Posted on 08/28/2004 7:30:49 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Kerry citation a 'total mystery' to ex-Navy chief
August 28, 2004
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB
Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature.
"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said.
The additional language varied from the two previous citations, signed first by Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and then Adm. John Hyland, which themselves differ. The new material added in the Lehman citation reads in part: "By his brave actions, bold initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty, Lieutenant (jg) Kerry reflected great credit upon himself...."
Asked how the citation could have been executed over his signature without his knowledge, Lehman said: "I have no idea. I can only imagine they were signed by an autopen." The autopen is a device often used in the routine execution of executive documents in government.
Kerry senior adviser Michael Meehan could not be reached for comment on Kerry's records.
Thomas Lipscomb is chairman of the Center for the Digital Future in New York
I had gotten the campaign dates and kerry's timeline out-of-sync by a year.
Doing that put the Gridley cruise and part of the Swift time in one period and the second part of the Swift time in another.
I won't repeat your statements but you appear to be WAY off the mark here.
The Political Guns Of August Are Firing
From the article:
saying that the senator is contractually bound to grant Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But Brinkley said this week the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control. "I don't mind if John Kerry shows anybody anything," he said. "If he wants to let anybody in, that's his business. Go bug John Kerry, and leave me alone." The exclusivity agreement, he said, simply requires "that anybody quoting any of the material needs to cite my book."
It just keeps getting better.
The corn is a great touch!
"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said.
Has the press been on this yet? This is ratings! People love reality shows!
Yes I remember
I have to admit .. they have been very sloppy with this campaign ..
you may be right .. they thought the media would shield them
He either did or he didn't.
He is changing his story.
Either way, that makes his a liar.
The only conclusion is that Kerry padded the citation and got some Navy underling to get is signed via autopen.
Bump
BTTT
Would you believe the Government routinely embellishes awards citations and then signs them with "autopen"?
Then I found this at CaptainsQuarterblog... .a poster there has culled out this ..
Here's where it gets puzzling. Lieutenant John Kerry's award for the Silver Star has-not one citation, but three-an unheard of number for a single award. Understandably, as we shall see, only Kerry's most recent citation-nearly two decades older than the first and signed by a Secretary of the Navy who was years away from that office when Lieutenant Kerry, now Senator Kerry, originally obtained the award-appears on his website. (Not one of the three citations, incidentally, refer to the combat "V" that appears on Kerry's website's DD 214.)
(skip ahead)
Citation 2-considerably shorter than Citation 1, but including the accolades "utter disregard for his own safety," "daring and courageous" and "extraordinary daring and personal courage"-presents a very different picture because of a significant omission. This time, it seems, Kerry "led a landing party ashore in pursuit of the enemy. Upon sweeping the area, an immediate search uncovered an enemy rest and supply area which was destroyed." Vanished is the enemy soldier of Citation 1, springing up from ten feet away, carrying a rocket launcher, turning, running behind a hut, and being back-shot by Kerry. Indeed, in Citation 2's version, there were no enemy soldiers jumping out of spider holes. Most important, gone is any implication that the current presidential candidate shot an unarmed enemy soldier in the back.
Who in the Kerry campaign fabricated the combat "V" when they placed the citation on his web site.....none of the three Silver Star citations mention the combat "v"..
Lehman's quote disavows the new
language on the 3rd Cite - he had
no part in that, is what I get.
But, the FOX statement may refer
to simple replacements, or copies,
of "lost" awards, which he did
facilitate. Could that be it???
Two questions, then; how come the
Lehman-disavowed lingo appears
over his signature on K's site, &
if Kerry never threw any of his
own awards away, or if only some
ribbons(2 different stories), why
was his Citation replaced???
Hmmmmm.....
I saw a gal reporter interviewing
the anti-war Kerry, who asked him
how many awards he tossed - named
the ones she knew of & asked him
if he tossed all those & did she
overlook any. He agreed with her
list & said, oh, 7 or 8 or 9 in
all, that he threw in protest.
Man oh MAN!!!
I don't believe Bush has said anything negative about the Swift Boats specifically. He has simply condemned the 527's -- in the sense that they need to be held to the same rules as everyone else, i.e. open records re contributors and the $2000 limit.
He has made bland comments regarding respecting Kerry's record, but that's to be expected.
Hmmm, Sanders came out late this week in Long Beach in support of Kerry's recollections, despite not being on the same boat or on the medal missions.
I found a thread that started back in April and crosslinked it here at post #435.
As I skimmed quickly over the very long thread, toward the end I caught your posts (made this month) about talking to a reporter interested in pursuing the Lehman signature aspects.
I thought for sure you wouldn't want to miss this article.
Lord, just how stupid is Kerry? Interesting indeed.
There's no dates on the citations themselves, but I read on another thread that the Kerry campaign claims these citations were requested in 1986 for framing purposes. They were probably done when Kerry was elected Senator so he could hang them in his office on Capitol Hill.
Absolutely correct, altura.
Either that or they were drunk on the idea that Kerry's service would keep the opposition in check. They believed that Bush's lack of service would shut his campaign up and leave them free to exploit and exaggerate Kerry's.
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