Kerry Haters: We're Not Fonda John

 
We Wish You a Kerry Christmas

John Leo chides the media for their Christmas in Cambodia coverage, or should we say, non-coverage?

Some people wondered how long the major media would be willing to ignore the Christmas-in-Cambodia story. Well, the answer is in: at least 10 or 11 days. I first noticed the story August 6 on Glenn Reynolds's Instapundit blog. Soon it was all over the Internet, the conservative press, talk radio, and some cable shows. But the networks, the New York Time s , the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and other major media didn't run the story. Some papers, like the Kansas City Star, got protests from readers on what appeared to be a news blackout. Finally, after an agonizingly slow response from the Kerry campaign, big media took account of the issue, muffling and burying the story they didn't want to carry in the first place.

 
O'Neill: Campaign Driven by Personal Loathing of Kerry

The Sunday Telegraph has an interview with John O'Neill of the Swift Boat Vets:

"John Kerry ravaged the souls of people," said Mr O'Neill, his face trembling with rage as he talked of events that happened more than 30 years ago. "I don't really care about the presidency, but that is why I will do everything I can, whatever it takes, to stop that man becoming commander-in-chief of our armed forces.

"I am not a Republican. I tend to support the Democrats more than the Republicans at home in Texas, and in this election I would have voted Democrat. I would vote for John Edwards [the vice-presidential candidate] for president. But I will do everything I can to stop John Kerry."

Mr O'Neill, we know exactly how you feel.

 
Lipscomb on the Cambodia Story

Tom Lipscomb, who broke the story about Kerry's presence at a VVAW assassination plot meeting, writes again on Cambodia.

Look at the challenge Brinkley has set for himself in his statement to the London Telegraph last week:

"Kerry went into Cambodian waters three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine missions. He had a run dropping off US Navy Seals, Green Berets and CIA guys."

This really raises the ante. All Kerry had said until now was that he had been in Cambodia on "more than one occasion." It won't be easy to find "three or four" occasions in that time period. Remember Kerry crewmember Steve Gardner was with Kerry for almost all of January, and Gardner has already said he never went into "Cambodian waters."

It's even more of a challenge than Lipscomb realizes; Kerry's got to contend with his crewmate, Michael Medeiros, who supports his campaign but does not remember being in Cambodia.

 
Solid Article in the WaPo

Reader Phillies Fan brought this article to our attention. It strikes me as the most even-handed article I have read concerning the Swift boat vets. It focuses in on Kerry's Bronze star incident, where he received his third Purple Heart, on March 13, 1969. The writer, Michael Dobbs, does a fair job of presenting the evidence on both sides and the arguments on both sides. He does skip over the confusion as to which boat Rassmann was on when he fell into the water. But note these little bits:

In his book, Brinkley writes that a skipper who remains friendly to Kerry, Skip Barker, took part in the March 13 raid. But there is no documentary evidence of Barker's participation. Barker could not be reached for comment.

Brinkley, who is director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, did not reply to messages left with his office, publisher and cell phone. The Kerry campaign has refused to make available Kerry's journals and other writings to The Washington Post, saying the senator remains bound by an exclusivity agreement with Brinkley. A Kerry spokesman, Michael Meehan, said he did not know when Kerry wrote down his reminiscences.

There is also a sidebar which discusses the Christmas in Cambodia story this way:

Christmas in Cambodia

December 1968

What Kerry has said: Over the years, he has repeatedly said he was illegally ordered into Cambodia during Christmas 1968. Last week, his campaign issued a statement saying he was in Cambodia but did not specify a date.

What his challengers say: At the time, Kerry was stationed in an area about 50 miles from the Cambodian border, and he never entered that country then or at any other time during his service in Vietnam.

What available military records say: Kerry's boat at the time, PCF-44, was 40 to 50 miles south of the Cambodian border at 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve. With a cruising speed of 23 knots, the boat could have reached the border in about two hours, but there is no archival evidence it did so.

Now of course, they miss the fact that none of his boatmates remembers going into Cambodia, but still overall a fairly balanced article unlike the NY Times hatchet job yesterday.

 
Kerry--Never Confuse the Warriors with the War Again

Here's an audio snippet of Kerry at the VFW convention. The key passage comes near the end, where Kerry declares that "Never again, in America, should the warriors be confused with the war."

Of course it was Kerry himself who contributed a great deal to confusing the warriors with the war.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

 
Read it While You Can

This one may not stay up long. Chris at Kerry Waffles was accidentally copied on a bunch of emails between the Kerry campaign and the Heinz Family Philanthropies.

The other day, my good friend Kitty over at Kitty Litter blog , sent me an article about how the LA Times and another paper were in court to have Teresa Heinz and her charitable foundation release the estate records of her late husband, Sen. John Heinz. The media is looking for info on the ties between the Heinz Foundation and the Kerry campaign. Personally, I would suggest they took a look at my site. I have long demonstrated the illegal ties between the Kerry campaign and the Heinz Center Philanthropies with the incriminating emails in my possession. What a waste of time to drag this out in the courts when I have been displaying these emails on the net for over 6 months.

Kerry Waffles has another exclusive that can't be seen anywhere on the net. I have been sitting on an email from the Heinz Foundation and their lawyers that ties to this article Kitty sent me. It shows, in detail, Teh-ray-zah's battle plan to hide her assets and the truth from the American people. The plan quite simply is to drag this out past the election. Notice in the article Kerry campaign lawyer Paul schorr of New York. Notice in the Heinz Center email that he's one of the addresses and is another fine example of collusion between the campaign and Teh-Ray-zah's tax exempt charity.

Explosive stuff, but the media won't handle it.

 
Read the Real Caption



U.S. veteran of the Vietnam war Phil Karber wears a 'Vote for Kerry' T-shirt in support of the U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry, in Hanoi August 21, 2004. With the U.S. presidential race taking a decidedly bitter turn over Kerry's Vietnam war record, U.S. veterans in Hanoi are selling T-shirts supporting his run for the White House.

Unbelievable. Note also that Mr Karber is not "for" John Kerry, he's anti-President Bush.

Update--Story here.
Hat Tip: Reader Cary.

 
Kerry's Real Band of Brothers

Bill Kristol covers it.



John Kerry was hostile, to say the least, to the exercise of American power in 1971. He remained so for the next three decades. John Kerry was critical--to say the least--of America's claims to moral leadership as a nation in 1971. He has remained so ever since. More than any presidential candidate since George McGovern, John Kerry is a creature of the anti-Vietnam war movement. His entire public career makes clear that he was and is--and I use this term descriptively, not pejoratively--a McGovernite. The difference is that George McGovern acknowledged this. John Kerry doesn't.

Paul Crespo has a similar take.

While Kerry greatly exaggerates his abbreviated four-month Vietnam tour, many Vietnam veterans recall more painfully his later dishonest anti-war activism. During the infamous 1971 "Winter Soldier" investigation and congressional hearings, Kerry maliciously maligned all American servicemen in Vietnam as "war criminals" -- falsely claiming that they regularly committed atrocities.

His group, Vietnam Veterans against the War, produced numerous "veterans" who testified against their fellow soldiers. The problem was that Kerry never witnessed any war crimes during his brief stint in Vietnam (except maybe his own). It was also proven that many of Kerry's Vietnam "veterans" were not veterans at all, and their tales of so-called atrocities were mostly fabrications.

Kerry brazenly lied and his disloyal efforts hurt our troops and POWs, aided the enemy and even made Kerry a "hero" in Communist Vietnam. He has never apologized for helping create the false image of all Vietnam veterans as "baby killers."

 
CODE RED AT KAMP KERRY


View the new ad.

Kamp Kerry claims that Bush is their enemy with these ads. They’ve filed an FEC complaint claiming collusion between Bush and the Swift Vets. The fact is, the Swift Vets are on their own, which scares the hell out of Kerry. Going up against other Nam vets, especially in public, rips at the heart of Kerry’s claim that he is now for them. Never mind that he was against them during the war, that his testimony (heard in the above ad) caused them pain greater than the torture they received by the VC.

Joe Ponder: “It hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.”

Paul Gallanti spoke one of the most chilling lines in the ad:

“John Kerry gave the enemy for free what I, and many of my, uh, comrades in
North Vietnam, in the prison camps, uh, took torture to avoid saying. It
demoralized us.”

John O’Neill, who heads the vets’ group, has said that this is not about Bush, that even if the ads hurt Bush, the vets’ mission is to clear their honor, which was slimed regularly by Kerry. For all the Rambo-like bravado Kerry the Hero claims to have exhibited during his Vietnam duty, he doesn't have the guts to answer the vets now. And if he can't face aging veterans, how will he ever face blood thirsty Islamic terrorists who are hell-bent on killing us?

REVENGE IS 'SWIFT'
By DEBORAH ORIN Washington Bureau Chief
Vietnam veterans opposing John Kerry are launching a tough new TV ad that uses Kerry's own antiwar testimony to portray him as a man who "dishonored his country" and "sold out" fellow soldiers by painting them as war criminals.
The new ad was unveiled as Kerry — clearly worried about the impact of the ads by a group known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — tried to knock them off the air by filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

Hugh Hewitt comments on the futility of an all out attempt to save Kerry’s sorry butt.
So Mickey tells us a big save-Senator-Sybil Sunday paper piece is on the way.
No matter how favorable the story turns out to be, it cannot help Senator Kerry, because the controversy isn't about his Silver Star, his Purple Hearts, or his saving a man who was flung from the boat.
…
John Kerry had his big moment --a brief period in which the control of the setting and the editing allowed him to project the life as he wishes it were seen by all people and at all times. Even at that moment he didn't carry a majority, and now that moment is gone --smashed in fact. And ten Sunday paper scoops won't put it back.

 
Jest a Reg'lar Feller



Not Bob Feller.

Hat Tip: Lucianne

 
Your Money

John Kerry has released a list of some 200 business leaders who support his campaign. Remember, that when you patronize these companies, you are helping to support the Anti-War Criminal. Among the major companies:

Anheuser-Busch -- August A. Busch IV, President

Bank of America -- Charles K. Gifford, Chairman

Barnes & Noble -- Leonard Riggio, Founder and Chairman

Citigroup -- Lou Susman, Vice Chairman

Costco Wholesale -- Jeff Brotman, Chairman

I don't know about you folks, but I always thought Budweiser tasted awful anyway.

 
Second Chapter of Unfit for Command Available Online

Has anybody had any success finding this book (PDF warning) in the stores? I have gone to my local Borders three times and each time it's "on order" but they don't have a date as to when they'll have the book. Everybody who's read it says it's absolutely devastating, even more so than the ads, which are hammering Nuancy Boy.

Pull quote from this new chapter:

Who was the last American POW to die languishing in a North Vietnamese prison, forced to listen to the recorded voice of John Kerry disgracing his service by dishonest testimony before the Senate?

Read it all the way through; the testimonials at the end by the men who served with John Kerry will bring tears to your eyes.

 
FAHRENHEIT 451



WHO is the one advocating censorship?
Drudge is reporting:
The Kerry campaign calls on a publisher to 'withdraw book' written by group of veterans, claiming veterans are lying about Kerry's service in Vietnam and operating as a front organization for Bush. Kerry campaign has told Salon.com that the publisher of UNFIT FOR COMMAND is 'retailing a hoax'... 'No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them,' Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton tells the online mag...
Developing...

 
Bad Day for the Better Hair Boy

Lorie Byrd found two articles on one site that combine to tell a pretty amusing story.

 
The New Swift Boat Veterans Ad

It's here, and Kerry's going to have a tough time contesting anything in this ad.

Incidentally, the media's desperate efforts to refute the first ad have only backfired, according to a new survey.

And Hugh Hewitt pointed us to this:

During the week ending Aug. 8, 966,000 people visited the anti-Kerry group's Web site, 34,000 fewer than those who visited Kerry's official site, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings. The new CBS poll found Kerry winning 37 percent of veterans' votes to Bush's 55 percent. (The two were tied at 46 percent after last month's Democratic National Convention, where Kerry highlighted his service.)

We're gonna win this thing, people!

 
Fisking the Times

Crush Kerry takes on the New York Times' attack piece on the Swiftees. Best bit:

The story leaves us shaking our heads and wondering … When did they rehire Jayson Blair?

Read it all. As I mentioned in the comments, the surprising thing was how weak the Times' article was.

 
A Comment About This Blog

This blog started out mostly as just a fun-time blog. The name was chosen in jest, partly inspired by the old Dean-O-Phobe blog on the New Republic's website. The part that I enjoyed the most was finding goofball photographs of Kerry and coming up with a funny caption. My objective was to link to interesting stories on Kerry, maybe check up on a couple of his policy claims, and in general maintain a light-hearted tone.

Every now and then we'd find a big story and cover it wall to wall, like the VVAW assassination plot. And I was astounded that the mainstream media would ignore the story until finally they could not avoid it any longer. When they finally covered it, they'd bury it in another story.

But the Cambodia story has been another matter. Suddenly I'm checking claims against the Brinkley book, and there are literally hundreds of things to check--the Combat V on Kerry's Silver Star, the towing story, Alston's service with Kerry, whether Kerry was EVER in Cambodia in the 1960s, what boat Rassmann was on when he fell in the water... the list just goes on and on.

Why am I (and others, notably Hugh Hewitt, Captain Ed, Instapundit and Tom Maguire) covering this story? Because the "investigative" journalists in the mainstream media are petrified to touch it. Hugh touched on that in a post yesterday; he's been trying to get some mainstream journalists on his show and none of them will return his calls. Now remember, two million people a day listen to Hugh.

...[M]y producer and I have made at least a half-dozen requests for interviews to historian Douglas Brinkley, four requests to Boston Globe reporter Michael Kranish, requests to the two Chicago Tribune reporters covering the story, another Washington Post reporter covering the story, four requests to Washington Post reporter Laura Blumenfeld, who first published the CIA man with the hat story, four requests to Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan, one call to the AP's Ron Fornier, one call to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mark Nemick, two calls to the Kansas City Star's Scott Canon, and one call to the Washington Times Stephan Dinan, and one call to the Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein.

You know why they're petrified? Because they can sense that Kerry's hit the iceberg and is taking on water, and they're desperate not to contribute to his problems. Remember the impeachment battle in 1998? The Times did their job adequately during the Spring and Summer of that year, but when they realized that the Republicans weren't kidding, that they'd actually impeach the president for his perjury, they suddenly switched course. That's what they're afraid of here; if they do their job they'll end up putting the kibosh on Kerry.

So, it looks like this blog is stuck doing the hard work--the research, the comparing stories, etc.--that the media refuse to do. If I'd known this was the way things were going to develop, I'd never have chosen Kerry Haters for the name of this blog. It's like holding up a flashing sign saying "Don't believe us, we're just Kerry Haters."

 
Stolen Towing

Captain Ed looks at a new issue: Kerry's report of towing out another boat during the Bronze Star (and third Purple Heart) incident. Given the reported damage to his boat, Kerry's account seems bizarre at best; a lie at worst.

This is not just a single instance; Kerry has consistently tried to appropriate other people's work. For example, the Kerry campaign a few months ago tried to claim that Kerry was the skipper on the PCF-94 on January 29, 1969, when that boat was involved in significant combat. However, the real skipper, Edward Peck, was not willing to give up his rightful claim to that incident, which may have something to do with the fact that he was wounded three times.

