Does this surprise anyone?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5771731/
Bush, his family have many ties to Swift Boat vets.
The veterans behind the controversial TV ads that question Sen. John Kerry?s Vietnam war record have extensive ties to President Bush and his family, other high-profile Texas politicians and Bush?s chief political aide ? ties that have raised questions about possible illegal coordination between Bush?s re-election campaign and the veterans.
Described as a ?web of connections,? the links between the Bushes and the veterans were detailed in a Friday piece in the New York Times that also listed inconsistencies in the veterans' own public statements on their regard for Kerry.
How the group known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "came into existence is a story of how veterans with longstanding anger about Mr. Kerry's antiwar statements in the early 1970s allied themselves with Texas Republicans," The Times said.
The group's ads accuse the Democratic presidential nominee of exaggerating his war record to win war medals and say he is unfit to be president.
"A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove," the Times reported. "Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry 'unfit' had lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year.
Any formal ties between the Bush campaign and the veterans group would be against the law. Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth is organized as a non-party, independent political group under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, and coordination between a 527 group and a presidential campaign is illegal.