OLIPHANT: I WATCHED KERRY THROW WAR DECORATIONS

Drudge ^

[hope]

OLIPHANT IN COMING BOSTON GLOBE: 'I was 4 or 5 feet behind John Kerry. I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons... There couldn't have been all that many decorations in his hand -- six or seven -- because he made a closed fist around his collection... From what I could observe firsthand about Friday, April 23, 1971, Kerry did not make even the slightest effort to pretend that he was throwing all of his military decorations over that fence.... Kerry had arrived here with only the ribbons he wore on his shirt... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have always found the political junk served up by Kerry's detractors to be undignified as well as largely inaccurate. I write now because the political junk is much higher profile now, though no less misleading -- and not, by the way, because in her fourth job in the public arena, my daughter just joined Kerry's staff. I just happened to be there that long-ago day. I saw what happened and heard what Kerry said and know what he meant. The truth happens to be with him...' Impacting Hard Late Monday...

[harrowup]

This is much ado about nothing. More than one reporter and millions of readers will always confuse ribbons and medals even though not all ribbons have medals. Once reported by one this way and another that way and by the time everyone is done talking they forget that whatever was thrown over the fence was an insult to all those who served and the families of those who died. It was a callous act. He is trying to make it a valiant act...and is quite pleased that folks are braying about whether he said medals on Tuesday and ribbons on Friday beause he isn't lying and he is blurring the travesty of his actions.

The more you folks push this crap the easier for him to wiggle. Concentrate on his failures as a man and a Senator. Everyone is pretty certain he is a liar and setting his pants on fire won't save one vote for President Bush.

[Mr Rogers]

Would someone please tell me what is the difference between throwing 'medals' away & throwing 'ribbons' away?

I've been in the USAF for 21 years. I've received a variety of medals, each of which had an associated ribbon. I don't have any of my 'medals' anymore - my kids have played with them, or I've lost them in all the moves I've made.

If Kerry threw his 'ribbons' over the wall, then he was explicitly demonstrating that he didn't want the associated medals. He was effectively spitting on the Purple Hearts, etc.

(Of course, if I had 3 Purple Hearts without a stitch, I'd be embarrassed to keep them also, but that is another story).

So what is the deal? He didn't want his medals when they were politically unpopular, and now he boasts about them at every opportunity. That is a gross flip-flop that shows he cannot be trusted - that the opportunism that drove him to collect medals for nothing also drove him to do whatever was popular at any given time.

Either way, he's a disgusting weenie (won't call him a weasel because I used to be a 'Wild Weasel'). So what is the big deal?

[mass55th]

Mr. Oliphant:

It isn't whether he threw medals or ribbons, it's the differing stories he's told through the years. He could have thrown dog poop for all it matters. What's troublesome are the ever-changing stories he's obviously fabricated to pander to whatever audience he was in front of at the time.

[oldironsides]

We all got the Vietnam Service , National Defense and Vietnam Campaign Medals as I understand it. I threw none of my medals anywhere nor do I wear them to my workplace or try to get votes with them. I imagine they all added to the Kerry toss for the cause? Maybe that idiot Kerry should have spoken with some of the wonderful South Vietnamese people and listened to their hopes and dreams for a non Communist government and he would have been a better man? He may have even understood how many people did not want Communsism forced on them. Kerry missed so much by ignoring the wonderful people of South Vietnam and forming his own selfish Communist oriented opinions.

[billhilly]

Tonight I saw some powerful heaving by John Kerry. It was the kind that causes stones to skip over water. Ribbons never required wrist action, and if thrown with any force they could result in a dislocated arm.

Tonight there is probably some powerful heaving going on in the Kerry Kamp.

[robertpaulsen]

Ribbons, worn above the pocket.

