Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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Human Events reports that the DNC and the Kerry campaign are writing to television stations, stating that the Swift Boat ads is is "false" and "libelous" and that "your station may not responsibly air this advertisement."

At least one of their points in the letter is an obvious lie: "The advertisement contains statements by men who purport to have served on Senator John Kerry's SWIFT [sic] boat in Vietnam and one statement by a man pretending to be the doctor who treated Senator Kerry for one of his injuries."

Horsepucky.

Every vet in the ad says, "I served with John Kerry," but not one of them claims to have been in his boat. Most of the men are other swiftboat captains. They've been open and clear in their statements that they served in other swift boats operating within 50 yards on Kerry's side, and their statements are their observations on serving alongside him, not under him.

NR's own Byron York had the scoop on Louis Letson, the doctor, months ago. The Kerry letter insists that Letson is a "phony" because he didn't sign Kerry's sick call sheet.

The Los Angeles Times looked at the who-signed-the-form controversy back in May:

"Meehan questioned Letson's role, saying a J.C. Carreon signed Kerry's medical report of the wound. "This gentleman is not the man who is on the report," he said.

Letson said that Carreon, a lower-ranked "hospitalman," was "present at the time and he, in fact, made the entry into Lt. Kerry's medical record."

Bad move, Team Kerry. The letter from the lawyers turns this into a bigger story, and the argument that these men are "phony" doesn't seem all that strong.

[Posted 08/05 05:13 PM]