 
Serial Liar?

Deborah Orin on the beat:

Team Kerry's excuse is that maybe he accidentally crossed the border or his time frame was fuzzy, but that just won't square with his passionate 1986 claim, on the Senate floor, that the Christmas memory was "seared — seared — in me."

Unlike the conflicts over Kerry's medals, this isn't a he said/he said dispute — Kerry either was or wasn't in Cambodia. Eventually a reporter will ask him point-blank if he still claims he was in Cambodia that Christmas — yes or no.

For sure, as the anti-Kerry Swift vets pointed out — thus embarrassing every reporter who missed it for over a decade — Kerry's statements were clearly false, since Nixon wasn't yet president in Christmas 1968. But adding Nixon sure embellishes the tale.

The story has unraveled so badly that Kerry's court biographer, Douglas Brinkley, is said to be preparing a new account in which Cambodia is said to come post-Christmas. So why did Brinkley leave it out of his campaign bio?

I know why. Because he can find no evidence for it anywhere outside of Kerry's fantasy diaries. Here's a key passage in Brinkley's Tour of Duty (page 288):

According to the invaluable handwritten personal log Michael Medeiros kept of every mission he went on in 1969....

Here's my prediction: Brinkley's going to trot out the Mystery Boat.

 
"254"

Lorie, at PoliPundit, has an idea for a new Swifties' ad:
I know that the Swifties are airing a new ad today and it will probably be exceptional. I would love to see an ad similar to the one in my post below as their third ad to address the attacks against them.

 
THE HALF-VAST LEFT-WING CRACK-UP



Supposedly on to discuss her new book and her recent columns on the FBI and national security profiling, Michelle Malkin was treated to the very reason why I have not watched Chris Matthews’ show in years. You go girl!

AMBUSH JOURNALISM...OR MY EVENING WITH CAVEMAN CHRIS MATTHEWS
By Michelle Malkin
With that, I was kicked off the second segment.
As the show broke for commercials, Matthews scrambled for his producers to see if what he said was true. And I'm irresponsible? One staffer ran to the office where I had left my copy of [Unfit For Command], and handed it to Matthews, who--for the first time, apparently--started flipping through it. I asked for my book back and politely said thank you. After I left, he trashed me again on the air and his scurrilous charges were repeated by his MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann, who called me an "idiot."
…
What I take away from all this is that the Democrat Party waterboys in the media are in full desperation mode. I have now witnessed firsthand and up close (Matthews' spittle nearly hit me in the face) how the pressure from alternative media sources--the blogosphere, conservative Internet forums, talk radio, Regnery Publishing, FOX News, etc. --is driving these people absolutely batty.
Keep bringing it on.

 
POSSIBLE FEDERAL CRIMES?

John Kerry's Mysterious Combat “V”
By Henry Mark Holzer and Erika Holzer
Kerry's DD 214 lists a Silver Star with a combat “V” (for valor). As the major correctly observes, the “V” is never awarded with the Silver Star. But the actual wording on Kerry’s DD 214 is: “SILVER STAR WITH COMBAT ‘V’.”
…
Because the “V” is authorized for only the ten awards cited above, but not for the Silver Star, Kerry’s Silver Star citation (the “explanation” of why the award was made) does not even mention the “V” for valor (see www.johnkerry.com).
The presence of the combat “V” with Kerry’s Silver Star on his DD 214 raises two extremely disquieting questions. How did the unauthorized “V” get there, and why has Kerry allowed it to remain?
The first question should not be taken lightly because we are talking about possible federal crimes. We are talking about the possibility of a forged official document. We are talking, as well, about Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, which states:

“[W]hoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States, knowingly and willfully . . . makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both.”

 
Nice New Blog

GOP & the City is a blog by two Republicans in New York City (how did they find each other?). I liked this post on Kerry's haircut and kite-surfing adventure in Portland.

BTW, has anybody noticed how many of Kerry's "real-man" adventures have gone bust? I think at least three times the kite-surfing thing has been cancelled due to lack of wind, Kerry's falls on the ski slopes (along with his classless characterization of a Secret Service agent who skied too close to him as an "SOB"), his tumble on the Serotta and his throw into the dirt at Fenway. I don't recall any real problems with his shooting outings, although they certainly turned into grist for the photoshoppers out there.

 
NY Times Attacks the Swiftees

What a bizarre article! First of all, they spend a long time supposedly demonstrating that so and so knew Joe Schmoe, who was a law partner of the father of the woman who narrated a commercial against John McCain in South Carolina. Or something like that. I'm not kidding:

One of his law partners, Margaret Wilson, became Mr. Bush's general counsel when he was governor of Texas and followed him to the White House as deputy counsel for the Department of Commerce, according to her biography on the law firm's Web site.

Another partner, Tex Lezar, ran on the Republican ticket with Mr. Bush in 1994, as lieutenant governor. They were two years apart at Yale, and Mr. Lezar worked for the attorney general's office in the Reagan administration. Mr. Lezar, who died last year, was married to Merrie Spaeth, a powerful public relations executive who has helped coordinate the efforts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In 2000, Ms. Spaeth was spokeswoman for a group that ran $2 million worth of ads attacking Senator John McCain's environmental record and lauding Mr. Bush's in crucial states during their fierce primary battle. The group, calling itself Republicans for Clean Air, was founded by a prominent Texas supporter of Mr. Bush, Sam Wyly.

They do slip in a mention of Christmas in Cambodia:

This week, as its leaders spoke with reporters, they have focused primarily on the one allegation in the book that Mr. Kerry's campaign has not been able to put to rest: that he was not in Cambodia at Christmas in 1968, as he declared in a statement to the Senate in 1986. Even Mr. Brinkley, who has emerged as a defender of Mr. Kerry, said in an interview that it was unlikely that Mr. Kerry's Swift boat ventured into Cambodia at Christmas, though he said he believed that Mr. Kerry was probably there shortly afterward.

Hilariously, the Times does not even note that the Kerry campaign has acknowledged that Kerry was not in Cambodia at Christmas. Is that amazing or what?

 
Griddled on the Gridley?

I wrote briefly about Kerry's tour on the Gridley; Brinkley certainly did his best to make that part of the book sound as dull as dishwater; some of Kerry's fellow men on the Gridley have some very negative comments about Tour of Duty.

Hat Tip: Instapundit

 
Read the Real Caption!



U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry (D-MA) jumps onto the top of the front desk in the lobby of his hotel to thank the crowd of cheering supporters who greeted him in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 19, 2004.

This guy's weirder than Al Gore.

 
WHO'S KERRY'S RUNNING MATE?

A caller to Rush's show raised a great point:
CALLER: A lot about Kerry makes you dizzy, at a minimum makes you confused. Here's a guy that doesn't want us to focus on -- or in his words attack -- his tour of duty or in our words his "semester" in Vietnam, and your last caller was pretty interesting. He said that no, no, it was just a convention focus. Well, is the convention going on because it seems he spends a whole lot more time with jolly Jim Rassmann than he does with, what's that guy's name, his running mate? John Edwards?

 
Banned in Boston

This is hilarious:

The Kerry campaign has told Salon that the publisher of "Unfit for Command," the book that is at the center of the attack on Kerry's military record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is retailing a hoax and should consider withdrawing it from bookstores. "No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them, especially falsehoods that are meant to smear the military service of an American veteran," said Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton. "If I were them, I'd be ducking under my desk wondering what to do. This is a serious problem."

No fooling. Let's see, whose books would have to be withdrawn from the shelves if they had proven falsehoods in them? Oh, for starters, everything by Michael Moore and Al Franken, Tour of Duty by Douglas Brinkley, and the Boston Globe book on John Kerry.

