BRINKLEY: NAVY PROBE COULD DOOM KERRY CAMPAIGN

NewsMax ^ | 9/5/04

[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."

[e_engineer]

And it just so happens that, thanks to DraftHillary.org, she's already registered in all 50 states.

Not on the ballot in Maryland yet:

Name	Party	File	Filing Date	Status	More
President Bush, George W.	Republican	Regular	12-15-2003	Active
Vice President Cheney, Dick	Republican	Regular	09-02-2004	Active
President Kerry, John F.	Democratic	Regular	01-02-2004	Active
Vice President Edwards, John	Democratic	Regular	08-02-2004	Active
President Cobb, David	Green	Party Designated	08-09-2004	Active
Vice President LaMarche, Patricia	Green	Party Designated	08-09-2004	Active
President Badnarik, Michael	Libertarian	Party Designated	08-06-2004	Active
Vice President Campagna, Richard V.	Libertarian	Party Designated	08-06-2004	Active
President Peroutka, Michael Anthony	Constitution	Party Designated	07-29-2004	Active
Vice President Baldwin, Chuck	Constitution	Party Designated	07-29-2004	Active
President Bone, Lawson Mitchell	Unaffiliated	Write-In	03-25-2004	Active
President Brown, Theodis (Ted) Sr.	Unaffiliated	Write-In	06-28-2004	Active

DraftHillary.org had this on their homepage:

[Winfield]

"I figure they know that and have some Oct surprise in store for GWB." Too late! Bush already had a "September Surprise"
for the Demos.........the GOP Convention. It was Magnificent!
Look at that "bounce"!!! Now that had to be a surprise for the Demos.

[kabar]

The Lehman connection, and obtaining replacement medals is not as big a deal, in my mind, as falsification of event reports in order to obetain the award in the first place.

I think the replacement medals would be huge as far as the MSM is concerned. They have Kerry on videotape saying in 1971 that he threw away his medals. Earlier this year, Kerry said on GMA that he never threw away his medals--just his ribbons and someone else's medals. I can recall Kerry being caught in what he thought was an off camera remark about Gibson "doing the work of the Republicans."

If it were disclosed that Kerry did request replacement medals, he would have a hard time just saying he "lost" his other ones. The MSM would be all over him and they would have the videotapes to give the public pictures worth thousands of words.

OTO the first PH will require some techncial explanation, which may be hard to convey to most Americans. After all, Kerry has a signed approval and certificate from the USN for the award.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

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[ASA Vet]

Two years and one day.

That's my date in the "when will Rice be sworn in as VP pool."

[ken21]

'bout how many lbs is it?

dubya has to be one of the most humble presidents in recent memory, unless you count jimmy's getting horny in his head and then confessing to the media that he'd sinned.

[Shellback Chuck]

Didn't Brinkley have access to Kerry's military records when he wrote that book?? Bet he knows more than he wrote about.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[kabar]

Nominating Elector-Candidates: Diverse State rocedures.

Nomination of elector-candidates is another of the many aspects of this system left to state and political party preferences. Most states prescribe one of two methods: in 34 states candidates for presidential elector are nominated by state party conventions, while 10 states mandate nomination by the state party’s central committee. The remainder uses a variety of methods, including nomination by the governor (on recommendation of party committees), by primary election, and by the party’s presidential nominee.

I believe North Dakota was one of the states that uses the party's presidential nominee to name electors, which is why Bush (and Kerry) got on the ballot at the very last minute before the deadline.

[texasbluebell]

But I figure they know that and have some Oct surprise in store for GWB.

A reminder for those who have forgotten:

Hillary Predicts October Surprise

"On how the contest will ultimately be decided, [Hillary] Clinton said, "It will be outside forces - something unforeseen that suddenly happens - that tilts the election one way or the other."

[Carry_Okie]

OK, that should make for a high turnout. But she's an empty shell politically.

I heard the same kind of bluster in 2000. Tell that to Rick Lazio.

[MikefromOhio]

If Kerry goes down in flames, I doubt the Democrats will be able to recover from that too quickly, with or without Hillary.


She would need to get into the game right now to get the message out. She would need to convince possibly as much as 30% of the elecorate (assuming that 20-25% would still vote for the Dems) in 3 weeks. That would not happen, even with the super liberal communist controlled socialist sympathizing media.

[sarasotarepublican]

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.

Exactly! Maybe it's Kerry baiting Bush, not visa versa. I have such little faith with government investigations. Let us never forget those ugly clinton years.

[jocon307]

"Lets hope there is an ethical reporter in the MSM that will get to the bottom of this story."

I heard Lipscomb on with somebody (Rush? hannity? cannot remember to save my life) and he himself said he was pretty mainstream, not a conservative writer at all.

This whole part of the story seems to be growing legs on its own. Kerry may end up hoisted by his own petard. Which would be deserved.