[Burkeman1]

To dismiss all left or right leaning journalists and what they report based on your own political beliefs is to be a mindless ideologue. But there are ideologues who are journalists! And Oliphant is right up there with Joe Conason and Elenor Clift- never once have they even bowed to obvious reality. They mimic and serve their party line ideology to the letter! To non ideolouges they are comical and sad. But to the party faithful they are journalistic Rock Stars!

Ann Coulter serves that purpose for GOP faithful.

[grassroot]

Ah! thanks for the info :0)

[Unknown Freeper]

When I saw the title, I first thought this was going to be about that board of elections woman from Florida. I just knew the world couldn't be that small.

[hole_n_one]

It looks as if he's wearing a purple heart next to his ribbons........

[small voice in the wilderness]

That's what shocked me, too. Oliphant reproduced?!? Imagine millions (or maybe tens) of oliphant sperm, wearing bowties and thick rimmed glasses, swimming the netherlands of human lust, in order to discover and master the mystery of life. OLIPHANT'S soldiers. BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm sorry, some things should just never BE.

[jackbill]

"How does one throw a ribbon across a fence?"

Excellent - ribbons would be incredibly difficult to throw.

The "ribbons" are cloth stretched across a metal frame. They do have enough weight to throw.

That said, I could get Kerry out of his controversy as to whether he threw medals or ribbons, in a heartbeat. But I wouldn't dare. Let the bastard be hoist on his own petard.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

"More from Drudge:
"Kerry unaware being taped after GMA segment, "Geez... They're working for the Republican National Committee" of ABC's Charlie Gibson, GMA Staff... "

ABC Nightly News showed this tonight, at the end of the Kerry/Gibson clip -it was wonderful- a laugh out loud moment.
It was exactly like when Kerry said " Republicans are the biggest liars and crooks ."
I am convinced that besides being an unpatriotic, lying scumbag-Kerry is stupid.
Really, really stupid.

[MamaLucci]

Some interesting stuff HERE

[hope]

ABC just ran this mornings interview...It was priceless watching Kerry take of the mic and remain on tap, bitching about ABC working for the Republicans...

[Reactionary]

"So which is it? He had them in his pocket? Or he wore them on his shirt?"

Even the eyewitness contradicts Kerry's stupid claims.

First they're medals, then they're ribbons. Then it doesn't matter if they're ribbons or medals because the "gesture" is the same. And before they were someone else's ribbons or medals, they were his. Or a mixture of his ribbons and someone else's.

Liberals are such pathetic liars they give pathetic liars a bad name.

[hope]

LOL! I just saw...too funny:)

[dodger]

Oliphant is a Monica-in-the-making of any Kerry Administration. What a poofter, panting around after JFnK!

[Williams]

There area number of issues, none of them dealt with in any way by Oliphant's statement. 1 There was the act of throwing ribbons, medals, or whatever and many people find that disrespectful. 2 Kerry seems to have changed the story about who's or what he threw depending on what suited him. 3. many people find it cowardly that he threw other people's medals and kept his own. 4. The whole issue of his crazy pro communist beliefs.

Just to add another point about Kerry and Vietnam. I saw a C-Span replay of a Dick Cavett show with young VVAW Kerry debating a young conservative. Most chilling to me was Kerry asserting there would be no blood bath following a US withdrawal, just the killing of a few hundred "political operatives" which he found insignificant. Wrong as to the millions slaughtered in Cambodia and blood chillingly cold in his left wing lack of concern for the killing of US Allies. His clear message was: "they have it coming."

[js1138]

Kerry said that there is no real distinction between medals and ribbons in terms of the gesture.

There is a huge physical difference, particularly if you try to reconcile what Kerry said today and what Oliphant says he say 33 years ago.

Kerry says he was wearing the ribbons. Ribbons are attached to your shirt by clasps similar to those that hold earrings. It would take a considerable amount of time to remove nine ribbons. This could not possibly be mistaken for reaching into a shirt pocket.

For one thing, it is nearly impossible to remove a ribbon with one hand.