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AP, Wash. Post fail to report ties between Swift Boat Vets, ad attacking Obama

August 22, 2008 3:12 pm ET

SUMMARY: The Associated Press and The Washington Post quoted a spokesman for the American Issues Project, which has produced an ad attacking Sen. Barack Obama, without mentioning that he was employed in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that led a smear campaign against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 election.

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Reporting on an ad by the American Issues Project (AIP) attacking Sen. Barack Obama for his association with William Ayers, the Associated Press and The Washington Post quoted the group's spokesman in August 21 articles without mentioning that he was employed in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that led a smear campaign against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 election.

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn wrote that the American Issues Project has a "past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign" and "wants to spend $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground." The article then reported that one of AIP's board members, Ed Failor, is a former paid McCain campaign consultant. A Washington Post article about the ad that appeared in its campaign diary The Trail also reported that Failor did paid work for McCain in Iowa, collecting $50,000 through July 2007. Both articles quoted AIP spokesman Christian Pinkston making assurances that Failor was no longer connected to the McCain campaign. However, neither article mentioned that Pinkston is founder of a public relations firm that was employed in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that ran a campaign of false and baseless smears against Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War record in 2004, including a book co-written by discredited anti-Obama author Jerome Corsi.

By contrast, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both reported in August 22 articles about the American Issues Project's ad that Pinkston was involved with the Swift Boat campaign. New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg, after reporting Failor's connection to the McCain campaign and quoting Pinkston saying, "This has nothing to do with McCain," wrote: "Mr. Pinkston's firm, the Pinkston Group, had worked for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that ran advertisements against Senator John Kerry when he ran for president in 2004." A Media Matters for America search through Swift Boat Veterans' expenditure disclosure forms on the Internal Revenue Service's website confirmed the Pinkston Group's employment.

— D.C.P.
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    • Author by snoopy (August 22, 2008 3:23 pm ET)
         

      That may be big, but this has got to be the bombshell of the day:

      Buchanan accuses 'McCain's neocon warmonger' of treason Stephen C. Webster
      Published: Friday August 22, 2008

      Buzz up!vote now
      Print This  Email This 

      According to conservative commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, Sen. John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann is a 'dual loyalist,' 'neocon warmonger' involved in activities that 'none dare call treason.'

      Scheunemann's former employer, Orion Strategies, is a lobbying firm with strong ties to Mikheil Saakashvili's administration in Georgia.

      Since Georgia attempted to retake South Ossetia by force, triggering a sharp, violent rebuke by Russian forces, Sen. McCain has been by far the most strident advocate of US support for the former Soviet state. And his top adviser, says Buchanan, may well be the next Henry Kissinger or Zbigniew Brzezinski.

      "He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man," he wrote.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by eweston8542983 (August 22, 2008 3:44 pm ET)
           

        On the occasion I've found myself agreeing with Pat. A bit hyperboloic here, but something that could use some attension.

        K. Rove was over there doing what a while ago. Besides evading a congressional supena?

        Report Abuse
      • Author by princeofwheels (August 22, 2008 3:57 pm ET)
           
        Now Buchanan will be labeled as a nut....or relabeled. I can't wait for the McCain ad saying that Buchanan is too old to listen to.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by nerzog (August 22, 2008 4:23 pm ET)
           
        Snoop, don't expect this angle to get much coverage in the MSM. Remember the Ron Suskind bombshell that dropped last week (crickets)? How much evidence do we need to prove that these bastards lied us into a war, and may be in the process of doing it again?

        This Georgia thing stinks like hell.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Pyrrhonist (August 22, 2008 4:34 pm ET)
             
          I agree.  Where was our "Russian expert" Secretary of State when that blew up?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by nerzog (August 22, 2008 5:11 pm ET)
               
            Shoe shopping, no doubt.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by Pyrrhonist (August 22, 2008 5:15 pm ET)
                 
              Of course.  What was I thinking?
              Report Abuse
              • Author by princeofwheels (August 23, 2008 12:28 am ET)
                   
                But what you don't know is the her shopping mate was Little Dickie Morris...Anyone notice how shoes(Condi), toes (our Little Dick), foot-tapping(some innocent Senator) seem to be a thread of their own in the Con(verse) Party!!!! At least we know that Cheney can't be included because he lacks a soul and Bush, you guessed it, just a heel.
                Report Abuse
        • Author by snoopy (August 22, 2008 6:15 pm ET)
             
