http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_rebuts_Clark_with_Swift_Boat_0630.html
McCain rebuts Clark with Swift Boat member
Nick Juliano
Published: Monday June 30, 2008
Hanoi Hilton roommate of GOP candidate appeared in '04 anti-Kerry
attacks
Monday's campaign trail back-and-forth focused on comments from former
Gen. Wesley Clark questioning whether Sen. John McCain's experience in
Vietnam qualified him to be commander-in-chief.
In an umbrage-taking conference call Monday afternoon, the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee unveiled his "truth squad," which
featured one of McCain's cellmates during his time as a POW who also
was featured in two infamous ads from the Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth attacking 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry.
Col. Bud Day spoke alongside a handful of other McCain sup****ters
Monday, accusing Clark of inappropriately questioning McCain's war
service in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation. Day, though, is no
stranger to questioning the patriotism of a Vietnam veteran. In
addition to appearing in the Swift Vets ads, which McCain himself
condemned in 2004, Day accused Kerry of treason akin to Benedict
Arnold, according to an August 2004 Wa****ngton Times re****t (via
Nexis):
Col. Day was a Hanoi Hilton cellmate of Sen. John McCain, Arizona
Republican, and takes issue with the defense of Mr. Kerry by "my good
friend, John."
Mr. Kerry's 1971 U.S. Senate testimony as a returned Vietnam
veteran, claiming atrocities and war crimes by fellow U.S. servicemen,
was "outright perjury, absolute lies, fabrications, fantasies with no
substance [that] gave 'aid and comfort' to our enemies, the Vietnamese
communists," Col. Day said in a message to fellow veterans obtained by
The Wa****ngton Times. Col. Day said Mr. Kerry "opened up his character
as a war hero, re****ting for duty to the country with a hand-salute,
and his band of brothers, of which he was the chief hero."
"I draw a direct comparison of Gen. Benedict Arnold of the
Revolutionary War to Lt. John Kerry," Col. Day said. "Both went off to
war, fought, and then turned against their country.
"General Arnold crossed over to the British for money and
position. John Kerry crossed over to the Vietnamese with his
assistance to the anti-war movement, and his direct liaison with the
Vietnamese diplomats in Paris. His reward: Political gain. Senator,
United States."
Despite all the outrage expressed by McCain's surrogates about the
inappropriateness of Clark's comments, some are pointing out that the
former NATO general didn't even attack McCain's record; he simply said
it alone didn't make the Arizona senator prepared to be commander in
chief.
Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday, Clark "honor[ed]" McCain's
sacrifice and called him "a hero to me and to ... millions of others
in the armed forces as a prisoner of war." Host Bob Schieffer
specifically noted that Obama was not a veteran, "nor has he ridden in
a fighter plane and gotten shot down."
"Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down
is a qualification to be president," Clark said. It's this line that's
caused such a stir; Obama's campaign has said it disagrees with the
characterization.
During the McCain call, Day was asked how he reconciles the trumped up
outrage he was expressing at Clark's poorly stated sentiment with the
campaign he participated in to actively and maliciously undercut
Kerry's record.
"The Swift Boat 'attacks' were simply revelation of the truth,"
said Day, a former prisoner of war and Medal of Honor recipient who
served i[n] the Air Force. "The similarity does not exist here."
"What the Swift Boat campaign was about was to lay out John
Kerry's record. John Kerry has never produced any evidence to deny
that," he said.
In contrast, he said, he and others on the call had produced
"evidence pointing out that [Clark's] remarks were completely
inaccurate."
"One was about laying out the truth. This one is about attempting
ot cast a new shadow on John McCain," he said of the salvos at the two
military men.
Kerry strongly refuted that rationale in a statement he released after
the call.
"Colonel Day's comments today only further highlight the McCain
campaign's disregard for a new kind of politics," Kerry said. "John
McCain condemned these kinds of attacks in 2004 when he called the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 'dishonest and dishonorable.' Senator
McCain should condemn these remarks and cut ties with the Colonel and
anyone else connected to SBVT. Day's comments only serve to disparage
all those who served on swift boats in Vietnam."
"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that
said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care.
It's not that im****tant. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
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