Salon.com > Martin Lewis

Another swift lie

Fri, 06 Aug 2004 23:26:00 +0000

In 1971, John O'Neill was Richard Nixon's personal choice to attack Veterans Against the War leader John Kerry. Thirty-three years later, O'Neill is still on the attack. And as his recent lie on CNN shows, he has no more credibility now than he did then.

O'Neill was a naval officer and, like Kerry, commanded a swift boat in Vietnam. Nixon was anxious about the impact that Kerry, a decorated war hero, would have on public opinion. So he instructed his chief counsel, Charles Colson, to find someone to discredit Kerry. O'Neill, although he had never met Kerry in Vietnam, fit the bill. One night he was sent to face off with Kerry on "The Dick Cavett Show." By all accounts, the eloquent Kerry won.

Now O'Neill is back to try and complete the mission he failed to accomplish in the '70s. He is the lead author of "Unfit For Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," a forthcoming book from Regnery, purveyor of right-wing smears. The book, which Matt Drudge is currently drip-feeding to his readers, includes claims that the war injuries for which Kerry was decorated were self-inflicted, that Kerry faked war reports and that he killed a Vietnamese teenager in a cowardly fashion.

Edwards speech “moves” Brit Hume

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:23:00 +0000

Appreciation for political oratory comes in all forms. During the speeches by Al Sharpton and John Edwards on Wednesday, for instance, the delegates' emotional responses to their words were palpable. As I left the Fleet Center there was a unanimity and upbeat giddiness in the air. Delegates seemed to have been genuinely moved by the speeches and to feel that the party had had a very good night.

As I exited the compound at about 11:15 p.m. I found myself walking next to a trio of familiar faces who had emerged from one of the side doors: Brit Hume, Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke -- Fox News all-stars all. To my amusement, Kondracke was carrying a Kerry-Edwards sign, and talking about carrying it on the plane back to Washington as a souvenir.

The chance encounter brought me back to four years ago at the Los Angeles Democratic convention, when I had run into Sean Hannity immediately after Al Gore's acceptance speech and he had been cock-a-hoop at what he perceived as a massive mistake by the V.P. "Gore blew it -- he just won over the entire McGovern vote!" So I was aware that the off-camera reactions of conservative commentators can provide a fascinating barometer reading. A misfired Democratic speech is no cause for concern to them. A speech that they think might have connected with Middle America is much more troubling.

The art of lying

Fri, 03 Aug 2001 19:00:00 +0000

Last week, a British tabloid, the Mail on Sunday, published a story in which former Beatles producer Sir George Martin was quoted as saying in reference to George Harrison, "He knows that he is going to die soon." The story used the unequivocal statement twice. And it was quickly picked up by news agencies, Web sites, radio and television around the world.

It wasn't until the following Monday afternoon that an angry Harrison was able to issue a statement denying the story. Sir George's representative also condemned it as untrue and said that Sir George never made the remark.

The tale of how the specious story came to be is considerably more interesting than the story itself. As it turns out, the quote was fabricated, apparently by an editor at a news agency, and inserted into a story sold to the Mail on Sunday, one of England's nine national Sunday newspapers. A reporter at the Mail duplicated the fabricated quote as though it had been uttered twice and added other misleading language, as well as numerous dubious quotes from anonymous "sources." This morning, the editor, who had worked at the news agency for nearly two years, abruptly resigned, but the management at the Mail on Sunday continues to stand by its story -- despite the fact that it is incontestably false and violates the most rudimentary rules of journalism.