Swift Vets merge with POWs

Swift Boat Veterans Vow to Continue

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that John Kerry's campaign mismanager blames for the Democrat presidential nominee's defeat, promises that it won't go away.

Recently enlarged and renamed Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, the group is keeping an eye on Kerry, who has thrilled Republicans by saying he might run for president again in 2008.


William E. Franke, who runs the organization's day-to-day operations, pointed out in a recent interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the group was needed because the media establishment failed to report adequately and accurately on admitted war criminal Kerry's past.
"They have called us rag merchants and liars and scum and every name under the sun. But what he has never done is respond substantively to our accusations," Franke said.
Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth has grown to "a substantive organization" with a donor list of 150,000, he said.

In January the group plans to hold a conference of its members in Orlando, Fla.
He said the group might help distribute the documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal," which NewsMax aired on television nationwide after left-wing groups censored Sinclair Broadcast Group's attempt to show it.

Franke noted that it was an injustice that the Bush-hating film "Fahrenheit 9/11" could be shown so widely by the same types who muzzled "Stolen Honor."
"One thing I suspect we may do is join in an effort so that the POWs are able to get their message out," he told the paper.

In the end, Franke, said the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised just over $27.2 million in three months. One contributor, Robert Perry, a Texas residential builder, donated $4 million.