President Bush has adamantly denied any connection to discredited and unsubstantial attack ads, run by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a group that aims to smear John Kerry's record of honorable military service. On Friday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that the White House and the Bush/Cheney campaign "weren't involved in any way in these [SBVT] ads."
- McClellan neglected to mention that Kenneth
Cordier, who appears prominently in the SBVT ads, was a member of the
Bush/Cheney veterans steering committee. According to the campaign
website, members of the veterans steering committee "serve as
messengers for the President's re-election campaign." After the Kerry
campaign exposed Cordier's involvement, a spokesman for Bush, Steve
Schmidt, announced Cordier would "no longer participate" in the
campaign. According to Schmidt, the campaign had no idea that Cordier
was involved in the SBVT ads - which have been a major issue in the
campaign for weeks and replayed repeatedly on national television.
- Also skipped over by McClellan: The primary
financial backer of the SBVT is Bob Perry - the top donor to
Republicans in the state of Texas. Perry has also been a friend of Karl
Rove, Bush's top political advisor, for nearly 20 years. Perry ponied
up $46,000 for Bush's gubernatorial campaigns and contributed
generously to Bush's presidential races. [more
] - AWOL Bush.com