'Swiftboating' John McCain in S.C. Via Local Newspapers; NY man also involved in Kerry Swiftboat

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: 'Swiftboating' John McCain -- Via Local Newspapers
By Greg Mitchell
Published: January 16, 2008

NEW YORK Supporters of John McCain in South Carolina are describing as "absolutely despicable" a flier -- distributed to the editors of 80 daily and weekly papers in that state, now (for better or worse) made public -- claiming that he turned his back on fellow prisoners of war in Vietnam.

Now it turns out that the man behind it all hails, far from South Carolina, way up north in Rockland county, just north of New York City. And he's promising to carry his campaign to other primary states. Gannett's Journal News of White Plains in an article last March quoted the man, Jerry Kiley, who lives in the tiny town of Garnerville, as charging that that McCain had turned his back on POWs and their families. He called McCain a traitor to prisoners of war who he believes were left behind in Vietnam. “If he had the power of the presidency, I’d really fear for this country,” Kiley said....

He also bills himself as Vietnam vet, "a key figure in the battle for U.S. POWs and MIAs and other U.S. veteran issues since 1983," a consultant to a billion-dollar New York company. He also helped "swift boat" John Kerry in 2004.

The flier in South Carolina features a cartoon of McCain, a former POW, sitting in a cell on one side and a supposed "fact sheet" on the other side, accusing him of collaborating with his captors. Among other crimes he is charged with revealing bombing routes of U.S. planes in exchange for better medical care. You will remember that McCain was victimized by other smears in the state (fathering a black baby?) when he ran, and lost, there in 2000.

The First Read blog at msnbc.com reports, "The mastermind of the anti-McCain veterans mailer, Jerry Kiley of the group Vietnam Veterans Against McCain, told NBC News/National Journal that he created the ad, and it was printed and mailed by a group that publishes the like-minded journal US Veteran Dispatch. According to Kiley, who ran a similar group in 2004 that opposed John Kerry, the flier was distributed to 80 editors at newspapers throughout South Carolina, and that it was not mailed to any households....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003697098

[PresidentObama]

1. The sick thing is many of the DUers defended this bullshit in a previous thread.

I don't care if you love or hate John McCain.

I personally dislike the man strongly, and I disagree with him on virtually every issue.

But he doesn't deserve this bullshit. He was a POW, and tortured. And his served his country with honor. Let's attack him on his record, not this bullshit.

And it sickens me to see the same people who did this to Senator Kerry come out with the same shit about John McCain.

[ramapo]

2. Bravo

I couldn't agree more. Despicable is the word that immediately came to mind. What is even more disturbing than this attack on McCain is that there are people dumb enough to buy this bullshit.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. It's from the same Atwater/Rove playbook, and it should have no place in American politics. nt

[PresidentObama]

8. I agree with you. Whether used on Republicans or Democrats, it's absolutely disgusting.

I was shocked when SaveElmer posted the link to the website Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, and saw Democrats defendng it.

It seemed like I was in Republican discussion boards instead and they replaced Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry with a different John this time.

I had some serious deja vu from 2004, and I did not like it one bit.

[trogdor]

7. I find it karmically delicious.

I am also waiting to find out if it works again, and how long the website would stay open if Johnnie Mack is the GOP nominee.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

29. Given that it may assist empty suit Romney

as it did empty suit Bush before him, I am hoping it does not work.

[Virginia Dare]

9. I agree with you wholeheartedly that this is bullshit..

but John McCain himself could have sent these fuckers all straight back into the shitholes they came out of if he had really wanted to. His defense of Kerry was rather tepid at the time I thought. He could have been much more forceful and forthright.

I think he figured these assholes would be on his side one day. It appears he was grievously wrong.

[PresidentObama]

11. He, at least, defended Kerry. And even if it was a weak defense, he certainly doesn't deserve this.

Like I said he was a POW, and tortured.

And he served this country with honor.

This represents the worst kind of politics, and you won't see me defending it.

[Virginia Dare]

15. He doesn't deserve it and there is no defense of it..

but to a certain degree, he brought it on himself by tolerating it.

[PresidentObama]

16. I think the whole political system is guilty of tolerating it.

Like the attacks on him from 2000.

The attacks on Kerry in 2004.

The anti-Dean ads with Osama Bin Laden.

Politics has gotten so fear-driven, hateful, and negative.

[Virginia Dare]

19. I can't disagree with that at all..

but everyone needs to understand that as long as it's tolerated, it will continue. And nobody is safe from it. I guess John McCain found that out the hard way.

On a different note, where was McCain when they trashed Max Cleland? Maybe he defended him, I really don't remember.

