[Cincinatus' Wife]

***Although the ad makes it appear as if Kerry is recounting atrocities he witnessed, he in fact was reciting claims made by soldiers that year during an anti-war gathering in Detroit. "They had personally raped, cut off heads, cut off ears," he told senators.

Reflecting on those comments this year, Kerry said they were too harsh. "I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. ... The words were honest, but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in April. *** Source

___________________________________________________________________

Unfit for Command [Excerpt] Kerry's testimony to the Fulbright Committee was a carefully orchestrated piece of political theater. Fulbright wanted a presentable, young Kennedy-esque face to put on the antiwar effort, and Kerry wanted a national forum from which to launch his climb to political celebrity. Ted Kennedy helped arrange Kerry's testimony with Senator Fulbright at a private fundraising event held at the home of Democratic senator Philip A. Hart of Michigan.

………Once Kerry learned that he would have the chance to give testimony before the committee, he recruited the assistance of Adam Walinsky, a speechwriter noted for his work with Robert Kennedy. Walinsky drafted the speech and coached Kerry on its delivery. The only image Kerry wanted us to see was a myth: a young man with a burning passion for the truth, the leader forced to sleep on the ground, the man answering his country's call to be where he was urgently needed, before a committee of the United States Senate where the senators and America were urgently waiting for his firsthand criticism of the war. He porceeded to level his charges: [End Excerpt]

___________________________________________________________________

I'm beginning to wonder how long this political theater was in the making.

____________________________________________________________________

Kerry's World: Father Knows Best****……….As early as prep school, John Kerry showed signs that he shared his father's suspicions about America's cold war foreign policy. In a debate at St. Paul's in the late '50s, he argued that the United States should establish relations with Red China. During his junior year at Yale, he won a speech prize for an oration warning, "It is the specter of Western Imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." And, when he was tapped to deliver a graduation speech in 1966, he used the occasion to condemn U.S. involvement in Vietnam, intoning, "What was an excess of isolationism has become an excess of interventionism."……….***

_________________________________________________________________

John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by William Fulbright, in April 1971. Photo UPI

_____________________________________________________________

New Swift Boat Ad

A frame grab shows Vietnam war-era Swift boat veteran Ken Cordier speaking during a television commercial over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry 's war record. Kerry asked the Federal Election Commission August 20, 2004 to force Republican critics to withdraw the ads challenging his military service, and accused the Bush campaign of illegally helping coordinate the attacks. Photo by Swiftvets.Com/Reuters

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

"Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers..."

- John F. Kerry (2 weeks from now)

[Tom_Busch]

I get the feeling that Rob Kall might indeed know a little something about emotional instability.

[Jim Robinson]

Ah, the poor babies. Looks like the SwiftVets are really getting to them.

[leadpenny]

A Faith Based Initiative for Bush (527) is on C-SPAN now. It is a news conference from yesterday.

[JoeSixPack1]

....he’s the most hated and despised person in the history of the world.

There goes my morning coffee!!!

[Watery Tart]

...the footage of Howard Dean, which we now know was bogus, with a false sound track. Wha??

THAT'S your problem, C-Wife! There you go, sourcing stuff again....

[The Wizard]

the vets hates Kerry.....maybe he should have thought about that before he started dating Jane Fonda

[smonk]

emotional instability has become a democrat trademark. after watching the likes of howie dean, al gore, and al sharpton, perhaps it's not quite outlandish for us to slap the "off his meds" label on kerry when he flipped out.

memo to john kerry - if you're elected president, people will say a lot worse.

[Fenris6]

OMG. I hope this guy is getting psychiatric help.

[dennisw]

LOL! I had only heard the new Swift Boat advertisment. THe visuals look fantastic on that!

A frame grab shows Vietnam war-era Swift boat veteran Ken Cordier speaking during a television commercial over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry 's war record. Kerry asked the Federal Election Commission August 20, 2004 to force Republican critics to withdraw the ads challenging his military service, and accused the Bush campaign of illegally helping coordinate the attacks. Photo by Swiftvets.Com/Reuters

[Belisaurius]

Watch it. Don't upset Rob, or he'll thwack you with his purse.

[familyop]

"A major percentage of right wingers are repressed, control freaks. They not only want to be tight-assed, they want to control everyone else’s sphincters too."

Yes, Rob Kall, you should keep that thing tight and one-way. It's just not right to make it so hugely flexible as your kind do.

And yes, metrosexuality does indicate a high likelyhood of mental instability.

