Posted on 09/10/2004 9:39:22 PM PDT by macsmind76
Candidate Harkin Stretches the Truth Vietnam isn't the only instance.
BY JAMES M. PERRY Thursday, August 19, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT
(Editor's note: This news article appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 26, 1991.)
WASHINGTON--If running for president is a game of truth or consequences, then a lot of Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's critics would like to see him face the consequences.
Already in the presidential campaign, the Iowa lawmaker has found himself accused of misleading reporters about the troubles of his deaf brother. In addition, the budgetary mathematics he weaves into his basic stump speech have been challenged on network television. And allegations about Mr. Harkin's truthfulness extend back well before the current campaign, back to his claims that he was a combat pilot in Vietnam.
Republicans complain the loudest. "What galls me most is that Tom Harkin has absolutely no problem in saying something that's not true, and with a straight face," says Tom Synhorst, a political consultant who managed Republican Tom Tauke's losing campaign against Mr. Harkin in 1990.
Mr. Harkin denies he has a habit of stretching the truth. He emphasizes that he has always thought of himself as a "straight shooter," and says he never intended to mislead. In the future, he says, he probably will tell the story about his brother's job experiences more carefully. He stands behind his budget figures.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Harkin is a slug. Why the good people of Iowa elect him is unfathomable to me.
The "good people" don't.
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