Group with Ties to SBVT, ‘Vets For Freedom’ Back Lieberman

[kerrygoddess]

Group with Ties to SBVT, ‘Vets For Freedom’ Back Lieberman
August 15th, 2006 @ 10:06 am

Joe Lieberman has some new backers in his bid to keep his Senate seat as an “Independent” Democrat, and those backers have some very unsavory ties. The Hartford Courant reports today that Vets for Freedom, “group with ties to the GOP advertised its backing of incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman.”

The group’s full-page ad Monday in The Courant created an immediate stir: Former Democratic State Chairman George Jepsen, a top adviser to Democratic primary winner Ned Lamont, said the ad showed that “national Republicans, in their effort to help Joe Lieberman, clearly have a well-laid-out strategy to attack Ned Lamont.”

The paid ad for Lieberman was “placed by the Virginia-based Vets for Freedom Action Fund.” The Vets for Freedom Action Fund was established under Section 527 of the federal tax code, last month, as a nonpartisan organization “to communicate with the public on veterans’ issues and the war in Iraq.”

The group has high-level Republican connections. It has used a public relations firm that includes Taylor Gross, a former White House official, and receives volunteer advice from GOP strategist Dan Senor.

Just last night I posted about the Vets for Freedom, here. Although ‘Vets for Freedom’ claim to be bi-partisan their GOP connections are vast, and this is the same group responsible for the Swift Boat style attacks on Rep. John Murtha.

SourceWatch reports on the connection between fundraising for the Vets for Freedom and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the slimy group of GOP partisan hacks and shills that lied about John Kerry during the ‘04 election…

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3881

[kerrygoddess]

1. About Those Lieberman Backers

About Those Lieberman Backers
August 15th, 2006 @ 3:39 pm

Earlier today, I posted about the ‘Vets For Freedom’ who have endorsed Joe Lieberman in Connecticut and as the Hartford Courant reports, they are creating quite a “stir.” Good. We need to spread this far and wide and be certain that people know that members of this group have ties to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and they are a highly partisan organization, that Joe Lieberman needs to decry immediately.

Below is a LTTE to the Hartford Courant from James Boyce of the Patriot Project. Boyce lets the Courant know in no uncertain terms that they have an “obligation to guarantee that the advertisements it accepts are not deliberately deceptive and misleading.”

Letters To The Editor

The Hartford Courant
285 Broad St.
Hartford, CT. 06115

Dear Sir:

I am writing to ask that you clarify a full page advertisement that the Hartford Courant ran on August 14, 2006. The ad, paid for by the Veterans For Freedom Action Fund, was deceptive and incomplete and denied your readers the information they need to make an informed decision about the group’s claims.

Far from being “non partisan” as they falsely claim in the advertisement, “Veterans For Freedom” is, in reality, a second generation spawn of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, the partisan organization that smeared a decorated Vietnam Veteran, John Kerry, in 2004.

“Veterans For Freedom” was conceived and launched by a right wing consulting firm in Washington, D.C., The Herald Group. It is a right wing operated, right wing financed 527 attack group designed to confuse and mislead voters in Connecticut.

By hiding behind the façade of their fraudulent ‘non partisan’ claim, “Veterans For Freedom” attempt to give credence to the lie that they “support the troops.” In fact, all this group is promoting is a partisan political agenda.

Do the “Veterans For Freedom” have the right, like every American, to make their views and opinions known? Absolutely. But your newspaper also has the obligation to guarantee that the advertisements it accepts are not deliberately deceptive and misleading.

James Boyce
The Patriot Project

Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest has a full expose on the ‘Vets for Freedom’ posted on the Patriot Project, today. Read Dave Johnson’s: “Behind the Front: The Creation of Vets for Freedom.” Dave nails it — the ‘Vets for Freedom’ in backing Joe Lieberman are “clearly intending to drive a wedge into the Democratic Party.”

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3886#more-3886

[ProSense]

2. When you learn what some people actually believe

it's no wonder these liars are still finding leverage to appear credible!