Posted on 09/04/2004 6:07:26 AM PDT by kattracks
John Kerry is not short of troubles these days, from his 20-year Senate career that he left completely off of his resume, to his poor choice of advisors like Sandy ''burglar'' Berger, or his visible inability to settle into one solid position on any single issue.But John Kerry's real problem is just now coming into focus for many who knew little about the man, despite a 20-year high-roller Washington career and his 30-year jet-set, ski-slope, summer-in-France persona.
It’s no surprise that Kerry finds himself in the eye of a political firestorm that threatens to end his life in politics. Those of us who have watched him for 20 years or more, have been wondering when his road to the White House was going to run upon one of the many bridges he burned along the way.
It’s fitting that those brothers he chose to malign 30 years ago, lead the charge to topple his political kingdom 30 years later. Despite Kerry’s efforts to characterize their attack as some vast right wing conspiracy, the truth is much more obvious than that.
I’m reminded of the old saying, ''Watch who you trample over on your way up, because you will see them all again on your way down.''
The Swift-Vet charges only serve to bring John Kerry’s real problem into our field of vision. His real problem is his snobbish liberal elitist personality that causes him to feel superior to his loyal and not-so-loyal subjects. His handling (or mishandling) of the Swift-Vets attack is a perfect example.
Kerry knew that the guys he maligned 30 years ago were still out there and that they had not forgotten or forgiven. Yet despite his knowledge of the impending ambush he would invite, with a salute and a Hollywood style ''reporting for duty,'' he chose to pour salt into a very deep old wound by using his four months in Vietnam as the centerpiece of his bid for the White House.
He knew they would attack his self-appointed hero status, but he thought the attack would be manageable. When the attack came, a pre-planned Clintonian defense strategy was launched, as if the American people would not see through the Lanny Davis strategy and pick up on the real issue behind the issue.
Immediately, the process of maligning those he had maligned once before began. Efforts were under way to convince voters that Kerry’s truth was the real truth, and that those 254 fellow veterans, each and every one, were simply lying. This wouldn’t work anywhere else on earth, but in American politics-post-Clinton, fiction often becomes fact and anything is possible.
The plan was set in motion and next came the letter from the law offices representing the Democratic National Committee and the Kerry campaign, not written to the Swift Vets threatening legal action for libel of their client, but to television and radio networks across the country that were set to air the Vets' first ad. They were ignoring the charges themselves, and his accusers, and attacking an innocent group who would only be the messenger.
Next was phase-three of the plan, turning the Swift Vets' attack into a Bush-lead conspiracy, and attempting to draw Bush’s National Guard service into question, a process they had already started when DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe floated the idea that Bush was AWOL in Alabama, evidenced by the fact that he can’t prove he wasn’t. Still, Kerry offered no direct response to the charges, although by now, facts were beginning to quietly drip out through his handlers. Maybe that Cambodian Christmas seared into Kerry’s memory was just the fog of war.
Enter phase-four of the plan, filing a legal complaint with the FEC accusing the Bush campaign of that which the Kerry campaign had already been caught doing, working with a 527. In a swift shift of position, all of the sudden it was Kerry, who was challenging the legitimacy of 527 activities, the very team who for months earlier, defended the use of 527’s. Again, no direct response to the charges, though more information continued to drip. Maybe that first Purple Heart scratch was self inflicted after all.
Then came phase-five, a call placed by Kerry to fellow veteran Bob Dole in which Dole suggested he talk directly to his accusers and apologize for his actions. That prompted a second call placed by Kerry directly to Swift Vet Robert ''Friar Tuck'' Brant, in which Kerry asked for his help in stopping the Vets, to which Brant responds, ''I am one of them.''
Meanwhile, fellow Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa is sent out to further malign the enemy, calling Vice President Dick Cheney a ''coward'' for not serving in Vietnam at all, who had opted instead for deferment to attend college, not all that different from Bill Clinton, without the ''loathing the military'' part.
Turned away at every door, the BIG guns are brought out and former senator and real war hero, triple amputee Max Cleland of Georgia, complete with wheelchair, and the saved one, Jim Rassmann, made a secret (announced in advance to all networks) heartfelt pilgrimage to Crawford, Texas, on short notice to plead for the president’s mercy.
As anticipated, they were unable to see Bush at his Crawford ranch. It didn’t matter, that wasn’t the real purpose of the trip to begin with. What immediately followed was: a photo op of the two veterans being rejected at a Crawford checkpoint, and it went exactly as planned.
Now this is a lot of work just to avoid answering the charges of a few fellow veterans directly, publicly, which brings me to the point of this article.
John Kerry’s biggest problem is John Kerry. He can’t run on his Senate career because his voting record is opposite to his campaign rhetoric. He can’t run on his ability to run anything, a company, a state, a municipality, a Girl Scout troop, because he has never run anything. And now, he can’t run on his self-proclaimed hero status because despite the fact that he has a dozen or so willing to stand with him in this effort, there are more than 250 standing opposed, and they won’t go away.
There’s more: former POW’s tortured with his pictures and words in captivity have a September surprise of their own for Kerry.
Kerry’s implosion is completely self-inflicted and it was completely predictable. Snared by his own web of lies and cornered by all the bridges he burned over the years, he is in serious trouble.
His most fatal fault is his belief that the American people are unable to absorb or comprehend what they see with their own eyes.
He is hoping against hope that voters will not notice that despite all of his triangulated efforts to fend off his attackers, they are growing in number and strength. Kerry is depending on the American people not noticing that through his barrage of counter attacks, he has yet to answer a single charge.
What little information has dripped out thus far supports the Swift-Vet charges: not really in Cambodia for Christmas, and at least one of the wounds may have been self-inflicted.
