Reply #66: No losses if done right

[Revolutionary Mama]

"keeping this story in the news, even if to refute the SBVs, is a lose lose proposition."

I disagree.

First of all, negative campaigns like the one the Republican Swift Boat Liars for Bush are running gets voters' attention. That kind of campaign also influences less informed voters that aren't aware of the evidence and eye-witness testimonies defending Sen. Kerry. I'm glad to see some mainstream media sources reporting the facts that counter the lies.

My father is a Vietnam war veteran who served on numerous Swift boats, primarily PCF 12 (a main boat) and with Coastal Division 11 - Numbah One Watchdog and retired from the USN in 1976 as CPO/BM. I take the charges these men are making quite seriously. The lying scum in that partisan group may as well have attacked my father's record and claimed that my dad didn't deserve everything he was awarded during his service in the Navy and at war.

Those liars need to be kept on the defensive, where they belong. Every lie they tell needs to be investigated, disected and exposed until these men are too ashamed to run another smear ad against Kerry's well-documented and defended record. They need to be made an example of what not to do to protect their own candidate against a better-qualified political rival.

When I first heard of this group, I was under the impression that these men served on Kerry's Swift boat. Because people have challeged them with evidence and eye-witness testimony, I've discovered that only ONE man on his boat is part of this group and the other men that were on Kerry's Swift boat are defending him.

The result of what I'm learning about this group, as well as, Kerry's Naval record for the periods they question has actually increased my respect for John F. Kerry. That's saying a lot!

After the Dem. Convention, I posted a message on my blog to express my frustration with Democrats for Kerry's nomination and to explain that I was only voting for Kerry reluctantly to get the Bush cartel the hell out of our government. Thanks to those lying veterans and especially thanks to the number of muck-rakers and hell-raisers that are challenging this group, I won't feel as badly about casting my vote for John Kerry. Thanks to the lying Veterans for Bush, I took a closer look at all that "war hero" stuff. I've learned a few more things about John Kerry that I didn't know:

He really is courageous. He also cared enough to return to the mined area to rescue James Russmann after he was informed that Russmann fell overboard and did so while under fire, as documented by more than one person (not just Kerry, as Larry Thurman wants us to believe), and as testified by men, including Republicans, that served with Kerry and witnessed this.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that they're probably doing John Kerry a favor by attacking him with out-right **lies**, provided they're kept on the defensive with facts and tough questions they'd rather not be expected to answer. They deserve to feel the burning light of truth shining in their lying faces and should not be spared a moment of peace from that kind of confrontation. They're being backed into a corner as their lies unravel. We must not cut them any slack. They get what they deserve. They instigated this. They're falling in the trap they made for Kerry. They get what they deserve. Let's give it to them!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0820041kerry1.html

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/06/veteran_retracts_criticism_of_kerry/

http://www.mediamatters.org