What do we do about Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain?

This is the fringe veterans group that hates McCain and was part of the BushCo smear campaign that sank McCain in South Carolina in 2000. They are not pulling any punches this year either, and seem determined to be to McCain what the Swift Boaters were to John Kerry in 2004. They are mad at McCain for lining up support in the Senate to normalize relations with Vietnam in 1995. They also cite him for allegedly giving up secrets to the North Vietnamese in prison, and conspiring to cover up reports of POW's left behind in Vietnam.

So, lets say McCain is the nominee. Will this group air ads trashing him? If so, what should the response be of people on our side, or of our nominee? They must hate the Clinton's too, seeing as how it was he who normalized relations with Vietnam (oh, and that draft dodger thing too). I don't know how they feel about Barack Obama.

own family, unless there's political advantage in it for him.

Why stand up for him? I don't remember him going out of his way when Kerry was smeared by the Swiftboarders.

Again, he defends nobody unless there's something in it for him--he must have thought that Kerry would offer him a job in his administration.

but not strongly as I recall.

"strong" defense of Kerry by McCain. But the fact remains we cannot support the swift-boating of any veteran, no matter what his/her political affiliation. This issue is not about them, it is about us. Remember that big, ugly woman who was photographed at the '04 Republican convention with the "purple heart" band-aid on her ugly mug? I would never have mocked a wounded vet like that - I don't care who the vet was or is. We all should be better than that...

support them in any way whatsoever...

What about Edwards?? He's on "our" side. Look what the media is doing to him.

we find it.

I know, I know. . .not very practical in a political world.

This kinda shit should be off the table.

Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda...

We put them in a series of national TV ads loudly defending McCain...

and end up with an easier candidate to beat in the GE.

:evilgrin:

Are their charges true? As we know, from the get-go, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were liars. It was the unsupported word of one man who never even served with John Kerry against the word of John Kerry, the military record, and every surviving man who served with Kerry. It's stunning to remember what sort of credence the SBVT were given by popular media, particularly with all the records and voices arrayed against them.

Next, I don't think the popular media would give this smear group the time of day. Where they didn't like John Kerry, they really like Senator Straight Talk, even when it's not clear which side of his mouth McCain's talking out of. Where Kerry could say the same thing ten consecutive times, if his locution varied by even a syllable once, the popular media were all over him for this contradiction. McCain can switch his story around, claim that he voted one way when he voted another, and on and on, and the popular media don't bat an eye.

Of all the things to worry about this political season, this prospective problem for a Republican doesn't even register with me.

McCain did indeed sign the papers so to speak. He was forgiven by our government because of the torture he endured, although since neither death nor organ failure happened, according to the Bush* Administration he never suffered torture.

Whomever they may be

I harbor strong suspicions that at least SOME who engage in such smears are FAUX 'veterans' ... sometimes misfits who spent little if any actual time in-country and sometimes wannabes who weren't even in the military at the time.

As if it wasn't difficult enough to be a Viet Nam veteran with the appalling bigotry and disgusting smears about the emotional stability of the average VN veteran, such FAUX 'vets' merely add to the misperceptions.

Misfits, wannabes, and "sons-of-veterans". The sons-of-veterans are often pernicious little groups.

in the rear with the gear the whole time, though he got some nasty tropical illness that laid him up for half a year.

He says delightful things like, "I wish someone would nuke Paris" (see also: Mexico City), or the classic, "I wish they would just give Somalia to the army... Payback's a bitch," at the dinner table with his 8 year old granddaughter. I don't think someone who saw real combat would be so casually bloodthirsty.

they don't even exist.

John McCain Hypocrite
by Doug Ireland

John McCain, the media's darling, has found a clever way around his own campaign finance reform law to take big corporate bucks in furtherance of his political ambitions while carrying water for the corporate mammoth providing the dough. But the national press is ignoring the story.


The Associated Press first ran the story of John McCain's odorous but lucrative Senatorial service to the communications giant Cablevision on the afternoon of March 7. But, while some local papers in McCain's home state (like the East Valley Tribune) have run the story, nothing has as yet made it into the print editions of the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, or any of the half-dozen other big city dailies I checked (although, if one searches the hundreds of AP stories available on the Post's website on its Politics page by clicking on "Latest Wire Reports," one can find it there--but how many readers would bother to do that?) One notable exception: the Kansas City Star.


Here's what the AP's investigation found:


McCain repeatedly intervened on behalf of a policy Cablevision favored -- one which "congressional and private studies conclude could make cable more expensive" -- while his chief political adviser, Rick Davis (who's masterminding McCain's probable '08 presidential rerun) solicited $200,000 in contributions from Cablevision to an institute that promotes McCain and pays Davis a $110,000 annual salary.


The Reform Institute was set up to promote McCain and his issues--especially campaign finance reform, embodied in the famous McCain-Feingold law. This Institute is "a tax-exempt group that touts McCain's views and has showcased him at events since his unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign," and it "often uses the senator's name in press releases and fund-raising letters and includes him at press conferences," the AP says. And, of course, it provides a cushy sinecure with no heavy lifting for McCain's main man, Davis, as he prepares the pontificating Senator's next presidential run. Cablevision's contributions account for a whopping 15% of the Institute's budget.


http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0309-35.htm

Start the answer to every question about it with "If the charges are true, then..."

He's not our responsibility. Thankfully...

They hate Kerry and McCain for kneecapping their little cottage industry of preying on the emotions of people with lost relatives and friends in Vietnam.

So, we should call them out whenever and wherever we see them, but OTOH, also keep in mind that the Swift Liars (whose beef with Kerry was altogether different) are BACKING McCain and have MUCH more money. Let the Liars spend some of their money to smack down the Scammers.