It's not often we all have the chance to join Jack Murtha, Max Cleland and Wesley Clark in some ass-kicking but here it is.
There are few things more important to me than fighting back against the right wing strategy of using paid veterans and front groups to attack decorated combat veterans - especially now in a time of war. This is why I'm proud to be part of the group heading up The Patriot Project - and I'm even prouder to be doing everything I can to help men like Jack Murtha stand up against the not-so-swift "Vets For Truth" - a front group that has been created to attack Jack Murtha - universally regarded as one of the top, if not the top, Congressional supporters of the military, our troops and our veterans.
Universally regarded that is until last November he dared to question whether our troops ought to be re-deployed - Taylor Marsh wrote the definitive piece on these attacks - "The Swiftboating of John Murtha."
So here's what's happening this weekend.
On Saturday, real veterans and real heroes are standing up for John Murtha. Men like Wesley Clark and Max Cleland will be there. If you're in the neighborhood, or want to go see what real heroes look like, head to this rally. Here are the details
But on Sunday, BootMurtha/VetsForTruth/IowaPresidentialWatch is holding a rally where they are going to attack and defame John Murtha. They have rented an arena for their pending hate crime. And sadly, they've got lots of help.
From their website, here's a list of local businesses that are SUPPORTING their attack on the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. These people are making money off of the defamation and smearing of a veteran. Give them a call - let them know what you think about that.
Remember - things can get twisted up in the charges and counter charges. But these businesses are supporting a rally whose stated mission is to attack, defame and swiftboat Jack Murtha. They are ATTACKING the veteran and the troops not defending them.
XM Satellite Radio is allowing some of their on-air talent to mc the event. I got a snarky little email from one of them, Jim Quinn, saying that he and his co-defamer of a veteran "have been hired to appear as per permissions granted to us in our contract." Because Taylor Marsh wrote about this, Quinn felt we were mis-representing XM's role and wrote that "a little fact checking goes a long way." Yeah? Well, so does a moral compass scum.
Let's all let Gary Parsons at XM Satellite Radio know how we feel that his company has granted permission for his on-air talent to publicize this event. Here's the information on how to contact XM Satellite Radio. Their stock price is at a 52 week low. If you have any, may I suggest a quick sale on moral ground? Would love to see that on the pink sheets by the weekend.
And last, but not least, here's who the scum at "Vets For Truth" really are.
BootMurtha is run by "Vets For Truth."
"Vets For Truth" is run by Iowa Presidential Watch out of a PO Box in Webster, Iowa. On the advisory board of IPW sits one Richard Schwarm, self-described as "good friends with Karl Rove."
In their June 30, 2006 filing, they were listed as having a negative balance sheet.
And yet - they're having a huge rally, paying celebrities to appear, running outdoor boards and opening offices.
1.Who's paying the bills?
2.Who's giving them money?
3.How dare they attack a genuine American hero in a time of war?
Larry Bailey, the vet-for-hire in charge of this F-troop also created www.kerrylied.com in 2004. His webmaster, Amanda Doss, is a friend of Ted Sampley's who attacked John McCain as a "Manchurian candidate" in 2000. This gang of gangrene has attacked John McCain, John Kerry, Max Cleland and other authentic American heroes and it is disgusting and it's nothing more than an orchestrated political strategy of creating doubt and distortion.
But here's the good news.
The strategy of attacking a decorated war hero on his record of courage and service didn't start with Jack Murtha, but it sure as hell can end here.