[CS-FSLUG] PD: Help Counter GOP Smear Campaign on TV

[Ralph De Witt]

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President Bush still won't condemn his allies' outrageous "Swift Boat" ad, 
despite calls from Republican leaders, Vietnam vets, and over 175,000 of us 
who signed yesterday's petition -- including 6,000 current military service 
members and their families.  Together, we can make sure he pays a political 
price for green-lighting this attack ad that spreads outright lies about John 
Kerry's leadership and service in Vietnam. 
 
We've put together our own ad that sets the facts straight on John Kerry's 
time in the military.  It also points out Bush's hypocrisy in condoning an 
attack on a combat veteran, after he himself failed to show up for service in 
the National Guard. We need to raise $200,000 to start airing this ad 
TODAY.  Together, we can put it on TV in precisely the markets where the 
"Swift Boat" ad ran, making sure that no swing voters are misled by this 
smear campaign.
 
View the ad and donate to get it on the air at:

https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/swiftresponse.html?id=3307-3297607-k5vIPLGojbtYrM_bwccK9g
 
George Bush can't have it both ways.  If he wants, as he claims, to let the 
past be the past, he should call off his associates' smear campaign, which is 
re-opening this national wound.  If he won't, he should at the very least be 
willing to make a full accounting of his own military service.  If George 
Bush wants to make Vietnam a campaign issue, that raises a simple question: 
Where was he?
 
According to the Boston Globe, which researched the available facts 
extensively, there's no evidence Bush reported for duty during the summer and 
fall of 1972, a time when he was supposed to be serving in the National 
Guard.  But despite a promise on "Meet the Press" to open up his "entire 
record," Bush has yet to offer any documents that show he was there.(1)  In 
fact, the Associated Press has been forced to go to court to force the 
release of clearly germane documents that Bush wishes to keep secret. (2)
  
It's as simple as this: If you evade military service, you have no right to 
allow attacks on the service of others.  Yet that is precisely what George 
Bush appears to be doing.  And together, we can call attention to his grave 
hypocrisy with our new ad, which we'll run to "shadow" the "Swift Boat" ad. 
 
Can you help us get it on the air?  Take a look at the ad and give what you 
can at:

https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/swiftresponse.html?id=3307-3297607-k5vIPLGojbtYrM_bwccK9g
 
Yesterday's petition signers included many military veterans and their 
families.  Mavis from Fremont CA, told Bush, "To make such claims against 
Senator Kerry's record also smears the record of the other soldiers who 
served honorably in Vietnam and are serving today." And Stuart wrote from 
Manassas, VA that he is "among the veterans who deplore the type of 
misleading ads [that] ran against John Kerry. Anyone who shed blood, or [who] 
knows anyone who shed blood in defense of what our country stands for, knows 
that these ads are not only inaccurate, but immoral as well."  

Incredibly, the "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush" operatives have responded to 
our campaign by issuing a statement that claims, "We were there.  We served 
with John Kerry."  But even that is a lie.  While the ad presents its 
subjects as former crewmates of Kerry's, the reality is that the only thing 
most of the men share with him is that they were in Vietnam at the same 
time.  And the men who did serve with Kerry are unanimous in their support of 
him.(3)
 
It's time to call Bush to account for these dirty tricks. Together, we can do 
that on TVs across the country.
 
Sincerely,
- --Eli Pariser
  MoveOn PAC
  August 17th, 2004
 
P.S. Our friends at AlterNet have put together a great article that lays out 
the history of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush."  It's really worth 
reading.  Check it out:
 
"Swift Boat Folks are Kerry's Nemeses of Old"
http://www.alternet.org/election04/19532/
 
Footnotes:

1. Meet the Press Transcript for Feb. 8th, 2/8/04
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4179618/
2. AP Sues for Access to Bush Guard Records, 6/22/04
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/breaking_news/8985661.htm
3. FACT CHECK: Swift Boat Veterans for Bush, 8/5/04
http://www.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/080504_truth.html

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC www.moveonpac.org
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
- -- 
	Yours,
	Ralph.
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