The Political Guns Of August Are Firing (Douglas Brinkley -- Christmas in Cambodia Not True)

Washington Post ^ | 08/28/04 | Ann Gerhart

[Polybius]

Kerry made up the whole thing. It is a lie. And he used the lie to poilitcal advantage,...... based on falsehoods. .....These aren't "little harmless" lies. These are cold, calculated, and dangerous lies.

....See a pattern here?

Ummm..........He's a Democrat?

[shield]

bmp

[DAC22]

Mmm, the Washington Post??? Now this story is really spinning out of control. The media will protect Kerry only so long as the individual members of the media don't feel they are being scooped by others members of the media. Once that starts happening they only care about their reputations for getting it first."


It still has to pass mustard with their editors. I suspect they will shill Kerrie to the very end, unless the end game is Hildabeast, at which point this could get real interesting

BUUUWWWHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[NavySEAL F-16]

The Kerry campaign has refused to release Kerry's personal Vietnam archive, including his journals and letters, saying that the senator is contractually bound to grant Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But Brinkley said this week the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control.

"I don't mind if John Kerry shows anybody anything," he said. "If he wants to let anybody in, that's his business. Go bug John Kerry, and leave me alone." The exclusivity agreement, he said, simply requires "that anybody quoting any of the material needs to cite my book."

Now, that's funny.

[pending]

....See a pattern here?

For certain, and another one is appearing.

Integrity is a big deal to a pro. Fundamentally
serious folks who dedicate their lives to something will defend themselves in the end.


The media,Brinkley have their reputation to protect.
These folks are not going to fall on their sword for Kerry.
***
I have some new respect for the WaPo lately,
I also commend the Macneil-Lehrer folks for covering this when the others did not.
NYT? We shall see. There are some rumblings. Much of their tarnished reputation could be recovered with a strong stand.

O'Reilly and others, unwilling to question wartime service, will focus on his post war activity. The facts are not in question. Cries of "Vast right wing Karl Rove inspired conspiratorial lies" will fail next to vids of Kerry's actual statements.

His position of not releasing anything is going to become a bigger issue.
The people who have worked with him and covered for him resent their exposure.
They will demand Kerry clean with military and medical records, and the Brinkley journals.
He has no cover right now. Friends will demand it to "clear the air" to show it was "the honest to God truth".

The omission appears now as an admission of guilt.

This is getting to be a lot of fun, really.
Could not happen to a more deserving fellow.

[Uncle Hal]

Your absolutely right about the Clinton's. They remind me of a shark circling their victim waiting to go in for the kill. They are out there and they have their eyes on 08. They will do anything to be sure Hillary is at the top of the Democratic ticket.

[Graymatter]

And for the Dems, this is the real tragedy of '04, that a Clinton couldn't run---BILL Clinton. He's their true love. *barf!*

For the liberal media, Hillary's just the next best thing, but she's no Bubba and never will be.

It was Bill Clinton the Dems wanted, and he couldn't legally run. So what did they have in the batch? Kerry, Dean, Edwards, Gephardt...I think if they'd had more time, they'd have gone with Edwards, but once Dean began to fray around the edges, the frightened libs made a beeline for the coolest head, the most hardened and experienced politician. They're sore about this, too. They feel they've been maneuvered somehow. (They don't seem to realize that Bush-Cheney would have rendered Edwards into chop meat in no time flat.)

And I have wondered if there was some funny business in Vilsack's Iowa. Kerry needed that win so bad. He might have folded if he hadn't won it. It gave him legitimacy and momentum. Yet many libs are sure they've been snookered. He's no Bill Clinton. He's not the candidate of their dreams. The lib media aren't thrilled with the material they must work with. When you're asked to trim a Christmas tree and it's a frickin' cactus, you naturally feel a bit resentful. Even before it pricks you, and Kerry is mighty prickly stuff.

Oh yes, and there was another moment that nicked the MSM's delicate hide: Teresa "Taserer" Heinz telling a reporter to "shove it." No matter that he was working for a "right-wing rag." He was one of theirs and thus she dissed them all.

With every passing day the lib media is getting more disenchanted with Kerry, who was so little enchanting to start with. Eventually the day may come when they see George Bush as precisely the best person to spite John Kerry, the most offensive salt in the wound. Hating Kerry might just become more satisfying to them, than hating Bush. We shall see!

[GretchenM]

marker bump

[Paleo Conservative]

The Kerry campaign has refused to release Kerry's personal Vietnam archive, including his journals and letters, saying that the senator is contractually bound to grant Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But Brinkley said this week the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control.

This won't do Brinkley's academic reputation any good. He he!

[GretchenM]

I guess I should have expected this article to be marbled with syrupy pathos for the poor, besieged Brinkley but it's still difficult to stomach. "Brace yourself, Effie,"* before reading on.

Nobody picked on his Rosa Parks biography.

His cell phone is too full to receive any more messages. Reporters, sometimes four from one newspaper, call him hourly, demanding help in sorting fact from fabrication. The vets against Kerry go on cable TV and mischaracterize his work, he says. His knee needs surgery from too much running, his baby needs rocking, boxes in his new house need unpacking. His book editor needs his next manuscript. His New Yorker editor needs his next article. And NBC needs him to stop thinking like an academic and start talking like a pundit when it puts him on camera during next week's Republican National Convention.

This is an interesting tidbit from Brinkley, after spending time reading kerry journals and interviewing him: "His is a restless, restless mind."

And this: "said Brinkley, whose Republican parents are much prouder of his television commentary during the Reagan funeral than they are of his bestseller. 'I'm in the [political] center. I honestly have to tell you that's my framework.'"

*Oblique reference to Mrs. Doubtfire recounting marital relations with her "husband."

[LowNslow]

My distant cousin Stephen Ambrose is rolling in his grave.

It sounds to me by his words David Brinkley based his book almost entirely on Kerry's personal papers, individuals that John Hurley guided his way, and did little in depth or independent research.

Historian or Kerry Hack - you decide.

[MortMan]

Some euphamisms even have a shiny flush handle on them!! ;-D

[Denver Ditdat]

Amazon.com sales rank on 8/28/04:

"Unfit for Command": 1

"Tour of Duty": 592

Does Amazon's sales ranking system count total sales or is it a snapshot showing how well a book is selling in relation to others during a specific time period?

[newzjunkey]

Mongrel: derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin.

In other words, "mongrel phrase" is a polite way of saying, "Bullsh!t."

[NYCVirago]

This article says this about the latest version of Tour of Duty:

Brinkley has made corrections and revisions to the paperback version, he said, but most of those are minor, spelling errors and the like. A new introduction includes a fuller version of the Rassmann story; Brinkley said that Kerry couldn't recall the spelling of Rassmann's last name during their interviews, and the historian was unable to locate the Green Beret before his deadline.

But this isn't the first time the book had to be revised after being published. From an April Boston Globe article:

Brinkley and publisher William Morrow plan to release a revised edition of "Tour of Duty" in two weeks. "I started realizing, `I've got to fix this,' `I've got to fix that,' " Brinkley says. "Nobody believed we would get to this point where every aspect of the book is being dissected."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/04/29/historians_duty_pr_for_kerry/