[Hon]

Note: The caption in the cartoon reads: "You say the Fifth in Massachusetts? I'll be right up."

[Hon]

To win the primary, the newcomer overcame the election eve arrest of his brother, Cameron, and campaign field director Thomas J. Vallely, both then 22, in the basement of a Lowell building that housed the headquarters of Kerry and another Democratic contender, state Representative Anthony R. DiFruscia of Lawrence. It was almost 2 a.m. - 30 hours before the polls opened - when the two were arrested on charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny.

That day's Sun blared a memorable, double-deck headline: "Kerry brother arrested in Lowell `Watergate."' DiFruscia, getting some extra ink in the campaign's waning hours, had drawn the parallel to the break-in at Democratic headquarters in Washington three months earlier.

The Kerry camp declared it a setup, saying that the two responded to an anonymous phone call, minutes earlier, threatening to cut the campaign's 36 phone lines on the day before its get-out-the-vote effort. Lowell Police arrested the pair in an area near the trunk line for all of the building's phones.

To this day Kerry becomes animated talking about the episode, convinced it was part of a conspiracy against his insurgency. He said he does not know who was involved. He dismissed as ridiculous the charge that DiFruscia was a target. "He didn't figure in the race," said Kerry.

But some of Kerry's claims in the Lowell break-in are wildly at odds with the facts.

"That headline was held open. That page was held open, according to [Sun] typesetters, at 1 o'clock in the morning," Kerry said. "That doesn't happen at a newspaper, you know that. And that headline was out there on the streets the next morning, first thing."

The Sun, however, was an afternoon paper, and its first deadline was hours after the arrests, in plenty of time to write the story for that day's editions. The Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence also reported the arrests that day, in a smaller story under the headline "Shades of Watergate?"

Kerry's brother today declines to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the arrests and the charges, which were dropped a year later.

"It was an impulsive, rash thing that we did and that John Kerry ended up having to deal with," said Cam Kerry, now a partner at the Boston law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. "That's all we're going to say on that one."

Vallely, a former Marine who served in Vietnam and later became a state representative in Boston, had more to say.

"I kicked in the door," he said, and then, police swarmed the area. Vallely said DiFruscia's office was of no interest; the Kerry phone lines were. In hindsight, he said, "We probably were overreacting to someone who was joking."

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061803.shtml

[Cautor]

Thanks for the post. Interesting.

[I_be_tc]

bump for later read

[mewzilla]

Click here for both parts of John Pike's article The Many Faces of John Kerry.

[expatpat]

What is the tagline under the cartoon?

[M Kehoe]

The sad part about this article is that everyone (including Republicans) expect the democRATs (i.e. the Longs', Kennedys', Daleys', etc.) to commit voter fraud (i.e dead people voting, felons, etc.), electioneering, B&E, wiretapping, walk-around money, larceny, strong arm tactics, foreign contributions, etc., etc.

Nothing new here, time to moveon.org (AA).

(AA=anti-American A$$holes) Kinda like the ACLU.

5.56mm

[Grut]

But if the Kerry campaign was concerned about someone breaking and entering to cut off its telephone service, why didn't they just call the police?

Best reason in the world: the police were not fond of the protest movement and no competent political operative would have given them any entry whatever into the Kerry campaign.

If this 'issue' isn't DOA, it'll only serve to make those who promote it look like partisan idiots.

[kcvl]

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), left, gestures under a bust of Ho Chi Minh, during a Nov. 1994 meeting in Hanoi with Do Muoi, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In 1955, as a leader in the communist land reform movement, Muoi helped annihilate Vietnam's middle-class landowners. Over 50,000 Vietnamese landowners were murdered that year, making it one of the bloodiest periods in Vietnam's history.

[small voice in the wilderness]

Looks like Lehane may have dug a big hole in turn 2 of the Freakness. And Secrekerryat just hit it.

[Scenic Sounds]

I hope somebody has something better than this. ;-)

[SunkenCiv]

Fascinating. Not surprising though. Also not surprising is the fact that it has resurfaced as Kerry becomes the frontrunner.

[lawdude]

I can't apply a different standard to Kerry than I would to any Republican. He is not responsible for the actions of his family members unless he caused them to do this. Has that been shown?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

JOHN KERRY = Enemy of Vietnam Vets

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1320
.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[SunkenCiv]

BTTT!

Napalm In The Morning

to find more web refs to this "Kerry Watergate", try...

a Google search

For this and many other reasons...

George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent