Bush leading Kerry by 7 percentage points.
Bush's job approval is up, 54 percent among likely voters, and just over
half of them approve of his handling of the economy and Iraq.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6089665/

GW *AWOL* Chimpzilla <patriot-for-cash@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<sWZ4d.108768$D%.108303@attbi_s51>...

MSNBC's Matthews, Shuster noted lies in Swift Boat Vets' latest ad

MSNBC correspondent David Shuster and host Chris Matthews discredited the
latest Swift Boat Veterans for Truth anti-Kerry attack ad. On the September
23 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Shuster and Matthews
pointed out the inaccuracy of the ad's accusation that Kerry "secretly met
with enemy leaders in Paris." The Washington Post and Media Matters for
America noted this false attack on September 22.

To paraphrase Dan Rather

"Today, on the Internet and elsewhere, some
people, including many who are partisan political operatives,
concentrated not on the key questions of the overall story, but on the
word "secret" which has no relationship to whether John Kerry, while
still serving in the United States Navy, met with the enemies of his
country. While focusing on the word "secret" these pajama clad hacks
do not challenge the central argument of the adds."

The following exchanges illustrate the disparity between Shuster's and
Matthews's analysis of the Swift Boat Vets' ad and the perspective shared by
FOX News Channel co-host Sean Hannity and CNN host Robert Novak. From the
September 23 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

SHUSTER: This is from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. They have an ad
trashing John Kerry. Here's their latest spot.

VIDEO CLIP: Even before Jane Fonda went to Hanoi to meet with the enemy, John
Kerry secretly met with enemy leaders in Paris. Though we were still at war
and Americans were being held in North Vietnamese prison camps.

SHUSTER: The problem, according to historians, is that Kerry went to France
not to meet with the North Vietnamese but because he was a newlywed. He did
accept a briefing invitation just like other Americans, including Senator
Eugene McCarthy months before. But the meeting was not secret. Kerry talked
about it in open testimony later. And historians say Kerry didn't negotiate
or attend any peace talks. And by all accounts, Kerry talked about an
initiative by the Vietnamese to release POWs.

But nonetheless, Chris, as you know, these ads can be pretty effective.

MATTHEWS: I think it made him [Kerry] look like a traitor, when in fact he
disagreed with U.S. policy and made that very clear in his testimony to the
Senate, which included an acknowledgment he had met with those North
Vietnamese. It wasn't secret in the sense that it was subversive -- this ad
makes it look that way.



Hannity on the September 23 edition of FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes:

BOB BECKEL (Democratic strategist): [D]o you agree, yes or no, the swift boat
ads are way out of line?

HANNITY: No, because the swift boat ads are true. These are eyewitness
accounts.



Novak on the September 22 edition of CNN's Crossfire:

NOVAK: I don't believe they've [Swift Boat Vets] been discredited on any --
on any account.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409240004