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You are here: Home / Politics / Second Thoughts

Second Thoughts

by John Cole|  August 6, 200410:23 am| 8 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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It seems that one of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth has now changed his mind:

But yesterday, a key figure in the anti-Kerry campaign, Kerry’s former commanding officer, backed off one of the key contentions. Lieutenant Commander George Elliott said in an interview that he had made a ”terrible mistake” in signing an affidavit that suggests Kerry did not deserve the Silver Star — one of the main allegations in the book. The affidavit was given to The Boston Globe by the anti-Kerry group to justify assertions in their ad and book.

Elliott is quoted as saying that Kerry ”lied about what occurred in Vietnam . . . for example, in connection with his Silver Star, I was never informed that he had simply shot a wounded, fleeing Viet Cong in the back.”

The statement refers to an episode in which Kerry killed a Viet Cong soldier who had been carrying a rocket launcher, part of a chain of events that formed the basis of his Silver Star. Over time, some Kerry critics have questioned whether the soldier posed a danger to Kerry’s crew. Crew members have said Kerry’s actions saved their lives.

Yesterday, reached at his home, Elliott said he regretted signing the affidavit and said he still thinks Kerry deserved the Silver Star.

”I still don’t think he shot the guy in the back,” Elliott said. ”It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I’m the one in trouble here.”

Elliott said he was no under personal or political pressure to sign the statement, but he did feel ”time pressure” from those involved in the book. ”That’s no excuse,” Elliott said. ”I knew it was wrong . . . In a hurry I signed it and faxed it back. That was a mistake.”

The affidavit also contradicted earlier statements by Elliott, who came to Boston during Kerry’s 1996 Senate campaign to defend Kerry on similar charges, saying that Kerry acted properly and deserved the Silver Star.

Which just goes to show that the Kerry response of lawyering up was even dumber than I asserted yesterday. Let the ads air, let these people face scrutiny. If what they are telling is the truth, we will find out. If they are lying- well, see above.

*** Update ***

He retracts his retraction:

The following statement from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth concerns an article appearing in morning edition of the BOSTON GLOBE, written by GLOBE reporter and author of the official Kerry-Edwards campaign book, Mike Kranish.

“Captain George Elliott describes an article appearing in today

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8Comments

  1. 1.

    Adrian Spidle

    August 6, 2004 at 10:42 am

    John McCain is a hero and the Swiftboat vets are greater heros

    As a Blue Water sailor of the US Navy of the Vietnam era I’d like to say that among my shipmates it was the Brown Water sailors of the Swiftboats that we admired the most for their courage and valour. If I remember properly – warning, I do suffer, sometimes, from CRS Syndrome – The swifties suffered a higher rate of death and injury than any other units in Vietnam speeding up and down those treacherous rivers on unarmoured boats without any of the body armour that protects todays American heros.

    I AM PERSONALLY OUTRAGED THAT SENATOR MCCAIN WOULD INSULT THESE UNHERALDED AND UNAPPRECIATED AMERICAN HEROS.

    McCain has his right to defend his Senate buddy and coconspirator but he has no right to diss and insult my heroic comrades.

    Senator McCain, after earning my love and respect;

    http://pep.typepad.com/public_enquiry_project/2004/08/john_mccain_is_.html

  2. 2.

    JKC

    August 6, 2004 at 11:19 am

    I see your commenters have stopped their meds again, John… ;)

  3. 3.

    capt joe

    August 6, 2004 at 1:56 pm

    Even off their meds, they still sound more rational thatn any on Oliver Willis or Duncan Black’s site

  4. 4.

    Tongue Boy

    August 6, 2004 at 3:10 pm

    Consider the source of this report. Kranish is the Washington political reporter for the Boston Globe AND wrote the official campaign biography for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Although the campaign has recently decided not to release the biography, the incestuous relationship between Kranish and the Kerry campaign puts a whole new light on this article.

  5. 5.

