Posted on 08/09/2004 3:49:29 PM PDT by Interesting Times
I just spent an enjoyable 15 minutes being grilled by an aggrieved Ithica native on the topic of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their excellent new ad.
Feel free to critique my performance -- I'm still learning how to do this stuff.
Pong.
That's 7pm Eastern, by the way.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/007405.php
If there is a consistent[ly] repeated story by John Kerry about his Vietnam experience, it is his story about how he and his boat spent Christmas Eve and Christmas of 1968 illegally present in Cambodia and, listening to President Nixon's contrary assurances, developed "a deep mistrust of U.S. government pronouncements." See Exhibit 24, Kranish book, p. 84. The point of his story was that his government and his commanders were lying about Kerry's presence in Cambodia on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. During a critical debate on the floor of the United States Senate on March 27, 1986, Senator John Kerry said:
Mr. President, I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the President of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
I have that memory which is seared -- seared -- in me . . . .
Exhibit 25, Congressional Record - Senate of March 27, 1986, page 3594.
By way of further example, Kerry wrote an article for the Boston Herald on October 14, 1979:
"I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."
See Exhibit 26.
The Christmas in Cambodia story of John Kerry was repeated as recently as July 7, 2004 by Michael Kranish, a principal biographer of Kerry from The Boston Globe. On the Hannity & Colmes television show, Kranish indicated that Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia was a critical turning point in Kerry's life.
The story is a total preposterous fabrication by Kerry. Exhibit 8 is an affidavit by the Commander of the Swift boats in Vietnam, Admiral Roy Hoffmann, stating that Kerry's claim to be in Cambodia for Christmas Eve and Christmas of 1968 is a total lie. If necessary, similar affidavits are available from the entire chain of command. In reality, Kerry was at Sa Dec -- easily locatable on any map more than fifty miles from Cambodia. Kerry himself inadvertently admits that he was in Sa Dec for Christmas Eve and Christmas and not in Cambodia, as he had stated for so many years on the Senate Floor, in the newspapers, and elsewhere. Exhibit 27, Tour, pp. 213-219. Sa Dec is hardly "close" to the Cambodian border. In reality, far from being ordered secretly to Cambodia, Kerry spent a pleasant night at Sa Dec with "visions of sugar plums" dancing in his head. Exhibit 27, p. 219. At Sa Dec where the Swift boat patrol area ended, there were many miles of other boats (PBR's) leading to the Cambodian border. There were also gunboats on the border to prevent any crossing. If Kerry tried to get through, he would have been arrested. Obviously, Kerry has hardly been honest about his service in Vietnam.
The other aspect of this story that is completely phony, but is not noted by O'Neill, is that Richard Nixon was not the President in December 1968. Lyndon Johnson was. It is simply incredible to me that for many years, reporters have mindlessly repeated this obviously false story without, apparently, noticing that it couldn't possibly be true.
And, if you're thinking that Kerry may inadvertently have gotten the year wrong, forget about it: Kerry was only in Vietnam for four months, and he spent only one Christmas there. It was 1968.
TS
I would have liked to get into the Cambodia fairy tale, but never got the chance.
How do we listen to it?
Never mind .. I figured it out :0)
I get RNN at my house so I'll be watching.
This seems a handy spot to note that the Fox panel, which has until now been discussing the story in terms of strategy and how it might affect Bush, came to the point just now of unanimous consent that the story, like the examination given to Bush's guard service record, deserves scrutiny.
The Cambodian angle has apparently helped steer this. Also, I missed the very beginning and saw just the tail end of Carl Cameron's report on the campaign trail with Kerry (with our Grand Canyon picturesquely in the background). He had a new piece of evidence against Kerry in the Cambodian story (new to me, anyway, and maybe you all). A letter Kerry wrote to the editor back in 1979 speaking of being in Cambodia "while the president said the U.S. was not" and in the letter he names Nixon--if I heard correctly.
My only complaint on the Fox roundtable was, though Brit did say Kerry said the Cambodian story was "seared" into him, (Brit making the point that one with a "seared" memory isn't likely to be mixed up on details) I wanted them to make the Christmas of '68/Nixon not sworn in until January '69 point.
All in good time, I suppose. They did move the ball, though, that some credible questions have come up regarding Kerry's service, and in light of the fact that Kerry has made his service a central point of his candidacy, it deserves scrutiny. Yes, even Mara agreed.
WOW .. you went on this show??
You are brave .. this dude is NASTY
I've been watching for about 2 minutes and I already want to throw something at the TV. That sniveling liberal hosting the show reminds me why I don't watch that channel anymore.
I missed his intro... certainly no bias there.
Keep up your great work!
Thank You!
I had no clue. I'd been too busy to Google the guy, so I just walked in and sat down.
Richard came to RNN from the Democratic Party. Starting first in Washington, and then at the state level in New York, Richard served as a director, reporting to the party chairman. Richard managed press activities and polling, and helped craft party policy.
Try not to look surprised, everyone...
Hey, he played the whole ad...
You're up now
He also said that the info comes from people that did not even serve, or serve with Kerry
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