Posted on 10/27/2004 7:56:22 PM PDT by backpacker_c
Need help interpreting something from 1971 interview Debbie: Was there every any question about you being dishonorably discharged? Kerry: oh no, no, that has never been questioned.
The following is an interview conducted in Nov 1971, on the TV program Viewpoints, at the TV studios of WRC-TV, Washington, DC. Go to the url http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/rwh032804.asp click on the blue box which says: A November 6, 1971 interview with John Kerry on protesting the war in Vietnam. (10 min.)
A real media file will play, when it plays listen closely to the section that starts around 2 minutes 50 secs.
Key conversation is Debbie: Was there every any question about you being dishonourably discharged? Kerry: oh no, no, that has never been questioned.
The last question was awkwardly phrased, as some people can say that it could be intrepreted as either 1) a dishonorable discharged had occurred, and D: was asking if there had been any questions about it, or 2) had there been raised any questions about a dishonorable discharge occurring
My impression is that it seems to be asking if there was any question about him being (in the state of) dishonorably discharged, and that kerry responds in a way that he is avoiding the question. Kerry appears to give a response “that (the dishonorable discharge} has never been questioned” – there has been no questions about him being dishonorably discharged, If he was not dishonorably discharged, he would have responded along the lines of “a dishonorable discharge didn’t occur/was never considered/etc”. in fact, it appears that kerry was surprised by the question, and tried to brush it off as inconsequential.
Opposing view – the question is was there a possiblity of a dishonorable discharge, and kerry responded that a dishonorable discharge had never been considered.
Your logical, objective, opinions please… if it means 1, when may have something, if it means 2, I need to go back to school.
thank you for your help, and you can scold me if this turns out to be nothing
How does this apply – see the article written by writer Thomas Lipscomb in the NY Sun http://www.nysun.com/article/3107
My opinion:
"that has never been questioned" seems to me to be a typical non-answer.
He seems to say the dishonorable . . . was never questioned. Or it could mean his discharge was never questioned.
My impression of this is that she knew a dishon dc (dishonorble(y) discharge) had occurred, and was asking if anyone had said anything about it. if it had not occurred, wouldn't the question be "was there ever a question about the possiblity you might be dishon dc'ed?". also, kerry seems surprised, then, almost smuggly replies that there had never been any question about the dishon dc, as he brushes off the question.
remember, this is a professional interviewer. the tense of the question is "being dishon dc'ed" you are presently in that state.
if he had been dishon dc'ed, an had a fix put in by the carter administration, that would correspond with the Lipscomb article.
also, it is noted that kerry doesn't know how many medals he threw over the fence in this video, and the interviewer only mentions TWO purple hearts, that kerry doesn't disagree with. remember, there is suspicion about how kerry got one of his purple hearts...
also, should i relink this into the news forum to get more input?
Oops, misread the date. I'd still like to see more comments on this!!
The one thing you have to be careful about with Democrats around is double speek.
Even Jimmy Carter was a pro at it.
This is from The Book Of Lists #3
President Carter referred to the failed military rescue of the American hosteges in Iran as an "incomplete success," He also justified the government bail-out of Chrysler by saying that "this legislation does not violate the principle of letting free enterprise function on its own, because Chrysler is unique in its present circumstances." In Addition Carter proudly stated that his administration never supported "nations which stands for principles with which their people violently disagree, and which are completely antithetical to our principles." Nonetheless, he continued to provide military and financial aid to over 20 governments which systematically violated human rights.
i have been a lurker on here for a while, so i'm not familiar with posting yet. If this does mean that kerry had a dishon dc, then a fix did occur as was postulated, and kerry would have reason to not sign form 180.
to link to this from the news group, should i just post a short message there, or is there any way to move this thread except by way of a moderator?
thanks (shows how dumb a newbie i am)
What is the full name of the reported quoted as Debbie? We need to find out what organizations she worked for and look at prior stories from the time.
Does anyone have access to a lexis search?
The link ('71 interview) is not working today?
sorry everyone, i have to make an apology and a retraction -
In regards to post #4, what I thought I heard on the audo as Two was actually Three purple hearts.
the audio that I had heard was a little hard to distinguish, but it was noted by others that it said three, i went back anc listened to it again, and it is three.
my apologies again. this was not an intentional error.
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