"Will the Court Historian Become a Casualty of Kerry's War?"

self | 8/24/04 | LS

[Congressman Billybob]

Douglas Brinkley's sins are not as grave as those of Michael Bellisiles. Both produced fundamentally dishonest history books. But their wrongs in doing that are not equal.

Bellisiles faked his research and got caught. He flat-out cheated, and that was proved. Even hard-wired liberal history professors understand that that is a no-no. Brinkley's wrong, on the other hand, was to accept Kerry's personal journal as accurate. As it turns out, that was a dumb decision.

Bellisiles was, in effect, beaten like a rented mule. Brinkley is only damaged. And apparently Brinkley recognized that he was being set up for the fall, and he made for high ground. Recall that the Kerry Campaign announced weeks ago that Brinkley would publish an explanation of "the truth" about Kerry's "Christmas in Shambodia" in that well-known academic journal, the New Yorker.

That article never appeared. Douglas Brinkley's number of interviews given on the subject of Kerry in Vietnam, rounded to the nearest one, is zero. Brinkley has read the handwriting on the wall, and made himself scarce. He is therefore damaged, but not destroyed. IMHO.

Congressman Billybob

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[sonofatpatcher2]

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[mass55th]

Winston Churchill said: "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

Looks like Kerry decided to follow that line of thinking.

[reformedliberal]

That is devastating.

[CyberAnt]

I think it would have had something to do with how much Kerry was willing to PAY to get the "historic" book he wanted. If we follow the money .. no telling what we'll find.

[American in Israel]

thus committed the worst sin a reporter can be guilty of, not double checking his source.

It is not a sin, it is a lifestyle with the AbCnNbCbs club.

[LS]

But see, that's a big point: contacting the guys on KERRY'S boat does not equal talking to the guys who were THERE---within 5 feet of Kerry. It would be like talking to one guy in one militia unit on Bunker Hill but not another guy 4 feet away because he is not in the same "unit."