Democrat talking points in post-debate Letters to the Editor? (N.J. Bergen Record)

The Record ^ | 10/3/2004

[NewJerseyJoe]

"In the first presidential debate, I was hoping to hear a good debate.

"I wanted to hear John Kerry lay out his plans for Iraq and for winning the war on terror. I wasn't disappointed. Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world.

"President Bush avoided the questions and issues presented him. He is a terrible speaker and a worse debater. His snide grin doesn't work on me. He's led us into danger, not toward safety.

"This debate made it clear: Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. Bush has had his chance."

Kate Swan
Teaneck, Oct. 1

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"John Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world.

"While his own intelligence services, military advisers, Republican colleagues, and even his secretary of state have said that Iraq is in chaos, President Bush still presents a version of Iraq seen through rose-colored glasses."

Norman Kailo
Wayne, Oct. 1

[NewJerseyJoe]

WHAT A STRANGE COINCIDENCE! Two different letters to the editor, both published in New Jersey's Bergen Record on the same day (10/3/04), have exactly the same wording, praising John Kerry's "performance" in the debate.

The Record is New Jersey's 2nd-largest newspaper and is iredeemably liberal -- even worse than our famous Star-Ledger. If anyone feels like freeping them, here's the contact info:

Address: The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack, NJ 07601
Email: LettersToTheEditor@northjersey.com
Phone: (201) 678-3925 ext. 2
Fax: (201) 646-4749

[NewJerseyJoe]

A follow-up -- look what I Googled at http://www.democrats.org/media/letters/debate.html:

    "In the first presidential debate, I was hoping to hear two things.
    "First, I wanted to hear John Kerry lay out his plans for Iraq and for winning the war on terror. I wasn't disappointed. Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world.
    "Second, I wanted to hear President Bush tell the truth about Iraq, but he refused. While his own intelligence services, military advisers, Republican colleagues, and even his Secretary of State have said that Iraq is in chaos, Bush still presents a version of Iraq seen through rose-colored glasses.
    "This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction."

[jigsaw]

Kate Swan

Norman Kailo

I'm curious if these two people even exist or if the paper faked it.

[Honcho Bongs]

Here's more:

Boston Globe 10/2/04: "He staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world" - Mindy Mazur, Milton

The Daily Review (San Francisco?) 10/2/04: "Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world" - Doris Wolf, Castro Valley

Laughably lame liberals...

[Arizona Carolyn]

The sheep all mailing form letters per the email they received from the DNC... how original.

[andyk]

LOL

[Carling]

My brother tried to take on the Seattle PI regarding a guest editorial they printed from some tech CEO who was a flaming lib. My brother had a well-reasoned, factual rebuttal, and the Op/ed editor emailed him back and said they would not publish a rebuttal like his without further explanation.

He promptly cancelled his subscription.

[lowbridge]

To Our Readers (and Writers) (WA Post editorial about Democrat email spin)

Democrats don't fool anyone in post-debate e-mail punditry (Chicago Tribune Editorial)

[NewJerseyJoe]

Here's the letter I just fired off to The Record:

In your Sunday (10/3) Opinion section, two letters to the editor -- both "coincidentally" praising John Kerry -- contained exactly the same wording. A quick Internet search revealed that this is a talking-points memo from the democrats.org web site.
    How desperate New Jersey Democrats (and The Record) must be, in order to pass off political talking points as bona fide letters to the editor. Dan Rather would be proud!

[lowbridge]

"This debate made it clear: Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. Bush has had his chance."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"WE RECEIVED THE following letter from a woman in Yonkers, N.Y.: "Dear editor: This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1234088/posts

[lowbridge]

Cogent, succinct, personal -- everything we look for in a letter. So why are we writing about it here, instead of publishing it in the columns to the right? Unfortunately, the letter, perfect in every other way, arrived in our electronic in-box Thursday afternoon, four hours and 14 minutes before debate moderator Jim Lehrer posed his first question.

[F16Fighter]

NICE snags...

Between the MSM and RATS, there's 24/7 non-stop collusion to steal the election.

And oh yeah: THE BERGEN RECORD IS A FRAUD.

[John Robertson]

EXCELLENT catch, Joe. Now you must follow through and get it to Drudge, O'Reilly, etc. It is another perfect example of the MSM being in the bag for the Dems...and being used by them. There is even the chance that, once certain MSM outlets realize how they're being used, they'll take a closer look at things.

[Heff]

Here's mine:

---

Dear Editor,

How is it that two different letters to the Editor have the same exact DNC / Kerry Talking point???

“Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world”

Kate Swan and Norman Kailo wrote the same exact thing in their respective letters. Wasn’t there another letter that you could have used?? Even if you are doing it for nefarious reasons, which I believe you are, if you are going to shill for John Kerry, at least try not to insult me with the same Kerry talking point, in two different letters on the same day.

Even more ironic, this same quote is appearing in other newspapers around the country. It looks like you’ve been “spun”.

So, my friends and I have decided to not buy your biased paper anymore and we are going one step further; we are going to ask your advertisers to stop advertising with the Record until you clean up your act.

Remember, the Blogger Brigade is going to be unrelenting on those media outlets that engage in anything less than honest reporting.

While Letters to the Editor are to express the viewpoint of the readers, you should have some balance in the “Letters” section and you should be looking to weed out those letters which can be clearly identified as being written by political operatives.

Grow up Bergen Record.

Regards,

[Dont Mention the War]

I'm curious if these two people even exist or if the paper faked it.

Kailo exists; he's listed in the phone book. Kate Swan isn't, but she could be married or something. In any case, the DNC went well out of their way to push people to spam newspapers with talking points, so I have little problem believing Swan exists and that she and Kailo are good little robots unable to compose an original argument.

[NewJerseyJoe]

> Now you must follow through and get it to Drudge, O'Reilly, etc.

O'Reilly has been off my trustworthy list for some time now, but I did send it to Drudge. If Drudge posts, I know Hannity will see it, and the snowball will develop from there....

[NYCVirago]

To their credit, several newspapers, like the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and New York Daily News, have not only recognized these phony letters, but told their readers about them. This paper is pretty clueless to run two letters with the same talking point on the same day. You should send this to Opinion Journal's Best of the Web -- I think they'd run it.

[duckworth]

Hey JJ,

I live in Central Jersey. Our daily irritant is the Bridgewater Courier News. EVERY DAY here is an anti-Bush letter in there. And it always sounds like a form letter. It's so insulting. Don't the editors realize how stupid they seem? Ah they don't care. If Kerry gets in, there'll be gay marriage. And then the Courier News editors will feel good about themselves. For about a week.

[lowbridge]

From your bottom link:

____________________________

I was delighted to see my letter made the Dallas Morning News:

Link

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I sent my opinions to at least 7 newspapers, and did many polls! I got a call today from the Florida Sun-Sentinel asking my permission to publish my opinion in their newspaper! I was over joyed….I'm from Michigan so this was kinda neat to me…I also let them know I thought Bush was using the hurricane catastrophes down there to boost his election results!

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I was delighted to see my letter made the Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/100204dnediltrs.a4221.html

Tough talk fails Bush

I watched the debate hoping to hear something from John Kerry that would clarify his vision and his position for success in Iraq. I wasn't disappointed. Here is a man whose commanding presence and keen intellect not only convince me of his sincerity and commitment, but, better still, convince me he can carry his vision and careful plan through to other nations.

President Bush failed to clarify himself or his vision. I was confused by his pauses and stalling, and dismayed at his out-and-out dodges. No talk is tougher than the truth. This is where Mr. Bush's tough talk fails him.

Allison Hansen, McKinney

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