Kerry can't recall being at '71 parley (Boston Globe tackles assassin plot - new info)

Boston Globe ^ | April 1st, 2004 | Michael Kranish

[Sabertooth]

Senator John F. Kerry said through a spokesman this week that he has no recollection of attending a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which some activists discussed a plot to kill some US senators who backed the war.

[twigs]

You're right. His name was John Tower. I really thought it was Hightower, but I'm wrong. Thanks for the correction. And yes, he died in 1991. Boggs died in 1972 and Stennis was shot in 1973.

How could that not finish him?

I'm afraid only too easily. It could in fact finish Pres. Bush. Since this was so long ago and apparently memories are so "hazy," it can probably never be definitely proven. It would open the president to charges of dirty pool extraordinare. The same would not apply, of course, were this a dem pres. and if this were alleged about a republican candidate. We have to play by different rules.

[cyncooper]

This is a pretty comprehensive article with several tidbits of new (to me, anyway) information, and it even mentions the plot in plain English right at the beginning.

[cyncooper]

Nicosia says some of the (stolen) files were "explosive". Interesting choice of words....

Very interesting since last I read about him he said he hadn't read the stolen files.

This guy's story is starting to change more than Richard Clarke's---or John effin's, himself.

[cyncooper]

Look, the proposal was put to a vote.

It was not some hothead proposing it and getting shouted down or reviled. The group changed their meeting place three times to avoid surveillance in order to discuss and take the vote.

And Camil (who came up with the idea) has been invited to join the Kerry campaign.

Also Kerry lied for years about not being there. It's not like the meeting was dreamed up by right-wingers. It was discussed in books and such with always the point being stressed Kerry was no longer a member and so on, and then lo and behold, that was false.

I'm all for going after Kerry on "the issues", but I most certainly find this topic fascinating and intend to discuss it.

[GrandMoM]

....that's what I'm wondering?????

....Heinz death sure opened the door to his wife and his money!!!!!

[dpwiener]

Also Kerry lied for years about not being there. It's not like the meeting was dreamed up by right-wingers. It was discussed in books and such with always the point being stressed Kerry was no longer a member and so on, and then lo and behold, that was false. I'm all for going after Kerry on "the issues", but I most certainly find this topic fascinating and intend to discuss it.

Discussing it is fine. Kerry's antiwar activities and views are clearly legitimate issues, and ones he is vulnerable on.

What I object to are the efforts to characterize Kerry's actions as criminal when clearly they were not. It's an enormous over-reaching, and it simply reduces the credibility of Kerry's attackers while allowing Kerry to denigrate legitimate arguments through guilt by association.

Bush-haters loved it when Democrats accused Bush of desertion and going AWOL from the National Guard, but I think it ultimately undermined their credibility with the swing voters who will decide this election. Similarly, charges that Kerry was involved in a criminal conspiracy may excite Kerry-haters, but I believe they will prove counterproductive among swing voters.

[TommyDale]

That is the $64,000 dollar question, isn't it? People are already thinking about this -- so why would someone want to steal Kerry's FBI files? Hmmmmm.....

[Victoria Delsoul]

"Senator Kerry does not remember attending the Kansas City meeting,"

Didn't he vote NO after he said he wasn't there?

[devolve]

scroll down after top page loads

http://00access.tripod.com/50cal.htm

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1104805/posts

[Sabertooth's research]

"...Interestingly, the atmosphere of the VVAW in the early 1970s was so radicalized that another former member actually did carry out a well-known assassination of a government official on American soil.
On November 6th, 1973, former VVAW member Joseph Remiro, by then with the Symbionese Liberation Army, teamed with SLA member Russell Little to assassinate Oakland Schools Superintendent Marcus Foster as he left the Oakland school district administration building in Oakland, California..."

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"What I object to are the efforts to characterize Kerry's actions as criminal..."

Ever hear of the term, "Cat's Paw"? It's a vital political concept. People who demanded that gun rights on airplanes were excellent cats' paws. Later, some pilots had access to guns, thanks largely to them. Leftists benefit from cats' paws all the time. That is exactly how they pushed this nation to the left, through fired up groups that are never satisfied, that would accuse the alphabet channels of being too right wing. I know, it's ludicrous. But they gave the alphabet channels cover for several decades.

Yes, respectfully disagree. I'm not saying you should not object to any claim you believe to be false. But believe it or not, the people who think Kerry broke the law are doing more good than harm, even if they are mistaken. They smell something very wrong and dangerous about Kerry, and in that basic sense they are correct. Voters should hear their opinion, which is much closer to the truth than what most voters can perceive at this moment.

I appreciate and understand your concerns. You care, and you are applying your excellent brain to our nation's best interest, and that is what matters most. FReegards....

[twigs]

Thank you for the info. I find it fascinating that a VVAW went over to the SLA. I'm beginning to see how little I know of this period! And that assassination. It's just inconceivable to me.

[fatima]

Bump.