Posted on 03/28/2007 10:13:25 AM PDT by Graybeard58
Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, are raising concerns about President Bush's nominee for ambassador to Belgium because he gave money to the group that impugned Sen. John Kerry's war record during the 2004 presidential campaign.
With a vote set today in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dodd, D-Conn., said Tuesday he opposes the nomination of St. Louis businessman Sam Fox because Fox "refused to apologize for his behavior" during a confirmation hearing last month.
"U.S. ambassadors need to be both responsible and credible, and Mr. Fox's support for an organization known to have spread falsehoods illustrates neither," said Dodd, who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Fox, one of the nation's most prominent Republican fundraisers, made a $50,000 contribution to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Many Democrats blamed the group for sinking Kerry's presidential bid after it aired a series of TV ads that claimed Kerry, D-Mass., did not deserve his Vietnam War medals.
Eleven of Kerry's Vietnam crew mates sent a letter Tuesday urging committee members to oppose Fox's nomination. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
"In our judgment, those who finance smears and lies of combat veterans don't deserve to represent America on the world stage," the letter said.
Fox, 77, of St. Louis, is national chairman of the Jewish Republican Coalition and has donated well over $1 million to Republican candidates and causes since the 1990s, according to Federal Election Commission records. Bush's re-election campaign deemed him a "ranger" for helping to raise at least $200,000.
in 2004.
Kerry grilled Fox about the Swift Boat contribution during the Feb. 27 hearing, asking him why he gave money to a group that was "smearing and spreading lies" and had been condemned by members of both political parties.
Fox replied that he considers Kerry a hero. But he refused to call the contribution a mistake.
"When I'm asked, I just generally give," Fox told Kerry.
Fox has not backed down in a series of written responses to Kerry since the hearing.
"Senator Kerry and other members of the committee still have questions for Mr. Fox, and it's fair to say the concerns raised during the February 27 hearing haven't vanished," Kerry spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.
Complicating matters is the presence of three Democratic presidential hopefuls on the committee -- the chairman, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.; and Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Dodd.
At the end of the hearing last month, Obama told Fox he found his testimony "somewhat unsatisfying."
"I would have preferred you saying, you know, 'In retrospect, looking back, contributing to the Swift Boat campaign was a mistake and I wish I hadn't done it,"' Obama told Fox.
Fox has garnered the public support of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., both of whom testified for him.
Yet the bastards supported Kerry, whose particpation in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and their Winter Soldier Investigation lies smeared the whole Vietnam generation of vets.
Be the bigger man Chris. Extend an olive branch to Mr. Fox. Diplomacy, after all, is the coin of the realm.
Be the bigger man Chris. Extend an olive branch to Mr. Fox. Diplomacy, after all, is the coin of the realm.
No doubt, another GOP marshmallow. How can we combat the media's lies when Repubs meekly spread the lies further by not challenging the Dems and the media? We need leaders with resolve and fortitude - not meek wussies who prop up Dem lies.
Only gay democrats can get rapid confirmation with this new congress.
Shouldn't there be an investigation of these Eleven's bank records from 2003 till now?
If it were me.....
"I'm proud, not sorry for helping to highlight Kerry's lies and exagerations."
"Next?"
They are not going to bring to a vote any of the people that State or Bush wants in the Embassies. They are going to force him to accept their people.
That's the political fact....
This time it is SBVFT, next time it will be something else.
His best move is to withdraw the nomination to keep the poor guy from getting dragged into the political fight, and let the second man in the Embassy take the job until the end of his term. If he tries another, and another, the RATS get stronger and can flout their power. The personal lives of the nominees are disrupted, and all the blame goes to Bush. Not to mention that nothing else gets done.
I'm not advocating that he be resigned to getting his chain pulled, just that he does not have any possible hope of winning, and there is no point in wasting resources and people in a cat fight where you know the result in advance.
In this case it is better to pick the fights and the ground on which to fight it.
Conservatives, of late, think that any retreat is a failure, and that is not the case in warfare or political warfare.
Payback is hell. What was anyone thinking in the first place, especially the nominee? Did he or the President honestly think for one moment that the Democrats wouldn't shoot this down? Did they think that Kerry would just chuckle and say, "Well ya got me in 2004 with that Swift Boat stuff. Enjoy Brussels?" Kerry must have split a gut when he found out about this.
Like father, like son.
The mistake was then accepting any presidential appointment that required approval by a Democrate controlled senate.
Too bad Senator's aren't held to the same standards.
Who would vote for Dodd for President besides his family?
Obama insists on making egregiously politicized trash statements like this;
"I would have preferred you saying, you know, 'In retrospect, looking back, contributing to the Swift Boat campaign was a mistake and I wish I hadn't done it,"' Obama told Fox."
Obama is stating that he wanys to take issue with a citizen's political activities and statements.
Idiotic statements like the above have earned Obama the prejoritive nick name "The Obamination".
Ah ha! A new precedent has been established...
NO Presidential appointee will ever again be approved, who has donated money to an opposing organization....
So much for FREE SPEECH....So much for worshipping DIVERSITY....So much for TRUTH being revealed...
Oh - and by the way --- KERRY the Traitorous LIAR has STILL not signed his SF-180, which would reveal the UNDISPUTED TRUTH to the entire world..
The Swift Boat Veterans for TRUTH -- were TRUTHFUL and ACCURATE from the very begining....
Semper Fi
Really! They want him to aplogize for practicing politics in a political race! And in a case where it was successful too. Dems won't be happy till the GOP and conservatism are outlawed. They really do want a one-party state!
The more I read about Mr. Fox the more I like the guy. He puts his money where his mouth is, unlike the higher-ups in the Republican party leadership. I am quite perturbed with Mr. Bush turning the other cheek each and every time he gets slapped down by the dimwits. It is past time for him to come out firing back, and calling their hand at the b.s. they keep throwing.
Someday, someone who doesn't have a snowball's chance of Senate approval anyway, should tell all these self-righteous strutting pompous gas-bags to go straight to hell!
We can all see where Dodd stands on the Freedon of Speech issue.
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