Kerry Vows to Disprove Swift Boat Claims

[snopes]

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[Mouse]

Why should he have to prove anything to a bunch of Nixon's underlings? Not to mention isn't this just too little, too late? I mean, Kerry already lost the election.

[Il-Mari]

Doesn't matter in the least, since the guy changed the criteria immediately when challanged by Kerry:

Pickens said he wouldn't consider giving Kerry the reward unless Kerry surrenders 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.

Why would Kerry need to release all his personal documents to disprove the claims again?

- Il-Mari

[wanderwoman]

So first he says only one claim needs to be disproven, then as soon as Kerry takes him up on that he ups the ante considerably. This is a good illustration of the kind of dirty politics these guys used to trash Kerry during the election.

What's wrong with our political system that tactics like this can so effectively sidetrack elections?

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by wanderwoman

So first he says only one claim needs to be disproven, then as soon as Kerry takes him up on that he ups the ante considerably. This is a good illustration of the kind of dirty politics these guys used to trash Kerry during the election.

What's wrong with our political system that tactics like this can so effectively sidetrack elections?

The fault is in ourselves; we, as humans, are led by the nose in just this way.

If such lies didn't work -- and, alas, they work damnably well -- no one would employ them.

Silas

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Il-Mari

Why would Kerry need to release all his personal documents to disprove the claims again?

Because they need to see all the available evidence in order to ensure that Kerry can't disprove the claims they're going to invent.

- snopes

[Ramblin' Dave]

Originally Posted by wanderwoman

What's wrong with our political system that tactics like this can so effectively sidetrack elections?

Besides what Silas already said, there's the "I can't believe they sank that low" element. Every time a dirty trick like the swiftboating surfaces and derail's somebody's campaign, the strategists behind that campaign (almost always Democrats) always wring their hands and argue that they just didn't imagine the other side would play that dirty, or that the voters would fall for it. It's long past time they stopped taking anything for granted as far as integrity is concerned.

[Tarquin Farquart]

It is a bit late for him to be doing this.

[Chloe]

As an employee of Boone State University, I have no opinion. Except to say that John Kerry looks French.

[UEL]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Why should he have to prove anything to a bunch of Nixon's underlings? Not to mention isn't this just too little, too late? I mean, Kerry already lost the election.

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

It is a bit late for him to be doing this.

Is it now?

The man's reputation has been impugned by allegations that may, or may not be true. Why not let him clear the air?

**Deleted some not so clear examples of others.