Posted on 07/03/2003 8:58:51 AM PDT by ewing
Esquire Magazine's August edition features some revealing photographs of the 2004 Democratic Presidential contenders in what they consdier their natural elements, but the good editors at the magazine were smart enough to know that it would take more sizzle to attract readers.
That may explain why they slapped a picture of actress Jennifer Lopez --clad in a bikini--on the cover.
J-Lo's pinup shot leads readers into the features about the candidates, in which Sen. John Kerry is photographed in his Washington townhouse, talking on the phone while his wife Teresa, sits perched on his wingback chair with a cup of tea in her hand.
The photographer, Michael Edwards, said Kerry stayed on the phone for most of the photo shoot, saying he was chatting with an ambassador.
Edwards said Kerry originally wanted to pose with his wife on a replica of the Navy Patrol Boat he skippered in Vietnam.
The other photos show Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri in his kitchen making chicken, Se. John Edwards of North Carolina horsing around with his children in their bedroom, and the Reverend Al Sharpton in his favorite Harlem Soul Food restaurant.
Despite the free publicity, Kerry has his cohorts should be aware of another item teased on the cover: a story about potential candidate Gen. Weley Clark, the former NATO Supreme Commander.
Its titled 'The Man Who Can Defeat George W. Bush (If He Wants to)'
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I'm telling.
Shouldn't you be schooling the kids?!? :-p
At a jammed Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on April 22, 1971, Kerry took his case to Congress. Television cameras lined the walls, and veterans packed the seats. Kerry was dressed in his green fatigues and wore his Silver Star and Purple Heart ribbons, although he said he left the medals at home. With his thatch of dark hair swept across his brow, Kerry sat at a witness table and delivered the most famous speech of his life, the speech that defined him and made possible his political career.
"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?" Kerry asked. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Attacking the Nixon White House, he said, "This administration has done us the ultimate dishonor. They have attempted to disown us and the sacrifices we made for this country."
Almost forgotten in that famous speech were Kerry's controversial assertions that Vietnam veterans had "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephone to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
To some veterans, including some of those who served alongside Kerry, this was too much. They thought they had served honorably, and they had seen Kerry as a gung-ho skipper who led the charge and didn't voice such opposition on the battlefield.
"I would go up a river with that man anytime. He was a great American fighting man," said Michael Bernique, a highly decorated veteran who served as a swift boat skipper alongside Kerry. But Bernique remains upset with Kerry's assertion that atrocities were committed, an assertion that Kerry has not backed away from. "I think there was a point in time when John was making it up fast and quick. I think he was saying whatever he needed to say."
Was Kerry in the military during Nam? Who'd have guessed? He sure doesn't brag about it.
Here's some examples:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.