thought about it. The thing about this ad, this Kerry swift boat scandal is this: If it's true, it is completely relevant to his fitness to serve. Especially as commander-in-chief. You remember the Democrats' constant refrain: lying about sex was irrelevant. Well, this is not irrelevant. This is so relevant. I'm thinking maybe the White House really ought not interfere with the public's right to know about it, if it's true. This could be bigger than George W. Bush, with do you respect.
This is not just some dirty trick. This will bear directly on Senator Kerry's character and his fitness as commander-in-chief. And there are some who will say it might be irresponsible of the Bush came in deference to some gentler tone to suppress the information. So we'll see. (Program observer interruption) What are you frowning at in there, Mr. Snerdley? Something unseemly if Bush does get in the middle of this? Yeah, I know it's like George H. W. Bush 41, you know, stayed out of this Willie Horton business. They tried to pin that on him. They tried to pin that on Roger Ailes. Roger Ailes had nothing to do with the Willie Horton ad (watch), they still try to tag Ailes with that. Who was the guy that did that? Floyd Brown did that. Remember that?
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