Who is John O'Neill? The guy who has been
blasting Kerry's war service all over the cable news networks.
"I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero," said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam. "He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11."
O'Neill claims he is a political independent, but political independents don't clerk for Justice Rehnquist.
A reader pointed me to this, on his firm's website:
Born San Diego, California, February 19, 1946; admitted to bar, 1974, Texas. Education: United States Naval Academy (B.S., cum laude, 1967); University of Texas (J.D., summa cum laude, 1973). Order of the Coif. Member, Chancellors (Grand Chancellor, 1972-1973). Member, Texas Law Review, 1972-1973. Member, President's National Advisory Counsel on Supplemental Services and Centers, 1973-1974. Member, Federal Regulation of Securities Committee, Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law, American Bar Association, 1978-. Law Clerk to Justice William H. Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme Court, 1974-1975.
(Emphasis mine.)
O'Neill was also used by Nixon to try and discredit Kerry's post-service anti-war efforts. Now two Republican presidents have used the guy to try and attack Kerry.
Even better is the c.v. of another of O'Neill's firm's partners: Margaret Wilson:
Born Waco, Texas, December 5, 1958; admitted to bar 1984, Texas. Education: Baylor University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1981); (J.D., with honors, 1983). Associate Editor of the Baylor Law Review; Adjunct Professor, South Texas College of Law, 1988-1989; General Counsel to Governor George W. Bush, 1998-2000; Deputy General Counsel, Department of Commerce, 2001-2002. Member: State Bar of Texas; Texas Bar Foundation.
(Emphasis mine again.)
Update: From the Houston Chronicle:
In 1971, O'Neill squared off against Kerry on the Dick Cavett Show in a 90-minute, televised forum in which the two Vietnam War veterans sparred over the U.S. role in Southeast Asia.
President Nixon and top aide Charles Colson had taken a keen interest in O'Neill as part of their effort to discredit Kerry and the anti-war movement, according to memos and tapes in the National Archives. A clean-cut Naval Academy graduate, O'Neill was viewed by Nixon's team as an effective messenger against Kerry, who was causing the administration headaches as the leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
And if you guys want a good dose of irony, let me deliver:
In a series of memos, Nixon aide Colson, who later went to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal, referred to the administration's efforts to promote O'Neill and to challenge Kerry to debate him.
On June 15, 1971, Colson noted that Kerry first turned down a debate offer with O'Neill and that he was "beginning to take a tremendous beating in the press."
"Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader," Colson wrote about Kerry.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.