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MSNBC's "Imus In The Morning," 2/3/04 (Excerpt from RNC Research w/Sen McCain interview) MUST READ
Republican National Committee ^ | Feb 3, 2004 | RNC Research

Posted on 02/03/2004 8:40:05 AM PST by PhiKapMom

THEY SAID IT!

RNC RESEARCH
February 3, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MSNBC's "Imus In The Morning," 2/3/04

DON IMUS: So Senator Kerry, sort of, subtly brought up yesterday, and I guess apparently Terry McAuliffe, who came from under some rock some place probably -- but anyway, they brought up this question about the president's military service and whether, in fact, there was -- whether he was AWOL from the Alabama National Guard. Are those appropriate questions, and should the president answer those questions and clear this up?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): That issue came up in the last election cycle. I think they were responded to. If this turns into a nasty campaign, clearly they have to respond to it. But, look, I believe that service in the National Guard is honorable service. There are thousands and thousands of National Guardsmen and women who are in Iraq as we speak, and so to somehow denigrate service in the National Guard is totally inappropriate, and I think there would be a backlash to it if they pursued that.

IMUS: I don't think they're doing that. I think what they're -- the question is, it's fine to be in the National Guard if you go to the meetings. I don't think he went to the meetings. I think that's the charge.

MCCAIN: Well, but that charge was never proven, and again, it was brought up in the primary that President Bush and I were in. I never pursued it. I never asked questions, but there were questions asked by the media about it. I don't know. You know, all is fair in love and war, and maybe they'll have to answer those questions again. But everything I know is that President Bush served honorably in the National Guard, and if you're going to make an allegation that somebody didn't, you better have some pretty good proof besides just throwing it out there. You see my point?

IMUS: Sort of.

MCCAIN: Well, look, I mean, you can accuse anybody of anything. But the burden of proof is on the person who is making the accusation.

IMUS: Well, that's not the way it works. You know that. That's not the way it works.

MCCAIN: Look, I know that President Bush has a record of honorable service during the Vietnam War in the National Guard where he also went through pilot training and flew a rather difficult airplane to fly and did well. And that's what I know about his service, and I will believe that until somebody proves otherwise. I mean, you can't say that you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

IMUS: I've always said that he went to enough meetings to learn how to fly one of those planes.

MCCAIN: Yes. And it's a difficult airplane to fly.

IMUS: But if he got transferred to the Alabama National Guard for some reason and then didn't show up for any of those meetings, I don't think...

MCCAIN: But, see, I don't know that that's the case.

IMUS: If you don't know that that's the case, that means it's never cleared up then.

MCCAIN: Everything that I've heard -- every bit of information I've ever heard, I never got into it because I wasn't that interested, is that he served honorably and well. And I assume that to be the case.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: ang; awol; deserter; gwb2004; honorable; imus; interview; mccain; presbush; senmccain; transcript
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To: hoosiermama
I definitely heard Kay say that. I consider that sort of a side comment. I mean, he's not an elected official. He's not a policy maker. It's not really relevant what he thinks of policy. He is relevant in reporting what they found. When it comes to stockpiles of WMD, the answer is doodly squat. But what Kay thinks about policy carries no more weight with me than what Blix thinks.
141 posted on 02/03/2004 11:15:33 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: twigs
McCain strikes me as a soft-spoken back-stabber.

Mclame is a slithering snake in the grass.

142 posted on 02/03/2004 11:17:25 AM PST by mombonn
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To: Alberta's Child
The funny thing is I am by nature cynical. I normally would not have bought the Iraq war rationale. But I decided to trust. I figured for once let me not be a contrarian. For once, let me dare to believe in the cause and see what happens. Hence that betrayal feeling you mentioned. Like the old line from the Dylan song:

"I offered up my innocence, and got repaid with scorn."

Or so it seems. What the hell is going on? Was all that intel wrong? Was regime change bad policy? I have no clue what is happening.

143 posted on 02/03/2004 11:18:30 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: Huck
So why do you value what Kay told HIllary?