          No doubt, like we also won't hear about vote dropping in ohio.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Science101 (August 22, 2008 6:38 pm ET)
               
            Electronic voting machine flaws vs. individuals counting the votes vs. dead people voting vs. forced voting vs. "i cant find the hole to punch".  I cannot, for the life of me, think of any election that would produce 100% accurate results.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by snoopy (August 22, 2008 7:33 pm ET)
                 
              I can, and diebold wants to model their machines on it. It's called the saddam hussain perfect voting record election.
              Report Abuse
            • Author by foghornleghorn (August 22, 2008 8:42 pm ET)
                 

              Remember, it's not important who votes, but who counts the votes.  And with Diebold, no one knows if the totals have been manipulated.  Because Scienceguy, there's no PAPER TRAIL.  Welcome to the banana republic you've helped create.  Happy now.

              Report Abuse
      • Author by hogprint (August 22, 2008 11:03 pm ET)
           

        Wait, hold the phone...

        I thought Pat was El Diablo not just, what, four five days ago.  Now he's held up here because he's turned on McCain?  

        Report Abuse
        • Author by mary59 (August 24, 2008 4:49 pm ET)
             
          Fair question.  I think Buchanan is a racist.  However, he's on the right side as far as invading countries and spending taxpayer money on imperialistic ventures.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by magnolialover (August 22, 2008 3:33 pm ET)
         

      Yes, of course. A man who donated $200 to an early Obama campaign must be a super duper good friend and Obama must have taken part in the Weathermen movement/terrorist activities.

      Reaching I say that these guys are. Reaching.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (August 22, 2008 3:40 pm ET)
           
        Not to play WITH patrol, but anybody who even considers Bill Ayers a topic of any substance with regards to Obama is probably confused enough that a connection to the Swifties is a positive on a resume.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Science101 (August 22, 2008 6:39 pm ET)
             
          Connections to a proud, domestic terrorist is somehow not considered important?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by foghornleghorn (August 22, 2008 8:38 pm ET)
               
            Important to you and nobody else.  Any Chappaquiddick secrets you want to reveal for us? 
            Report Abuse
      • Author by Pyrrhonist (August 22, 2008 3:40 pm ET)
           
        Someone just told me that Fox News has refused to run this ad.  Could this be true?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (August 22, 2008 3:51 pm ET)
             
          Could be. Maybe Sean Hannity thought it was too biased against McCain, and didn't screech "Unrepentant" enough.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by IRONY 101 (August 22, 2008 4:01 pm ET)
               
            FOX doesn't need to run anti-Obama attack ads...their political commentary sufficiently does it.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by IRONY 101 (August 22, 2008 4:02 pm ET)
                 
              BTW, did you know that John McCain is a former POW? He doesn't like to talk about it...
              Report Abuse
    • Author by princeofwheels (August 22, 2008 3:55 pm ET)
         

      No idea. But being that it is Fox, they may not run it as a paid ad but may run it up to a hundred times to discuss it fully. They may even use it as a promo and ask "Is the a real ad? And should we run it?"

      If it is negative towards Obama, it will show up in some form. Billy O' will rant and rave that he is not permitted to run this ad. And then it will run but only because Fox may be questioning something about the ad. And then his guest will want to see it 10 more times, etc. etc. etc.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by Pyrrhonist (August 22, 2008 4:51 pm ET)
           
        You're right of course.  It'll be like when they run those crazy naked teenage girl videos. "Oh my God, that's just shocking! Run it again so we can see how shocking it is!"   
        Report Abuse
      • Author by albertsenj (August 25, 2008 3:47 am ET)
           

        This may be a little off-topic but, how can someone be 'fair & balanced' while engineering the 'Stop Obama Express'?

        Report Abuse
    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (August 22, 2008 7:30 pm ET)
         
      This another  example of the FAR RIGHT WING SMEAR MACHINE doing its job.We should be used to it by now. I give it the credence it  deserves,  NONE AT ALL.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by truthseeker77 (August 23, 2008 7:39 am ET)
         
      Why is Obama friends with Ayers, who said he and his group didn't do enough by bombing American landmarks?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mary59 (August 24, 2008 4:52 pm ET)
           
        You are, I'm sorry to report, not seeking the truth.  How many unrepentent liars are out there besides yourself?
        Report Abuse

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