Kerry's 'joke' could haunt him (said Secret Service had orders to 'shoot Quayle')

World Net Daily ^ | 1/26/04

[truthandlife]

Sen. John Kerry got to be the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination through a series of embarrassing verbal gaffes by his major opponent, Howard Dean.

But Kerry has made his share of mistakes in the past.

One that may come back to haunt him – particularly as he begins considering vice presidential candidates – is the one he told about Dan Quayle on Nov. 16, 1988.

"Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle," he said. "There isn't any press here, is there?"

After finding out the press was there – and the quote picked up by the Associated Press – Kerry apologized.

That was a long time ago, but there have been more recent faux pas.

"What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," he was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe, April 3, 2003.

Kerry was criticized for comparing the United States with a brutal dictatorship in Iraq – a bit over the top for a man seeking the highest office in the land.

''For those of us who are fortunate to share an Irish ancestry, we take great pride in the contributions of Irish-Americans," he was quoted in the Congressional Record, St Patrick's Day, March 18, 1986.

There's just one little problem with that one – Kerry's not Irish.

And then there was the F-word in a Rolling Stone interview.

Even before his Quayle joke, Kerry achieved national recognition for the first time back in April 1971, while one of the leaders of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Kerry helped organize a rally of hundreds of Vietnam vets on the Capitol Mall in Washington. There were Viet Cong flags flying. There were clenched fists raised in the air. There were posters of Communist Party hack Angela Davis plastered on placards.

The most remarkable part of that media event was the visual image of these former soldiers throwing away their hard-won war medals – with John Kerry leading the action. News accounts reported Kerry, the decorated retired lieutenant, had thrown his own medals away.

Only many years later did Kerry admit he actually kept his and threw away the medals earned by others.

A few days after the rally, while testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 23, 1971, Kerry said U.S. soldiers had "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, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."

[Gerasimov]

hmmm ... I'm hearing some Algore "I created the internet" stuff poking through in F'in Kerry!

[Peach]

And yesterday on FNC he explained that he voted against the first Gulf War because he wanted Saddam removed from power, even though the UN didn't support that.

Now he voted to support regime change in Iraq but changed his mind because the UN didn't support that.

Huh! Well, that certainly makes sense, Senator Kerry.

[Archangelsk]

Ya know, we've gotten to the point where candidates can no longer be human beings. I wonder when someone is going to complain about the President's penchant for nicknames or dredge up the Reagan 'gaffe' on bombing the Soviet Union.

Give it a rest, say I.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

My sense is that none of this stuff will stick to Kerry.

Then again, if the Bush campaign people can weave it into commercials that paint a convincing picture of an unreliable opportunist with a lack of integrity . . .

[Piquaboy]

Nothing will haunt him if the media has anything to do with it. He is their new darling!

[cookcounty]

""What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," (Kerry) was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe, April 3, 2003." Given how things have worked historically in Arab countries, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that this sort of thing emboldened our enemies to believe that Bush was weak, and that a few more ambushes and IEDs would colapse US resolve.

Are some of our people dead because of intemperate remarks like Kerry's?

[mewzilla]

On a related note, anyone know if Kerry is still flying around to campaign appearances in a French-made helo?

[adam_az]

"What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," he was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe, April 3, 2003.

Dean did that too:

[cookcounty]

" What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," (Kerry) was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe, April 3, 2003."

Given how things have worked historically in Arab countries, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that this sort of thing emboldened our enemies to believe that Bush was weak, and that a few more ambushes and IEDs would colapse US resolve.

Are some of our people dead because of intemperate remarks like Kerry's?

Making that last little change....then not previewing again. My apologies.

[Cicero]

Plenty of "Regime Change - Bush/Cheney" bumper stickers here in Vermont. The Democrat base would do just about anything to dump Bush, including betraying the best interests of their country.

[tdadams]

First of all, I think that's pretty funny. Secondly, I don't want a president who's a humorless boob. Let's not make mountains out of molehills and let's quit playing gotcha politics, for the sake of everyone.

[.cnI redruM]

Say it isn't so. John O'Kerry isn't Irish?

[petercooper]

Didn't Kerry and Kennedy perform a waitress sandwich a few years back?

[dfwgator]

Say it isn't so. John O'Kerry isn't Irish?

Well not this week, at least.

[Oztrich Boy]

"Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle," he said. "There isn't any press here, is there?"

Ya know, we've gotten to the point where candidates can no longer be human beings.

indubitably. A variant of this appears every adminstration

"Why is there a Secret Service guard on Hillary?
If anything happened to her, Bill would get to be President."

[PBRSTREETGANG]

No fan of Kerry here, but picking on him (or anyone) for something like this is really petty.

[mewzilla]

Kerry has a double standard when it comes to a lot of things. Which brings to mind this FR thread.

[mountaineer]

Now Kerry says Dem candidates can ignore the South, story here. We'll see if anyone - i.e., sycophantic press - notices.

[mountaineer]

I think Kennedy and Chris Dodd made the waitress sandwich, but Kerry does have a rep for being an alley cat.