[JohnD9207]

These are not our people. These are the swiftvets. The arguments that they are making have always been out there, available. The Republicans spent $80 million and didn't budge the polls. These guys spent the money they found in the couch cushions and are threatening to destroy Kerry, the Democratic Party and the main stream media.

As much as we agree with these guys, we are passengers in their canoe. They are doing the paddling and we are doing the sightseeing. They are the heroic figures coming once again to their country's defense. If they are effective I am sure that there are many on our side that will be quick to claim their victory as our own. They couldn't be more wrong.

[cabojoe]

He also runs the Winter Brain Conference where Attention Deficit “disorder” or “difference” is a primary them of the meeting.

I have ADD, and since I quit taking the medication and started dealing with it by myself, I quit talking like this dude. Maybe he needs to at least cut down his dose.

[DaveMSmith]

... is a coward, that they are supporting a spineless coward, afraid to face the people, and while we’re at it, he’s the most hated and despised person in the history of the world.

Thanks. Pretty well hits the mark how I feel about John Kerry and the loonie left. Hate is a terrible thing to waste.

[garandgal]

Anne Coulter is one of many iconic vapid, lying, whorish blonde republican spokeswomen

Admittedly, this is a sidebar to the article, but really. Republican spokeswomen are lying & "whorish?"

Maybe he means it in the sense that they like men?

[YaYa123]

I'm not familiar with the writer of this vitriolic fantasy, but I'm intrigued with his attack on the media's right wingers:

"This labeling of a healthy fight-back response, or healthy emotional expression is what they did and encouraged their surrogate media whores in the networks to do when they played, hundreds of times, the footage of Howard Dean, which we now know was bogus, with a false sound track."

Howard Dean's shrieking moment of infamy wasn't bogus, and didn't have a false sound track. But it was intentionally incorrectly interpreted, and replayed incessantly, NOT by the right's "media whores", but by their opposites on the left who were desperate to destroy Howard Dean's candidacy.

[L.N. Smithee]

they played, hundreds of times, the footage of Howard Dean, which we now know was bogus, with a false sound track.

Oh, brother. Where did they get that?

[xm177e2]

It's amazing this joker would run this opinion piece today. I can imagine something similar two weeks ago, but not today.

This piece is just so stupid. It's completely, stridently, arrogantly left-wing... yet it's completely out of step with the Kerry talking points.

Whining Republicans Out Fund-Raised By 527 Orgs

So now it's Republicans who are afraid of noble 527 organizations? Bush only attacked 527 organizations as a whole because he was desperate to find a decent way to distance himself from the Swift Vets without conceding any ground to Kerry. Attacking all 527s at the same time was neat way for Bush to cover his backside politically--and nothing more. Bush is not afraid of MoveOn (or if he is, he isn't showing it!). Kerry, on the other hand, is taking drastic action against the Swift Vets.

their surrogate media whores in the networks to do when they played, hundreds of times, the footage of Howard Dean, which we now know was bogus, with a false sound track.

The sound track was not "bogus," it was recorded by the standard technique, which is to filter out background noise. It made Dean's scream sound stranger than it sounded to the crowd who was there. But there was no fraud going on. ho-hum. nothing to see here, nothing to scream about.

And uh, if the networks are full of right-wing media whores, why haven't the swift vets gotten better treatment in the mainstream media like CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, etc.?

For years, these sleazyoid right wingers have used thirty party organizations to attack from a distance. But now, the democrats, the left and progressives have outsmarted these whining, dirty-trickster liars. More money has been raised on the left than on the right.

Raising money is "clever?" If Republicans had more money, he'd be whining about that as proof the GOP is controlled by sinister, shadowy, ultra-rich figures (like George Soros).

So all of a sudden, the right wing is whining an calling legal 527 PACs that run ads "Shadowy organizations." Well geez, these lower than whale [poop] right wing liars invented the third party sponsored attack ads.

(an expletive was removed for your protection). This brings up an interesting question: is whale poop low, or does it float to the surface of the ocean? Actually, third-party smears have been around for a long time. Probably since before "America" was a political entity.

Hell, Bush won the primary by allowing the same people funding and putting together the weasel liar swift boat attack ads to create ads attacking John McCain.

The same people? The same people? How do you figure? I don't see Joe Farah connected to the Swift Vets. I don't see any connection between any of the Swift Vets (who actually served on Swift Boats or in the chain of command, don't ya know) and the people who trash-talked McCain. I'm just trying to figure out where they get this "same people" garbage, because the Swift Vets organization is swift vets only--so unless swift vets were part of the campaign against McCain, they can't be the same people.

