did bush control the swiftboaters or were they supporters...

[k_jerome]

beyond his influence that had a dispute with John Kerry?

[NMDemDist2]

1. you're kidding right? n/t

[Monkeyman]

2. Na Rove had them in his pocket the whole time LOL

You got to be kidding dam right he did

[Warpy]

3. Somebody with very deep pockets funded them

and I'm not talking about Bob Perry, the Houston construction magnate who dumped around $4 million into their coffers. They needed tens of millions to produce their increasingly slick ads toward the end and to blitz them all over every station all over the country.

THIS is why Kerry needed to sue, to find out just who was funding this bunch. Airing the fact that everything they said was a LIE that could be contradicted by a very extensive paper trail would have been highly valuable. He may or may not have been able to prove pure malice as a motivation (HA, anybody who followed John O'Neil's career in the 70s knew it was) and win the suit, but sometimes winning isn't the only thing at stake.

My guess is that the funders may have been scumbuckets assembled by Abramoff or Scaife or Koch or the Waltons or any of any number of rich scumbags who were willing to coordinate pouring many millions into defeating Kerry.

However, since Mary Beth Cahill told him to ignore them and they'd just go away, we'll never know.

[karynnj]

6. A law suit filed in August 2004

would not even go to court before November 2004. It would tie up at least some of Kerry's time - which would be a disaster. Also, think of the steady stream of bad press. Great idea.

Before the election, they did show that Bob Perry was a major funder of SBVT and a long time Bush supporter. They also showed that Ginsberg (often on MSNBC) was both a Bush lawyer and the SBVT. He had to quit his Bush job. After the election, the Patriot Group was set up (mostly by Kerry allies) to do just that kind of paper trail analysis - and helped mahy people in 2006 - includding Webb, Murtha and some of the vets running.

Who funded the SBVT is available - it's public record. One thing the Patriot Group did find was some of the military people in SBVT actually were paid for their "services". Kerry friends were also working to get as much photographic or written documentation that refutes the lies as possible. One Kerry friend insisted that they would do this even if Kerry were leaving public office altogether. It was important to them that Kerry's record be seen for what it always was - exemplary.

[sandnsea]

4. David Geffen is not John O'Neill

don't even try.

[Bitwit1234]

5. The RNC funded them and they got their talking points from rove

If bush had one honorable bone in his body he would have come out publicly and said they were 100% wrong but he wouldn't and we all know why.

I think the democrats should fun a bunch of swiftboaters and let the republicans know how it feels. But with the republican media out there they would not be able to get their message across. I am still waiting for Kunich to introduce the Fairness Doctrine. Guess he forgot.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Of course not. The Frat Boy leaves that sort of think to Karl Rove.