Town of Braintree

The Swift Boat Vets Final Ads


The first ad is a 60-second spot featuring 90 swift boat veterans, in a a three-deep line, with the camera panning across the crowd - close-up and slowly. No vets speak, but the announcer delivers the following lines:
Announcer: They served their country with courage and distinction. They?’re the men who served with John Kerry in Vietnam.

Announcer: They?’re his entire chain of command, most of the officers in Kerry?’s unit. Even the gunner from his own boat.

Announcer: And they?’re the men who spent years in North Vietnamese prison camps.

Announcer: Tortured for refusing to confess what John Kerry accused them of. . . of being war criminals.

Announcer: They were also decorated. Many very highly. But they kept their medals.

Announcer: Today they are teachers, farmers, businessman, ministers, and community leaders. And of course, fathers and grandfathers.

Announcer: With nothing to gain for themselves, except the satisfaction that comes with telling the truth, they have come forward to talk about the John Kerry they know.

Announcer: Because to them honesty and character still matters. . . especially in a time of war.

Announcer: Swift Vets and POW?’s for Truth are responsible for the content of this advertisement.

The second spot, also a 60-secon

The second spot, also a 60-second ad, showing several groups (about 10) of swift boat veterans, one after another - with each group of vets featuring one single man posing a question to John Kerry. And the most important of all the vets involved delivers what I believe is a serious, serious, body blow.
John Edwards: If you have an questions about what John Kerry?’s made of (echo on ?“made of?”)...

Van Odell: Why do so many of us have serious questions?

Dr. Louis Letson: How did you get your purple heart when your commanding officer didn?’t approve it?

Steve Gardner: Why have you repeatedly claimed you were illegally sent into Cambodia. . .

Bob Elder: . . . when it has been proven that you were not?

Jim Werner: How could you accuse us of being war criminals. . .

Ken Cordier: . . . and secretly meet with the enemy in Paris. . .

Mike Solhaug: . . . and promote the enemy?’s position back home. . .

Paul Galanti: . . . when I was a POW, and Americans were being killed in combat.

Bud Day: How can you expect our sons and daughters to follow you, when you condemned their fathers and grandfathers?

Joe Ponder: Why is this relevant?

Tom Hanton: Because character and honesty matter. Especially in a time of war.

Rear Admiral Roy Hoffman: John Kerry cannot be trusted.

Announcer: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is responsible for the content of this advertisement.


By John Kerry cannot be trusted.