McCain campaign attacks John Kerry’s war record, says Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were simply telling the truth

6/30/2008 5:13pm by 1,377

How do Chris Cillizza, Marc Ambinder, Rick Sanchez, the Washington Independent and all the other folks in the media, who turn into goo whenever John McCain speaks, feel about McCain putting a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on a campaign conference call today, and then using that campaign call to restate the bogus charges against John Kerry, a Vietnam vet?

Sen. John McCain’s campaign launched on Monday, the McCain “Truth Squad” – a group of political and Vietnam contemporaries who would counter attacks on the Senator’s military record.

In hopes of nipping any criticism in the bud, the campaign brought on board a man quite familiar with how these types of attacks gain legs: Bud Day, a fellow POW who was part of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth squad that had worked so hard to defame Sen. John Kerry’s own Vietnam record.

On the conference call, Day – in addition to the other participants – decried comments made by Gen. Wesley Clark over the weekend, in which he questioned whether McCain’s war experience really qualified him to be commander-in-chief. Defending McCain’s service, Day was quick to personalize his remarks….

“The Swift Boat attacks were simply a revelation of the truth, the similarity does not exist here. What the Swift Boat campaign was about was to lay out John Kerry’s record. John Kerry has never produced any evidence to deny that. We are producing the evidence of these attacks right now to show that those remarks were completely inaccurate.

It seems McCain is the only Vietnam vet whose record is off-limits (McCain’s surrogate also belittled General Clark’s experience in Vietnam – again, it’s okay when McCain’s team does it). But for McCain to use a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, to put such a person on the campaign conference call as a spokesman for the campaign, and then to let this man reiterate the Swift Boat attacks on Jerry Kerry. Absolutely amazing. Let’s see how many of our friends in the mainstream media even dare to ask John McCain how he could even think of having a Swift Boat Veteran represent his campaign.

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@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and .

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