Susan Estrich going Nuclear

creators.com ^ | September 1, 2004 | Susan Estrich

[Roscoe Karns]

My Democratic friends are mad as hell, and they aren't going to take it any more.

They are worried, having watched as another August smear campaign, full of lies and half-truths, takes its toll in the polls.

They are frustrated, mostly at the Kerry campaign, for naively believing that just because all the newspapers and news organizations that investigated the charges of the Swift Boat assassins found them to be full of lies and half-truths, they wouldn't take their toll. The word on the street is that Kerry himself was ready to fire back the day the story broke, but that his campaign, believing the charges would blow over if they ignored them, counseled restraint.

But most of all, activists Democrats are angry. As one who lived through an August like this, 16 years ago -- replete with rumors that were lies, which the Bush campaign claimed they had nothing to do with and later admitted they had planted -- I'm angry, too. I've been to this movie. I know how it works. Lies move numbers.

Remember the one about Dukakis suffering from depression after he lost the governorship? (Dukakis not crazy, more at 11.) We lost six points over that lie, planted by George W.'s close friend and colleague in the 1988 campaign, Lee Atwater. Or how about the one about Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an antiwar demonstration, another out-and-out lie, which the Bush campaign denied having anything to do with, except that it turned out to have come from a United States senator via the Republican National Committee? Lee Atwater later apologized to me for that, too, on his deathbed. Did I mention that Lee's wife is connected to the woman running the Swift Boat campaign?

Never again, we said then.

Not again, Democrats are saying now.

What do you do, Democrats keep asking each other.

The answer is not pretty, but everyone knows what it is.

In 1988, in the days before the so-called independent groups, the candidate called the shots. To Michael Dukakis' credit, depending on how you look at it, he absolutely refused to get into the gutter, even to answer the charges. His theory, like that of some on the Kerry staff, was that answering such charges would only elevate them, give them more attention than they deserved. He thought the American people wanted to hear about issues, not watch a mud-wrestling match. In theory, he was right. In practice, the sad truth is that smears work -- that if you throw enough mud, some of it is bound to stick.

You can't just answer the charges. You can't just say it ain't so.

You have to fight fire with fire, mud with mud, dirt with dirt.

The trouble with Democrats, traditionally, is that we're not mean enough. Dukakis wasn't. I wasn't. I don't particularly like destroying people. I got into politics because of issues, not anger. But too much is at stake to play by Dukakis rules, and lose again.

That is the conclusion Democrats have reached. So watch out. Millions of dollars will be on the table. And there are plenty of choices for what to spend it on.

I'm not promising pretty.

What will it be?

Will it be the three, or is it four or five, drunken driving arrests that Bush and Cheney, the two most powerful men in the world, managed to rack up? (Bush's Texas record has been sealed. Now why would that be? Who seals a perfect driving record?)

After Vietnam, nothing is ancient history, and Cheney is still drinking. What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment. Could Dick Cheney get a license to drive a school bus with his record of drunken driving? (I can see the ad now.) A job at a nuclear power plant? Is any alcoholic ever really cured? So why put him in the most stressful job in the world, with a war going south, a thousand Americans already dead and control of weapons capable of destroying the world at his fingertips.

It has been said that in the worst of times, Kissinger gave orders to the military not to obey Nixon if he ordered a first strike. What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

Or how about Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting those who served in Vietnam instead of the privileged draft-dodging president, and ended up as names on the wall instead of members of the Air National Guard. I'm sure there are some mothers out there who are still mourning their sons, and never made that connection. It wouldn't be so hard to find them.

Or maybe it will be Texas National Guardsmen for Truth, who can explain exactly what George W. Bush was doing while John Kerry was putting his life on the line. So far, all W. can do is come up with dental records to prove that he met his obligations. Perhaps with money on the table, or investigators on their trail, we will learn just what kind of wild and crazy things the president was doing while Kerry was saving a man's life, facing enemy fire and serving his country.

Or could it be George Bush's Former Female Friends for Truth. A forthcoming book by Kitty Kelly raises questions about whether the president has practiced what he preaches on the issue of abortion. As Larry Flynt discovered, a million dollars loosens lips. Are there others to be loosened?

Are you shocked? Not fair? Who said anything about fair? Remember President Dukakis? He was very fair. Now he teaches at Northeastern University. John Kerry has been very fair in dealing with the Swift Boat charges. That's why so many of my Democrat friends have decided to stop talking to the campaign, and start putting money together independently.