Didn't Kay tell Hillary that the reason he is leaving is because the Admin reneged on its committment of resources to finding the WMD?
144 posted on 02/03/2004 11:18:41 AM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: Alberta's Child
Right, meanwhile we've got 100,000 troops there and no end in sight.
145 posted on 02/03/2004 11:19:27 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: Huck
My favorite (only?) folk hero from American literature was Hawkeye, the adopted son of Chingachcuk -- "the Last of the Mohicans."

The early scene in the movie from the 1990s was a classic. The British officer is speaking to the band of settlers on in the frontier village, calling upon them to form a militia to help the British fight the French. The men are reluctant because if they leave their homes, their families will be exposed to attacks by the Ottawa and Mohawk tribes allied with the French, and the British officer is trying to assure them that their families will be safe.

Hawkeye: "That's easy for you to say -- your family is safe in Boston or New York, while you're asking these men to leave their families and fight against someone who has never been their enemy."

Officer: "You call yourself a patriot, and loyal subject to the crown?"

Hawkeye: "I don't call myself subject to much at all."

Hawkeye's cynical skepticism is what I think of as "the American spirit." I think we see too much of the British officer's idiocy even among conservatives these days.

146 posted on 02/03/2004 11:28:40 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
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To: Alberta's Child
My favorite (only?) folk hero from American literature

What about Huck??? :-)

147 posted on 02/03/2004 11:30:06 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: Huck
"What the hell is going on? Was all that intel wrong? Was regime change bad policy? I have no clue what is happening."

We are at war! It is a different kind of war than we have ever fought before.Until we get a handle on the terrorist the administration will probably keep a handle on the facts, intelligence etc. With our military in harms way, certainly hope they continue to do so, until the war is over. In WWII "loose lips sinks ships" was heard often. Some materials released today would have been considered treason then. Are you aware that the Japanese code had been broken and we were listening in....? Lives were lost because it wasn't made public knowledge, but more lives would have been lost if they changed the code and we didn't know what they were planning. It's a game of chess, you lose a pawn or two to save the King. By the way, Your mission is: I have hidden a five # bag of sugar in Indiana. It may be in a building, buried underground,or in the middle of the Wabash river, hidden in a cave in southern Indiana, or a coal mine ...If you chose to take the mission you will have one year to find it. If you don't find it am I a liar? Did the sugar never exist? (Hint they're still looking for the Reno Brothers' buried treasure in our county.....never have found it. It just disappeared.....If you find it I'll take half!)
148 posted on 02/03/2004 11:31:07 AM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: PhiKapMom
Kerry knows his precious VVAW can't stand up to real scrutiny. Kerry knows his scruffy,hippie dressed,flag desecrating VVAW comrades would harass soldiers in uniform,transitting through airports during the war. Kerry knows that his VVAW would spit on soldiers in uniform,if they kept their eyes forward and refused to listen to their anti military propaganda. Kerry knows that his VVAW plotted to blow up buildings,just like the Weathermen. Domestic terrorists,anyone ?? Which is why Kerry and McAuliffe have to create a diversionary tactic-they know that one of Kerry's major vulnerabilities,is the VVAW.
149 posted on 02/03/2004 11:31:14 AM PST by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: hoosiermama
What Kay told Hillary went uncontested. It was interesting because if it is true that funds are now being diverted away from the search for WMD, it does sort of make you wonder, doesn't it? If the threat is that grave, why not put the bucks behind it?
150 posted on 02/03/2004 11:31:24 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: backhoe

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.org/


he quit the Navy early and

On February 28, 1969:

When Kerry's Patrol Craft Fast 94 received a B-40 rocket shot from shore, he hot dogged his craft beaching it in the center of the enemy position. To his surprise, an enemy soldier sprang up from a hole not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled.
The boat's machine gunner hit and wounded the fleeing Viet Cong as he darted behind a hootch. The twin .50s gunner fired at the Viet Cong. He said he "laid 50 rounds" into the hootch before Kerry leaped from the boat and dashed in to administer a "coup de grace" to the wounded Viet Cong. Kerry returned with the B-40 rocket and launcher.
Kerry was given a Silver Star for his actions.

Kerry commanded his first swift boat, No. 44, from December 1968 through January 1969. He received no medals while serving on this craft.
While in command of Swift Boat 44, Kerry and crew operated without prudence in a Free Fire Zone, carelessly firing at targets of opportunity racking up a number of enemy kills and some civilians. His body count included-- a woman, her baby, a 12 year-old boy, an elderly man and several South Vietnamese soldiers.