I wonder how bad things would have to be for it to knock him out of the running for president, and what the dems would do then. I imagine it would have to be some serious, indictable crime. Suppose he has violated some Military law, he's no longer in the Military, so what could happen to him? Would the dems really put up Madame H? With hubby with the bad ticker now, and all? Does Edwards step up?

In another age I'd say it will NEVER get this interesting. Nowadays, with the 24 hr. news cycle, the "new media", etc. nothing would surprise me.

[Southack]

Senator Kerry wasn't busted for *anything* while serving at Lt Governor under Dukakis in Massachusetts, or as Senator, or during the Democratic Party primaries...

...But so far in the general election he's been busted for: falsely claiming Senator Bob KerrEy's key vote on one bill, for falsely claiming Senator Bob KerrEy's Vice Chairmanship of the Senate Intel Committee, for not being in Cambodia on Christmas of 1968, for not being sent to Cambodia by Nixon (who wasn't even in office then), for having the "V" on his Silver Star, and for getting 2 purple hearts for superficial, self-inflicted (though perhaps unintentional) wounds.

All of the above should have been brought up by the press and by his Democratic Party challengers during the Democratic primaries. None were.

This is Social Darwinism. The news media has so protected its own by covering for them in the press that over time its herd has grown weak.

In the meantime, Republicans have been under attack for so long in and by the news media that the weak have been culled from our herd and only the strong remain on our side.

We've seen our Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott be forced to resign his leadership post for telling a one-line joke at a birthday party for Strom Thurmond. We've seen the New York Times fabricate from whole cloth, using ellipses, a fake quote from President Bush (courtesy of Maureen Dowd) in order to slam him. We've seen the AP fabricate "Republicans" supposedly boo'ing Bush's kind words of support for former President Clinton's recovery in the hospital (courtesy of the Natural Law Party reporter Tom Hays). We've seen the press go into a feeding frenzy that drove Senator Packwood from office for a single kiss on the lips of a single staffer, and heaven forbid, we've seen them go nuts because Justice Thomas offered a woman a can of Coke.

The *slightest* misstep on the part of Republicans is hammered mercilessly by the news media. In contrast, Sandy Berger stealing top secret national security documents is glossed over as being "inadvertent" by this same news media (courtesy of Chris Lehane). Shoot, the *leaker* of the treasonous Senate Intel Committee documents that showed that the Democrats stalled a judicial nominee in order to get the court decision that they wanted, yes, the patriotic *leaker*, has been drummed out of office...whereas the authors of those memos are still employed in Washington.

...And for years, natch, decades, this constant double-standard has worked for the Democrats. There is no doubt that it has given the Democrats an undeserved boost of 10% to 15% in various elections that they wouldn't have earned simply on the merits of their policy positions or based upon the charisma of their candidates.

But after all of this time, Social Darwinism is finally kicking in. The Democrats have been protected for so long that they've grown soft. Ask Senator Kerry why he voted against the F-14 and against the B-2 and against our national missile defense and he gets so flustered that he lashes out that we are "questioning his patriotism."

On top of Social Darwinism kicking in (with our herd being strong and their herd being weak), we've reached the point in time where *technology* has eroded the old monopolistic power of the news media. Just as the automobile ended the monopoly on transportation once held supreme by the railways and shipping companies, so too has the Internet, talk radio, and Fox News eroded the prime sources of news and information of the established print and broadcast news media.

These are powerful new trends, and there is no doubt that the new trends will dictate a new outcome for political and social discourse in our future. The old ways are doomed.

Bring forth the new!

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[Carry_Okie]

She'd produce a lot of noise from the MSM and the 25% of voters who have wet dreams over her, but she'd cede the middle of the electorate even more than Kerry is now.

Nonsense, she's already talking border security. That's a winning issue with the middle class. Further, there is a huge number of women who will vote for her just because of her sex.

The MSM won't be able to help her --

Given the CFR blackout before the election, the MSM will be the only voice out there. Bush won't hit her hard; he never has. There will be no other voices.

[G Larry]

Brinkley is playing CYA BIGTIME!

He's had access to Kerry's records and KNOWS EXACTLY how they differ from the info that "was" posted on Kerry's website.

[GEC]

Yes, and it looks like he's running for the hills.

I'm pretty cynical, and I'm stunned.

[stockpirate]

Hillery is registered with the FEC as a Presidential candidate for the 2004 campaign!

[rod1]

Brinkley is covering his rear since it is clear his book is full of lies concerning Kerry's actions (Cambodia is nothing else) One way or the other, he knows more bad stuff is to come and wants to make it clear it is not ":his sloppiness" as the cause or his reputation is done.

But the Repubs, et al. should use Brinkley's ca;l; for full records release to hammer Kerry with it.