The arrogant little Republican boys who have been strutting around New York this week, claiming that they have this one won, would do well to take a step back. It could be a long and ugly road to November.

To find out more about Susan Estrich, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

[crushelits]

SOMEONE IS LOOKING INTO THIS ONE:

KERRY AWOL?

Here's the deal with Kerry's military service;
his service in the NAVY ended on March 1, 1970...NOT his service in the military.

On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry signed a 6 year enlistment contract with the Navy (plus a 6-month extension during wartime).

On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry also signed an Officer Candidate contract for 6 years -- 5 years of ACTIVE duty & ACTIVE Naval Reserves, and 1 year of inactive standby reserves.

Because John Kerry was discharged from TOTAL ACTIVE DUTY of only 3 years and 18 days on 3 Jan. 1970, he was then required to attend 48 drills per year, and not more than 17 days active duty for training.

Kerry was also subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Additionally, Kerry, as a commissioned officer, was prohibited from making adverse statements against his chain of command or statements against his country, especially during time of war. It is also interesting to note that Kerry did not obtain an honorable discharge until Mar. 12, 2001 even though his service obligation should have ended July 1, 1972.

Lt. John Kerry's letter of 21 Nov. 1969 asking for an early release from active US Navy duty falsely states "My current regular period of obligated service would be completed in December of this year."

On Jan. 3, 1970 Lt. John Kerry was transferred to the Naval Reserve Manpower Center in Bainridge, Maryland.

Where are Kerry's Performance Records for 2 years of obligated Ready Reserve, the 48 drills per year required and his 17 days of active duty per year training while Kerry was in the Ready Reserves? Have these records been released?

Lt. Kerry by his own words & actions violated the UCMJ and the U.S. Code while serving as a Navy officer. Lt. Kerry stands in violation of Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Lt. Kerry's 1970 meeting with NVA Communists in Paris is in direct violation of the UCMJ's Article 104 part 904, and U.S. Code 18 U.S.C. 953. That meeting, and Kerry's subsequent support of the communists while leading mass protests against our military in the year that followed, also place him in direct violation of our Constitution's Article 3, Section 3, which defines treason as "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare.

The Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, states, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President ... having previously taken an oath . to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

[thoughtomator]

Susan Estrich is the ideal modern Democrat - ugly, hateful, obsessively partisan, wrong on all the facts, and has a voice belonging to the opposite gender.

[Darlin']

Good Heavens ! The libs have come undone. Every last one of them. They're having flashbacks and hearing voices. Did they expect we gathered at MSG to praise Kerry ? Apparently, everything about Kerry's history is off limits except for 4 months in '68 & '69 and that ever shifting tale has more varieties than Heinz has sauce.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Kerry's disrespect in 1971 to USA Symbols Video

Windows Media .......... Real Player .......... Quick Time .......... AOL

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense
arabnews press release 25 August 2004
NOTE :
Ramsey Clark is pictured below with Kerry and
Vietnam phony vet Al Hubbard
Who was head of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement.


Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66
- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam.
The only Vietnamese he ever met was
when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.

John Kerry's explanation:
"He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

Free online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it without downloading pdf files!
CLICK HERE

PHOTO GALLERY ONLY
CLICK HERE

The New Soldier, (46 pages)
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
FREE E-BOOK
IN PDF FORMAT
WITH PHOTOS


Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

NEW:
“Without question,
we were held captive longer
because of the anti-war people,
the Kerrys, the Fondas and Haydens,
the names we knew over there -
they encouraged the enemy to hang on.”
Excerpt from “Stolen Honor” website
- Leo Thorsness
Former Vietnam POW
CLICK HERE

Jane Fonda tells the student audience at the Michigan State University in 1969;
"I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope,
you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communist."

Joe Moore, Can Tho Airfield 550th Signal Company

Copy and paste the links to everyone you know.

Kerry's disrespect in 1971
to USA Symbols Video

Windows Media
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.wmv

Real Player
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.rm

Quick Time
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.mov

AOL
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.mpg

Send this url for the online "The New Soldier" version

http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/

Send this url for the online photo gallery of "The New Soldier"

http://freekerrybook.com/photo0

Send this url for the Stolen Honor website

http://www.stolenhonor.com/

Print this out (46 pages) and disribute it,
especially to the liberals you know.

http://freekerrybook.com/

[Ham Hock]

To get the true effect of this article, you have to read it in that annoying nasally voice of hers.

