Article published Saturday, August 28, 2004

The Swifties are here to stay


AN AXIOM of politics is: "Don't feed a bad story." By going postal
about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, John Kerry has laid out a
veritable banquet.
Senator Kerry has accused the Swifties of smearing him by criticizing
his Vietnam service. But he has gone further, declaring the Swifties
to be Republican shills, put up to attacking Mr. Kerry by the evil
President Bush. If Mr. Kerry were to acknowledge the real reason why
the Swifties hate him - because he falsely accused them and other
Vietnam veterans of committing war crimes - it would not enhance his
appeal to swing voters.

Mr. Kerry's "evidence" for this charge is that most of the seed money
for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came from a $200,000 contribution
from Houston builder Bob Perry, a frequent contributor to GOP
candidates.

The New York Times has tried to help Mr. Kerry out by publishing a
complex genealogy which indicates that Swiftie John O'Neill, principal
author of Unfit for Command and now a prominent Houston lawyer, knows
Republicans who know other Republicans who know Mr. Bush. (That Times
article didn't mention that Mr. O'Neill says he's an independent who
voted for Al Gore in 2000.)

If the "Republican attack machine" were behind the Swifties, it did a
lousy job. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had barely $250,000 on
hand when they launched their first ad in three mid-sized markets in
Ohio, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. By contrast, the three largest
independent committees have raised and spent nearly $60 million on ads
attacking Mr. Bush.

Benjamin Ginsberg, national counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign,
resigned after it was disclosed that he was also providing legal
advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Mr. Ginsberg said the
Bush campaign was unaware of his connection to the Swifties.

The law says there can be no coordination between campaigns and "527"
groups, but attorneys are specifically permitted to provide legal
advice to both campaigns and independent groups.

Robert Bauer, the national counsel of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, also
represents America Coming Together, one of the largest of the
anti-Bush 527s. He hasn't resigned from either post.

One of the anti-Bush 527s is run by Jim Jordan, Mr. Kerry's former
campaign manager. Kerry staffer Zach Exley came to his campaign from
MoveOn.org, the 527 that has run the most vicious anti-Bush ads.

Mr. Kerry can be confident that while the "mainstream" media will
trumpet his charges, there will be no exploration of possible
collusion between his campaign and these supposedly independent
groups.

On May 9, for instance, the Democratic National Committee issued a
press release that said: "The Democratic Party is partnering with
MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, Campaign for America's
Future, and dozens of other groups representing millions of Americans
to organize a massive public mobilization."

The biggest unreported story of this campaign is the extent to which
the major media are in the tank for Mr. Kerry. But media bias - which
has reached comic proportions in the Swift Boat vet controversy - may
be doing Mr. Kerry more harm than good.

If journalists were more interested in covering the news than in
covering up for Mr. Kerry, they would have explored the Swifties'
charges back in May, when the group first raised them. Had due
diligence been done then, it might have been possible for Mr. Kerry to
put the controversy behind him. Now it has exploded on him at a
critical time, knocking him off message.

When Mr. Kerry's attack on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth forced
the story onto the front pages, the media tried to provide damage
control. But what might have been contained as a small fire in May had
become a raging inferno by August.

Despite the media attempt at a blackout, the charges made by the
Swifties were causing a hemorrhage of support for Mr. Kerry among
veterans, thanks to the efforts of dozens of web loggers. Still, his
escalation of the issue is puzzling. Thanks to Mr. Kerry, many, many
more people have heard of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and are
curious about what they have to say. The publisher of Unfit for
Command can't print books fast enough to meet demand.

While still small potatoes as far as 527 committees go, the Swifties
are now - thanks to Mr. Kerry - relatively flush. The group reports
having received more than $1.7 million in Internet contributions since
Mr. Kerry attacked them. They won't be going away any time soon.





Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!