But I want to talk about the way toxic right wingers attempt to label, calssify, profile democrats as crazy, angry, upset, unstable, "wild-eyed" or manic.

You see it again and again.

There may even be a smidgeon of truth to it.

Really? I know a lot of moderate Democrats, and they aren't crazy. But the radical leftists in this guy's circle are probably as crazy as he is (he probably has to go online to find people as nuts as he is in order to comfortably talk about politics)

But I see it from a different perspective. A major percentage of right wingers are repressed, control freaks. They not only want to be tight-assed, they want to control everyone else’s sphincters too.

Right. Republicans are assaholics. That's the most logical explanation. Moving right along.

The strange thing is that Bush and his people have been working fear for years-- to sell guns and resistance to gun control.

Yes. We are control freaks who want people to have guns. That makes a lot of sense.

to sell the fear of terrorism...

These people don't take terrorism seriously. It's only notable to them as something that us stupid people "fear" irrationally. I think being afraid of another attack is completely rational, given 9/11. I don't think we should quarantine 9/11 from politics. I think our political choices for the next few years, if not decades, will revolve around 9/11 (and subsequent attacks, if any, let's hope not).

Recently, an Irish reporter didn’t let up on him when he tried to evade her serious questions with weak banter. He was outraged and complained about her. Talk about fragile.

She interrupted the sitting President of the United States of America--who was generous enough to give her an interview in the first place--multiple times. And the President complained about this. Obviously, this is a sign of weak character (as compared to JFKerry, who isn't even talking to the media right now because he's so afraid of Swift Vet questions!)

A few days later, word in washington was that he was taking antidepressants and maybe tranquilizers.

So after pouting about how mean ol' Republicans taunt Democrats by calling them crazies, he fires a bunch of unsubstantiated gossip garbage at Bush, to question his sanity. It's hardly even believable gossip, either. Bush on anti-depressants? Sedatives? If Bush was feeling really blue I could imagine the man going on a multiple-day exercise binge... but that's about it. He's got a handle on his negative emotions.

One presidential spokeswoman, Nicole Devenish, another blonde liar (Anne Coulter is one of many iconic vapid, lying, whorish blonde republican spokeswomen,) ...

Because Ann Coulter is attractive, she's automatically a "whore?" That logic only works if you're a date-rapist or a bin Laden-style fundamentalist.

... of the Bush/Cheney campaign, says that the Bush campaign is not even sure that the swift boat vets ad will help the Bush campaign. This, vapidly idiotic remark, of course is aimed at the handful of Bush-morons who have not yet learned that Fox is the official, approved Bush station. EvenLou Dobbs smirks and tells her he doesn’t think so.

So the author agrees that the Swift Vet's charges will be harmful to Kerry? I'm glad to hear it! Maybe that's why he's freaking out and writing such a crazy article.

But the talking heads for Bush aren’t trying to convince the anchors or the left. They’re working on the vulnerable independents, ...

This is the first time I've ever seen independents described as "vulnerable." They're usually described as being stronger than those of us who are hopelessly partisan. They're too vulnerable to pick a party and stick with it? That makes no sense.

... perhaps the ones who are themselves uncomfortable expressing emotion, perhaps those who don’t know the difference between hearty, energetic enthusiasm and manic insanity, between reasonable anger and intemperate childish impatience will support Bush.

So not only are top Republicans crazy, gutless cowards, but Republicans in general are fearful, lying morons and independs who lean Republican have emotional issues and can't tell the difference between a range of emotions. And his main complaint is that Republicans bring up mental health smears against Democrats.

But more and more, all the machinations of the republican attack machine are being seen for what they are-- cynical, dishonest, expecting the least and worst from Americans.... But things are going to change.

The author doesn't seem to be expecting the most and best from Americans... he seems to be slamming us as emotionally stunted, mentally deficient creeps (at least, those of us who will be voting to re-elect Dubya).

To sum up: the author is mad that Republicans have this nasty habit of alleging mental deficencies on the part of Democratic politicos. And he thinks this is because Republicans are all crazy or stupid in some way or another. And the mainstream media is right-wing despite their atrocious treatment of the SBVfT. And Republicans are all a bunch of liars, which he proves with a bunch of half-facts. And the "same people" who attacked McCain are attacking Kerry, with no explanation of what this means (the author probably doesn't have a clue, he just lifted it from Atrios or one of them sites)

And that is a "fisking."

[asgardshill]

"creeps"

"slimeballs"

"sleazyoid"

Goodness gracious, can't you just smell the flopsweat in the air?