Official Kerry implosion thread

[dude1394]

Couldn't find another place to put just anecdotal kerry implosion info.

double ouch

John Kerry came to Steubenville yesterday and quickly realized he was in the wrong city. Steubenville is a city where there are 6 Democrats for every 1 Republican, and the Steelworkers unions are alive and active. You would think this was solid John Kerry territory. The mob used to control Steubenville and now the unions think they do. Well, they are wrong.

The Kerry campaign first scheduled a visit to Steubenville two weeks ago but "scheduling conflicts" came up at the last minute. Oh, and did I mention that Kerry wanted to use a local gun range as a campaign stop, but the owner turned him down? And that the Fire Department Union President told the Kerry campaign that not only would he not organize the union to support Kerry at the rally, but that he was supporting President Bush! The Kerry campaign took for granted that this area was sown up. Mistake number one. So they rescheduled the campaign trip when Franciscan University was back in session. Mistake number two.

Before Kerry arrived there was a huge pro-life march led by Franciscan University students, 500 strong. "You can't be Catholic and pro-abortion", read some of their signs. Students and members of local Catholic parishes were full of energy and FoxNews reported that this was the largest protest against Kerry outside of the Democratic Convention. Just picture 500 pro-lifers marching from their college campus to meet Kerry. Where else but in Steubenville, Ohio! Though the Franciscan University did not organize the event, it is well known for its orthodox Catholic education which encourages students to put their faith into action. These students simply cherish their Catholic faith and could not stand to let Kerry use their faith as a political prop. I am proud of my alma mater.

….The Kerry campaign not only made a mistake in their timing, but they also chose to hold the rally in a public park which should be open to all the public. Mistake number three. The police chief, sheriff, and mayor all agreed with me that protesters and their signs would be allowed inside the Kerry rally site. Freedom of speech is alive and well here in Ohio. The Kerry campaign flipped out!

So, now add another 500 local Bush supporters to the Kerry rally. They tried to turn up the music but they could not drown us out. According to the Herald Star (local press), "The crowd, estimated by officials as 3,500 strong, was almost split in half with people for and against the Massachusetts senator." John Kerry must know he has a problem when over 15% of his audience was booing him. We were respectful and did not heckle him - but upon arrival and when he sought our applause he got something he didn't expect. As the press arrived a feisty nine year old little girl began shouting, "We want Bush!", and we all chanted along. The campaign staff was beside themselves. This is history in the making! Even places like Steubenville are not supporting John Kerry. He is in serious trouble.

My friends, John Kerry will not be coming back to Steubenville. Kerry was visibly shaken when he received boos from the audience. You may not see this outside of FoxNews, and the AP is falsely reporting that only a few dozen protesters met Kerry.

[dude1394]

[l]=polipundit says]http://polipundit.com/2004_09_05_polipundit_archive.html#109440680118480 401[/l] that kerry seems to be ducking the press. Wonder why?

Still in Hiding

It has now been one month and four days since John Kerry last answered questions from a real reporter.

Can he go all the way to election day without telling us whether his "searing" memory of being in Cambodia is true? Or why every eyewitness disagrees with his claims of enemy fire during the incident he used to obtain his first Purple Heart? Or why his Silver Star mysteriously has a V for valor, in contradiction to Navy regulations? Or why he won't file form 180 and release his military records? Or why he won't make his journals, which form much of the basis for the book Tour of Duty, public?

[dude1394]

From betsy's page

My school, a small charter school in Raleigh, NC, periodically has special days when the kids don't go to the regular classes, but we have special programs that they cycle through. My responsibility Friday was to present a short history of political advertising. I used this great site, The Living Room Candidate, to show the kids ads going back to the first ones for Eisenhower and Stevenson. I thought that my readers might be interested in the reactions of 10th and 11th graders to some famous ads.

They loved the lighthearted songs from the "I like Ike" and "I love the Gov - Madly, Adlai" campaigns of 1952. I showed them the notorious 1964 Daisy ad. They all agreed that it was the ultimate negative ad, but that didn't bother them. They seemed to have an "all's fair" attitude towards ads - maybe they're so used to commercials that stretch the truth to criticize politicians who use ads to do the same.

I showed them the 1968 ad from Humphrey's campaign that just featured someone laughing and then gradually you see a TV that says simply "Agnew for President." After explaining to them who Humphrey and Agnew were and showing the ad, the kids laughed a lot but thought the ad was very ineffective because it didn't get specific on Agnew or on what Humphrey would do differently.

