Swift Boat Whores For The Deserter

Who are these "patriots"?

John O'Neill, who 33 years ago led a similarly spurious veterans group formed to slander John Kerry. Remember Chuck Colson, confessed dirty trickster for Nixon and chief of Nixon's notorious "Plumbers", who did jail time for his involvement in Watergate? Colson recalls, "We found a vet named John O'Neill and formed a group called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. We had O'Neill meet the President, and we did everything we could do to boost his group." So here is John O'Neill again, fronting a bogus veterans group, resuming his slander against a genuine war hero.

Larry Thurlow, who manned one of the swift boats engaged in the action that resulted in John Kerry's first purple heart, who now claims, contrary to the accounts offered by each and every man who was on John Kerry's swift boat, that no enemy fire was received on that day. Thurlow conspicuously failed to make this charge when he was awarded a Bronze Star for his participation in the very same action that he now claims didn't happen!

Louis Letson, who makes the following outrageous claim in the Swift Boat Whores' scandalous television ad: "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury." In fact, Letson confirms that he removed shrapnel from John Kerry's arm, but argues that Kerry did not deserve the purple heart because the injury was not a result of enemy fire. Of course, Letson was not on the river that day, and would have no direct knowledge of what occurred.

Isn't it odd that every Vietnam veteran who runs against the Deserter is slandered and accused of lying about his Vietnam service? Isn't it odd that John McCain was accused of being a traitor in Vietnam by groups opposing his challenge to the Deserter in the 2000 republican primaries?

The Swift Boat Whores are a disgrace. They have harbored a grudge against John Kerry for more than 30 years because they resent Kerry's courageous and principled participation in antiwar protests following his return from Vietnam. Rather than forthrightly proclaim their political opposition to Kerry's antiwar stance, they have elected to slander his service in defense of his country. They are cowards and liars.

The Swift Boat Whores cannot change the basic, uncontroverted facts: One candidate for president volunteered for service in Vietnam and served with valor. The other candidate for president avoided service in Vietnam, untruthfully claimed to have volunteered for service in Vietnam, and ultimately reneged on his commitment to the national guard.