Now that the notorious “Swift Boat Veterans for Trashing John Kerry” have been solidly exposed as a bunch of Republican party hacks, George W has a fresh group of shills trying to give him some political cover.
Calling themselves “Vets for Freedom,” this bunch has been posing as an independent, objective non-partisan voice, writing articles and blogs that support Bush’s war in Iraq.
An example of their objectivity is a glowing piece one of the VFF leaders posted in June: “Baghdad is beautiful,” he gushed. “I mean shockingly majestic. I was amazed to see this level of cleanliness.” He didn’t mention that, only the day before, explosions around beautiful Baghdad had killed another 23 people.
Withholding of negative details seems to be a trademark of this outfit. For example, a guy named Taylor Gross went to the Buffalo News and at least three other newspapers in April to urge them to carry the “balanced and credible” stories written by VFF leaders. Gross failed to mention, however, that until last year he had been a Bush flack in the White House press office and now heads a Republican PR group.
Nor did Gross tell the newspaper editors that the “non-partisan” Vets for Freedom has deep Republican ties, that its slick website is hosted by a firm that worked for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and that VFF had been trashing decorated war hero Rep. John Murtha and other Democratic critics of George’s Iraqi misadventures.
None of the papers took up Gross’ offer, though such papers as the New York Times and Washington Post have carried op-ed pieces by VFF leaders—none mentioning the authors’ partisan connections and bias.
To keep up with VFF and other political front groups, connect with a watchdog organization called Source Watch: sourcewatch.org.
©2006 Jim Hightower and Associates. Visit jimhightower.com.