BTW, no sense sitting through the ad to read the whole story; Salon simply repeats the WaPo's story about Thurlow's citation including mention of being fired upon. Of course, Thurlow himself has said that if that was the basis for the medal being awarded that he (Thurlow) does not deserve a medal.

 
Thune in Dead Heat With Daschle

John Thune can win!

The survey by GOP pollster John McLaughlin of 400 likely general election voters showed Daschle, the Senate minority leader, at 48.3 percent and Thune, a former congressman, at 45 percent, inside the poll's 4.9 percent margin of error.

Another 6.8 percent of the voters surveyed said they were still undecided, something analysts suggest bodes ill for Daschle, who is in his third Senate term and previously had represented South Dakota in the House.

 
Yet Another Flip-Flop

Hugh Hewitt was all over this one yesterday on the radio. Today Bill Kristol covers it.

On Monday, during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, President Bush announced that he intends to modify the configuration of American forces in both South Korea and Europe. On Wednesday, Sen. Kerry, speaking before the same audience, sharply criticized the president's decision.

Appearing on ABC's This Week on August 1, however, Sen. Kerry responded to a question by host George Stephanopoulos on Iraq. Stephanopoulos asked Kerry whether, as president, he could "promise that American troops will be home by the end of your first term?" Kerry's answer:

"I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. . . . I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has very little imagination."

Unlike Senator Kerry, who has enough imagination to come up with phantom trips to Cambodia with hatless CIA men.

Robert Musil has much more.

 
Thursdays 'R' for Thune!

(Note: This Post Will Be Promoted Throughout the Day; Scroll Down for New Posts)



We support the candidacy of John Thune for the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. He's got some very good ads here, and if you have the money to spare, you'd be hard pressed to find another candidate that you could fund where your money will buy more than with Thune. He's facing Tom Daschle, which means that he needs some help, but he's got the advantage of campaigning against Daschle in a presidential election year, when South Dakotans tend to turn Republican. Bush and Cheney won South Dakota in 2000 by 23 percentage points. With those two at the top of the ticket, Daschle will have trouble surviving. Let's put the nails into his political coffin!

 
Some Criticism of the President

One of the consistent complaints from our liberal visitors is that we're never critical of the President; instead we save all our ammunition for Senator Nuance. So, to cheer those folks up, I thought I'd print a little criticism that I found elsewhere:

Ask the Republican investment bankers on Wall Street what they think the chances of this recovery being permanent are. You see, if they're not too embarrassed to tell you the truth, they'll say that they are appalled and frightened by the president's deficit. Ask them what they think of our economy, now that it has been driven by the distorted value of the dollar back to its colonial condition - now we're exporting agricultural products and importing manufactured ones. Ask those Republican investment bankers what they expect the rate of interest to be a year from now. And ask them, if they dare tell you the truth you will hear from them, what they predict for the inflation rate a year from now, because of the deficit.

Now, how important is this question of the deficit.

Think about it practically: What chance would the Republican candidate have had... if he had told the American people that he intended to pay for his so-called economic recovery with bankruptcies, unemployment, more homeless, more hungry and the largest government debt known to humankind? Would American voters have signed the loan certificate for him on Election Day? Of course not! That was an election won under false pretenses. It was won with smoke and mirrors and illusions. And that's the kind of recovery we have now as well.

Now does that sound like solid criticism of President Bush? Well, it's time to 'fess up. It's actually criticism of President Ronald Reagan from Mario Cuomo's keynote speech to the Democrats in 1984. Can you say, wrong then, wrong now?

 
Tom Harkin's Barkin'

Looks like Kerry isn't the only faux war hero among the Democrats.

Now comes Tom Harkin. On Monday the Iowa Senator lashed out at Dick Cheney, claiming the Vice President had no right to criticize Mr. Kerry's policies for the war on terror because Mr. Cheney had a deferment back then: "When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil."

In 1979, Mr. Harkin, then a congressman, participated in a round-table discussion arranged by the Congressional Vietnam Veterans' Caucus. 'I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962,' Mr. Harkin said at that meeting, in words that were later quoted in a book, Changing of the Guard, by Washington Post political writer David Broder. 'One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. I did no bombing.'

It turned out Mr. Harkin had not seen combat and was stationed in Japan. What's more, Mr. Cheney isn't the first Vice President to fall victim to Mr. Harkin's acid tongue. In an editorial in 1988, we quoted "Senator Tom Harkin who served in Vietnam" (we thought at the time) saying of his Senate colleague Dan Quayle, who did not serve in Vietnam: "It's so ironic; they get in Congress or the government and become big hawks. Don't they have any shame at all?"

Indeed, Senator Harkin. Don't you have any shame at all?

Virginia Patriots has more, including a smackdown of Harkin by Arizona's greatest senator.

 
Incoming!

Uh-oh!

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today filed a request with the U.S. Navy and the Defense Department for an investigation into the awards granted to Sen. John Kerry during his service with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Judicial Watch also requested that military authorities investigate Kerry’s anti-war activities, including his meeting with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations in Paris, while a member of the Naval Reserve.

At last! John Moore has been pushing this story for months!

Hat Tip: Phillies Fan (via email).

 
Kerry Flip Flops on VFW

Aaron Matthew Arnwine pointed us to this article.

The RNC notes that Kerry criticized the VFW and American Legion in a 1971 book: "We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the 'greater glory of the United States.' ... We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars," he wrote.

Of course, yesterday he introduced himself as being proud to be a lifetime member of the VFW.

 
Waiting for Brinkley

Hugh Hewitt wonders when next we'll hear from Douglas Brinkley on his research into Kerry's Cambodian adventures.

What is more likely is that Kerry has expanded his Vietnam service whenever necessary for the advancement of his career, that he has molded it to the exigencies of the speech he needed to give or the attention he needed to gain. Kerry did not anticipate the internet or the power of a thousand pairs of eyes checking and rechecking, and he may not have counted on the instinct of a historian to preserve his reputation even at the expense of his access.

Douglas Brinkley owes the public an accounting of John Kerry's accounts. Perhaps he will salvage the senator's Cambodian tale. And perhaps he will sink it.

My take on Brinkley's book is a little more, shall we say, nuanced? I read it almost like a murder mystery; all the clues to the story are presented, but there are a few red herrings and the author engages in some misdirection to lead you to the wrong conclusions. Not, of course, what a biographer or historian should be doing.

 
Christmas in August



Hat Tip: Instapundit

 
Kerry's VFW Speech

Turns out the vets who turned their backs on him were not the only ones turned off by Kerry's speech.

My own "Hoo-Ah Poll'' results show Kerry was drubbed by Bush. Monday, Bush had three Hoo-Ahs and four strong standing ovations. Kerry got zero Hoo-Ahs, two polite bookend standing ovations, one loud boo and scattered heckling.

Maybe it was his droning monotone that could put a double espresso to sleep. Or maybe it was just hard to tell which Kerry showed up. Was it the leader of the anti-war party, or was it a new Kerry auditioning to play George C. Scott doing Patton?

"Since (9/11), we have become a country divided over Iraq - and it didn't have to be that way,'' said the nominee of the party that gives French kisses to Michael Moore.

 
NOT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Stiffed by the Old Navy shill?
KERRY CAME LA$T FOR EX-LOVE
JOHN Kerry was apparently not his one-time girlfriend Morgan Fairchild's first choice among the White House Democratic hopefuls.

Not fair! His staffers promised him the vets would like him :(
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE
Sen. John Kerry is said by several advance staffers to have been visibly upset at the reception he received at the VFW convention on Wednesday in Cincinnati. "He was upset after the speech, visibly upset when he was out of public view," says a Kerry adviser, confirming the story.
…
Two things apparently changed Kerry's aggressive stance. First, before going onstage, Kerry was informed that NATO officials in Brussels had essentially backed the Bush proposal as being sound and in line with NATO's own troop deployment plans. Second, according to an advance staffer, the candidate had been told that he would be received at the very least warmly, based on feedback the campaign had received from VFW officials.

