A local John Kerry scandal
August 26th, 2004 at 10:45 am by David FarrarSome sound investigative work by prominent Vietnam veteran Ross Miller, has exposed that Far North mayoralty candidate Des Mahoney never served in Vietnam, despite claimaing to have done so. He has pulled out of the mayoralty race.
What an idiot!
Talking of idiots I am hugely enjoying the controversy over John Kerry’s Vietnam record.
You see normally what he did or did not do in Vietnam should be of absolutely no relevance at all to his Presidential campaign. Who cares if he bled or not for his purple hearts. But the delicious karma is that Kerry has done this to himself. I had got sick of the fact that for month after month his campaign deflected almost every question about his flip flopping on issues of national security with statements that as he served in Vietnam and got medals, he can not be questioned on national security. In fact his campaign got quite thuggish and would suggest any attack on Kerry’s voting record on national security was an attack on his war record, and unpatriotic.
So having made his war record almost the centre-piece of his election campaign (remember Candidate Kerry reporting for duty), it is no surprise that his record will come in for scrutiny. And as Kerry’s campaign made such a big fuss over whether Bush turned up for all his national guard duty, then they can’t complain when their own tactics are turned back on them.
It is interesting that the issue of Kerry’s fake claim to have been in Cambodia at Christmas (now sort of retracted) and the claims from his fellow veterans that he lied or exaggerated his service, have all been around the blogosphere for weeks, and the mainstream media didn’t cover them at all.
It was only when the Kerry campaign did polling and discovered that despite the lack of media stories, around 45% of Americans had heard about the claims, that they decided to respond. Then suddenly it has all hit the media big-time.
As I said I don’t think the issue is relevant, but I think it is deeply ironic that Kerry may go on to lose the election on this issue, and if he does will have no-one to blame but his campaign team.
If he had fronted up on the issues and defended his voting record rather than relying on his Vietnam service as a universal answer to all criticism, then no-one would take any notice of the current claims.
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August 26th, 2004 at 12:25 pm
Am I the only one who thinks it’s rather tacky to be whoring military service for votes, full stop? It might just be me, because my father was one of those WWII vets who NEVER talked about his military service – which shouldn’t be a surprise from a man who spent his 21st birthday at El Alamein.
Vote:August 26th, 2004 at 1:26 pm
It is very tacky. McCain for example (and he got tortured and spent years as a POW) plays on his war record far far less than Kerry has.
Vote:August 26th, 2004 at 5:40 pm
You have all this out of context. Look at the ‘state of war’ the USA is in (or thinks it is in). Thus you see one person saying ‘look, i have been in this shit before’ compared to the other guy that did election crap during his ‘home guard’ duties.
Lets look at the lesser evils, I cant see Kerry doing a worse job than Baby Bush.
Vote:August 26th, 2004 at 7:55 pm
Its probably idealistic, but regardless of your opinion of either Bush or Kerry, smear campaigns do little to allow people to make an informed decision. Truth seems to have little to do with reality here.
Vote:August 26th, 2004 at 8:02 pm
Aren’t you sick of it though, I completely agree Kerry and the Democrats have bought it on themselves, and the mainstream media’s coverage of it has been shameful, and I hope he pays the ultimate price for it – for his ‘Kerry reporting for duty’ comment alone.
Vote:But for God’s sake I know way too much Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, the official length of ‘Tours of Duty’, Cambodian geography, self inflicted vs. accidental bullets ricocheting off rocks wounds, Swifties, I even know he gave up 10 pounds of room in his sack to carry a typewriter and the name of the dog, supposedly, on board his swiftboat.
This knowledge is seared in MY brain and the thought of 2 more months of this nuanced serious, analysis , well it fills me with about the same level of excitment as being forced to watch highlights of the French Olympic team.
August 27th, 2004 at 9:20 am
I can’t really see this costing Kerry the election, if only because Bush’s campaign made the mistake of denying any involvement in the advertisements. It’s now been revealed one of Bush’s lead counsels and key advisors, Benjamin Ginsberg, worked closely with the group peddling the ads.
Mud’s been thrown by both teams and it’s stuck in both instances. Any negative effects probably cancelled themselves out. It might just mean a few more American’s join the growing swarm of disillusioned and disenfranchised voters.
Vote:August 27th, 2004 at 9:44 am
I wonder if, as we speak, so to speak, “Anonymous” is scripting “Primary Colours II” or might it be called “The Hero Parade”?
Vote:August 27th, 2004 at 10:53 am
How come it is terrible that those Swift Boat Veterans made their ads yet it is ok for “Fatboy” Moore to produce an entire movie attacking Bush?
Vote:August 27th, 2004 at 4:58 pm
I think what a lot of people are missing is that Kerry’s credibility has been damaged.
Kerry’s flip-flopping on a number of matters has now been well-documented in the American media which does not have the left-wing bias that ours does. The facts have been revealed to an American public that is very concerned about security.
The same issues will be pivotal in the outcome of the Australian election as well.
Vote:August 28th, 2004 at 2:23 pm
Rob –
Well, you have a point but the Kerry/Edwards campaign should dial the outrage back a little. I was watching the ABC News on Three a few nights back (not a notably pro-Bush outlet) pointed out that Kerry has “been more beneficiary than victim of these types of independent groups” – and he has senior campaign staffers with identical ties to a smear groups whose name is deemed ‘questionable content’.
(http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Vote2004/527_groups_040825-1.html )
Anyhow, should you expect better from a country where the highest profile political writers in the country are pathological liars Michael Moore and Ann Coulter? (Can’t the EPA bury those two in an abandonded mineshaft, or something?)
Vote:August 28th, 2004 at 3:12 pm
Steven – I am not sure 4 mths as a junior officer in a war 30 years ago is very relevant to how Kerry would function as CIC today. What would be relevant is his 20 years in the Senate dealing with political, military and intelligence issues. However instead of campaigning on his Senate record, anytime ones tries to debate it with him, he retreats to what he did in Vietnam 30 years ago.
I am not a huge Bush fan. In theory Bush should be massively trailing in the polls, and the fact he isn’t I think speaks volumes on Kerry.
Craig is absolutely right on Democratic ties to 527 groups. 19 of the top 20 527s have prominent Democtartic operatives involved with them. The fact is any 527 group of the left or right will attract people also involved in Republican or Democratric politics. But that is way different to being a front for one of the campaigns.
Vote:September 1st, 2004 at 12:50 pm
Look,
Americans as we all know, aren’t the brightest bulbs in the pack and they need all the help they can get when it comes to difficult tasks like ticking a box on a form – just look at the last election.
So, now they just have to pick one way or another the answer to a simple question – Was John Kerry 5 miles behind Cambodian lines on Christmas Eve or not? if ‘yes’, tick box next to ‘John Kerry’, if not, pick box next to ‘George Bush’.
No doubt most of them that can be bothered to vote will still get it wrong, not that it will make hardly any difference to American policy anyway…
Vote: