Posted on 08/07/2004 8:16:33 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
It’s been a LONG time and almost everything has changed. So there’s not much left that can make me think back to my college years. But John Kerry forced the issue last week by siccing his attack lawyers on assorted TV stations. Say what?
Here’s how it happened. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth started running an ad in which several of their members stood up, faced the camera, gave their name, rank and serial numbers, and called John Kerry a liar about his service in Vietnam. This veterans’ organization has 260 members and Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (ret.), is its Founder and Chairman. In response to the first broadcasts of the Swift Boat ad, two lawyers jointly sent a threatening letter to TV stations across the country, seeking to make the program managers afraid to accept payment and run the ads.
But what does that have to do with “bright college days” so long ago? The most challenging and interesting debates we had were in the Yale Political Union. These were Oxford-style debates, under a detailed structure. A proposition is put before the House – one I remember was, “Resolved that the United States should use military force to defend Quemoy and Matsu.” To realize how little progress is made in some conflicts, that old subject is new again. Quemoy and Matsu are islands belonging to Taiwan that China will necessarily attack if and when it decides to “reunite” with Taiwan by force.
An Oxford debate consists of two debaters for each side. The first one to speak favors the proposition. The second is an opponent, and so on. What makes Oxford debates interesting, though, is that every speaker after the first one should be well enough prepared, and quick enough on his/her feet, to set aside part of the prepared speech in order to attack points just made by the speakers for the other side. The one set speech is the first debater. The most challenging and free-form speech is the last one, because that is the synopsis of everything before.
Well, that was vaguely interesting, I hear you cry. But what does it have to do with the truth about John Kerry’s service in Vietnam? John Kerry came into the Yale Political Union when I was already an officer of the Union and an experienced debater. As I recall, Kerry preferred to be the first (or second) debater, so he could boldly state his points. I preferred to go last, or next to last, because the extemporaneous counterattack on the views of the other side was more interesting.
Here’s how a team of two would prepare for a debate. You would discuss and decide with your partner three points: 1) What are the main issues we want to make? 2) What are the main issues the other side it likely to make? And 3) What counterattacks can we expect from the other side, and how do we counter those? It is the last point which is most difficult to prepare for.
It’s also the point at which even veteran debaters can lose the whole contest. John Kerry may have just made just that fatal mistake on the subject of Vietnam, and it may be the final nail in the coffin of his campaign for President.
I have a number of friends who were “in country” when John Kerry was. A couple were in the Swift Boat service. Before Kerry’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, I already knew the kind of charges of dishonesty that were possible. They were already being made, but well below the radar of national media. No one in the broader audience was listening.
Then Kerry decided, and it was obviously a deliberate and calculated decision, to promote his four months of service in Vietnam as the centerpiece of his campaign. And as I watched him do that, I knew he’d made a serious mistake right from our old Political Union days. Out of either arrogance or ignorance, Kerry did not anticipate the reaction that his Vietnam-centric speech would generate. As of this week, the proof is in that Kerry was not prepared to respond to what he should have known was coming, the truth squad of many more Swift Boat veterans than the dozen he featured on the stage in Boston.
The letter of 5 August is written by the “counsel for the Democratic Committee and for John Kerry.” It accuses Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as running a “dishonest” ad by fake crewmates and a “doctor.” Well the doctor is a real doctor, and none of the men on screen claimed that they were in his boat, only that they saw what happened. (The Kerry lawyers knock down a straw man by saying that they weren’t “in Kerry’s boat,” and blithely ignore that Swift Boats usually operate in flotillas of three or more boats.) And the letter implicitly threatens the station managers with lawsuits if they don’t back off.
Marc Elian, General Counsel, Kerry-Edwards ‘04, and Joseph Sandler, General Counsel, DNC, were the signers of this 2 1/2-page attack on the Swift Boat Veterans.
The tactics of Kerry’s (and the DNC’s) lawyers amount to this: They unfortunately paint Kerry as a small child in the backseat of a car with his siblings, headed for the beach. It’s been a long ride; the kids are getting fractious. And suddenly one of them whines to the mother, “Ma, he’s touching me.” That wussy tactic may work in the back seat of a Buick, but it won’t work in a presidential campaign. A man who cannot stand up to a vigorous debate conducted in English can hardly be expected to stand up to foreign enemies who are willing to kill Americans at any time and who speak the language of explosives.
If John Kerry had not put his Vietnam “service” at the very heart of his campaign, the counterattack that has come would not have occurred. Or, more accurately, it would have remained underground, known to only a few. It was Kerry’s choice to make Vietnam a front-burner issue, and that put the counterattack on the front-burner as well.
Now that the issue is joined in public, with the book-length treatment of this subject, Unfit for Command, coming out in a week, there’s only one way for Kerry to deal with the subject. He must give permission to make his Vietnam records public. That means ALL records – the ones concerning his Purple Hearts, and the ones concerned with the missions he did, and did not, take part in.
The best proof of what happened in Vietnam almost forty years ago does not rest on the memories of men who were there then, whether they support or oppose Kerry for President. Records made at the time are a far better indicator of the truth because those records were not generally made to influence an election four decades yet to come.
So far, Kerry has refused to release those records, which he could do at the stroke of a pen. George Bush has released all of his military records. As long as Kerry keeps his heels dug in, and withholds his records, it’s a reasonable conclusion that there are details buried in those old files which will harm Kerry if they get out.
