Aug 20, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
(POLITICO) President Obama said Monday that he isn’t too worried about two groups of military veterans running campaign ads against him.
Last week, two groups — Special Operations Speaks and Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund – formed to criticize Obama on national security policy, the Osama bin Laden raid and intelligence leaks.
“I don’t take these folks too seriously. One of their members is a birther who denies I was born here, despite evidence to the contrary,” Obama told The Virginian-Pilot. “You’ve got another who was a tea party candidate in a recent election.”
“This kind of stuff springs up before election time,” Obama said.
The founder of one group, ex-Navy SEAL Larry Bailey, told Foreign Policy magazine last week: “I have to admit that I’m a birther.”
The other group maintains that it is nonpartisan, but its founder Scott Taylor is a former GOP candidate for office.
Last week, the Obama campaign also got Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — himself the victim of a group of military veterans during his 2004 presidential run — to denounce the attacks in a mass email. “I honor and appreciate the service of my fellow veterans, but a false attack is a false attack — no matter who’s making it,” Kerry wrote.
