The New York Times – Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad

A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush’s chief political aide, Karl Rove.

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family – one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove’s, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush’s father’s presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush’s father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group’s television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush’s father faced off in the 1988 presidential election. …

Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry “unfit” had lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year. …

Patrick Runyon, who served on a mission with Mr. Kerry, said he initially thought the caller was from a pro-Kerry group, and happily gave a statement about the night Mr. Kerry won his first Purple Heart. The investigator said he would send it to him by e-mail for his signature. Mr. Runyon said the edited version was stripped of all references to enemy combat, making it look like just another night in the Mekong Delta.

“It made it sound like I didn’t believe we got any returned fire,” he said. “He made it sound like it was a normal operation. It was the scariest night of my life.” …

“I went to university and was called a baby killer and a murderer because of guys like Kerry and what he was saying,” said Van Odell, who appears in the first advertisement, accusing Mr. Kerry of lying to get his Bronze Star. “Not once did I participate in the atrocities he said were happening.”

As Mr. Lonsdale explained it: “We won the battle. Kerry went home and lost the war for us.

It’s payback time for daring to question what Duhbya was doing in the National Guard. Now, the same long knives that gutted McCain in 2000 are drawn on Kerry. mjh

Update: Two New Witnesses Contradict Kerry’s Swift Boat Critics – FactCheck.org

We have updated our Aug. 6 article on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad to include two new accounts that surfaced Aug. 22. One supported Kerry’s account of the actions for which he was awarded the Silver Star, and the other supported Kerry’s account of receiving enemy fire during the rescue for which Kerry was awarded the Bronze Star.

Conservatives push for prime-time spots at convention By Anne-Marie O’Connor, Los Angeles Times

Many socially conservative leaders feel slighted, saying their representatives have been edged out of prime-time convention speaking slots by more moderate Republicans ….

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly said she thought her party was engaged in a misguided attempt to spotlight moderate “political celebrities” who play well to a liberal media.

Janice Crouse, a leader of Concerned Women for America, said President Bush should worry more about evangelical Christian voters, or he will jeopardize their support in tight races in the crucial swing states.

“The gays and pro-abortion people are saying you’ve got to add a plank,” Crouse said. “If the president adds that plank, they will nail him to it.”

Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson is talking about not going to New York at all.

“Apparently political stars get rewarded with a prime-time convention spot if they disagree with President Bush’s position” on a constitutional gay marriage ban, “as well as … President Bush’s position on the right to life,” conservative columnist Paul Weyrich said. “They can also disagree with the president’s position on capital punishment, guns and a host of other issues.”

“As an Orthodox Christian, I am outraged that men like this would be highlighted,” Weyrich said. “If the president is embarrassed to be seen with conservatives at the convention, maybe conservatives will be embarrassed to be seen with the president on Election Day.”

Proof that the Republican Convention is designed to deceive the casual observer, just as it was in 2000, just as most things the Bush adminstration does: they want us to watch what they say, not what they do. mjh

Man fired after heckling Bush

A man who heckled President George W. Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company for offending a client who provided tickets to the event. …

Hiller said. “It’s just bizarre that you disagree with them and it all turns evil,” he said.

There are so many of these stories: protesters are kept at great distance; loyalty oaths are required for public venues; people are ejected or arrested for t-shirts. This is how fascists campaign. mjh

Mediocre Law Student: So much for free speech…

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Top GOP Lawmaker: War ‘A Mistake’ August 18, 2004

A top Republican congressman has broken from his party in the final days of his career in the House of Representatives, saying he believes the U.S. military assault on Iraq was unjustified and the situation there has deteriorated into “a dangerous, costly mess.”

“I’ve reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action,” Rep. Doug Bereuter wrote in a letter to his constituents.

“Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action,” he said. …

In 2002, Bereuter had spoken out in support of a House resolution authorizing the president, also a Republican, to go to war. …

In addition to “a massive failure or misinterpretation of intelligence,” Bereuter said the Bush administration made several other errors in going to war despite warnings about the consequences.

“From the beginning of the conflict, it was doubtful that we for long would be seen as liberators, but instead increasingly as an occupying force,” he said. “Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess, and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world.”

Bereuter said as a result of the war, “our country’s reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened.”

Trying to eliminate Sadam … would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. … There was no viable ‘exit strategy’ we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.

– George H.W. Bush, published memoirs, A World Transformed, 1999. [thanks, cko!]

Quote of the Week

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (A Word Transformed) (unedited quote)