And every bit of this was entirely foreseeable by Kerry before he decided to feature Vietnam. He forgot, or he never bothered to learn, the lesson from the Union debates so long ago. If you can see a counterattack which you cannot answer, then drop the initial argument like a hot rock. Don’t start down a path on a subject which you cannot win. I knew that when I was 20 and debating in the Union. Kerry doesn’t know it when he is 60 and running for President.
And that’s one more reason why John Kerry shouldn’t wind up in the White House. He’s a wuss.
While we’re on that subject, my profound thanks to Hershl Hartman, Faculty, International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism vegvayzer/Leader, The Sholem Community, L.A. He wrote to me about my column on “The Wussification of America ....” He’s the expert, and he properly corrected my mistaken claim that “wuss” was a Yiddish word. I had the meaning right, but not the source. And I appreciate rather than resent it, when my readers are smarter than I am and correct what I have written.
Post Script: This week’s employment figures generated much press dishonesty and demand a mention here. The Corporate Survey reported a job growth of only 32,000 last month. But the Employment Survey, also from the Department of Labor, reported a job growth of 629,000. Only the latter is consistent with the drop in the unemployment rate from 5.6% to 5.5%..
I covered the reasons for the difference between these two numbers about six months ago. Any competent and honest reporter can read the official report from the Labor Department and get this story straight. The only reason why any reporters (and their editors) get this story wrong is that they WANT to, because the false story plays into their biased view of the American economy.
Here are three groups who are NOT in the Corporate Survey, but ARE in the Household one. These total more than a million employees: domestic and medical workers in homes, military Reservists whose salaries are continued while they’re on duty, and self-employed workers in all careers.
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About the Author: John Armor is a civil rights attorney who lives in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. CongressmanBillybob@earthlink.net
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bttt
Beceause as every lawyer knows, you NEVER ask a question you don't have the answer to or whose answer is one that will hurt your case.
Thanks for the ping Tonk!
And many thanks to Congressman Billybob for this thoughtful essay.
It chills me to contemplate John Kerry as my son's boss for the next 4 years.
I would think the gigolo OF a billionaire with mansions, a yacht, a jet and a fleet of SUVs would have the decency to return the salary he hasn't earned and she doesn't need.
And although as Kerry spirals down the gurgler toward a 10% and 44 to 6 states and DC shellacking it's probably a moot point, we should not lose sight of the woods for the trees as the terms of the discussion are thus far following the script given us by the Barney-Frank-in-Y-fronted-Anne-Lewis-led gang that eight years ago leaked the blue-dressed Lewinsky red-herring that tar-babied Judge Starr, the congressional gutless and the rest of us away from the enormity of the clinton-crime family's treason and other crimes.
So far the Barney-Frank-in-Y-fronted-Anne-Lewis-led Kerry gang has thrown US the sixteen weeks on location in Vietnam tar-baby and Comrade Kerry's non-stop effectively-treasonous activities of thirty-five years sine he put his movie in the can are not getting the attention they so richly deserve.
We let the clintons get away with defining every clinton debate -- let's not repeat that.
I do worry. I still remember 1992 when a draft-dodging, philandering, shallow man was running for President. There were plenty of stories about his misadventures. I never thought the Press could pull it off and mislead so many to vote for him. But they did.
Now we have someone of equally low character running. And the Press is working even harder. The only thing that might make a difference this time is that their candidate is not likeable.
If that's what makes the difference, I'll take it.
Well said. Good points and good info.
OUCH.
And that pretty much sums up what the nail would be saying if it could do so AND wasn't embedded in the wall so far.
Thanks for the pings, excellent reading.
Kerry DOES remind me of someone who, when confronted with the truth, runs and hides while screaming defiance and siccing attack dogs on everyone in the general vicinity.
(In other words, 'ma, he's looking at me/touched me/made faces at me')
Roger that ~ Good Job Billybob!
Waiting on Tawraysaw to pinch another one.
hmmm. your post leads me to then ask, if the left wing press is condemning these guys for not being in the actual Kerry swift boat, but alongside it. Then a fair question should be asked of Kerry veteran SUPPORTERS, we're THEY in Kerry's boat, or are they just soros-funded leftwing hacks?
And for the Mike Moore cretins "outraged" by abu ghraib, shouldn't they REALLY hate Kerry for slaughtering innocent VC and animals?
Great job as always...
Bump!
Thanks for the lesson. It was interesting and informative. It showed kerry's failings in a light I hadn't thought about. What kind of leader would be so ill equipped to handle a debate that he started?
My guess would be yes, as he would have no expectation of being subject to it himself (by virtue of his status as an enemy of the USA). I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing the U.S. Military Personnel he despises brought up on charges by an international court.
LOLOL! :^D
WOO-HOO!
One of the numerous reasons for admiring William F. Buckley Jr. (as if I needed to give you yet another reason) is for his brilliantly stated opposition to the candidacy of John Kerry.
Unfortunately, "Firing Line" is no longer on the air, so we don't have the opportunity to see Bill demolish the specious justifications made for Mr. Kerry by his immaculately groomed, carefully prepped cronies, who seem to be impervious to the most basic logic.
However, we do enjoy the good fortune of having our own fact checkers here at Freerepublic, who seem to be doing quite a remarkable job of defenestrating the feeble arguments made on behalf of this pitiful excuse for a major party presidential nominee.
As I recall, the relative was convicted of vandalism. He has stayed with Kerry and is still involved in Kerry's current campaign.
In the meantime, Kerry won his second election as Lt.-Gov, under Michael Dukakis, and his (Kerry's) political career was on its way. It's rather curious why the words "Michael Dukakis" were never uttered in public during the Democratic Convention. Do you suppose that Kerry is both ashamed and ungrateful at the same time?
John / Billybob
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