Posted on 08/27/2004 2:14:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
John Edwards is supposed to be a great lawyer, but at the recent Democratic convention he made a rookie mistake: He raised a question without knowing the answer.
"If you have any questions about what John Kerry's made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him," he said.
Edwards meant Kerry's "band of brothers" -- the small entourage of vets who served under him in Vietnam and now support him for president.
Evidently, Edwards did not know at the time that almost every officer who commanded Kerry or served alongside him opposes his candidacy. Worse, they have formed a group, Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.
Their case against Kerry is set forth in a new book, "Unfit for Command," co-written by longtime Kerry critic John O'Neill, and in a TV ad from the group.
Kerry's critics in arms allege that he didn't deserve one of his Purple Hearts and his Bronze Star. They make these claims on the basis of firsthand knowledge. But combat is notoriously confusing, and soldiers in the heat of battle make poor witnesses. Kerry deserves the benefit of the doubt. If the Navy says he won his medals fair and square, that's good enough for me.
What Kerry did (or didn't do) in Cambodia is a different matter.
On March 27, 1986, Kerry told his fellow senators: "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 the Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and 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."
Here's the problem: Kerry's commanding officers and some of his crew members reportedly deny that he was in Cambodia on Christmas 1968. They say he was stationed near the town of Sa Dec, 55 miles from the Cambodian border.
Kerry's people are trying hard to discredit his discreditors. They call "Unfit for Command" co-author O'Neill a Republican hack with a decades-long grudge against Kerry. They say Texas moneymen close to Karl Rove are behind the TV spots and are warning TV stations, in writing, not to air them. They maintain that the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth are motivated by jealousy of Kerry or anger at his post-Vietnam antiwar activities. They want to dismiss all questions about Kerry's war record as sleazy slander.
Sorry, but that's not going to wash. The issue is not whether the charges against Kerry are politically motivated or who is paying for them. There's just one relevant question: Are the allegations true?
Unlike the debate over Kerry's medals, this is a matter that can be checked and verified. If it turns out Kerry was there, the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth are liars and their charges are dishonest and dishonorable. But if he wasn't there, the Kerry campaign is saddled with a problem it can't solve by calling Republicans names, threatening TV stations or even bringing up President Bush's less than stellar war record.
Kerry has staked his candidacy on Vietnam. Edwards has publicly invited the country to judge Kerry by listening to his comrades in arms. A lot of them, to Edwards' obvious chagrin, are saying that John Kerry is unfit for command.
If it turns out he made up the story of Christmas in Cambodia, they could very well be right.
Zev Chafets is a columnist for the New York Daily News.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A7.
On the live thread that night, the second Edwards said that, I said it was a HUGE mistake. I mean, listen, if I knew what was coming, why didn't they??? Why use those exact words?
And now we hear from Hoffman that the day before Kerry wrapped up the nomination back in March, Kerry calls him up and asks him why they are doing what they are doing and practically begs Hoffman to stop, trying to give him Kerry's personal secretary's private number, asking him to speak to Douglas Brinkley, asking him to help "correct" the record.
So, Kerry *knew* what was out there, knew what was coming.
One has to wonder why they waved these red flags in front of the faces of the Swifties.
Yes I saw that on Fox and read it in "Unfit for Command." Kerry's a weasel. Apparently this has been his standard operating procedure for all his campaigns, but those were campaigns in Massachusetts not on a national stage. He's bombing big time.
Yeah, we tried that already. Now we are way past doubt and into total fabrications.
Ah, back when Gerry Trudeau wasn't a complete scumbag. He started coming unhinged when Reagan was elected, and went totally nuts, along with the rest of the left, when Dubya won.
And, still, after all these years, he's only managed to get about a dozen vets to back him up.
This man just cannot be allowed near the Oval Office.
Agreed.
This column is right about the Christmas in Cambodia thing, but the media has done their best to bury the truth on it.
And with this remark, John Edwards is nominated for the Amazing Candor Award.
That was a pretty dumb thing for Edwards to say. Of course, maybe he did it on purpose, thinking that he'd be Kerry's successor when the rug got pulled out from under him.
It's too perfect.
You never know with these LIBERALS but I bet he was given a script and he followed it to a T.
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