They thought that Reagan's 1984 "Morning in America" ad was wonderful. They said that it made them want to vote for Reagan. When I told them that the ad was criticized for being vague and using Hollywood techniques to paint a happy gauzy picture of America, they didn't care. They thought it accomplished its job and made them feel good about America and Reagan. I don't know how much of that reaction was overflow from Reagan's funeral this summer, although, unfortunately, most of the students seemed pretty clueless about Reagan. They knew he'd been an actor but few knew that he'd been a governor.

The infamous Willie Horton ad run by the National Security PAC was the most effective ad, in their opinions. While showing them the Horton ad, their jaws were falling open. One kid said, "I hate both the Bushes and all Republicans, but that ad made me want to vote for Bush." They all agreed. I asked them if they thought it was a dirty ad and they almost uniformly said no. Then, I asked them if they thought it was racist and they were just blank. After a few moments they figured out why someone would call it racist, but they disagreed that just showing a black man who committed a crime was in itself racist. It was fascinating to see their opinions without the prejudices inculcated by media spin.

They also agreed that the Dukakis in a tank ad was very effective. They liked the juxtaposition of the list of defense systems that Dukakis opposed with the silly picture of Dukakis riding around in a circle. I can just picture a similar ad made about all the defense systems that Kerry has voted against. And, if a 527 was making the ad, they might use a montage of pictures of Kerry touring NASA in a space suit, or windsurfing, or yachting.

Fast-forwarding to today, I showed them the second Swift Boat ad and the ad that Kerry made to answer the SBVT ads using James Rassmann talking about how Kerry saved him in Vietnam. The ad closes with Kerry saying that he still carries shrapnel in his leg. I was amazed when the kids burst in laughter at that point. They explained that it just seemed so random for him to be talking about shrapnel in his leg and then to end the ad. As one girl explained, she didn't see that he could have been hurt that badly in his leg since she always sees pictures of him biking, skiing, and windsurfing. They thought the ad was ineffective since it was just one guy saying that Kerry was brave compared to all the guys in the Swifties' ad. They thought Kerry should address the specific allegations. I asked them if they were undecided on whom to vote for, would this set of ads make them more or less likely to vote for Kerry, and they almost all agreed that they'd be less likely to vote for Kerry. And most of these kids are liberals.

And so ended my focus group of teens and TV ads. Out of the mouth of babes....

[Drbio]

Can't wait for the debates. kerry will have nowhere to hide.

[Mavdog]

Bush. won't have anywhere to hide either.

[Drbio]

Bush won't have to hide. He is a solid debater and Kerry will crumble and be exposed for the weak kneed cad he really is.

[dude1394]

Beldar may be closer to what will happen than I thought. It seems that the author of kerry's authorized biography believes that kerry should release his records. Wonder if the msm will try to get them, no one but judicial watch seems to want to do their job.

brinkley

Brinkley: Navy Probe Could Doom Kerry Campaign

Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley said Sunday that if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid.

Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] Web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not."

Story Continues Below

"If so," said the "Tour of Duty" author, "Kerry would have to fix it immediately - and it does raise some questions as to why that would happen."

"Is it sloppiness, is it purposeful intent, is there an easy explanation for it?" Brinkley wondered.

He said that while questions raised by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about Kerry's war record have been very damaging, "so far they haven't been lethal." But Brinkley predicted that a discrepancy with Kerry's medals could seriously escalate his political problems.

Asked if inconsistencies uncovered by the Navy probe could be the "death knell" for Kerry's campaign, Brinkley told Malzberg, "It could."

In the next breath he hastened to add, however: "Right now it's unclear. So we have to just wait to see what all this adds up to."

The presidential historian called on Kerry to authorize the release of his full military file, saying, "Clearly some of these military records should be made available to the press."

[dude1394]

Judicial Watch has been busy..

A Washington, D.C., public interest group has released FBI documents it says indicates Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry accepted laundered contributions from the Chinese government during his 1996 Senate re-election campaign.

The organization Judicial Watch also contends that in exchange for the donations, Kerry might have arranged meetings between federal government officials and Chinese aerospace executives.

"These disturbing FBI documents raise further questions about Sen. Kerry's involvement in what looks like a quid pro quo -- cash for meetings -- with the communist Chinese," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

The Kerry campaign had no immediate comment.

The Carthage Foundation, which is controlled by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Publisher Richard M. Scaife, annually contributes money to Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch released the recently declassified documents last week after obtaining them through the federal Freedom of Information Act. The information involves the FBI's "Chinagate" investigation into former President Bill Clinton's campaign's acceptance of contributions from Chinese government sources.

[dude1394]

More judicial watch

Pentagon investigates Kerry's war medals
September 6, 2004
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In a fresh blow to John Kerry's flagging presidential campaign, the Pentagon has ordered an official investigation into the awarding of the Democratic senator's five Vietnam War decorations.