 
QUESTION

Does anyone know if the VFW and the American Legion are supporting either Kerry or Bush? I e-mailed the VFW, but the e-mail was returned.

 
How to Succeed in Politics Without Really Trying

Long and excellent article in the American Thinker by Selwyn Duke about the career of Nuancy Boy.

So, let’s review what the John Kerry Young Opportunist’s Handbook teaches us about cultivating a successful political career. First, believe that you’re going to be the “next JFK,” as a little confidence never hurts. Then, join the military and remain in just long enough to win some medals and have some pictures taken that portray you in a heroic light. Misrepresent your actions and stage events whenever necessary, and do a thorough job, because nothing pads your resume and serves as a political flak-jacket like being a “war hero.” Next, as soon as you emerge from the service, start criticizing the war vociferously. Your decorated veteran status will lend you almost unassailable credibility and garner you national attention. Once you have done this you will have carved out an illusory reputation as a true leader who is willing to admit error, buck the establishment and take tough stands.

Read it all; lots of good points.

 
THE SITE THAT WILL NOT DIE!

Oooooh! Talk about retribution! We've been chronicling the troubles Chris has had with his site. Originally he named it The Waffle House, but a certain "political party" asked that it be shut down. He then renamed it The Waffel Haus and that was shut down. The Wiffle Hose was next and THAT one was shut down as well. This happened within a matter of days. He was told it had to do with infringment of the name of the Waffle House Restaurant, but it was really about all the Heinz Center e-mails Chris had gotten and posted. Starting over with different addresses and different names is a mighty challenge. Today, Lucianne will help his hit meter spin, because she has listed his new site, KerryWaffles. Why? Chris was quick enough and smart enough to pull all the good stuff from that website of Kerry's girlfriend which Lucianne had listed in her Must Reads today. When the girlfriend received tons of hate e-mail, she shut her site down. Lucianne found out what Chris had done and posted HIS site in the other's place! THANK YOU, LUCIANNE!

Without further ado, try KerryWaffles for laffs!

 
Kerry the Accountant

John Hawkins has a good post on why the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth matter.

So, the boss checks with the guys in John Terry's department and they all have nothing but good things to say about him. So, he starts to seriously consider Terry for the job...then, something odd happens. He runs into a guy from sales at XYZ company and this guy says,

"Oh, Terry was the worst accountant we had. Not only was he a jerk, he was constantly late with the price quotes we gave to customers. I bet you his screw-ups cost us $100,000 last year".

Suddenly, the boss is confused. What the salesman is telling him is exactly the opposite of what all the guys in Terry's department were saying. So the boss checks around and he actually runs down every single boss Terry had at XYZ company and they all say the same thing,

"This Terry guy was a creep and he was terrible at his job. Hiring him would be the biggest mistake you ever made".

Be sure to scroll down to see the tee shirt the little boy is wearing, too!

 
KAMP KERRY'S "BROWN BOOK" ATTACKS

The "Brown Book" Attacks predicted by a week ago by crushkerry.com here have come to fruition in today's front page story attacking Swift Boat Vet Larry Thurlow.
How did the Post get that information so quickly, and how did they know exactly what to look for? The answer is here in the article: "Wash. Post Begins "Brown Book" Character Assassination" here.

 
Senator Kerry, How Many Times Were You in Cambodia as a Swift Boat skipper in the 1960s?

 
Thune Slams Daschle in Debate

Hugh Hewitt (on the radio) mentioned that the South Dakota blogs were abuzz with the news that John Thune gob-smacked Tom "I'm very disappointed" Daschle in their first debate. So I went over there and checked it out:

Daschle V Thune has the line that devastated Daschle.

South Dakota Politics says Daschle was on his heels.

Sibby Online has lots of photos, including the dark side of Daschle's supporters. BTW, it looks like from the second debate photo that Thune towers over Disappointed Boy.

Remember, tomorrow is Thursday and Thursdays 'R' for Thune. But if you want to be a non-conformist, go ahead and contribute to John Thune today. If you'd rather send a check, send it to:

John Thune for Senate
P.O. Box 3308
Sioux Falls, SD 57101

 
Kerry Haters at the VFW



Thanks for your service, gentlemen.

 
New to the Blogroll--Prestopundit!

I noticed this blog in our referrers and checked it out. He's doing wall-to-wall coverage of Kerry in Cambodia. Great central location for stories on Nuancy Boy's Excellent Adventure. I sent him an email and he's already got the Mystery Boat featured.

 
THE GRIM BEHIND THE GRIN

They put on a good act. They smile and cheer and kumbaya each other. But apparently that's for public consumption, because, according to Martin Schram, behind closed doors, the Dems are worried, very worried. They see Kerry tanking.

Despairing over Kerry
By MARTIN SCHRAM
Privately, but no longer quietly, Democrats are beginning to despair.
They cannot fathom why their man, John Kerry, cannot seem to fathom how easy it should be to put President Bush away, seize the high ground and take command of the issues of the war on Iraq and the war on terror.
...
Democrats say privately they don't know what is wrong with Kerry. Here is what's wrong: The Democratic presidential nominee has no clearly defined conceptual framework that is the basis of what he thinks about the war on terror and the war in Iraq.

 
Some Funny Stuff

Our buddy Joel Gaines has the funniest John Kerry song ever.

Longtime reader Gayle emailed some advice on how to start your day:

1. Open a new file in your PC.
2. Name it "John Kerry."
3. Send it to the recycle bin.
4. Empty the recycle bin.
5. Your PC will ask you, "do you really want to get rid of John Kerry?"
6. Answer calmly, "yes," and press the mouse button firmly.
7. Feel better???? I sure did!!!

Chris at Kerry Waffles (fka Waffle House) has a new page on Cash & Kerry.

Chicago Ray seems a little tired of Kerry's sports photo ops and has a picture he hopes to see soon.

 
Kerry's Last Hope--The Mystery Boat!

The Cambodia story is crumbling completely now. Kerry couldn't have been in Cambodia on the PCF-44 because at least three of his crewmembers are on the record as saying it never happened. Crucially, two of them are Kerry supporters: Bill Zaladonis and Stephen Hatch. Stephen Gardner, also on board the PCF-44 denies it as well, but he's a Swift Boat Veteran for Truth, which means that the reporters will ignore his account.

Now the Kranish story adds the detail that Michael Medeiros (another Kerry supporter) also denies ever being in Cambodia, which would appear to foreclose the possibility that Kerry could have been in Cambodia with PCF-94. This cuts off another one of the ropes that Kerry has been struggling to climb up on this story, and leaves him with one last, slender thread: The Mystery Boat!

Douglas Brinkley introduces the Mystery Boat in Tour of Duty on page 271.

Just before Kerry took over PCF-94, he was ordered to take a Swift on a "show the flag" mission on a tributary of the Duong Keo River with a few other boats. PCF-44 had gone in for repairs, so his assigned vessel and its crew were completely new to Kerry.

Brinkley proceeds to tell the story of a humanitarian effort by Kerry, where they evacuated 42 South Vietnamese from a Viet Cong-controlled area. Conveniently, Brinkley relies on (and mentions) only two people specifically in the anecdote: John Kerry and Skip Barker (the only Swift boat skipper supporting the Kerry campaign).

So that's it. And the Mystery Boat has only a limited time frame in which it could have taken Kerry and his hatless CIA man up to Cambodia. We know that on the 20th or the 21st Kerry and the PCF-44 were involved in the sampan incident, in which a young Vietnamese boy was killed. We know that on the 22nd he had a meeting with Admiral Zumwalt and General Abrams with a bunch of other Swift boat skippers. And we know that on January 30th, Kerry took command of PCF-94.

