Steve Gardner
Swift Boat Vets Kerry, Steve Gardner, served as gunner...
Mon Aug 23, 2004 01:27
64.140.158.20


Swift Boat Vets Kerry, Steve Gardner, served as gunner...
Results 1 - 10 of about 92 for Steve Gardner John-Kerry.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Steve+Gardner+%22John+Kerry%22&btnG=Search+News

Carville, Davis, and Other Pests
Written by John Armor
Saturday, August 21, 2004

Carville, Davis, and Other Pests –
“Those We Don’t Speak Of”
by John Armor


This is a movie review, a reminder of one of the most reprehensible people in American history, and a well-deserved pranging of James Carville and Lanny Davis. Both of them appeared last week on every TV program in the known universe to decry the criticisms of John Kerry by 254 Swift Boat veterans because ''they were not on the same boat.''

This is a bald-faced, brass-plated lie in a number of ways. But before we count those up, a review of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, ''The Village,'' is in order. Yes, this will connect up. And so will a brief history of Aaron Burr, who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1804.

If you enjoy subtle, effective thrillers, Shyamalan’s latest movie is a must-see. Even if thrillers are not your cup of tea, it’s still worthwhile. This is one of the few directors of whom I say, see all the movies he ever produces. I’ll say enough about this film to show the connection with Carville and Davis. But I will not spoil the surprise; Shyamalan’s twists at the end of his movies are legendary.

In ''The Village,'' this quiet town of simple folk is hemmed into its boundaries by ''Those We Don’t Speak Of'' in the surrounding woods. These are fearsome creatures, huge and with great claws, easily angered, and deadly to both man and beast. The Elders of the town have strict rules for how the people must keep to themselves and avoid antagonizing ''Those We Don’t Speak Of.''

We turn now to Carville and Davis. After the ''Swift Boat Vets for Truth'' put out their first TV commercial about dishonesties in John Kerry’s record, and their book, ''Unfit for Command,'' was due to come out, the counterattack came from these two gentlemen. It did not come from Kerry himself. It did not come from any of the much smaller group of Swift Boat Vets who support Kerry. (Those are well-scripted, and kept under wraps. Contact the Rev. Alston at his church in Columbia, SC, and you will be referred to the Kerry press office.)

No, it was these two paid verbal assassins who came out to do battle on TV. And their central point, the mantra they repeated incessantly and passed off to the assistant assassins who appeared on the lesser TV, radio, and print media assignments, was this: ''They were not on the same boat.''

Let’s take that statement apart. Not all of the 13 or so Swift Boat Vets who support Kerry WERE on the same boat with him. The story of Rev. David Alston, whose speech I praised three weeks ago when I thought he was telling the truth as he believed it, has unraveled. After his hospitalization for a head injury, which happened the same day as the injury to the lieutenant who Kerry replaced on the 94 Boat, Alston only came back to duty for a single week before Kerry engineered his trip back home.

So his magnificent speech on Wednesday night in Boston was fraudulent, and so was John Kerry’s praise for Rev. Alston’s presence on the 94 Boat. And the story of Jim Rassman, the Man-Whose-Life-Was-Saved, is also unraveling. His version of what Boat he initially was on does not match the official records, nor does Kerry’s conduct just before the ''Deliverance.''

On the other side of the equation, one of the Swift Boat Vets who opposes Kerry, Steve Gardner, served as long or longer with Kerry as all those who still support him. Gardner was a few feet away from Kerry the whole time, and deems him an unfit commander.

But the whole ''on the same boat'' issue is a fraud. Everyone who has seen John Kerry’s home movies in which he and other sailors took their boats and reenacted missions for his camera, knows that this is a fraud. Those movies, woven into a hagiography by a disciple of Steven Spielberg, clearly showed the fraud. And though only 14 million people saw that glowing film when it was first broadcast in Boston, that Mekong River clip has been run repeatedly.

In watching such carefully crafted films, what’s left out is as important as what’s included. There was no mention whatsoever that Kerry’s political career began with election as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts under Michael Dukakis. I suppose that would have resembled a resume item stating that Kerry was First Officer on the Titanic. And Kerry’s 20-year career in the U.S. Senate garnered a whole 27 seconds in that film, if my stopwatch was correct. But I digress.

As I describe what you’ve seen in the Mekong footage but perhaps not paid close attention to, you will perceive the fraud. The shot is from the stern of one Swift Boat. Most of the time, it shows a second boat about 100 feet behind. But as the clip continues, for just three seconds a third boat is seen, about 100 feet behind the second boat. Kerry’s own film shows the way these boats operated. For the mutual safety of the boats and their crews, they operated in packs or groups of two to seven. The hulls of these boats were thin, with little protection from attack. They were therefore very easy to sink if damaged at the waterline. The crew of a boat would probably die en masse, if their boat was sunk during a solo mission.

Kerry’s own film clip also shows that crew and commanders on accompanying boats had as good or better vantage points to see what happened on another boat, than the crew on that boat – especially if that one was under active attack. Consider what the Carville-Davis same-boat canard really means. On the beach of Normandy, or in the Arden Forest, would accurate descriptions of what happened only be known by members of the same platoon, or would other soldiers not far away have an accurate viewpoint?

In the air, would only pilots on the same plane have a view of the action? Or would other pilots in the same squadron have an equal or possibly better vantage point to describe what actually happened?

Kerry’s own film clip shows that the Swift Boats operated in close order, like platoons of soldiers, or squadrons of planes. Neither James Carville nor Lanny Davis are stupid men. It’s impossible that they have not seen the Kerry film clip. Therefore they know exactly how the Swift Boats operated. They KNOW that the mantra they’re using to attack the Swift Boat Vets for Truth is a bald-faced lie. They KNOW that they’re engaging in character assassination, not political debate. They’re willing to do that to get the only result they care about: political victory at any cost.

And that brings us to Aaron Burr. He was a brilliant politician, but he was devoid of ethics. His great legacies in American history are three. He turned a social organization in New York into the oldest and most corrupt urban machine in the U.S., Tammany Hall. He caused the addition of the 11th Amendment to the Constitution, to avoid a repeat of his attempt to steal the presidency (from Thomas Jefferson). And he shot and killed Hamilton, a framer of the Constitution, a man whose boots Burr was not fit to black.

Burr was the ultimate politician, always looking for the winning angle regardless of whether it was either ethical or legal, always looking out for himself. Among his lesser achievements were two attempts to foment the revolt of parts of the Union. His second such effort, to break away New Orleans, resulted in his trial for treason. He narrowly avoided conviction.

Burr is the American politician with the blackest soul. Anything to win; no exceptions. And now you see why I compare Carville and Davis to Burr. They, like him, are lawyers, politicians, and public spokesmen. They, like him, are a disgrace to each and every one of those professions. They, like him, are monsters of American politics, who serve no purpose except to scare the children.

When the ''children'' at issue are actually the voters who will elect a President of the United States while the nation is at war, the true horror of Carville and Davis is revealed. They are willing to sabotage the future of the nation and the safety of its citizens with lies to scare people into voting for a fraud.

Other than actually shooting a framer of the Constitution, other than seeking the rebellion of parts of the Union, it is hard to see how these two gentlemen are any less dangerous in their efforts to damage this nation for their own political benefit, than was Aaron Burr.

And for those who have seen ''The Village,'' there is a final, tight parallel between ''Those We Don’t Speak Of'' and Carville and Davis. I can’t mention that without spoiling the ending. See for yourself.

Of course, if anyone in the Kerry camp was actually interested in getting the truth on the table, the first step would be for John Kerry to sign a Form 180. That allows release of the personnel records of anyone in the military to those who want to see all documents, such as reporters. George Bush signed a Form 180 long ago and without hesitation. Documents released by the Kerry Campaign so far are the ones they choose to release. Even those raise serious questions about Kerry’s version of the truth.

Kerry has not signed the Form 180, and is offering the pretense that all documents have been made public. They have not. Speaking as a lawyer, when the other side conceals documents, it usually means those documents will damage their position. Otherwise, they would turn the documents over, quick like a bunny. That’s just common sense.

And that type of common sense has not yet inflicted itself on either the Washington Post or the New York Times, which published largely document-free articles on the Swift Boat veterans late this week. Both newspapers were far more interested in making negative comments about ordinary Swift Boat vets, than they were in establishing the truth about John Kerry’s service. As a former college newspaper editor, I would have rejected both articles as short on facts and long on the personal opinions of the writers.

Notice that neither of these articles refer to Kerry’s ''Christmas in Cambodia,'' his oft-repeated claim about his boat and crew in 1968, which even Kerry has backed away from, without yet figuring out what story will take its place. I’ve mostly left that out, too, because that lie has already been put to bed.

So the subterfuge continues about the four-month tour of the Lieutenant on Swift Boats in Vietnam. (There’s an insidious TV theme song in there, somewhere.)

About the Writer: John Armor is a First Amendment lawyer and writer who lives in the Blue Ridge section of North Carolina.
John receives e-mail at CongressmanBillybob@earthlink.net .
http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=9162
------------------------------

Swift Boat Vets Kerry, Steve Gardner, served as gunner...
Results 1 - 10 of about 92 for Steve Gardner John-Kerry.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Steve+Gardner+%22John+Kerry%22&btnG=Search+News

The imploding John Kerry
Enter Stage Right, Canada - 9 minutes ago
... A good case in point is John Kerry's fantastic claim of having spent ... miles from the Cambodian border." One of the crewmen, Steve Gardner, explicitly stated ...
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0804/0804implodekerry.htm