News of the inquiry came as two of the first polls released since last week's Republican convention said President George Bush had opened an 11-point lead over his rival - the widest margin since serious campaigning began.

The inquiry is to be carried out by the Inspector-General's office of the US Navy, for which Senator Kerry served as a Swift Boat captain for four months in 1968, making two tours of duty. He was wounded in action and subsequently awarded three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. But, for the past month, the details of Senator Kerry's military service in Vietnam have become shrouded in a controversy that the navy now feels warrants a full-blown search for the truth.

A self-styled group of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, many of whom served in Vietnam during the same period, say Senator Kerry exaggerated the significance of combat incidents and inaccurately reported the circumstances of his injuries. The accusations are repeated in a book, Unfit to Command, published last month.

------

n an angry statement from campaign headquarters, Michael Meehan, Senator Kerry's senior adviser, condemned the inquiry as a waste of resources.

"The facts are clear," Mr Meehan said. "The navy awarded John Kerry the Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V and three Purple Hearts. This is a waste of taxpayers' dollars and the Pentagon's time, especially during wartime."

Maybe the kerry campaign could sue them...

[Drbio]

I expect Kerry to send the Pentagon a cease and desist letter any day now. [img]i/expressions/anim_roller.gif[/img]

[dude1394]

reserve

My fellow veterans, the debate over whether John Kerry earned or deserved any medals or ribbons is for others. What is most concerning is his behavior while still an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Let me try and put this in perspective.

According to publicly available records, Mr. Kerry was released from active duty and transferred to the Naval Reserve (inactive) in January 1970. In January 1972, he was transferred to the standby Reserve (inactive). While a commissioned officer in the inactive Naval Reserve, Mr. Kerry traveled to Paris, France, and met with official delegations from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Provisional Revolutionary Government (the Viet Cong). The Vietnamese Communists eagerly met Mr. Kerry and benefited directly from the obvious propaganda victory.

These acts are clear violations of the legal prohibitions on individual citizens negotiating with foreign powers and the constitutional prohibition against giving support to our nation's enemies in wartime. Additionally, as a commissioned officer of the Naval Reserve, Mr. Kerry was subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and likely violated it ("aiding the enemy") through his actions with the North Vietnamese/Viet Cong delegation.

Mr. Kerry returned from his private negotiations with the Vietnamese Communists to Washington, D.C., and held a news conference. At the press event, he advocated a Vietnamese Communist "peace proposal" calling for a U. S. withdrawal from Vietnam and payment of war damage reparations to the communist government. Mr. Kerry engaged in this advocacy on behalf of a foreign power with which we were at war while continuing to hold a commission as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve.


The record is clear on his testimony to the Senate on U.S. war crimes and his advocacy of the North Vietnamese position.

Again, the medal debate is for others, although I know of a lot of brave men who did much more and got no recognition for their bravery under fire.

[Drbio]

That last post pisses me off dude. I'm not sure that I have seen that timeline before and if it is accurate, I hope 100% of all our veterans become quickly aware of it.

[LRB]

My friends, John Kerry will not be coming back to Steubenville. Kerry was visibly shaken when he received boos from the audience. You may not see this outside of FoxNews, and the AP is falsely reporting that only a few dozen protesters met Kerry.

How dare they question his patriotisim!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[dude1394]

I would expect that the McCain commnets will be taken off his website pretty soon like others have. Even his attacks must flip-flop.

powerline

Kerry Attacks McCain

John McCain has done John Kerry a huge favor by helping him to fend off the Swifties. In fact, McCain's endorsement of Kerry, based in part on what McCain has characterized as their friendship, has been by far Kerry's best defense against the vets.

Now Kerry has repaid McCain by accusing him of being a liar. A reader has pointed out to us (and a number of other bloggers) that Kerry's website is carrying a press release titled: "The 2004 GOP Convention: Four Days Filled With Lies, Mischaracterizations, Distortions, And Half-Truths." No fewer than four of the lies and mischaracterizations were in McCain's speech.

Talk about a gang that can't shoot straight. The last thing John Kerry should do is annoy McCain. If McCain turns on him, he's in real trouble.

Ironically, in addition to being counterproductive as it relates to McCain, the Kerry press release is completely ineffective. All it does is quote a long list of statements from speeches at the GOP convention with which Kerry disagrees, with no attempt at response or refutation. So there is nothing gained to balance out the risk of alienating McCain.

[Drbio]

Kerry has lost it. He's off the deep end. It is official. If the MSM runs with the McCain bash he is done. I think he is done anyways, but attacking McCain is just ignorant.

