Posted on 08/11/2004 10:06:03 AM PDT by Pikamax
SBVfT:
ABC News' Marc Ambinder broke off from Ric Flair's "To Be The Man" last night to read "Unfit For Command" in its entirety.
The book is clear, crisply-written, occasionally compelling, and full of polarizing firepower. It's rather short, padded with long excerpts from Kerry speeches, interviews with Swift Boat veterans, and other books.
Regnery employed its usual brilliant pre-publication marketing strategy — leak selective excerpts and copies to sympathetic reporters and use Drudge to hammer it home. Human Events, the venerable and respected conservative weekly, has been the leader in Swift Boat coverage, and deserves credit for it own deft publicity.
So it might sell a lot of copies. If you're inclined to think John Kerry is brash, self-possessed and occasionally immature (i.e., the Kerry campaign staff demographic), this book will confirm your suspicions. If you're a partisan, you'll have your perceptions reconfirmed, whether you love Kerry and think he's a hero or hate him and think he's a fraud.
If you don't know about him at all, there's a good chance you'll be at least partially swayed to the view expressed by the book's title. And therein lies the danger for the Kerry campaign, even if most of the charges in the book are thinly documented and tinged with animus.
The three Purple Hearts section will seem familiar. The Kerry campaign has successfully rebutted many of the charges, and the fact remains that even if Kerry was only lightly injured thrice, he was injured thrice, and he was injured in Vietnam while fighting for his country.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
A fine display of bias if I ever saw it. Getting wounded does not automatically equate to deserving a Purple Heart, but this alleged reporter couldn't be bothered to run down the facts.
Yer out!
Seems fairly balanced... for ABCnews that is
When is this book being released? It was supposed to be released on August 1st, then we were told by Borders this week, and then we heard on the news that it was being delayed until the middle of September. Does anyone REALLY know when it will be released?
Translation: We can't B.S. our way out of this one no matter how hard we tried. So we had to dredge up some old posts on FR to try and discredit the authors.
But notice: you use the word "wound" but the hack from ABC says "injured". Using his terminology, a bar fight in Saigon in which a sailor gets a bloody nose from a prostitute could be enough to win a purple heart: "I was injured in Vietnam."
As you say, the actual standard is a bit higher than that, and Kerry seems to have fallen short.
I finished Ric Flair's book a few weeks ago. Its the best wrestling autobiography I've read yet. Of course, it probably helped that I'm a big fan of the Nature Boy. WHOOOOOO!
Or twisting your ankle running to get yourself in front of a camera.
An alternative ending.
A Vietnam veteran on Tony Snow's show tried to say that anyone injured received a Purple Heart. That it was automatic if you were injured, no matter how slightly or by whom. This is not true; otherwise, Max Cleland would have received one for his injuries.
Unfortunately, Tony isn't as up on the military requirements for a Purple Heart.
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Hell, even Karl Marxs would seem pretty balanced... for ABC news that is.
I must have missed them doing this. I have heard them express outrage and personal attacks at the swift boat veterans, but I've heard nothing that would qualify as a successful rebuttal of the allegations.
I heard the book was released on August 10th.
In what universe? I just love how a "reporter" can make a pat statement like that and none of the "editors" raise an eyebrow. The campaign has not rebutted anything, let alone successfully.
As of earlier this morning, my Amazon pre-release order status shows an expected receipt date of 08/20-08/23.
The original release date was to be sometime in September but that was moved up a few weeks ago into August.
Pray for W and Our Amazing Military
Where are the rebuttals? I missed them. Never mind if they are successful or not, I have yet to see a rebuttal, other than "Kerry lied about being in Cambodia in Christmas of 1968," to that, the Kerry campaign has admitted.
"The Kerry campaign has successfully rebutted many of the charges." Where and when? Believe me if this were true, NO ONE would HAVE to ask where it was published. It would have been on the front page of the NY times. It would appear everyday until Nov 2.
No. I'm "inclined to think John Kerry" a liar, a traitor to those whose Vietnam service he smeared, and a disgraceful opportunist who will do or say anything to achieve power or wealth. I don't need the book or the ABC guy's opinion to tell me that.
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