The Galveston County Daily News

NASSAU BAY — The Vietnam War veterans’ group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released a new television ad attacking presidential hopeful John Kerry’s military record this week, but Kerry isn’t the only one who feels insulted.

“I’m very offended,” said Clear Lake resident Jim Rine as he lifted one half of a banner reading “Veterans for John Kerry” Thursday. “Unlike the president, Kerry volunteered for Vietnam. The record shows clearly that he was there and that he is telling the truth about the events took place there. Someone’s lying, and overwhelming evidence says that it’s the swift boat vets.”

Rine and fellow members of the San Jacinto Democratic Veterans Brigade were among 25 protesters who derided the ads in front of the house of Clear Lake homebuilder Bob Perry Thursday night.

Perry has contributed $200,000 toward the $2.8 million the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth say they have raised. The group is backing President Bush and other Republican candidates.

Doug Peterson, a Democrat and Clear Lake resident, helped to organize the protest.

Peterson says Thursday night’s protesters banded together out of outrage at the tactics used by the ad campaign, which accuses Kerry of lying about his military record.

“A lot of people are quite upset that Bob Perry, from right here in our neighborhood community of Clear Lake, is funding in a huge way this … attack campaign on John Kerry,” Peterson said. “The truth is simple: John Kerry was a hero in Vietnam and highly decorated, and people will see that if they look at his record, which is on his Web site and many other places on the Web. He’s willing to show his military record, unlike George W. Bush.

“To have others attack a veteran of valor is just unbelievable. I can’t remember anyone ever attacking a veteran this way.”

Other protesters decried the television ads’ claims as “underhanded lies.”

“What (Perry) is doing to veterans is wrong; it’s just hateful,” said Clear Lake resident John Cobarruvias. “You don’t question a veteran like that; it’s un-American.”

As a few curious neighbors looked on, a couple heckling back at the Kerry supporters, the protesters carried signs with such slogans as “Stop the Lies” and “Bob, where were you during Vietnam?” as they chanted “Truth is free, lies cost.”

Though Perry never appeared during the protest, the protesters pledged they would be back.

“The protests will stop when these ads and their lies stop, and the president makes an apology to all veterans,” Cobarruvias said.