[dude1394]

Since Kerry was Dukaki's Lt. Gov.... and he's another politician without a core, this is pretty logical.

dukaka

The Return Of Dukakis

It appears as though the Kerry-as-Dukakis meme has taken off. Considering that Kerry was Dukakis’ Lt. Gov., perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. Kerry campaign was never strong, he benefitted first of all from the crash of Howard Dean in January and secondly from the weakness of Bush throughout the summer.

Kerry’s biggest flaw was in his fundamental lack of vision. His convention speech was his best opportunity to sell himself to the American people – instead he harped on Vietnam, opening himself up to the attacks by the Swift Boat Vets (which the Kerry campaign had to have known about since they first emerged in May of this year).

Now Kerry find himself in the middle of an official inquiry into his medals, his numbers have plummeted, and Bush is now running several points ahead with double digit leads in multiple polls.

Kerry could have elucidated a vision for the country, but Kerry is not a political risk-taker. He tried to substitute biography for real strength on the war on terrorism. He used his history as a shield against criticism of his liberal anti-military record and whined about people “questioning his patriotism” whenever anyone dared criticize that record. In short, he has been acting like a whiny petulant little brat. Sadly, Kerry is likely to do much better than Dukakis did based only on the vicious hatred of Bush coming from the anti-war left, but given that Bush now has the momentum, I don’t see Kerry pulling significantly ahead unless he radically alters nearly everything in his campaign. While such a scenario is possible, it’s also highly unlikely. Instead, look to more of Kerry’s attempts at a smear campaign leading into a sound electoral defeat. John Kerry may have gone to Vietnam, but he doesn’t have what it takes to move into the Oval Office.

[FishForLunch]

Is Kerry by any chance the most decorated vietnam vet. He seems to be the only genuine war hero to fight in vietnam.

[LRB]

Kerry looks to be skippering his boat into a watery grave. It'll be entertaining to see the demorats jumping ship in the coming weeks. Who knows, maybe Kerry will prove a good captain and go down with the ship. I doubt it somehow.

[dude1394]

Maybe at the end of this election, we will get a media that is more interested in ferreting out the truth than protecting their candidate. I doubt it, but it is getting closer. Great piece at captainsquarters

[quote]
Kerry Advisor: Print Press Deliberately Targets Swiftvets

Today's Boston Globe runs a lengthy article about John Kerry's decision to feature his Viet Nam service as the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Patrick Healy's report uncovers several interesting nuggets from his in-depth research into this ultimately disastrous strategic choice, but none quite so interesting as this assertion by David McKean, a Kerry advisor:

Yet in meetings with Kerry, McKean and other advisers say, they told the Democrat that he had an extraordinary story of heroism to tell Americans. Campaign advisers say they felt sure of two things: Past Vietnam critics like John O'Neill, now a leader of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, would probably resurface, but Kerry and his allies could neutralize the criticism as they had done before.

The attacks on Kerry by the swift boat group, however, have stunned many in the camp and left Kerry frustrated that the media have not dismissed the charges as unsubstantiated. "What has surprised me is the voracity with which they have tried to attack his heroism," McKean said. "I have never seen people lie so egregiously and get away with it. This is as close to McCarthyism as you can get in a campaign. The print press has worked hard to discredit it, but television just replays the charges over and over."

This series of assertions boggles the mind. First, let's recall that the print press' job isn't to discredit critics of Democratic candidates -- it's to search for and report the truth. McKean and the Kerry campaign felt comfortable enough with the print press, however, to assume that they would reliably attack the Swiftvets once they raised their voices (and pens) against Kerry. McKean only rues the fact that the campaign couldn't control television.

Did the print press try to discredit the Swiftvets? Only after ignoring them for weeks failed to stop the story from breaking to the surface.

But let's take another piece of McKean's statement to Healy, the notion that the Swiftvets "lie so egregiously". He then accuses them of McCarthyism, but who exactly is guilty of that charge? So far, the Kerry campaign has been forced to back down from at least three components of its Viet Nam narrative:

* Kerry's 25-year-old Cambodian Christmas fable, which has morphed and split into multiple near-Cambodian experiences with Special Forces/CIA entanglements
* Kerry's stealing of Tedd Peck's engagement on 29 January 1969, which he included in his website timeline
* Kerry's and David Alston's stories about Alston serving with Kerry on the 29 January and 28 February engagements, which Captain's Quarters determined was impossible -- and Alston no longer makes appearances with Kerry in telling those stories

Also, as a result of the scrutiny applied to Kerry's narrative, the following medals that Kerry thrust to the forefront of his campaign are now under question:

* His explanation for his first Purple Heart for the "action" of 2 December conflicts with his own journals, which states on 11 Dec that he had not yet been shot at -- and the application for that award was processed long after the event and through a different chain of command than that under which Kerry served on 2 Dec.

