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."
Hillary knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bush would crush her in all 50 states -- what he'd do to her with her coming on the ticket under chaos like that would make Reagan/Mondale look like a nail biter.
And she'd never get a second chance in '08 having been crushed like that. She wants to go in '08 against a relatively unknown and untested opponent. She wants the playing field tipped toward her celebrity -- she doesn't want to walk into a career knock-out blow delivered by a sitting popular President, peaking at just the right moment.
Brinkley's doing a "what did I know and when did I know it?" and effectively exonerating himself.
No way Dems are going to let Pretty Boy be the nominee
Hillary comes on her white horse...
Its all in the cards.
That crud might fly in NJ, but there's no way it would get by the on a national level. It'd just be Bush vs. Nader... and then not even in all states! =)
Isn't it too late for the Democrats to switch horses, or donkeys?
French Toast, anyone?
You'll notice that Newsmax is one of the only places reporting on this, and the AP and others are all covering the "Bush's National Guard File is Missing Records" story.
How typical.
Well it's certainly sloppiness on your part Mr. Brinkley. You didn't bother to require access to all his military records, you took his word for everything,failed to do thorough research for this book, and were as gullible as hell. What a horse's ass. I hope your career as a writer of historical books is over.
LOL
A couple of weeks ago when the Kerry campaign was withholding military records from the press, they blamed it on his author.
Finally the guy says, "These records are not mine. I give permission for Kerry to release them to anybody he chooses to."
White horse and a black hat. Frankly, I think Hillary has had her day.
You think, Douglas?
Sounds like Doug is putting some distance between himself and Kerry...and his own writing.
Doug, who knows Kerry probably better than most people (because of his biography) probably doesn't like him, either.
It's too late. In some states, a replacement wouldn't even be able to get on the ballot.
In any case, such a fiasco would guarantee a Bush landslide.
I forgot about the author privilege bit. Now the pieces are beginning to fit.
Doug Brinkley is very concerned about his career as historian and a popular one at that. Who's on TV all the time. This is Brinkley's way of washing his hands of John Kerry.
IOW.....A big minus for John effin' Kerry when his chosen campaign biographer repudiates Kerry's Vietnam accounts. There's enough Kerry dishonesty and scandal here for Brinkley to write 5 chapters in his memoirs.
This guy just tripped the trigger.
No way Dems are going to let Pretty Boy be the nominee
Hillary comes on her white horse...
Its all in the cards.
Bring her on! Don't think that Rove & Co. have not prepared a contingency plan for this event.
I don't think that would occur, however. For Hitlery! to have a run at the '08 RAT nomination, she has to get reelected to her Senate seat in '06 first. Failure there means her presidential hopes go bye-bye. The risk is extremely high for her to take that gamble this year.
Do we have snapshots of Kerry's website?
First of all, it depends on what they are investigating. I think too much attention is being paid to the non-issue of the "V" device on the SS. As indicated, the first PH and the issuance of new medals are more important, i..e, the Lehman connection.
If the Navy finds that all is in order and provides the details, so be it. I just want to see the documents and check out the process. According to O'Neill the SS did not go through the normal vetting process and was awarded in two days. I suspect the reason that the Zumwalt citation exists on letterhead paper is because it was ginned up for the award ceremony before Hyland ever signed the official citation as final approving authority. Also, let's see Kerry's official request for replacement citations and perhaps medals.)
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