hilarity ensues:

link

Several Vietnam veterans are calling for an assistant district attorney to resign after questions were raised about his statement in a recent ad criticizing Democrat John Kerry's military service.
Alfred French of the Clackamas County district attorney's office appears in the ad sponsored by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the spot, French says: "I served with John Kerry. ... He is lying about his record."


A group of Vietnam veterans who protested outside the county courthouse Monday said French implied he had firsthand knowledge of Kerry's war actions when in fact he had heard about what Kerry did from friends.

In an interview with The Oregonian newspaper last week, French said he relied on the accounts of three other veterans in making the statement about Kerry and did not personally witness the events. French did not return two messages left at his office Monday.

"As a senior assistant district attorney, you know as well as we do that that kind of ridiculous statement would never pass muster in a court of law," veteran Terry Kirsch said of French's account.

:rolls around on floor laughing hysterically:

Wait! Wait! It gets better:

"Before recording the ad, French signed an affidavit that said: "I am able to swear, as I do hereby swear, that all facts and statements contained in this affidavit are true and correct and within my personal knowledge and belief.""

Hold up now. Stop right there.

Signing an affidavit upon personal knowledge and belief when you have no such thing is . . . well, it's perjury, isn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a crime, is it no? Prosecutors aren't supposed to commit crimes, are they?

Hee!

The damage has been done--Kerry's been hurt pretty badly. He's even in the polls here in FL. Bush works a little magic at the convention, gains a point or two.

Four more years.

Put him in the Hall of Shame with Larry Thurlow (and Colin Powell.)

Unless of course, it's all true.

Thurlow goes in the Hall of Shame because if what he says is true, that's where he belongs.

CindyS, the "out" is the "...and belief." In Maine there are two flavors of oaths. Swearing on personal knowledge is just that and if he swore that he would be commiting perjury. "And belief" essentially opens the door to what we would call hearsay in court.

jf

In California, his statement would technically be perjury, IIRC. It doesn't say knowledge *or* belief. He's saying he's got knowledge *and* belief.

OK, maybe you are right and I am outlawyered! I HOPE you are right.

jf

Well . . . let's remember. None of this matters.

I was checking Rasmussen today, and they've analyzed their daily tracking poll numbers since the spring. Bush has had a one-point swing in his share of the national electorate. Kerry has had a three-point swing, with a two-point net uptick.

This is evidence that Bush has about 47% of the electorate and is unlikely to go much higher than that. And Kerry enjoys small leads in all battleground states except Ohio and WV. That's the trouble with us Dems. We never believe we can win.

Believe, JF. Ya gotta believe!

I would agree that some damage has been done. This is why Mr. Kerry chose to fight back. he would not have done so if their internal polling had shown the ads were having no impact.

But, I'd let this play out before deciding what long term impact it will have, Tom.

As it becomes clear that more and more of these guys basically lied about what they said or about how much they knew, there will likely be a backlash.

Especially now that the Swft Boaters has been tied directly to Mr. Bush's re-election lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg. (Yea, this has been proven -- he admitted it himself).

All Mr. Kerry has to do now is keep hammering Mr. Bush for smear tactics and any little gain Mr. Bush got by this is wiped out. Indeed, it may end up hurting Mr. Bush more than helping.

Jesus specifically condemned the taking of all oaths.

This could have saved Clinton a whole mess of trouble....

jf

A little followup to this instance of the Swiftie Smear Follies:


Prosecutor who attacked Kerry admits lying to boss [/b]

Clackamas County prosecutor Alfred French, who called Sen. John Kerry a liar in a political commercial, acknowledged Thursday that he lied to his boss when confronted about an extramarital affair with a colleague.

Hours later, the Clackamas County district attorney's office said French had been placed on a 30-day paid leave while it conducts an investigation into his conduct.

French's former boss, James O'Leary, said he asked French about the rumored affair with a secretary about 10 years ago, but French denied it. O'Leary said he would have fired French if he'd admitted the relationship because it violated office policy.

French, who said he served in the same military unit with Kerry for two months in 1969, has come under intense scrutiny in the past week as the anti-Kerry ad has become a central issue in the presidential campaign. Suddenly, the well-respected Oregon prosecutor found himself the target of questions about his own credibility and the truthfulness of his statements against Kerry.

French's affidavit supporting the ad accused Kerry of exaggerating his war record, yet French conceded that he was relying on the account of war buddies, not what he witnessed. Since then, he's faced pickets outside his office and complaints of unethical conduct to the state bar.

French admitted to The Oregonian that he had the affair and denied it to O'Leary. He declined to discuss details of the relationship, saying only that "it is an indiscretion that occurred during my employment." Link

Who else saw it coming?