Hardcore Deaniacs, Socialist Party members, anti-war, anti-capitalist, and anti-American voters couldn’t care less about any of this. They are upset by the self-imposed implosion of their ''anybody but Bush'' candidate, and are more than happy to accept Kerry’s triangulation of the issue and his avoidance of his accusers at face value.
But the rest of America is getting a good look at what this guy is really all about. The DNC has been saying for months that Americans just needed to get to know John Kerry.
Well, now they are…
I believe that the Dems thought that the press would cover for them as they did for Clinton and nothing would come of any attack by veterans. They are holding a press conference? Don't cover it.
Quelle surprise! They never figured on ads and the internet.
Anyone else hear about this?
If story is true, one would have to believe this, too, will blow up in their faces...
I love your attitude! Could a FReeper post a shot of Bruce Willis crawling over glass in one of his movies (I forget the name) but it sure showed a man's commitment to get the job done and catching the bad guys when he was under fire. It'd be a great thread to start. We could compare and contrast that commitment to The Dork snowboarding in Idaho! What fun; and the remarks we could make....
Thanks for the link, Petronski.
Extraordinary statements from extraordinary men.
Hope America gets to hear them speak.
Holy Frag Batman, I didn't know that. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't be bragging about, or leveraging, the condition he's in. Poor judgement or just another foible from the Democrats. Being used as a prop shows the man has no self respect.
Was it Die Hard?
What an astoundingly good piece of editorial journalism.
read this..
Yes sir. Or one of the Die Hard series. I'm not a Willis fan necessarily, but, that detective sure was one tough SOB. Unlike Kerry, who's a pansy.
No. There is no deadline for changing the actual candidate. There are deadlines, legal and practical, for changing the name that appears on the ballot, but the name that appears on the ballot is a mere voter convenience. The voter is not voting for the candidate, in fact. The voter is voting for an elector, and ALL of the electors (and their alternates) have been named, before the deadline.
There are practical issues with changing candidates, because absent obtaining a majority of the electoral votes, the DEM party loses the election.
But as a legal matter, Kerry can become unavailable the day before the election in November, but the DEM electors will cast ballots in December for the person the DEM party tells them to.
I have a little problem with calling someone a "war hero" because he accidently blew off his legs and an arm.
Kerry has come under similar attacks each time he ran for Senate too, and he was able to overcome the accusers. So, plenty of reason to act as though this was just a similar hurdle, maybe set just a little higher.
I want Kerry's legacy to be similar to Benedict Arnold's. I want him to achieve that status while he is alive.
No, but we are well past the date that most states can change names on the ballots. Dems will sink or swim with Kerry.
Cleland is not a war hero for blowing himself up. He is a war hero for his actions in battle some time before his self-inflicted injury. Max Cleland deserves to be called a war hero, AFAIK.
But the DEM party and media have erred in attempting to attach his injury to an heroic act.
What's the story on Cleland's actions in battle that made him a hero? Did he earn any medals for valor? Just curious to hear the real story.
His handlers really must've cringed when he issued his "Bring it on" challenge. Well, JFK, On has been Brung.
Silver Star Medal Citation
Captain Cleland distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous action on 4 April 1968 during an enemy attack near Khe Sanh.
When the battalion command post came under a heavy enemy rocket and mortar attack, Captain Cleland, disregarding his own safety, exposed himself to the rocket barrage as he left his covered position to administer first aid to his wounded comrades. He then assisted in moving the injured personnel to covered positions.
Continuing to expose himself, Captain Cleland organized his men into a work party to repair the battalion communications equipment, which had been damaged by enemy fire.
His gallant action is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Grenade Explosion Accident. In his own words,
On April 8, 1968, I volunteered for one last mission. The helicopter moved in low. The troops jumped out with M16 rifles in hand as we crouched low to the ground to avoid the helicopter blades. Then I saw the grenade. It was where the chopper had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before. Shifting the M16 to my left hand and holding it behind me, I bent down to pick up the grenade. A blinding explosion threw me backwards.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Max_Cleland <-- Source
"Turned away at every door, the BIG guns are brought out and former senator and real war hero, triple amputee Max Cleland of Georgia, complete with wheelchair, and the saved one, Jim Rassmann, made a secret (announced in advance to all networks) heartfelt pilgrimage to Crawford, Texas, on short notice to plead for the president’s mercy." Help me here. I was under the impression Cleland got his wounds when he psicked up a grenade while he was drinking beer. Am I wrong?
John Kerry's new theme song:
I WANNA BE SOMEBODY
(Lawless)
You say you don't wanna run and hide
A face that no-one knows
And everyone ya meet, you're gonna show
You're nobody's slave, nobody's chains are holdin' you
You hold your fist up high,
And rule the zoo
Oh, you just got to be
Up high where the whole world's watchin me
Cause I, I got the guts to be somebody......to cry out
I wanna be somebody,
Be somebody soon
I wanna be somebody
Be somebody too
You say you don't wanna starve
Or take the table crumbs that fall
You don't wanna beg or plead at all
You don't want no nine to five
Your fingers to the bone
You don't want the rock piles' bloody stones
Oh, you just got to be
Up high where the whole world's watchin me
Cause I, I got the guts to be somebody.....to cry out
I wanna be somebody,
Be somebody soon
I wanna be somebody
Be somebody too
I want shiny cars and dirty money
Lotsa rock and roll
I will live in fame and die in flames
I'm never gettin' old
I wanna be somebody,
Be somebody soon
I wanna be somebody
Be somebody too
I'm gonna be somebody,
I'm gonna be somebody
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