Posted on 09/05/2004 10:29:40 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley said Sunday that if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid.
Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not."
"If so," said the "Tour of Duty" author, "Kerry would have to fix it immediately - and it does raise some questions as to why that would happen."
"Is it sloppiness, is it purposeful intent, is there an easy explanation for it?" Brinkley wondered.
He said that while questions raised by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth about Kerry's war record have been very damaging, "so far they haven't been lethal." But Brinkley predicted that a discrepancy with Kerry's medals could seriously escalate his political problems.
Asked if inconsistencies uncovered by the Navy probe could be the "death knell" for Kerry's campaign, Brinkley told Malzberg, "It could."
In the next breath he hastened to add, however, "Right now it's unclear. So we have to just wait to see what all this adds up to."
The presidential historian called on Kerry to authorize the release of his full military file, saying, "Clearly some of these military records should be made available to the press."
It's too late for Hitlery to get on the ballot in most states, the Rats have been trying like crazy to keep Nader off and he filed a long time ago so their lawyers would have to do a 180. Don't think a write in is in the cards.
Theft of furnishings from the White House would do it, I think......start researching NOW!
Eagle burgers are what landed Clinton in the hospital.
That'll work! ;)
Frist? While he may be an accomplished physician, politically he's an incompetent wimp and appears to be ignorant of what it takes to lead.
McCain? While he may have survived years of torture as a Prisoner of War, politically he's a trapeze artist in mid-air, waiting to see which party swings the bar toward him and peeking below to see if the video camera's red light is on before he grabs it.
Rudy? He holds beliefs on some issues that oppose my own but nevertheless I love him. However, he's outside of the direct political arena for now so that lessens his true effectiveness. If he really has fortitude, he'll run for office again.
Looks like I should stop holding my breath for Brinkley's New Yorker article.
I do too...I don't know about the Senate seat...she might beat a Pataki, but if Giulianni runs (meaning he won't go for the big enchilada in '08), he could take her out pretty handily. I was speaking of Gephardt in terms of this year as a replacement (which isn't going to happen either, Kerry will do a loyal Mondale and become one of the elder statesmen they hide in a closet and roll out every four years during the convention's down-time.
It might be interesting to see why Kerry, who apparently requested a DD-215 to "correct" his DD-214 to add bronze stars to his Vietnam Service Medal, DIDN'T correct the very obvious error relative to the "V" on the Silver Star.
Probably. But since when in the last twelve years has any Democrat cared about "purposeful" deception? Quite frankly, I have seen indications of the "win at any cost" strategy.
so what happens?
in the event of major do-do, edwards steps up to the plate?
With no military background of his own, Brinkley was probably awestruck by the 'heroism' in Kerry's 'official' records. He had no idea that Kerry himself had written many of the original reports on which they were based.
He obviously never checked on Kerry's Olongapo memories of the bloated corpses in the river and starving women with their babies dying of malnutrition. The direct personal knowledge of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ordinary sailors who passed through Subic over the years would have clued him in that Kerry's claims were absolute bu!!$h!t.
My view: Brinkley was/is ignorant. He got snowed. His Kerry 'biography' shows how badly he did.
So do YOU think Hillary will run? Or who would take Kerry's place? (Edwards is too inexperienced, I don't think the Dem's would pick him). What about Dean or Lieberman?
Only possible way - Eagleton precedent, sort of.
"Besides checking out why Kerry was just not issued copies of the original citations (Hyland for the Silver and Zumwalt for the Bronze)and why the last sentence of the SS was altered, we need to know if Kerry also received replacement medals."
Good point.
This could backfire on Republicans.
Lehman may not remember signing the Silver Star citation and it may have been done via auto pen.
IF the probe clears Kerry, he will have ammunition to claim that the Bush campaign maligned his record and illegally used the investigative offices of the DOD to do so.
I would counter with a (hopefully official) finding that Kerry's 1st PH was a fraud.
The Kerry campaign is laying traps to make it look like the President is using the government to smear him.
Clinton did similarly in 1992 when GHWB's agents started looking into his Mena AK past. Clinton claimed abuse of power and deliberate unsubstantiated smear. The claim worked, the investigation was shut down.
Nah Kerry will run. I personally don't think anything will happen. Kerry wouldn't drop out his ego is too big!
he may not have terahzahs multi million dollar homes if she's got an air tight pre-nup....he's even becoming an embarrassment to her, me thinks! bet the marriage doesn't last for 12 months after the election.
I don't think anything is going to happen to Kerry. Just a gut feeling because of all the Dems who have gotten away with things in the past.
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