Kerry's Band of Brothers so totally rock! They're going after T Boone Pickens.

Just read the whole post. Beyond awesome.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/06/20/t_boone_show_us_the_money/

Thank you so much for pointing out this op-ed! I wouldn't have seen it, and it's so sweet to see something like that in the Globe. Bless those guys, they've never let JK down! I hope this does make that sorry liar pony up.

But your challenge was your challenge - and now five former members of Kerry's second swift boat crew have sent you a letter taking you up on it. A letter that makes this offer: "We . . . will bring with us a Navy/Pentagon certified copy of Senator Kerry's full military record and his writings and the movie footage you have requested. We will sit with you while you go through them page for page, frame by frame and answer any questions you may have."


Hey, I want to look at those journals, too! :) But, damn, he is upping the ante here, by saying he will provide everything Chicken Pickens asked for. Of course, what about 8 track tapes of the music Lt. Kerry was listening to at the time? :)

This part was poignant, and well, still makes me mad:

You see, T. Boone, they are steamed. As far as they're concerned, in disparaging Kerry's medals and conduct, SBVT cast doubt on their honors and service too. Crew member Fred Short tells me that after SBVT started running its ads, a work colleague asked him if he was worried he would go to jail, apparently thinking he might have helped Kerry concoct a false account of wartime events.

"My grandchildren will grow up and say, 'Was grandpa a liar? What really happened?' " adds Del Sandusky.

The best part of Tour of Duty was Kerry's beautiful writings. The descriptions were beautiful and showed great sensitivity to the world around him. Reading them, I understood why Brinkley found that everyone Kerry wrote from Vietnam saved his letters. They were incredible. They really offered a view of him that was as real than anything I've seen of anyone. If he's going let Pickens see them, ..... :)

You're right - Kerry is upping the ante and giving him everything - along with 5 guys that Pickens can not call elitists.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11220.html

T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who gave $3 million to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and who numerous GOP sources said was being looked to as a funding source this year, is sitting the race out.

“He is not giving anything to 527s involved in the presidential race this cycle, and has communicated that…to Republican strategists and operatives,” said Pickens spokesman Jay Rosser.

Rosser said Pickens “has a much broader public policy initiative in mind that will focus on energy, and is approaching that in a bipartisan manner.” He only “contributed last cycle because they were in play, and were so heavily funded on the other side.”

...

Multiple Republican sources say that Karl Rove has been in contact with donors such as Adelson and Pickens about helping to create an independent effort but that to date nothing has come of it. Rove didn’t respond to an email.





Anyone buy it?

Anyone buy this Politico story? Why would the GOP unilaterally disarm? It makes no sense.

Odd - in his case, the problem with Kerry might have been not Vietnam, the Contras, BCCI, but the fact that he had a 96% LCV rating and deserved it. Kerry and Teresa were likely as far as you could get from where he was.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089040017753.htm?chan=search



This is water, guys. I live in a still drought stricken area, and I simply do not have words for how evil this is. Since Obama does not have a position on this (this issue hasn't really gotten on the radar of politics that I know of too much -- buying and selling water), maybe that is why he isn't giving anything to a 527.

See the orginal post if interested in all the links back to the initial challenge


http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3437

Veterans Who Served With Kerry Take On Swift Boat Lies

June 20th, 2008 by Ron Chusid

Back in November T. Boone Pickens offered $1 million to anyone who could dispute the claims of the Swift Boat Liars who he helped finance during the 2004 election. Kerry took him up on the offer, but Pickens reneged. Kerry issued this response, and the Chicago Sun-Times posted this recap.

Ten veterans who have served with Kerry or witnessed his actions have written to Pickens again trying to take him up on the challenge. Sam Stein reports on the letter they sent along with evidence:

“Dear Mr. Pickens,” the letter (pdf) begins, “We are the crew and individual servicemen who served on or with Patrol Craft Fast 94 in Vietnam in early 1969… Regrettably the lies of the SBVT, which you helped bankroll and apparently still defend, tarnished the sacrifices we made, called into question the medals we were awarded and challenged the very authenticity of our service… We have children and families who were deeply affected by these lies and we believe you and the SBVT whom you supported owe us and the American people an apology for the tactics you bankrolled.

“We are aware of media reports that at a dinner in Washington D.C. on November 6th, 2007, you made a public challenge that you would give a million dollars to anyone who could show that anything the SBVT said was false. We also know that Senator John Kerry, who was the skipper of the PCF-94, contacted you to take you up on that challenge. We are writing to you now as a group to accept your challenge and document how you funded lies and character assassination.”

What follows, aides to Kerry say, is one of the most comprehensive conglomerations of evidence disputing the SBVT attacks. Taking on the argument that, somehow, Kerry didn’t deserve his Silver Star, the signatories dispute ten “falsehoods,” including the claim that Kerry chased and killed a “young Viet Cong in loincloth” (it was an actually a “man of normal military age” carrying a B-40 rocket); that he only was in combat with this one individual (there were “multiple VC scrambling to get away”); and that Kerry made a tactical error in captaining his boat that day (”there was no ‘plan’ to charge the bank”). The letter concludes with perhaps the most poignant and currently relevant point.

“Finally, the continued insistence that Kerry has not released his full military record is refuted by the Navy, which has publicly certified he has, and by three newspapers which have independently received signed releases and reviewed those records.”

Indeed, it is important to remember that in 2004, Kerry posted military records on his campaign’s website and allowed selected reporters access to his military medical records. After the campaign, he signed a 180 waiver, authorizing the release of his complete file to three publications.

It is amusing that many right wing blogs continue to post false claims that Kerry refused to release his military records even though they have been posted on line and reviewed by the media. They don’t care about the facts any more than Pickens does. Any doubt that he will once again renege on his challenge?

Why was George H.W. Bush carbon copied on the letter? Can anyone hazard a guess?

Here is there letter via HuffPo:

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/FINALPICKENSLETTERFROMCREW.pdf

All the cc's are to honorable military veterans who are at a high level in politics. (Mullen is chariman of joint chiefs of staff).

I hope GHW feels shame about the SBVT. But frankly, I highly doubt it.

Kerry's friends have never held back from or stopped defending him against these losers. i remember hearing that O'Neill would refuse to appear on TV shows if he was going to be up against someone like those guys who served with Kerry or Cleland. he only appeared when put up against Alan Colmes type Dems.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/john-kerrys-swi.html



Now as nice as it is to have people agree with us, this is really damning info against the SBVT. This is something you can tell people who insist on saying the lies were true. That many of the people who refuted the lies were Republicans and did not agree with Kerry's war protest. Of course, I don't think their reputations were 'sullied' by Kerry's testimony. But in spite of that disagreement, they came out to counter the lies.

This is mentioned at TPM, with a link to the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/us/politics/22kerry.html



more at the link

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/062608dnnatpickens.3a6c2d1b.html



So what is Team Kerry's next move?

And didn't the ads go after Kerry's silver star which was discussed in detail in that letter?

Doing so would be an admission that he is a liar OR funded a liar's group. It will never happen. But I am glad that these vets did this. They know the truth and know that T. Boone and his gang of thugs lied about them and about Sen. Kerry.