Something strange has been happening as we come closer and closer to selecting our presidential nominee. The Swift Boaters have suddenly oozed out onto the web, talk radio, and Fox News, and are attacking .... John Kerry? Just take a peruse through Media Matters and you will see a definite uptick in SBVT activity. The question is what the hell is going on here, and what are we going to do about it? Well, it seems to me that what we have here is a situation of Swiftboaters 2.0 which is gearing up to attack the Democratic presidential nominee, and it is up to John Kerry to knee cap them now, so they're too crippled to do any more harm. Come with me after the fold to see his ultimatum.
The AP has the story:
Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens’ offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
In a letter to Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during Kerry’s race against President Bush, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt."
...
Pickens issued his challenge Nov. 6 in Washington, while serving as chairman of a 40th anniversary gala for American Spectator magazine, according to two Internet accounts of the gathering and Kerry, who said he spoke to people who were there.
"I would be more than happy to travel to Dallas to meet with you in a mutually agreed upon public forum, or would invite you to join me in Massachusetts for a public dialogue and then together we could visit the Paralyzed Veterans of America in Norwood and see firsthand how we can put your money to good work for our veterans," the senator wrote in a letter addressed to Pickens’ Dallas home. A copy was provided to The Associated Press.
A Pickens’ spokesman, Jay Rosser, asked to review the letter before offering comment.
Pretty sweet, eh? This Thomas Boones Pickens is a real piece of work, a fine model citizen. Just go take a look at his Wiki page with his $3 million donation to the Swift Boat Liars. Yeah, we can rail against Sam Fox, now (sigh) U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, but that guy is merely a peasant to the SBVT lords with his lousy $50K donation. Pickens is one of the big fish, and frankly, he needs his ass exposed as the propaganda funder that he is, smearing a vet with a pile of cash. Thing is, these people think they can have a new political life after 2004. They want to take down the next nominee with a new set of smears and fear; their objective is to not be known as the discredited liars Swift Boat group, and instead be referred to as the "controversial" Swift Boat group. They want to get their way back onto CNN and MSNBC (Fox is a given, of course), find themselves quoted in the paper of record or the local newspaper completely trashing our presidential nominee, whether it be Hillary, Obama, or Edwards (or any of the others), not to mention our Fighting Dems running all over the country. The biggest obstacle to their goal is ... John Kerry. He will not rest until the SBVT & its 2008 spin offs will forever and always be known as the lying sacks of shit that they are.
The Carpetbagger has already covered a wonderful smackdown done by David Wade to Rush Limbaugh (who is obviously part of the concerted effort to resurrect the Swift Boat liars):
One of the more common criticisms of John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign is that he was too slow to smack down right-wing smears, and when he did, his responses weren’t hard-hitting enough. I think it’s safe to say Kerry can no longer be accused of timidity.
Consider yesterday, for example. Rush Limbaugh defended the Swiftboat liars, insisting that their bogus smear withstood scrutiny.
...
Media Matters does a nice job detailing some of the painfully obvious lies the hatchet men told, and the multiple instances in which their lies were "disproven," but for real entertainment, consider the official response from John Kerry’s Senate office.
Kerry spokesman David Wade issued the following statement today in response to Rush Limbaugh, who said on his radio show that Kerry’s Swift Boat attackers in 2004, "were right on the money and nobody has disproven anything they claimed in any of their ads, statements, written commentaries, or anything of the sort."
"At first I thought, that’s not Rush, that’s just the OxyContin talking. Nonetheless, this is a despicable but unsurprising new lie from a man whose closest brush with combat came when customs officials tried to take away his Viagra."
Damn. Note to Dems: The more you respond to right-wing smear with statements like these, the less you’ll be smeared.
And now with Kerry's ultimatum comes a second shot across the bow. Expect more in the future. Here is the letter in full
Mr. Pickens,
It has come to my attention through the accounts of individuals who were in attendance at the American Spectator’s Robert L. Bartley Dinner & 40th Anniversary Gala as well as through the public accounts, that you personally "staked one million dollars" that "no one" could "prove anything the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth said in 2004 was false" (RedState.Com) and offered "a million dollars to anyone who could prove wrong anything the Swiftboat Veterans charged about Kerry." (AmericanThinker.com)
I welcome the opportunity to prove that you are a man of your word and that the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" lied. While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt.
I would request that your check be made payable to the Paralyzed Veterans of America which is doing incredible work every day to meet the needs of veterans returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. My hope is that by sending this money to such a dedicated organization – founded for veterans, by veterans — some good can come out of the ugly smears and lies of the orchestrated campaign you bankrolled in 2004 in an attempt to discredit my military record and the record of the men who served alongside me on the Swift Boats of the Mekong Delta.
I would be more than happy to travel to Dallas to meet with you in a mutually agreed upon public forum, or would invite you to join me in Massachusetts for a public dialogue and then together we could visit the Paralyzed Veterans of America in Norwood and see firsthand how we can put your money to good work for our veterans.
I look forward to setting up a visit at the earliest possible, mutually convenient time. I trust that you are a man of your word, having made a very public challenge at a major Washington dinner, and look forward to taking you up on this challenge.
Sincerely,
John F. Kerry
United States Senator
Classic, Senator!
Update
Chicken Pickens has responded by weaseling out of his original challenge:
Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during Kerry’s race against President Bush, responded by saying he won’t consider giving Kerry the reward unless he surrenders his combat films, additional military records and wartime journal.
...
In his response, Pickens wrote: "I am certainly open to your challenge," but he said he would not pay Kerry unless the senator first provided him with copies of his wartime journals, as well as movies he shot while on patrol and his complete military records for 1971 to 1978.
Pickens said such documentation, which the group has previously sought, would be needed to disprove its ads.
"When you have done so, if you can then prove anything in the ads was materially untrue, I will gladly award $1 million. As you know, I have been a long and proud supporter of the American military and veterans’ causes," Pickens wrote.
Just like the Swift Boat Liars, this guy is changing the rules and constantly changing his story. Pickens, in short, is not a man of his word.
Read more on JLFinch's diary "Pickens responds - Reneges on his deal!"