New York Daily News -
http://www.nydailynews.com
Kerry's old Navy foe looks to sink senator
By HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Tuesday, May 4th, 2004
WASHINGTON - John Kerry's old nemesis - a fellow Vietnam vet picked by President Richard Nixon to discredit Kerry 30 years ago - is resurfacing today to declare him "unfit to be commander in chief."
John O'Neill, who succeeded Kerry as commander of the same Navy Swift boat, will announce the formation of a new political group called Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, dedicated to undermining Kerry.
O'Neill says he has a letter signed by hundreds of Navy vets, including many who served with Kerry, saying he is not commander-in-chief material. O'Neill's main beef is Kerry's charge that U.S. troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.
"Our mission is to provide solid factual information relating to Mr. Kerry's abbreviated tour of duty," he wrote.
Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton said, "The group behind this is the same group that smeared Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the 2000 Republican presidential primary."
The new attack comes as Kerry launched $25 million in new ads stressing his Bronze Star and Silver Star and featuring a veteran whose life he saved.
Bush has spent $40 million on ads tagging Kerry as soft on defense, and Republicans have orchestrated a wide-ranging attack on his Vietnam record - including questioning the three Purple Hearts that sent him home early.
While it may seem counterintuitive to go after Kerry's war service, the tactic worked against McCain. Sources in Bush's 2000 operation said the idea was never to sway voters but to infuriate the candidate.
McCain reacted furiously in 2000, helping to derail his campaign. Kerry, meanwhile, was reduced to angry stammering when challenged about his medals on ABC last week.
O'Neill, a Houston lawyer, is emerging to spearhead the new attack, just as he did for the Nixon White House in the 1970s.
Nixon's secret tapes captured him fretting with aides about the political threat Kerry posed and plotting to "destroy" him. O'Neill, an articulate young vet who had criticized Kerry's anti-war speeches, was invited to the White House in 1971 and encouraged to debate Kerry.
"Give it to him, give it to him," Nixon told O'Neill.
O'Neill says he is not coordinating with the White House this time around.