Historian's 'Duty': PR for Kerry? (Lying Author of "Tour of Duty" BUSTED -- !)

The Boston Globe ^ | 4/29/04 | Alex Beam

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

What kind of a historian is Douglas Brinkley anyway?

These days Brinkley is acting a lot less like a historian and a lot more like a PR flack for John Kerry, the subject of Brinkley's flattering bestseller "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War." Brinkley proclaims his independence from the Kerry campaign -- "This is my book, not his," he writes in "Tour" -- but he's become a major player in the Kerry agitprop machine.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

*** Brinkley told the Atlantic magazine, which excerpted a portion of the book, that he interviewed "every single one" of John Kerry's crewmates on the so-called swift boats that Kerry captained in Vietnam. But in fact he did not interview crew member Steven Gardner, and -- surprise! -- Gardner turned out to be the only one of Kerry's crewmates who disliked his former commander. "I would have talked to Gardner, but I couldn't find him," Brinkley says now.

It gets worse. After the Kerry campaign learned that the Globe had interviewed Gardner for its Kerry biography, Brinkley called Gardner. The presidential historian -- Brinkley has written about Franklin Roosevelt and is a disciple of the late historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose -- warned Gardner of a "firestorm" if the vet went public with his doubts about Kerry, and then hacked out an article attacking the former gunner's mate on Time magazine's website!

Hilariously, Kerry declined to talk to the Globe about Gardner's criticisms, but graced Brinkley with his opinion -- uncritically relayed by the historian -- that Gardner's stories were "made up."
Who needs opposition research when Doug Brinkley is on the case?***

[visualops]

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."

Call me old-fashioned, but I can remember a time when historians wrote books that didn't have to be revised after sitting on the shelf for just four months.

Heh heh heh
I'm sure he and F'nK figured we'd swallow their tripe without question. Wrong!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[lainde]

ken you're trapped but you're a bundle of creative energy tonite...Great articles. Thanks for posting!

[kcvl]

Doug Brinkley has amazing timing considering he released his book right when Kerry started running for president.

[TomGuy]

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."

Clintonesque Transliteration:

A lie is not a lie unless you get caught. Tell the lie often and people will begin to believe it. If you do get caught, print a retraction. Otherwise, stick with the lie--you can always deny it later.

[samtheman]

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."

A flip-flopping biography of a flip-flopping politician!

[jwalsh07]

BTT

[EllaMinnow]

Despite his claim to have reviewed Kerry's Navy records, Brinkley didn't interview Lieutenant Commander Grant Hibbard, the commanding officer who likened the wound for which Kerry was awarded his first Purple Heart to a scrape from a fingernail. Kerry declined to talk to the Globe about this incident. In his role as aggrieved Kerry factotum, Brinkley ginned up a quick article for Salon magazine condemning Hibbard as a "blowhard" and dumping on the Globe for reporting Hibbard's comments. Brinkley could have spared himself the heavy breathing if he had bothered to interview Hibbard for his book.

Why do I have the hunch that Brinkley's research only involved items given to him by JFinK?

[#3Fan]

"Nobody believed we would get to this point where every aspect of the book is being dissected."

In other words, he thought he could lie as much as he usually does and not get busted. The unethical behaviour of liberals just continues to sink to new lows.

[Just mythoughts]

So this must be the article that cause that motor to catch fire yesterday at the Boston Globe.

[an amused spectator]

post-NewsMedia Conservative History ping - "Historians" In Defense Of Flacking For The Flip-Flop

On, Off, or grab it for a Media Shenanigans/Schadenfreude/PNMCH ping:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~anamusedspectator/

Dougie was one of Sean Wilentz's "Historians in Defense of the Constitution" who sold out their historical credentials in order to prop up Clinton during the impeachment wars:

Douglas Brinkley, University of New Orleans, History, professor, U.S. 20th Century, Cultural, Diplomatic, Eisenhower Center Director in association with Stephen Ambrose, leads "The Majic Bus educational odyssey" (begun 1992) "when, frustrated by his students lack of knowledge about their American heritage, he took his class from Hofstra University on a six-week voyage across America to study history, literature and culture." Review of past itineraries and trip reports shows near exclusive focus on left-wing history and visits with left political figures, recent publications

[an amused spectator]

http://forum.johnkerry.com/index.php?showtopic=22593

full text of John Kerry's first purple heart (Douglas Brinkley) SALON.COM

Odd. Free Republic seems to be the only entity on the Net prohibited from posting full-text articles. ;-)

If you level a complaint, they'll get to it in about 9 or so months, because "it's very difficult to prevent anyone from doing such a thing". ;-)

[an amused spectator]

Douglas Brinkley on Stephen M. Gardner: The Tenth Brother (Time Magazine, Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004)

[happygrl]

This is simply astounding coming from the Boston Globe.

There is no doubt where this usual defender-of-the-left stands with respect to Kerry.

To borrow from Sally Fields, they Really, really, really don't like him.

[happygrl]

Thanks for the link.

It appears that Brinkley did his lap-dog duty to smear Gardner.

[an amused spectator]

What Douglas Brinkley's Portrait of John Kerry Reveals (About Brinkley and About Kerry) Andrew Ferguson puts the diss on "Presidential Historians". ;-)

[talleyman]

Verrry Interesting!

[SpinyNorman]

The Globe's recently published "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography" (which "differs significantly from Brinkley's authorized, triumphalist tome") is shaping up to be a good read!!

This is amazing (to you non Taxachusetts residents) coming from Kerry's "hometown newspaper!!" LOL!

Brinkley reveals himself with "Nobody believed we would get to this point where every aspect of the book is being dissected." It is called editing and fact checking. Writing a book primarily based on Kerry's own notes and say-so is, well, fiction.