Oh Poor Kerry

[Annie]

He just can't stop with the Vietnam crap and now it may really bite him back. Links to all at the original site:

http://instapundit.com/archives/017632.php

September 05, 2004
FRANK RICH WRITES: "Though the major newspapers, including this one, did vet and challenge the Swifties' claims, aggressive reporting on TV was rare." Hmm. I don't remember the Times "vetting" the Cambodia claim. I remember them ignoring it, then burying the Kerry campaign's admission that it was true.

But now there's some more serious vetting going on:


The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into the awarding of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's five Vietnam War decorations.

The highly unusual inquiry is to be carried out by the Inspector-General's Office of the US Navy. Senator Kerry served as a Swift boat captain for four months in 1968, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam.


Hmm. No wonder Doug Brinkley seems to be hedging.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, apparently this counts as "vetting" at the Times.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here. And what happened to the promised Brinkley New Yorker piece?

posted at 05:02 PM by Glenn Reynolds

 

[Avatar4321]

If i were Kerry's advisors the first thing id be telling him is that Vietnam is over you freaking idiot! After then id probably get fired and then go join a real political team.

 

[theim]

I think he's still in a state of shock about Vietnam suddenly not being good for him. Its like he didn't think anyone would dare challenge him on anything that happened there and everyone would just say "Oh look! It's John the war hero!" everywhere he went. So he keeps getting deeper and deeper into trouble over it.

 

[Merlin1047]

The whole thing is puzzling. Kerry is a lot of despicable things but I don't think he's stupid. I wonder whose idea it was to tout kerry's Viet Nam record. If it was kerry's, then he has to be incredibly arrogant, extremely cynical and in posession of a huge blind spot. He had to believe that people would never dare challenge him or that they would be stupid enough to believe his kerrytale and that everyone has forgotten about his shenanigans in the seventies.

Then again, it could have been the idea of campaign aides who didn't know the whole truth, assumed it would sell well and now that it's out there, they're stuck with it.

 

[JIHADTHIS]

The whole thing is puzzling. Kerry is a lot of despicable things but I don't think he's stupid. I wonder whose idea it was to tout kerry's Viet Nam record. If it was kerry's, then he has to be incredibly arrogant, extremely cynical and in posession of a huge blind spot. He had to believe that people would never dare challenge him or that they would be stupid enough to believe his kerrytale and that everyone has forgotten about his shenanigans in the seventies.

Then again, it could have been the idea of campaign aides who didn't know the whole truth, assumed it would sell well and now that it's out there, they're stuck with it.

I would go with door number one. If it hadn't been for the internet, the whole questioning of Kerry's credentials may have never taken place. I believe he is an extremely arrogant ass, as displayed by his attitude and the way he has handled the whole thing by sending out the lawyersssssss........

 

[Avatar4321]

Then again, it could have been the idea of campaign aides who didn't know the whole truth, assumed it would sell well and now that it's out there, they're stuck with it.

See, i cant see that thety would be that stupid either. Even if they didnt know the whole story they should have known that Kerry was a strong anti war activitist. They should have known about Kerry's lies about his fellow servicemen. All and all i think having audio of the candidate confessing to war crimes is alot worse than looking at his senate record or lack thereof.

 

[JIHADTHIS]

The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into the awarding of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's five Vietnam War decorations.

As evidenced by many of posts in the past couple of months, you know I think Kerry is a lying pompous buffon, but I have to ask:

Do you think the timing of this is really helpful to anyone? Joe public is going to think (rightly or wrongly) that this "investigation" was ordered by Bush and it is going to look real petty.

 

[musicman]

Well, I'm going with "all of the above".

Door #1 - Hell yes, Kerry is that arrogant and cynical. The notions of, a) one's own inherent intellectual superiority, and, b) the malleability of "truth", as it may happen to serve current political expediency, are the cornerstones of the liberal ideology.

Door#2 - Marketing geniuses can only work their magic with such information as they are given. It's gotta be hell - trying to sell a product when every new day brings more proof that it is defective. They don't even know which side of their mouths to lie out of!

None of which would have been all that serious, except that Kerry&Co. completely disregarded,

Door#3) - The internet.

Forgetting that liberals no longer enjoy a stranglehold on the dissemination of information was an unforgivable, fatal mistake. I assure you, Hillary will not make the same one.

 

[musicman]

The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into the awarding of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's five Vietnam War decorations.

As evidenced by many of posts in the past couple of months, you know I think Kerry is a lying pompous buffon, but I have to ask:

Do you think the timing of this is really helpful to anyone? Joe public is going to think (rightly or wrongly) that this "investigation" was ordered by Bush and it is going to look real petty.

Well, maybe not. At least, I hope not. President Bush has been able to keep himself apart from - and, in the public's view - above - all of the fighting over Kerry's medals.

If there is evidence of impropriety relating to Kerry's claims of heroism (and there seem to be REAMS of it), the military must investigate. Hopefully, the public will see that the President has no more say-so in this matter than he did in the Swift Boat ads.

 

[musicman]

I should clarify my last statement. As commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, of COURSE President Bush has a say-so. But, the common decency with which he has comported himself so far pretty much demands that he stay out of it - and I think that - not only will the public see it that way; the inevitable liberal backlash will only serve to reinforce their image as petty, mean, and basically dishonest.