[IamHD]

OMG! S. Estrich needs her voicebox removed. :)Democrats are insane; certifiably NUTS.

[SuziQ]

I can't wait for the smear about George W. Bush. The big question will be, if this is true, why has it never come up before? He ran a 'spirited' campaign against Ma Richards, then another one against Algore, so if there there ANYTHING to it, other than someone's fevered imagination, I'd think it would have been trumpeted before.

Folks will look at it as nothing but a smear, and won't compare it to the Swift Boat Vets because there are over 60 of them remembering things the same way. Somehow, I don't think Kitty Kelly has that many witnesses to her rumors.

[JoeV1]

"Attacking the president because he stayed at the school for 5-7 minutes isn't attacking, saying the president lied about wmds isn't smearing, and I can go on."


Oh please do. And while you're at it explain exactly what the lie was the president told us about WMD. Before you do that, however, please give us YOUR definition of precisely what constitutes a lie.

I have asked innumerable numbers of liberals loonies to do this and to date not a ONE has been able to respond in any manner remotely close to intelligent.

As to the 5-7 minutes in Fla., please tell me what difference it would have made in what happened. Would it have prevented the plane from flying into the Pentagon? be precise here so we will all know that you are not just regurgitating the Michael Moore garbage like the libs are so prone to do in their moment of panic and despair.

And please, DO try to be the first of your kind to answer the WMD question regarding precisely the manner in which the president lied.

[IamHD]

"And they're going to go berserk. In public."

They already are! Went to the post office yesterday, and tried to make small chitchat with the male postal worker:

Me: Good morning...so, did you listen to any of the RNC this week?

Him: NO! Republicans want to bring SLAVERY back! I am celebrating my 21st ANNIVERSARY with my partner, and THEY want to tell me what I can do in my own bedroom.

Me: WHAT? No they don't. They merely want to leave gay marriage up to the state. And, where on earth did you get the idea that the Republicans want to bring back slavery?

Him: Well, that's I've been hearing!

Me: Well, you have a nice day, sir.

Argggh...I thought he was gonna go postal, so I left it alone.

[Slings and Arrows]

Bloodspawn of Carol Channing and Satan.

You have just insulted Carol Channing. And Satan. :-)

[Uncle Hal]

Sounds like the Democrats are in a full panic. They see the election slipping away. Evidently Time Magazine now says Bush is up by 11 points in their latest poll. If you think the attacks on Bush have been viscous to date, just wait. Things are going to get very dirty very fast.

[Uncle Hal]

Under "ugly" in the dictionary they have a picture of Susan.

[laredo44]

Estrich seems to think that if you are going over a cliff the answer is to kick it into high gear and honk the horn.

Taught at the Thelma and Louise Driving Academy.

[Freemyland]

I think psjones is trying to take up for the President in his post. I think he meant to put a question mark after his post, as a question to Susan.

[Gypssy]

She should really consider quitting smoking.

[finnigan2]

It's hard to believe this spiteful, hate filled, rant comes from someone who isn't in some kind of emotional care facility. It's the kind of screed you might expect from a John Hinkley. Completely unhinged, divorced from all reality and she doesn't seem to care who knows it.
If this is going to be what we can expect from a typical Kerry supporter from now to the election - he is done for. Next week the Swift Boat ads will recommence, the Navy will start in on the questionable medal citations, the Paris peace talk photos will surface, the minutes of the meeting that Kerry attended which discussed assassinating US senators will come out and the on air tapes of Kerry's Winter Soldier propaganda broadcasts from Hanoi will become public. Bush will continue to take the high road and talk rationally about the next four years while Estridge & Co., have a complete meltdown and Kerry will remain mired in Vietnam and off message.
BWAHahahahahahah!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

["The trouble with Democrats, traditionally, is that we're not mean enough."

Estrich, Stember 3, 2004]

Proof positive that these people are delusional.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

Hey fellow freeper, is Susan hitting the crack pipe again?

[webstersII]

Write to the lovely and gracious Ms. Estrich at this address: Susan Estrich email

[CedarDave]

The internal polls bust be devastating.

The external ones are bad enough (for the Dims).