Posted on 08/12/2004 7:13:16 PM PDT by wagglebee
**Exclusive**
TOUR OF DUTY author and John Kerry historian Doug Brinkley is rushing a piece for the NEW YORKER: to set-the-record-straight on Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia tale, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Kerry has turned to author Brinkley for a "modification" after it was exposed that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968, as he once claimed from the Senate floor.
The Brinkley piece for the NEW YORKER will now say that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas, but rather in January, publishing sources tell DRUDGE.
MORE
Since the early 1970s, Kerry has spoken and written of how he was illegally ordered to enter Cambodia. Kerry mentioned it in the floor of the Senate in 1986 when he charged that President Reagan’s actions in Central America were leading the U.S. in another Vietnam. Here’s what he said as excerpted from the new book, UNFIT FOR COMMAND:
"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the 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."
John O’Neil’s, author of UNFIT FOR COMMAND, comments on the “clarification:”
“John Kerry describes Christmas Eve in Cambodia as a critical turning point in his life. We now know that his story is completely false. My question is how many people do you know have invented a turning point, one that is seared in his memory? While it makes sense for John Kerry to come clean about the Cambodia story, it is one of several tales that the Kerry campaign will have to face and clarify.”
“By claiming we were engaged in a war crime and crossing international borders, John Kerry damaged the credibility of all the commanding officers above him and insulted the sailors who served with him,” said John O’Neill, member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.”
Developing...
Maybe he meant Orthodox Christmas. That's the ticket ...
Ok, ok, I've got the perfect segue for Jacquestrap.
Scenerio:
On stage, mic in hand...
"You have heard me say I spent Christmas in Cambodia. Well, I saw the horrors of war and now I want a different direction. I have a plan. We need to merge the two Americas into one. No more red and blue. I had a dream about being in Cambodia in the winter of 1968-69. I have a dream for the one America. Yada yada yada......"
See, perfect. It gets him off the hook by claiming the Cambodian Christmas was a dream, and segues him right into MLKing. And it keeps him noncommital. [Look for something like this to develop from the Kerry camp unless the main media can keep the lid on this story.]
[Someone posted yesterday that Tony Snow had already counted 9 versions of the Christmas/or January in Cambodia story.]
I think that he is just avoiding the issue hoping that no one will call him on his lies AGAIN.
In one of the Boston newspapers Kerry was referred to as an Irishman and he let that lie ride for years in order to garner the Irish vote in Massachusetts...I've always thought that the Republicans should run an ad that has "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" as the theme music and then let the media discuss the reason for the musical choice (FNC could start the ball rolling)... Kerry's failure to correct the record in this regard would put his political opportunism in context.
I wish I had saved the PDF from before, it was clearly John Lehman's signature. So, unless John Kerry went on a "super-secret" mission during the Reagan administration, the citation was clearly a forgery.
Kerry: "No dammit, it was Hannukah. Charlie was trying to kill us, but I clearly remember the Menorrahs with 8 candeles."
Maybe the "esteemed" reporters ought to just ask John Lehman if he signed the paperwork how many years after the fact.
If so, why? If not, Kerry is lying.
The delusional Mr. Kerry- is his whole life a fairy tale?
Rambo Eruption BTTT
"Oh I see! He states the story publicaly 53 times over 35 years and all he has to do is "modify" the story to make it all go away."
Communist tactic. Erase it rfom the history books and it never happened.
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana
If we haven't learned about Kerry yet, we will get what we deserve come Novenber 3.
Absolutely! Other crew members were Lanny Davis, James Carville and Chris Matthews.
I don't think it was a green beret, rather it was a camoflage 'boonie hat'.
Actually, Brinkley had access to Kerry's private diary or journals. For him to make the argument now that Kerry was mistaken means Kerry lied to his diary at the time he made the entry.
I still have it .. as I'm sure many other freepers do
Hmm......well, if this is the case and is the truth, I wonder why Mr. Kerry took down his Jan spot reports?
Perhaps because they show no evidence of such a "secret mission?"
"On more than one occasion, I like Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now," took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact 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 being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."
In other words, he even says in his Boston Herald article that he saw the Vietnamese celebrating Christmas.
How in the heck can he explain then that it was in January?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.