"It is one of those terrible things, and I'll never forget, ever, the sight of that child," Kerry later said about the dead baby. "But there was nothing that anybody could have done about it. It was the only instance of that happening."

Kerry said he was appalled that the Navy's ''free fire zone'' policy in Vietnam put civilians at such high risk.

looks like hanoit john is a baby killer, he committed the same atrocities he said our troops did!
151 posted on 02/03/2004 11:35:07 AM PST by GailA (Millington Rally for America after action http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872519/posts)
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To: hoosiermama
We are at war! It is a different kind of war than we have ever fought before.Until we get a handle on the terrorist the administration will probably keep a handle on the facts, intelligence etc. With our military in harms way, certainly hope they continue to do so, until the war is over.

The war in Iraq was the same old kind of war. Invade, overthrow and occupy. Nothing new there.

In WWII "loose lips sinks ships" was heard often.

That's pretty convenient. Any time we don't hear what we want to hear, it's only because it's a secret, for our own good. I am sure you'd have given der schlickmeister the same benefit of the doubt.

By the way, Your mission is: I have hidden a five # bag of sugar in Indiana.

By the way, there are massive stockpiles of sugar in Indiana. We know it's there. Here's some satelite photos. We're going to invade, overthrow the government and occupy Indiana til we find it....

..fast forward 9 months...

Our chief sugar inspector tells us our spies f'd up. There's no sugar stockpiles. But hey, the Indianan people are free! Isn't that great? Ok, let's have an investigation. Next problem?

152 posted on 02/03/2004 11:36:55 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: Huck
Maybe we've already found it and it's in the cellar of the WH with Osama!

Maybe we're funding it through other channels.....using different tactics,

No more ground work for a while, satallites?

Am not priveleged to those answers, but history will reveal them....when the time is right. Now with our miltary in action may not be the time. BTW do you know if they are still finding live ammo in Europe as someone suggested yesterday....left over from 1940's
153 posted on 02/03/2004 11:37:13 AM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: Huck
LOL.

He's an intriquing character, and difficult to figure out. Part of the problem is that I haven't read all of Mark Twain's books, and I understand that some of the characters changed throughout these books as Twain acquired more of a dim view of humanity over time.

Of course, my favorite "American folk hero" of sorts wasn't exactly a folk hero -- he was a real person. If you have the opportunity, you should read about NASCAR legend Junior Johnson to see the kind of impact that a simple, humble (but incredibly smart) man can have.

If nothing else, I'd say that a guy who is arrested by the ATF and serves 18 months in prison for running moonshine -- after his NASCAR career had already taken off, mind you -- is all right in my book.

154 posted on 02/03/2004 11:38:07 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
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To: Huck
By for now, You'd better get back to work and I've got to get ready to visit the funeral home for a member of extended family. Keep thinking!
155 posted on 02/03/2004 11:40:31 AM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: hoosiermama
Thanks for your friendly nature! I been getting whacked around here lately :-/ And yeah, I got to get back to work! Take care!
156 posted on 02/03/2004 11:41:38 AM PST by Huck (I was gonna write an opus, but we'll just have to wait and see...)
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To: twigs
I can't imagine, anyone saying that they like Don Imus. The guy is a total self-infatuated idiot.
157 posted on 02/03/2004 11:42:56 AM PST by Eva
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To: Huck
BTW just saw a second RIcin attack just outed.....IMOIt is not the same kind of war.
158 posted on 02/03/2004 11:43:01 AM PST by hoosiermama (prayers for all)
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To: Eva
Yeah, but you gotta like a guy who describes himself as "Nancy Reagan with a cowboy hat."

And who can ever forget one of the defining moments of the Clinton presidency? . . .

March 21, 1996 -- Don Imus' address to the Radio/TV Correspondents Association Annual Dinner

159 posted on 02/03/2004 11:49:34 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE North strong and free.)
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To: Alberta's Child
Yeah, but that was about the only funny thing that I ever heard from him. The last time that I ever listened to him, all he could talk about was his little brat and the fancy pre-school they were sending him to.
160 posted on 02/03/2004 11:57:16 AM PST by Eva
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