That leaves one week unaccounted for--from January 23-29, 1969--and one boat--the Mystery Boat.

 
Kerry Woes Just Got Worse on Cambodia

Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe gives a fairly straightforward account of the Christmas in Cambodia story, but adds one crucial detail to what we already knew:

Michael Medeiros, who served aboard the No. 94 with Kerry and appeared with him at the Democratic National Convention, vividly recalled an occasion on which Kerry and the crew chased an enemy to the Cambodian border but did not go beyond the border. Yet Medeiros said he could not recall dropping off special forces in Cambodia or going inside Cambodia with Kerry.

That is, in a word, devastating. Medeiros appears to have served with Kerry on PCF-94 the entire time Kerry was on the boat. So PCF-94 never went into Cambodia, and we know that PCF-44 never went into Cambodia, because three of Kerry's boatmates there deny it. It was Medeiros who snapped the photos on pages 7 and 8 of the photo section that show SEALs and/or other special forces types on Kerry's boat. This certainly seems to close off any possibility that Kerry made his trip to Cambodia in January (which we already proved was doubtful) or February or March.

You know what I'm struck with here? How many people, despite supporting John Kerry's presidential bid, wouldn't lie for him. Douglas Brinkley wouldn't lie for Kerry (although he sure tried to blur lines). Bill Zaladonis wouldn't lie for Kerry. Stephen Hatch wouldn't lie for Kerry. Now we learn that Mike Medeiros wouldn't lie for Kerry.

Gerald Nicosia wouldn't lie for Kerry on the VVAW assassination plot; neither would Randy Barnes. All of these people support Kerry; these are not members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

He's in deep trouble on this now. I don't see any way out of it. The press could continue to tank for him, but you sense they're like little boys doing the pee-pee dance; they won't be able to hold it in much longer.

 
KERRY’S FLIP-FLOP OLYMPICS


I haven’t played this … computers problems today … so you’ll have to for me. Tell me what you think.

 
YOUR INSIDE CONNECTION

The Prowler
MAGIC MICHAEL: It could be that the Kerry campaign is looking at internal polling data that has them concerned. Or it could be that the arrival of Karen Hughes on the Bush campaign trail has the opposition spooked.
Either way, Kerry is bringing longtime adviser Michael Whouley on board the campaign for the stretch drive.
The shadowy Whouley, who avoids the limelight as much as possible, was a surprise add-on to the campaign for even some of Kerry's most senior advisers. Whouley is largely credited with saving the Kerry campaign's bacon in Iowa, and as Kerry has struggled to gain any traction in the polls beyond his razor thin margins in the past month, there have been whispers that "Magic Michael" might have to be drawn out of his Boston offices once again.

EDWARDS NARROWS HIS APPEAL: In a ballroom that could handle more than 1,000 people, Edwards spoke to about 300 Democratic supporters, many of whom milled about the open bar and the servers with finger food, and ignored the candidate's pitch.

 
ARABS PIN HOPES ON KERRY

KERRY WINS THE ARAB VOTE
By AMIR TAHERI
A Zogby poll taken this month shows that in the November presidential election Kerry is likely to collect more than two-thirds of the Arab-American vote. A similar pattern is emerging in the Arab world itself.
…
The pan-Arab nationalists are angry at Bush because, toppling Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in Baghdad, he destroyed the illusion of a "strongman" leading Arabs to unity and socialism.
…
"Kerry's recent statement that he would abandon Bush's democracy campaign in the Muslim world will please many Islamists," says the novelist Rubee Madhoun.
…
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has echoed similar sentiments in private conversations. He describes the liberation of Iraq as "the opening of the gates of Hell." In a recent meeting in Cairo, he told a visiting European diplomat that Kerry would be able to "close those gates."
…
"[“Fahrenheit 9/11”] unmasks the Great Satan America," a spokesman said. "It tells Muslim people why they are right in hating America. It is the duty of every believer to see [this film] and learn the truth."

 
KERRY SIMPLY “BUGGED OUT”

In the first of three excerpts, the Washington Times paints a devastating portrait of Kerry. One thing I learned when I read this was Kerry’s tour of 4 months and twelve days included a month of training in Cam Ranh.

"Cam Ranh, a French tourist town with
a well-protected, deep-water harbor and beautiful white beaches, was generally
regarded as the safest place in Vietnam. Kerry, promoted five months earlier to
lieutenant junior grade, spent one month of his four-month Vietnam tour training
in Cam Ranh Bay."

Lucianne has marked this as a Must Read, and we agree.

Kerry's fellow 'Swiftees' dispute his Purple Hearts
In the history of Swift Boats in Vietnam, all military personnel served a tour of duty of at least one year unless seriously wounded. Among the few exceptions was John Kerry, who requested to leave Vietnam in 1969 after four months, citing a regulation that permitted release of personnel with three Purple Hearts.
Kerry, now the four-term senator from Massachusetts and the Democratic presidential nominee, is also the only known "Swiftee" who received the Purple Heart for a self-inflicted wound.
None of Kerry's three Purple Hearts was for serious injuries. They were minor scratches, resulting in no lost duty time.
…
Kerry's injuries are a subject of ridicule among fellow Swiftees.
"Many took exception to the Purple Hearts awarded to Kerry," Swift Boat veteran William E. Franke, a Silver Star recipient, wrote to the authors in March. "His 'wounds' were suspect, so insignificant as to not be worthy of the award of such a medal."
…
In a unit where terribly wounded personnel like Shelton White (now an undersea film producer for National Geographic) chose to return to duty after three wounds on the same day, Kerry's actions were disgraceful.
Indeed, many share the feelings of Adm. Roy F. Hoffmann, to whom all Swiftees reported when he was commander of Coastal Surveillance Force Vietnam in 1968-69: Kerry simply "bugged out" when the heat was on.
…
"Although I wanted to see for myself what was going on, I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry wrote in his 1986 contribution to "The Vietnam Experience: A War Remembered."
…
Most fellow Swiftees who were with Kerry at Cam Ranh Bay never knew until Kerry decided to run for president that he had somehow successfully maneuvered his way to this undeserved Purple Heart. But in Coastal Division 14, Kerry's attempt to gain the award through fraud marked him as someone who could never be trusted.
When Kerry was dispatched to go to An Thoi with Lt. Tedd Peck (who would retire as a Navy captain), Peck told him:

"Kerry, follow me no closer than a thousand yards. If you get any closer,
I'll teach you what a real Purple Heart is."

 
Another Confession

We don't stop by Scary John Kerry often enough, it appears. They have a whole bunch of excellent new movies; one on what we didn't learn at the DNC, one on Kerry's Vietnam service, one on Kerry's contribution to 9-11. Great stuff!

 
New Nickname for Nuancy Boy!

Sitzpinkler.

 
I’M TOO NUANCED FOR MYSELF



Our nuanced man of mystery is back dropping bold-faced names left and left. Charlize “pretty extraordinary” Theron. Marilyn “very beautiful” Monroe. Not to mention how Brando consulted Kerry on the contras. Oh, yes, Kerry is all things to all people. He even dispenses advice to the love lorn. I’ve decided to highlight the more comical phrases.

