FactCheck.org Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry’s War Record

Ad features vets who claim Kerry “lied” to get Vietnam medals. But one accuser quickly recants, and other witnesses disagree.

Summary

A group funded by the biggest Republican campaign donor in Texas began running an attack ad Aug. 5 in which former Swift Boat veterans claim Kerry lied to get one of his two decorations for bravery and two of his three purple hearts. However, one of the veterans who appears in the ad has already recanted his principal accusation against Kerry, in an interview with the Boston Globe .

Some other veterans who accuse Kerry are contradicted by Kerry’s former crewmen. One of the accusers says he was on another boat “a few yards” away during the incident which won Kerry the Bronze Star, but the former Army lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the water that day backs Kerry’s account. [mjh: follow the link further analysis]

Scotsman.com News – International – Kerry attacked on Vietnam record

The Republican senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, has stepped into the war of words, calling the advert “dishonest and dishonourable” and urging the White House to condemn it as well. The White House has declined.

“It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me,” Mr McCain said, comparing the anti-Kerry advert to tactics in his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.

The Right Wing Attack Machine, which so successfully destroyed McCain’s campaign in 2000, gears up just in time for a new attack book by one of the people involved with this commercial. These punks are scared. mjh