* The Navy has launched an investigation of how Kerry had three separate commendations for one Silver Star, including one signed and supposedly written by John Lehman in the 1980s, while Lehman insists he never saw, wrote, or signed it. The Navy is also investigating how Kerry claimed a combat "V" for the Silver Star, a device that does not apply to that award.

The only factual refutations that have occurred so far apply to John Kerry's narrative, not that of the 250-plus Swiftvets with whom he served. So who's lied to the electorate so far? It doesn't appear to be the Swiftvets, which makes the only "egregious" liar in this campaign John Kerry.

Healy includes more entertaining nuggets in his in-depth look at the Kerry campaign's struggle with the Viet Nam narrative, although their irony escaped Healy. For instance, Healy writes:

Indeed, Kerry hyped his Vietnam service at the kickoff, asking his former crewmates to join him on stage. But campaign aides were frustrated when the media did not embrace the war hero storyline and focused instead on the race with then-front-runner Howard Dean. As Dean gained momentum, Kerry's advisers publicly shrugged off the polls, but one statistic stunned some of them.

"A staggering amount of people still didn't know that John was a Vietnam veteran -- it was extraordinary," McKean said. "We felt like John's story wasn't breaking through, and it was a critical part of who he was and a critical part of the campaign."

Part of the problem was the candidate. Kerry rarely opened up about Vietnam, leaving the glory for his crewmates to share. But he concentrated on overcoming his own Brahmin-bred modesty, advisers said, talking more than ever about how he had "bled for his country" and killed Viet Cong.

Oh, yeah, hardly anyone knew that Kerry was a Viet Nam veteran! His emphasis on his war record had become such a joke that the Opinionjournal blog Best Of The Web had a running gag included in any entry about Kerry: "who, by the way, served in Viet Nam". Besides, Kerry's infamous anti-war stance had long been known as the basis of his public life. Kerry himself was so reticent to talk about his experience that he wrote a letter to the Boston Herald in 1979 comparing it to Apocalypse Now, with the movie coming up short to the danger Kerry experienced -- according to Kerry.

Healy's conclusion, though, reveals the pure political calculation behind the emphasis on Kerry's service record, and it comes from Kerry's own biographer:

Whether this counterassault will put Vietnam squarely back in the win column for the Kerry campaign will become clear in the next eight weeks. Democrats, including advisers to Kerry, remain wary and uncertain, just as the candidate once was about telling his Vietnam story. "Kerry decided to make Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign for one clear reason: Imagine him without his military record -- he would just be another liberal from Taxachusetts," Brinkley said. "With Vietnam, he could challenge Republicans on their strongest position -- standing with the military and with the American flag. Now you're seeing the negative effects of that."

The Kerry campaign has made his Viet Nam service its front in order to disguise the fact that Kerry has been a complete non-entity for the past twenty years in the Senate, voting over and over again for tax hikes and defense and intelligence cuts. Kerry campaigned for nuclear freezes and against the death penalty while introducing almost no legislation, despite his tenure in the Senate. And now that people have decided to look into the only qualification Kerry himself has offered for his candidacy, his campaign squeals about McCarthyism.

Does anyone trust these people to keep us safe?[quote]

[dude1394]

Dang that kerry has a strange view of diplomacy....

Nor did Kerry stop there. He called the contributions of allies such as Britain, Italy, Poland, and South Korea "the phoniest thing I've ever heard," saying that they had "500 troops here and 500 troops there," despite these countries having thousands of troops -- especially Britain, which stations tens of thousands in Iraq and had 40,000 at the beginning of the war fighting alongside America. And yet, he also asserted this:

He denied that he was "Monday morning quarterbacking."

Nowhere does Kerry explain how he would have convinced France and Germany to send troops to Iraq while they pocketed millions from the Oil-For-Food program. This is no mean distinction, either. Kerry keeps insisting that having their cooperation would have legitimized Bush's efforts in Iraq, but never talks about the fact that both countries have been deeply implicated in the UN corruption that fed billions to Saddam Hussein while he paid off officials in both countries with oil futures worth millions of dollars. Nor does Kerry tell audiences how little military support either country could contribute, even had they been inclined to do so.

[LRB]

Ouch!!! Kerry seems to be caught between the tar baby of Iraq and the tar baby of Vietnam. Either way the Kerry campaign is in a quagmire.