John Kerry Has a Beer With GQ
In the September 2004 issue of GQ, Senator John Kerry sits down with the magazine's deputy editor Michael Hainey, who bellies up to the bar with the contender and dares him to show some personality. Kerry reveals his favorite sports heroes and actresses, his greatest athletic moment, and gives advice on what to look for in a woman. In the interview, "A Beer with John Kerry," Kerry says he loves GQ and always has it around the house.
…
On how Republicans have painted him more the protester than the warrior [maybe because he's spent YEARS protesting war and only 4 months & 12 days in one]: "I think it's just pathetic. It indicates how craven they are. You know, in the dark of night I might call them some names, but I just think it's kind of stupid. I really do ... And I think it hurts them."
…
Kerry says he loves competition, loves the feeling of it, throwing the lacrosse ball around, and talks about his greatest athletic moment: "A hat trick as a senior in the Harvard-Yale soccer game ... I think I got down on my knees and hit the ground."
...
On having prostate cancer and mortality: "You know, there's not much that scares me. So I'm not worried about things -- certainly not dying, because too many of my friends did. And so I think it empowers you to go out and tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Bush and Cheney don't understand that. [Is prostate cancer now a political career enhancement?] That's one of the things I think is most lacking in their stewardship of our country."

 
Tough John Kerry Trivia II Answers:

1. Kerry has an aide a part of whose job it is to keep available what food item for Nuancy Boy?

Answer: Kerry aide Marvin Nicholson's job duties include keeping available peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the International Man of Mystery.

2. What was the name of the pet hamster that the International Man of Science reportedly gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to bring it back after a near-drowning?

Kerry's most memorable moment as a father, according to his daughters, was when he saved their pet hamster Licorice by giving it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

3. By what nickname did the New-Wonk of Nuance's first wife refer to him while they were dating?

Kerry's first wife, Julia Thorne, referred to him as Pterodactyl (from Tour of Duty) in reference to his long face.

4. What was the name of the book that the International Man of Apology read to schoolchildren in New York when Hillary chided him that the children couldn't see the pictures, and who was the author?

Kerry read the children the book "Abiyoyo", written by folk singer (and communist sympathizer) Pete Seeger.

5. How many times did John Kerry reportedly offer John McCain, a Republican, the vice-presidential spot on his ticket?

Kerry reportedly offered John McCain the job seven times before settling for second best with the Silky Pony.

 
Did I Say Intelligence Committee? I Meant Unintelligence Committee.

Looks like Kerry's been doing some more resume padding.

In news releases and postings on Kerry's campaign Web site as recently as last Friday, the Massachusetts senator is touted as the [Senate Intelligence] panel's former vice chairman. However, according to the Senate Historical Office, Kerry never had the seniority to hold a leadership position on the committee -- though he was a member from 1993 until 2001.

 
Is a Meeting With Mary Kay Letourneau Next?

A caller to Michael Medved is reporting that John Fraude Kerry met with Neil Goldschmidt while in Oregon the other day. Goldschmidt, a former Mayor of Portland, Governor of Oregon and cabinet member (Transportation) in the Carter Administration hit the headlines a few months ago when he admitted having an affair with a 14-year-old girl!

Can't locate a story on the meeting yet. Developing....

 
Another Crack in the Wall

The Boston Globe (in the person of Joan Vennochi) now mentions the Christmas in Cambodia story. However, much like the LA Times' story, she makes sure to discredit the Swiftees before talking about their charges. Her take is that they are part and parcel of President Bush's campaign:

But criticizing him for political expedience is different from calling him a liar. That's what the Swift Boat Vets for Bush are doing. By questioning Kerry's version of events during his tour of duty, these veterans are helping Bush plant seeds of doubt about Kerry's truthfulness.

There is something ridiculous about a president without credibility attacking his opponent's credibility.

And we might say there is something ridiculous about a columnist without credibility attacking a President with credibility.

Bush is the known purveyor of false information. He is the president who convinced a nation to wage war because, as he told us, Iraq represented an imminent threat to America.

How many times can you repeat a lie? The ONLY person on the two tickets to my knowledge to have characterized Saddam as an imminent threat is John Edwards. President Bush commented at the time, that some have said we must wait until the threat becomes imminent but he was not going to wait for it to become imminent.

At last, after seeding the doubt among her readers for eight paragraphs, she owns up to the Christmas in Cambodia lie:

Kerry's statements about Cambodia do have traction for opponents. He has referred to spending Christmas or Christmas Eve 1968 in Cambodia and coming under fire. At the time Cambodia was neutral and supposedly off-limits to US troops. "I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia," Kerry said in 1986 at a Senate committee hearing on US policy toward Central America. "I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there, the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared -- seared -- in me."

The Kerry campaign now says Kerry's runs into Cambodia came in early 1969. "Swift boat crews regularly operated along the Cambodian border from Ha Tien on the Gulf of Thailand to the rivers of the Mekong south and west of Saigon," Michael Meehan, a Kerry adviser, said in a statement last week. "Many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group."

Answers like that aren't good enough. Kerry put his Vietnam service before voters as the seminal character issue of his presidential campaign. He should answer every question voters have about it -- and he should answer them himself.

Solid ending; too bad she spent the bulk of the article casting doubt on its conclusions.

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters.

 
Kitty Corner

Kitty's got a hilarious MASH-inspired entry for the John F. Kerry Fan Fiction contest.

 
Crush Kerry Weighs In

And immediately starts to punch at Kerry. They lead with a right jab on Kerry's intelligence failures, follow up with a body blow to Kerry's claim that he voted against the prescription drug benefit (he was absent, as usual), then land a stinging uppercut right on Kerry's glass jaw by giving the Judge Elihu Smalls Award to Kerry supporter Bruce Springsteen.

It's a knockout! The winnah and still champeen of the universe, Crush Kerry!

 
New to the Blogroll

We welcome BeldarBlog, the online journal of a crusty, longwinded trial lawyer (as he puts it). Beldar had an excellent post about his personal experience with John O'Neill that I meant to link to a week or so ago. Sunday he had a good one about Uday Hussein and the Iraqi Olympic Athletes.

 
Bush Antagonizing Our Allies Again

At least, that's what the Kerry folks would have you believe would be the result of reducing troop levels in Europe.

Except, perhaps, for one of the objections raised by Holbrooke yesterday on CNN. "I know that the Germans are very unhappy about these withdrawals," said the former ambassador to Germany.

Hey, Richard, you know what this is?

 
FEEDBACK

Pat and I both (accidentally) linked Thomas Lipscomb’s article in TAS entitled “Swimming From Cambodia.” I love reading their readers’ comments as TAS readers are a wonderfully witty and literate bunch, and sometimes they’re even informative. Here is one such response (edited here for space) to Lipscomb’s article:

Re: Thomas Lipscomb's Swimming From Cambodia
Of course Kerry took his boat into Cambodia. He was carrying an agent on a mission to kill a deranged Colonel in the armed forces named Kurtz. The whole thing was documented by a photographer who went with them, who looked a lot like, uh, Dennis Hopper. Yeah, that's it, it was Dennis Hopper. In the pictures, now faded with time, of course, the agent looks very much like a young, well, Martin Sheen. Yeah, that's it! That's the ticket!
Wait a minute! Didn't they make a movie about that mission? A movie that was just about as truthful and accurate as Kerry's bull**** is now?
-- Mike Webster
Dallas, Texas

 
Earth to Kerry, Earth to Kerry, Come In Kerry

Mr Ed had to get his mane trimmed the other day.

But when every campaign stop is a photo op, even a man of the people needs a high-quality haircut.

I hear that when Kerry was in Portland, Ore., last weekend preparing to windsurf on the Columbia River Gorge, he flew his Washington-based hairstylist, Isabelle Goetz, across the country to give him a camera-ready trim.

 
Remember Only You Can Kill This Blog!

It's been awhile since we asked you to please, please make sure that this blog dies a noble death on November 2!

 
LA Times' Whitewash

Kitty pointed us to the excellent fisking of the LA Times article on the Swift Boat vets. I took a gander at the article, wondering how long it would take them to admit that Kerry lied about Christmas in Cambodia. Answer: Still waiting.

