Letter to bmoore33;

I chose the Matt Gunn article because it was concise and expressed in as few words as possible a truth that should be known. It was an opinion piece, but it was grounded in fact.

Those men pictured with Kerry were other swift boat officers, not rank-and-file soldiers. While they were part of the same division, not one of them ever served on a boat with him and none of them ever knew him on a personal basis. Therefore their opinions about him are not based upon personal experience, but are driven by political ideology, and it renders irrelevant their willingness to "sign off on the site."

Also, the organization, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, was founded by John O'Neill, a Conservative Republican activist who has had an anti-Kerry chip on his shoulder since the two of them debated the Vietnam War on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. It's web site is misleading; in part because it does not mention that O'Neill is a long-time Republican political operative with ties to the Bush White House. It also ignores and suppresses the fact that while the officers featured in that photograph (who never served on a boat with Kerry and who are predominantly Republican) may be against Kerry, the soldiers who actually served with him in combat overwhelmingly support him.

- Wicasta Lovelace

P.S. You're wrong in assuming that the Matt Gunn who has the "dark and diverse electronic music" web site is the same as the Matt Gunn who wrote the article. The former is a musician who lives in Britain. The latter is an up and coming political writer who lives in the United States.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bmoore33@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
> Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 6:09 PM
> To: xxxxxxxx@wicasta.com
> Subject: Re: RE: Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth"
>
> I'm assuming the article on Mattgunn.com is the same Matt Gunn that also
> has the following web site:
> MATT GUNN Copyright © MATT GUNN 2004.
> Dark and diverse electronic music.
>
> Maybe you should check your sources as well. At least the men pictured
> with Kerry were really with him for the picture. I think I'd believe them
> first. Especially since they were willing to sign off on the site.
> bmoore33