McCain Accepts Swift Boaters' Money

The group known as the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, which came to prominence for bankrolling ads four years ago suggesting that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had lied about his military service, is back in the news this week.

On Monday, Col. Bud Day, one of the more prominent members of the group, served as an advocate for John McCain as part of the presumptive GOP nominee's newly-instituted "Truth Squad," which is "aimed at countering the recent attacks on John McCain's military record."

Responding to General Wesley Clark's comments on whether McCain's military experience prepares him to be President, Day said on a conference call that he is "well aware of what the commencement of these kind of personal attacks can lead to," having worked on McCain's behalf in 2000.

Now USA Today reports that McCain "has accepted nearly $70,000 for his presidential campaign from the top donors of the group" and their relatives.

Notes the newspaper: "That's nearly four times the amount McCain received from those donors in the 14 years before launching his current campaign at the end of 2006, campaign finance records show."

McCain condemned the group's ads criticizing Kerry when they came out during the 2004 campaign, calling them "dishonest and dishonorable."

A McCain spokesman told the newspaper that McCain accepted the donations because the donors are "interested in supporting (his) agenda of reform, prosperity and peace."