Un-American Attitude

In a Senate hearing many years ago John Kerry claimed he ran a watery border of Vietnam and Cambodia along the Mekong River. John O'Neill, another former swift boat commander, stated, "How do I know he's [Kerry] not in Cambodia? I was on the same river. ... Our patrol area ran to Sedek, it was 50 miles from Cambodia. There isn't any watery border."

Maybe O'Neill really was "50 miles from Cambodia". He didn't learn much, though, about the river he claims he was on. The Mekong River, called the "Mother of Waters", runs through the heart of Cambodia with scores of smaller rivers and tributaries feeding it all along its journey from Tibet. As far as "any watery border", several of those smaller rivers, all part of the Mekong River system, do in fact flow along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.

O'Neill is co-founder of the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, co-author of an anti-Kerry book, "Unfit for Command", and contributor to both the Republican National Committee and George Bush's campaign. He has been deeply involved with subversive politics for the Republican party, even against John Kerry, since the Nixon days when he started the Vietnam Vets For A Just Peace with the support of the Whitehouse.

Recently CNN aired a video taped discussion between Richard Nixon and John O'Neill in which O'Neill was then claiming to have also "run the border" of Cambodia in a Swift boat. Talk about flip-flopping! If he cannot today remember his own involvement how can he be trusted to remember the involvement of another boat he wasn't even on?

His repeated proven lies and slander say an enormous amount about O'Neill's lack of integrity. It says just as much, though, about the lack of integrity of those who condone his comments and efforts. The national Republican party learned during the McCarthy era that lies and slander produce great benefits in the forms of election victories and coercing the minds of citizens. They fine-tuned their campaign methods during the Nixon-Segretti "dirty tricks" days.

The "win by slander" technique of campaigning has become such an integral part of the Republican ethic they even use it against one another in the primaries. George Bush is doing it again. His supporters smeared Sen. John McCain's military record during the 2000 campaign. Now they're financing O'Neill's group to do the same thing against John Kerry, even though the U.S. Navy's records prove their statements to be false.

It's that totally un-American attitude that prompted me to change parties. I do not believe the end justifies the means. If you can't succeed honorably you should not be allowed to succeed at all. That's American!