In a March 23 NewsBusters post, Tim Graham complains that NPR’s Terry Gross noted that there were “so many lies” in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack against John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. While Graham grouses that Gross didn’t cite “anything specific,” there were indeed lies and deceptions in what the Swift Boat group said.
Graham then insisted there were “firsthand testimonials on BOTH sides” of the Swift Boat issue, citing as evidence an ABC report that quoted Swift Boater Larry Thurlow. But Thurlow — whose main function in 2004 was to deny that Kerry wasn’t under enemy fire in an incident for which Kerry received a Bronze Star — wasn’t on Kerry’s boat, he was on one nearby.
Graham also glosses over what was happening in that ABC report: the undermining of Thurlow’s claims. Thurlow’s own Bronze Star citation for the incident states that there was enemy fire. Thurlow never moved to return his Bronze Star despite it being apparently awarded under false pretenses — instead, he has made the unsubstantiated claim that Kerry was the author of the after-action report that allegedly resulted in the awarding of the medals.