From the NewsMax.com Staff

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Rove Credits Swiftvets With 'Energizing' Bush Vote

Bush-Cheney re-election architect Karl Rove gave credit on Sunday to the Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth for exposing John Kerry's anti-war past and energizing Republican voters to turn out at the polls.

Asked what role anti-Kerry ads sponsored by the Swiftvets played in Bush's re-election victory, Rove told "Fox News Sunday":

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  "They were made important by the fact that Senator Kerry, at his convention, really talked ... only about Vietnam."

The top White House adviser explained: "I was amazed by the people that I met around the country who were energized by that issue being discussed. ... I was really amazed by how strongly men and women who had served in Vietnam and in the armed forces felt about that."

Rove recalled that his uncle had done several tours of duty in Vietnam. "I've never been able to think of Colonel Verhi as somebody who would have 'raped and pillaged in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan,'" a reference to Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony where he accused Vietnam veterans of committing widespread atrocities.

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