The Times finally gets to the Christmas in Cambodia story in the 72nd (!) paragraph of the article. Jimmy Hoffa should be buried so deeply! When it comes time to admit that Michael Meehan acknowledged Kerry's lie on the incident, it comes out like this:

This would be consistent with the contention of Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan that Kerry was in Sa Dec but reached the Cambodian border later the same day.

Simply amazing. Cancel your subscriptions to the mainstream press and start reading Kerry Haters every day. You'll get the news faster, and without the pro-Kerry spin.

 
Kerry Waffles Scores Again!

Your one-stop shop for Christmas in Cambodia (volume check at work). Great work Chris, sorry for the delay in getting you a link on this one--it was in the back of my mind all day yesterday. Be sure to scroll down and check out all the pictures!

While we're on the subject, the story hits in Houston.

As to the truth of this tale, there is only Kerry's word, which the press seems quite willing to take, to the extent of not reporting on the controversy at all. It is not a trivial matter. Kerry has pimped the story repeatedly in an effort to paint himself as a stand-up eyewitness to events that were both illegal and, in his view, immoral.

And that's not the only issue that reporters are curiously incurious about. At least one of Kerry's Purple Hearts has been challenged by his unit's medical officer, who notes that the wound was barely visible and was treated with a Band-Aid. Some questions should also be asked about his Silver Star: Should shooting a wounded, fleeing Viet Cong in the back — as justifiable as it was as an act of war — be worthy of the nation's third-highest award for courage?

To those of you who say such questions are unseemly, consider that John Kerry's principal claim on the presidency is that he served four months and 11 days in Vietnam. OK, fine. Let's examine the records — all the records, which, unlike Bush and contrary to popular perception, Kerry has not released — and have a debate. We would be if it were George W. Bush. The media would see to it.

 
THE TRUTH SHALL SET KERRY FREE



Speak up, Kerry. Defend yourself like a man!
Intel attack ad lands a solid blow
We don't normally get too worked up about an elected official's attendance record at congressional committee meetings. The real work of legislating often gets done elsewhere. But given the weight Kerry himself has given his congressional experience with intelligence oversight and his stated desire to "reform the intelligence system," his record of missing 76 percent of public Senate Intelligence Committee hearings - and every one in the year after the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center - is surely fair game …
Less attention has been focused on the ad's other charge - that Kerry proposed cutting intelligence spending by $6 billion after the first Trade Center attack, a position criticized at the time even by some leading Democrats. That position can harm Kerry's candidacy far more than any absenteeism charge.

 
A CRACK IN THE WALL

As of today, the LA Times has broken the mainstream media’s code of silence on the Kerry’s Excellent Vietnam Adventures. No doubt others will follow, now that the Times has shown them how to spin the story. Before long the rumble of spinning will become a roar. Yet, the only voice needed right now is Kerry’s. In the meantime, he deployed his winged monkeys to do his bidding while he remained silent, in the background, on the primary subject upon which he has based his entire candidacy. As long as the media avoided the subject, Kerry thought himself safe. That’s not being a leader; that’s being a coward.

Why are the media AWOL?
By David Limbaugh
John O'Neill doesn't timidly suggest that Kerry might have lied occasionally or exaggerated in Vietnam and afterward during his antiwar crusade. Rather he paints an unmistakable picture of Kerry as a ruthless, self-promoting egomaniac who systematically placed his own interests above his fellow soldiers and who was obsessively involved in building his resume at all costs during the entirety of his short tour in Vietnam.
O'Neill depicts Kerry -- with mountains of documented evidence -- as a pathological, unconscionable liar whose penchant for dishonesty in Vietnam was only exceeded by his brutal, unmitigated slander of his fellow soldiers when he rushed stateside to lobby against them, their superiors and the entire military establishment.
You can certainly say that John O'Neill and the some 250 Swiftees supporting his position are lying. Or you can say that John Kerry was lying about Vietnam and continues to today. But you cannot honestly say that both groups may be telling the truth. That choice is simply not open to us, as anyone who reads the book will be forced to admit.

 
IT'S ABOUT TIME

Pat here at KerryHaters broke the Christmas in Cambodia lie back in May. Then, after the release of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book, other bloggers pick it up, and now the LA Times. However, Patterico warns us to beware the spin!

Christmas in Cambodia Story Hits the L.A. Times
The L.A. Times has finally broken its silence on the "Christmas in Cambodia" aspect of the Swift Boat Vets' story, in an article titled Veterans Battle Over the Truth. The article also contains what purports to be a comprehensive analysis of the factual basis for the allegations of the Swift Boat Vets.
The article is pro-Kerry spin, pure and simple. The strategy of the article is apparent: before actually setting forth a single detail of the Swift Boat Vets' allegations, the article carefully lays the groundwork to prepare the reader to be skeptical. The article accomplishes this in multiple ways -- many of them misleading, and all of them prime examples of the fine art of slanted rhetoric.
…
But what does any of this matter? The details of the allegations will mean little to most readers, who have just been told at great length why they needn't take the Swift Boat Vets' allegations seriously in any event.

 
More Foreign "Leaders" for Kerry

This may have something to do with why Israeli Jews support Bush strongly.

Palestinian officials are quietly pinning their hopes on Democratic candidate John Kerry winning the US presidential election.

Former US Middle East envoy Denis Ross is likely to be reappointed should Kerry win the American elections, a Palestinian Authority source said.



Along the same lines, Kerry Waffles has another exclusive email from the Kerry Campaign telling the Heinz Family Philanthropies to take down a pro-Hezbollah article off a website they were funding. We talked about this disgusting article a long time ago but this will give you a taste:

Hizbullah Widows Enjoy Honor, Comforts in Lebanon
Run Date: 09/14/03
By Sarah Smiles
WeNews correspondent

In southern Lebanon, a generous support network provides for the widows of Hizbullah martyrs and ensures them a place of honor in the community.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (WOMENSENEWS)--Like many Shiite Muslim girls in southern Lebanon, Rima Naji was married early, at the tender age of 13. By 15 she had delivered her first child--a healthy boy--and by 19 her husband Sheikh Fadi Abboud was dead.

"He was martyred on the 10th of February 1995. He was 21 years old," she says. "Thank God he died according to the objectives of Hizbullah."

Needless to say, the article is gone; the KKKerry Campaign snaps its fingers and the Heinz Family Philanthropies take care of the matter.

 
Tom Lipscomb on Christmas in Cambodia

Oops, should have realized that Kitty would have covered this story (she does a great job on the Am Spec pieces). I'll leave it up because of the VVAW assassination story tie-in.

There have been two stories that have really been covered full bore by Kerry Haters since its inception in February. Most recently has been the Christmas in Cambodia story, which we revealed to the world as false on May 21. The other was the VVAW meeting which John Kerry attended at which a plot to assassinate US Senators was discussed, which was broken by Tom Lipscomb of the New York Sun.

To be honest with you, I thought the VVAW assassination plot story was bigger. But timing is everything. Back in March it barely made a ripple in the news media. Now it would have been a bombshell.

Lipscomb has an article in the American Spectator today on the Cambodia story. It's a great piece, which made it very tough to pick out a snippet. Go read it all.

Selective memory is everyone's secret enemy. Kerry hadn't been challenged in his selective recall since he left Vietnam, and his stories kept getting better and better. No wonder Kerry told the Washington Post interviewer, "I wish they had a delete button on LexisNexis."

But what is now clear is that Kerry has gone a step farther. Kerry lies. He not only lies to the Senate, the press and historians, he lies to his own press people, and he lies to himself. And he has been lying for years. And whenever one of Kerry's lies is under attack, he attacks every one else -- as liars.

Hat Tip (Belated): Danegerus