HESIOD GETS RESULTS! SWIFT BOATERS BUSTED!

Yesterday, I took matters into my own hands, and started e-mailing various people with my Midwest Heroes exposes. For those of you new to this series of diaries, please read my previous entires on exactly who Midwest Heroes is: here (Diary 1), here (Diary 2), here (Diary 4) and especially here (Kesterson Diary).

But not all the news is good. We need to do more here. But, first the good news.

Here is a short Summary of the situation so far.

Midwest Heroes is a front group of Iraq war veterans and Goldstar families that were put together by the White House propaganda arm: Progress for America's Future.

The group has been running TV ads in Minnesota media markets that extoll the "progress" we are making in Iraq. But the progress they cite basically comes directly from the Pentagon and White House propaganda operation.

PFAF is test-marketing the ads in Minnesota to see if they gain any traction. If they are successful, they will be rolled out across the country in advance of the November midterms.

I have been going after them in an effort to avoid another Swift Boat Liars for Bush-like debacle.

There has been some push back from various quarters on these folks. Including the Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party which is pressuring various TV stations to pull the ads for innacuracy.

But, the strongest, local, critic of Midwest Heroes has been Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist, Nick Coleman.

And this brings me to the subject of this diary!

Yesterday, I e-mailed my diary about Dolores Kesterson to Coleman, and he responded requesting more information. Yesterday, he publised a column highlighting the Dolores Kesterson issue.

The full details of the issue are laid out in my Kesterson diary, and in Coleman's Feb. 16 column.

Short explanation: Midwest Heroes is running an ad that includes the "parents" of Erik Kesterson, an Army helicopter pilot killed in Iraq. His parents, in the ad, are Clay and M.J. Kesterson. But, the never tell you hat M.J. is not Erik's real mother. She is his step mom.

The reason they don't tell you this is because Delores Kesterson, Erik's real mom, is a vocal critic of the war, and actually told that to Preisdent Bush's face! [Watch this video of Dolores recounting her meeting with President Bush]. Dolores is an ally of Cindy Sheehan and a member of Goldstar Families for Peace.

Now. This isn't all. Powerline, went after Nick Coleman on his latest column. Claiming that Midwest Heroes didn't actually "lie" about MJ Kesterson being Erik's mother. They simply implied it.

But, as I pointed out in my Kesterson diary, Midwest Heroes did, in fact, lie about it. They posted a biography of Clay and MJ Kesteron on their website, and specifically refer to MJ as Erik's "mother." Not his step mother.

As far as I know, MJ never formally adopted Erik. So calling MJ his "mother" is a lie and blatantly dishonest given the circumstances.

This isn't to suggest that MJ Kesterson doesn't grive for the loss of her step son. This isn't about her. It's about the blatant dishonesty of trying to pretend that Erik's real mother doesn't exist because she is a vocal critic of President Bush and the war in Iraq.

This is what we are dealing with. And it has to be stamped out.

Please recommend this post and keep it alive. And if someone has contact information for Dolores Kesteron, I would dearly love to give her an opportunity to speak out about this.

Also, and this is important, the rightwing spin machine is already attacking the Democratic Farm Labor Party for trying to block the ads. Accusing them of being against free speech and of criticizing the parents of our fallen troops.

The DFL walked right into that blindside, I'm afraid. I tried e-mailing them the Kesterson material, which would have been much moer powerful. But they relied on some tame criticism of the ads, and undercut their argument.

In any case, it seems the best way to respond is if Dolores Kesterson, herself, does a lot of media interviews in Minnsota blasting Midwest Heroes for exploiting her son, and pretending she didn't exist.

She needs to step up to the plate. Let's hope she does. And, this is another reason to keep this diary alive. Maybe someone who knows here will read it and let her know what's going on.

UPDATE: Here is a story about the memorial service and funeral for Erik Kesterson, whcih includes a photo of the honor guard giving DOLORES Kesterson (not MJ!) the flag that drapped her son's coffin.

So, they honored Erik's mom when she wasn't an outspoken critic of the war, and dissed her when she became one. The White House is shameful!

UPDATE FOR THE DISHONEST POLITICAL HACKS AT POWERLINE: The facts I present in this and other diaries speak for themselves. And anyone who spent time reseraching the Kesterson's would have found this information on their own. In fact, as I understand it, Nick Coleman was doing just that when I e-mailed him. He doesn't like liars and hacks either.

But while I have your attention, why did you cite Joe Repya's letter to the Strib attacking Midwest Heroes' critics, but fail to mention that he was the Bush/Cheney 2004 Co-Chair of the campaign's Minnesota veterans committee? Especially since, in the letter you reprinted in full, he attacks the partisanship of Paul Reickhoff AND Governor Jesse Ventura without mentioning his OWN political hack affiliations. Is it because he's ahypocritical lying hack like you guys?

Then tell us why Midwest Heroes is lying about who Erik Kesterson's "parents" are? Why don't they tell their viewers who Dolores Kesterson is, and let her speak?