Al Hunt Rages: John O'Neill, "a Liar" and "Pawn of Chuck Colson"
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August 10, 2004Al Hunt went apoplectic on Saturday night's Capital Gang on CNN, launching personal insults against John O'Neill, the Chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Hunt, Executive Washington Editor of the Wall Street Journal, declared of the group's TV ad: "I think this is some of the sleaziest lies I've ever seen in politics. John O'Neill, one of the principal authors, has been a Republican functionary for over 30 years" who is "a liar" and "was a pawn of Chuck Colson."
Hunt, who served as moderator for the August 7 show, set up the segment with a clip from the ad followed by Kerry taking a shot at Bush over the seven minutes. Hunt went first to National Review's Kate O'Beirne:
"It can't be a good sign, though, when John Kerry's adopting lines of attack from Michael Moore. So I think that's a point against him, feeling as though he has a strong hand. Look, these swift boat veterans, many of whom served in the same command as John Kerry, have not just sprung on the scene. They have been around for months. And the media chooses to ignore them. There are some band of brothers who the media fawns over, takes every word they say as gospel, and there are over 200 members of the band of brothers that the media wants no part of. The fact is, a majority of the naval officer who served with John Kerry in coastal division 11 think he's unfit to command. Now, why they're not being given a fair hearing -- they're not anonymous. They're putting their names and reputations behind their reservations about John Kerry, beginning with him coming home and explaining Vietnam was a filthy, obscene memory and war crimes were widespread and now using that service politically to so promote himself. They ought to be heard."
Hunt: "Margaret Carlson, tell me what you think."
Carlson: "Well, the lead person in that commercial has said he made a terrible mistake signing the affidavit accusing John Kerry of not serving his country. And another one of the people said that -- actually praised Senator Kerry in 1996. Listen, this is supported by a group of partisan Republicans with a lot of money, most of them from Texas, one of whose husband ran for lieutenant governor with George Bush in 1994. It's completely partisan. These people have been gathered together. Much of what they say won't stand the test of time, as we're finding out with Mr. Elliott. And it brought John McCain out against George Bush, saying that he should specifically condemn this dishonest ad. Of course, the Bush administration has refused to do so."
Hunt: "Bob Novak?"
Novak: "First place, there, of two, these are 200 colleagues and fellow warriors of John Kerry who signed this letter in May. There's a new book out called Unfit for Command about his record. I've read it all. It's coming out, it'll be published soon. It is a shocking presentation of Senator Kerry's record. I just couldn't believe some of the things in there -- very carefully documented. Margaret, these are not partisan Republicans. They're not Republicans at all. They're Naval personnel. They're not interested in George Bush. One of the authors of the book told me he would have voted for John Edwards if he were nominated. Not particular Bush fans, but they just are appalled by John Kerry.
"Now, I have some question whether 30 years later you should be inspecting the minutiae, the record of John Kerry, which is a very questionable record -- how he got his decorations, his very short term of duty, four months of combat, one third of the time -- but the fact of the matter is, he brought it on himself by concentrating at the convention and in the campaign on not his Senate record but his war record to try to bring about support from the middle and the center of the road."Following comments from former Democratic Congressman Tony Coelho, Hunt jumped in: "I'd like to be able to say something here because I think this is some of the sleaziest lies I've ever seen in politics. John O'Neill, one of the principal authors, has been a Republican functionary for over 30 years-"
Novak: "That's not true! That's a lie!"
Hunt: "Could I please finish?"
Novak: "That is a lie!"
Hunt: "That's not a lie."
Novak: "That's not true!"
Hunt: "He's a liar. He started with -- he started with Chuck Colson. He was a pawn of Chuck Colson."
Novak: "That's not true!"
Hunt: "If I could finish? I didn't interrupt you."
Novak: "All right."
Hunt: "So I think he's a liar, to begin with. Secondly, if you look at Commander Hoffman -- ask Bob Kerrey about Mr. Hoffman. He was Bob Kerrey's commanding officer. Ask him about Hoffman's character and veracity. George Elliott, as Margaret said earlier, which is one of the charges against -- that he lied about his Silver Star -- has retracted it. He said, I made a terrible mistake. Who pressured him to make that mistake? They got a guy named Van O'Dell, who says Kerry lied about his Bronze Star. Got his Bronze Star for saving Jim Rassmann's life. Jim Rassmann says, he saved my life. The people on the boat said he saved -- he saved his life. Now, where was this guy O'Dell? Was he with binoculars somewhere, peering at-"
O'Beirne: "You want somebody to answer these?"
Hunt: "And finally -- wait. Wait just a second. Let me finish. John McCain, I think, has more credibility-"
Novak: "He doesn't know anything about it!"
Hunt: "Just a second! Than all of us put together on this issue."
O'Beirne: "He wasn't there, Al."
Hunt: "Wait a second! These guys weren't there-"
O'Beirne: "They were right there!"
Hunt: "Where were they when he saved Jim Rassmann? Where were they?"
O'Beirne: "They were right there!"
Hunt: "Where?"
O'Beirne: "They were 20 yards away! Read the affidavits!"
Hunt: "So Jim Rassmann's lying about saving his life? Come on, Kate!"
Novak: "No, wait a minute!"
Hunt: "This is a propaganda-"
O'Beirne: "Do you want an answer?"
Hunt: "-effort financed-"
O'Beirne: "Do you want an answer?"
Hunt: "-by right-wing Republicans!"
O'Beirne: "Do you want an answer? He was pulled out of the water, and others 20 yards away said there was no enemy fire coming from the shore. Look, John O'Neill is a Naval Academy grad who voted for, for Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Al. So much for being a Republican Party operative."
Hunt: "That's before Chuck Colson got to him."I never knew Al Hunt was so afraid of Chuck Colson.