    Mark Garrity

    August 7, 2004 at 8:17 am

    From Hugh Hewitt:no friend of Kerry:

    http://www.hughhewitt.com/

    Posted at 3:25 PM, Pacific

    If I was Boston Globe reporter Michael Kranish, I’d sue Drudge for libel. Drudge slammed Kranish today, stating flatly that “BOSTON GLOBE ‘REPORTER’ COMMISSIONED TO WRITE CAMPAIGN BOOK FORWARD — WHILE COVERING KERRY.” Boston Globe editor Martin Baron put out a statement today stating that “[i]t is completely untrue that Boston Globe reporter Michael Kranish ever contracted to write for a Kerry campaign publication. Earlier this summer, Mr. Kranish worked with Public Affairs, the publisher of the Boston Globe biography of Kerry…to write a short introduction to a second project: an independent, unauthorized review of publicly available documents dealing with the platform and policy statements of Kerry and Edwards. When Public Affairs subsequently struck anagreement with the Kerry campaign to do an official book, Kranish’s relationship with the project immediately ended.” I believe Baron though I have been highly critical of him over the years, and appreciate how harmful the Drudge accusation is to the reputation of a reporter. I was ready to spend part of a show blasting the Globe and Kranish when we checked with Kranish and quickly got the real story. If I could do it, why didn’t Drudge?

    Kranish is undoubtedly a public figure, so the libel standard would be knowing or reckless disregard for the truth, but the damage done to his repuation via this Drudge hit is huge –notice that Drudge used quotation marks around the word “reporter”– and probably impossible to ever fully repair. Millions of people will think he was in the tank for Kerry in his writing of the swift boat stories and will never get the correction, and the test for libel is damage done to reputation in the community. Drudge would be well-advised to apologize immediately and profusely for his indefensible error.

  6. 6.

    Yup

    August 7, 2004 at 8:41 am

    hmmm…does this sound coincidental?

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/219589p-188612c.html

    BTW; if anyone knows where I can find the right wing conspiracy HQ, please let me know…I really need to let them know how much stronger the left wing conspiracy is becoming!!

  7. 7.

    elmerfudd

    August 26, 2004 at 11:39 pm

    let them know

    Joe Ponder, (352) 473-2451, 6986, Deer Springs Rd, Keystone Heights, FL 32656

    George M Elliott, (302) 645-5071, 124 Gills Neck Rd, Lewes, DE 19958

    Adrian Lonsdale, (508) 758-4046, , Mattapoisett, MA 02739

    Van Odell, (281) 395-1703, 1622, Crescent Point Dr, Katy, TX 77494

    Grant W Hibbard, (850) 932-7001, 3830 Bangkok Cv, Gulf Breeze, FL 32563

    Letson Louis E Dr Jr, (256) 259-1555, 323 Parks Ave Scottsboro, AL 35768
    (256) 259-5580

    Roy A Hoffman, (804) 935-0943, 3221 Coppermill Trce, Richmond, VA 23294

    John O’Neil (713) 654-7600, 1000 Louisiana St, Houston, TX 77002

    John Bare, 422 Mill Creek Road, Bird in Hand, PA 17505

    Kenneth Buchholz, (972) 355-7623, 1516 Wildflower Lane, Flower Mound, TX 75028

    Jack Chenoweth, (573) 964-6872, 108 Hidden Acres, Lake Ozark, MO 65049

    Tom Costarino, (703) 748-1602, 2039 Lord Fairfax Rd, Vienna, VA 22182

    Morton Golde, (904) 221-7093, 689 Sandringham Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32225

    Charles R. Grutzius, (703) 620-0929, 3221 Wildmere Pl, Herndon, VA 20171

    Mike Kovanen, (509) 628-9560, 279 Gage Blvd, Richland, WA 99352

    Dennis Spranger, (262) 637-6736, 3000 Olive St, Racine, WI 53405

Comments are closed.

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  1. Cold Fury says:
    August 6, 2004 at 3:39 pm

    Specious (spe

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