resident Bush has claimed, on more than one occasion, that he has not seen the first of the gutter-level commercials being played with considerable frequency on television nationwide, attacking the military record of Sen.John Kerry. I find that extremely hard to believe, but then, I must remember that this is a president who, by his own admission, does not read newspapers. The advertisement, produced by the group calling themselves "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is a lie from start to finish, as has been pointed out very clearly, not only by the candidate himself, but in newspaper investigations. (The best of which have been in the New York Times and the Washington Post). On this subject I know the first question I would pose to the President given the unlikely opportunity, (and believe me I have made many an approach to the White House for such a privilege). It would simply be, "Mr. President would you directly endorse this commercial and the second one that is about to be unleashed on the nation's TV screens by saying, "My name is George Bush and I endorse this message". What do you think would be his answer?
Now, the Bush campaign has said that it is not supporting the ads attacking the Senator's military record and, in fact, they have released a statement saying "The Bush campaign has never and will never question John Kerry's service in Vietnam". Then why won't they directly condemn these people who put so much effort into besmirching the candidate's reputation. Could it be, in part, because they know that it works (He did a good job attacking John McCain's military background and experience when they were competing against each other four years ago). And, perhaps it is because the money supporting these attack ads come from people with close Bush family ties. One is Bob Perry, a very wealth Texas-based Republican donor and an associate of the chief Bush political advisor, Karl Rove.
How very sad it is that the band of critics, most of whom were utterly supportive of Sen. Kerry's service and heroism as recently as a year ago, has managed to catapult itself to the forefront of the presidential campaign. Right wing radio is relishing the venom - it suits their agenda. It is a nothing story from decades ago that tells us nothing of a positive nature about the incumbent who wants a further four years in the White House and just distorts the facts and advances the campaign not one inch.
On close examination, the stories told by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prove to be filled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies. In several cases, material offered by this band of men, as proof against Kerry, has been undercut by the official Navy records and the men's own earlier statements.
Accompanying these commercials is a book titled "Unfit for command:Swift boat veterans speak out against Kerry". It is published by a conservative company called Regnery, which has also published several books critical of Democrats and co-written by a man named Jerome R. Corsi, identified on the cover as a Harvard PhD. He is also the contributor of several anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic comments to a right-wing Web site. He has recently stated that he regretted those comments. I'm sure he does - he's been revealed for what he is.

I loved the reaction from the Kerry camp to the news that the keynote speaker at the Republican convention is to be the Democrat Senator (Democrat in name only), Zell Miller of Georgia. Sen. Miller might remember that he referred to Sen. Kerry as "an authentic hero" who has worked to "strengthen our military". The Kerry campaign mocked the choice of Miller, referring to those earlier words of praise for the Massachusetts senator and saying that they are thrilled the Republicans would select someone who had had such words of high praise for the challenger.

And a personal note ...I despise the Bush campaign's attempt to use and manipulate Olympic patriotism to their political advantage. A recent Bush ad features swimmers at the Athens Olympics, while the voice notes that, thanks to George Bush and his actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, "this Olympics, there will be two more free nations - and two fewer terrorist regimes".