Can John Kerry hold on to his lead? (Zumwalt:"virtually had to straight-jacket him ")

Taipai Times ^ | Feb 11, 2004,Page 9 | By W. Scott Thompson

[Darnright]

Of the 7,078,515 Virginians counted in the 2000 Census, 6,875,029 of them did NOT vote for Ketchup Boy on February 10th!

[PISANO]

I honestly believe that the PRESS/MEDIA will do everything it can to HELP John "effing" Kerry and NOT dredge up anything of this nature and ATTACK it if the GOP does.

[CommandoFrank]

I'd rather see Kerry being the nominee than that oleaginous John Edwards.

As hideous as that sounds, I agree. They're both nauseating creeps.

[Atchafalaya]

"...precious little interest in Asia..." Seemed to show interest in Johnny Chung and the usual suspects.

[CFC__VRWC]

I honestly believe that the PRESS/MEDIA will do everything it can to HELP John "effing" Kerry and NOT dredge up anything of this nature and ATTACK it if the GOP does.

They will certainly try, but something tells me there's so much s**t out there on Kerry that there's no way they'll be able to stuff it all back into the goose. Don't forget that we came within a whisker of never hearing about Monica Lewinsky; if it hadn't been for Matt Drudge, the media would have buried the story. And we all know how that one turned out for coverage.

[blam]

"Maybe Kerry was a one man MaiLai! "

Yup, I wonder when the eye-witnesses will begin to step forward.

[The Shrew]

My point was to defend neither Senator. I was pointing out that Admiral Zumwalt knew the difference between the two. Senator Kerrey is no fan of The Shrew I can assure you of that. I lived in Lincoln, NE for four years and let's just say he didn't enjoy our correspondence.

And as the quote from the text of your post points out:

Senator BOB KERREY is the former Senator from Nebraska.

Senator JOHN KERRY is the current Senator and Presidential Candidate from Massachusetts.

Letter to Bob Kerrey

Regards,

TS

[SBprone]

I don't doubt that Zumwalt knew who he was talking about. But I don't know if the Taipei Times can tell one Kerry from another. Bob Kerry was a SEAL and he is reputed to have snuffed several civilians one night while on a hunt for VC cadre. From what I've read it was the sort of thing that might keep somebody from running for President.

[Ace's Dad]

I flat don't believe this. If Kerry created problems for his commanders, it would have been many layers below Zumwalt's notice;

"With Zumwalt in the Delta" meant something in those days. Z was a popular, hands-on leader. I didn't know him, but knew his Public Affairs guy, Adm Bill Thompson. If Adm Zumwalt had problems with Kerry, I would no doubt have the same. Just my observations. There are election fraud skeletons in Kerry's closet, too.

[The Shrew]

From what I've read it was the sort of thing that might keep somebody from running for President.

I agree with you completely. I believe the timing of the release of that info and the press finally running with that was one of the more successful 'black ops' of the Clinton political machine to help their boy Gore (at the time) to get the nomination.

Regards,

TS

[Hon]

"W. Scott Thompson is an adjunct professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, and a former assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration. He has visited Taipei eight times and now lives in Bali."

Despite the typos and misspellings in the pertinent quotes, this guy has pretty impressive credentials.

And we know that Kerry met Zumwalt at least twice. Once when he walked off his boats to go (supposedly) complain to him about "free fire zones." And then later, when Zumwalt gave him a Silver Star.

So, yeah, Zumwalt knew who John Kerry was.

[The Shrew]

My bad in Post 50. The info on Kerrey was released in 2001 after the election but it still kept Senator Kerrey out of this contest.

Regards,

TS

[Irish Eyes]

I flat don't believe this. If Kerry created problems for his commanders, it would have been many layers below Zumwalt's notice; and those much lower commanders would have had no trouble at all shipping a 'killer' Kerry back to the States ASAP 'for the good of the service'.

Maybe they did ship him back to the States. He was not there very long ..hmmmm

[Hon]

"So, on Jan. 22, 1969, Kerry and several dozen fellow skippers and officers traveled to Saigon to complain about the policy in an extraordinary meeting with Zumwalt and the overall commander of the war, General Creighton W. Abrams Jr. ''We were fighting the [free fire] policy very, very hard, to the point that many of the members were refusing to carry out orders on some of their missions, to the point where crews were starting to mutiny, [to] say, `I would not go back in the rivers again,''' Kerry recalled during a 1971 television appearance on the Dick Cavett Show."

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

[woofie]

Since when do the Dems love old Vietnam vets?

[The Wizard]

bttt

[Krodg]

I don't understand how a swift boat commander could be offing so many civilians by himself. Maybe we should be checking Kerry's service record and talking to his commanders.

Maybe the author has him confused with Kerrey?

[ambrose]

For example, the fabled and distinguished chief of naval operations (CNO), Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, told me -- 30 years ago when he was still CNO -- that during his own command of US naval forces in Vietnam, just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass, by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets.

"We had virtually to straight-jacket him to keep him under control," the admiral said. "Bud" Zumwalt got it right when he assessed Kerry as having large ambitions -- but promised that his career in Vietnam would haunt him if he were ever on the national stage.

Kerry fought "honorably" in Vietnam (TM) Ping.

[garbanzo]

A couple of comments:
1) At exactly which point will the time Vietnam era politicians be over? I am so very tired of the whole who-did-what-during-Vietnam nonsense every four years.

2) And speaking of tired, the did Democrats shoot themselves in the feet by having such frontloaded primaries? Will Kerry become another Howard "Premature Coronation" Dean and climax too soon?

[11th_VA]

This thread is becoming priceless !