Kerry Works On Damage Control

Drudge is reporting that Kerry telephoned Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN (RET) Sunday to try and smooth things over with the Swiftboat Vets.

Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry personally phoned anti-Kerry swift boat vets, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Kerry reached out to Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN (RET) Sunday night, just hours after former Sen. Bob Dole publicly challenged Kerry to apologize to veterans.

Brant was skipper of the #96 and # 36 boat and spent time with Kerry in An Thoi. Kerry and Brant slept in the same quarters, and Brant used to put Kerry back to bed at night when Kerry was sleepwalking.

Brant received a call from Kerry at his home in Virginia while he was watching the Olympics on TV.

The call lasted 10 minutes, sources tell DRUDGE.

KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"

BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there."

[Brant had two men killed in battle.]

KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.

Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam and what happened when Kerry came back.

Developing...

This goes to show just how damaging the Swiftboat Vets have been to the Kerry campaign. Kerry is doing everything within his power short of a public setting of the record straight to get these guys to stand down. Fortunately the vets are standing their ground and will not stop until nothing less then publicly setting the record straight, which I doubt Kerry will ever do. You have to hand it to these guys. They have caught a lot of heat for standing up and exercising their right to free speech. They have practicly been crucified by the press. They've been called liars and lackeys of the Bush campaign but they have stood their ground. In the 60's and 70's they were called on by their country to defend her and they did so bravely. They seem to be still doing just that.

Not surprisingly, Powerline, Captain's Quarters, and Blogs For Bush all have their take on this.