[jackson_dem]

20. McCain also defended Kerry when Kerry was swiftboated

[Virginia Dare]

24. Personally, I was pretty underwhelmed by his defense..

but you're right, to his credit he did.

[iconoclastic cat]

4. This fucker was in Chicago two years ago at a conference!

Man, I wish I had had the stones to go up and give him a wedgie. He's tied into the charter school movement, too, from what I understand. Truly a slimy bastard.

[pegleg]

5. Did you ever wonder why the swiftboaters didn't attack Bush or Cheney? nt

[Virginia Dare]

6. Excellent point...

welcome to DU!

[avrdream]

10. I'm so confused.

Who the heck does the GOP want as their candidate? Why would they allow this against probably their only hope of a win?

Despicable, but also confusing.

[PresidentObama]

13. Everyone has an agenda. For all we know, this could be Romney's doing.

He could have placed some phone calls with the Bush supporters who put together the bullshit against John Kerry in 2004, and told them to recycle it against McCain in 2008.

Who knows. If that's how low some have to go to get elected, and to get others elected, then they deserve only the worst.

This is the lowest form of politics, and I hate it.

[Virginia Dare]

17. Bingo, the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate is backing Romney..

in fact Jebby is one of his biggest patrons, and Mary Matalin and Elizabeth Cheney are both working on the campaign. Not hard to figure out who might be smearing McCain. I posted this yesterday, that the Swiftboating of McCain would commence shortly and he would be made short work of.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. The guy's a nut...a believer in the POW/MIA myth

Since McCain was supportive of normalizing relations with Vietnam, he has "betrayed" all the POW/MIA's still held or purportedly held after the war by the evil Fu Manchu-like Vietnamese villains. There's only one problem: There were no POWs kept after the war by the Vietnamese. It's a complete invention by the right wing, unfortunately believed by too many gullible American imbeciles. So, since McCain served on those committees that investigated the thoroughly despicable "POW/MIA industry - that fleeced poor families of dead men for millions in the 80's by promising "rescue" from secret non-existent POW camps - and since McCain knows damn well that the Vietnamese held nobody after the war, these kooks hate him like poison. They're crazy people.

[avrdream]

18. Oh, okay.

That helps it make more sense to me.

And Romney possibly having a hand in it rings true (or even Rudy - he's into all that sneaky mafia-like stuff isn't he?)

[bullwinkle428]

21. The "Rambo" movies totally fed into that ignorant paranoia as well

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. And Magnum PI, and those asinine Chuck Norris films, and on and on

It's like an article of faith for some people. And it's a complete fabrication.

[sandnsea]

27. The one group is way out there

They're the MIA people who think the POW/MIA commission was a conspiracy to hide the truth about what happened to our POW's in Vietnam. They're different than the swiftliars.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. There were no POW's left behind in Vietnam

The whole conflation of POW/MIA was part of a propaganda campaign started by Ross Perot at the direction of the Nixon White House in order to prevent the POW wives from going anti-war. It has since grown into a complete sham industry that was ideologically connected with recuperating Vietnam during the Reagan years. There is no such thing as a POW/MIA. There WERE POW's, and there ARE MIA's. There are not both at once. It's a lie.

[sufrommich]

23. Gee,there's a shock.

I hope McCain sues him for libel.I'd love to see these swiftboaters called out for the slime they are and then shunned like the plague,even if it takes a republican to do it.

[FredScuttle]

25. Hmmmmm......

"Supporters of John McCain in South Carolina are describing as "absolutely despicable" a flier -- distributed to the editors of 80 daily and weekly papers in that state ..."

So we have a vicious smearing flyer/mailer, which is actually neither since it wasn't mailed or "flyed" to anyone other than the group of newspaper editors who dutifully covered it, prompting the McCain campaign to go into full-bore "McCain is a national hero" mode.

Hmmmmm.

[sandnsea]

26. There were two different groups of Kerry attackers

One was the nutty group that is also attacking McCain. The other was the Swiftboat Vets who concocted a whole new set of lies about John Kerry's medals and service.

[jzodda]

28. Nasty shit....I remember this from 2000 and it disgusted me then

still does today. Its beyond nasty what this stuff is and swift boating at its finest. Makes what happened last week on our side feel like a walk in the park. To think that they would go after the guy in this manner. Can you imagine what its like to spend 5+ years in a POW camp? I am not usually at a loss for words but in this case I am. I hate the people putting this type of stuff out so much I wish I could punch one of them.

I won't vote for the man, but I do admit that I like him. I met him 5 years ago at a bar association function and he was personable and friendly. He also is one of the few on the other side who will cross the isle to get things done. Can't say that for most of his side in the Senate.

I thought these morons were finished with Kerry but I guess not :(