OLIPHANT: I WATCHED KERRY THROW WAR DECORATIONS

Drudge ^

[hope]

OLIPHANT IN COMING BOSTON GLOBE: 'I was 4 or 5 feet behind John Kerry. I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons... There couldn't have been all that many decorations in his hand -- six or seven -- because he made a closed fist around his collection... From what I could observe firsthand about Friday, April 23, 1971, Kerry did not make even the slightest effort to pretend that he was throwing all of his military decorations over that fence.... Kerry had arrived here with only the ribbons he wore on his shirt... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have always found the political junk served up by Kerry's detractors to be undignified as well as largely inaccurate. I write now because the political junk is much higher profile now, though no less misleading -- and not, by the way, because in her fourth job in the public arena, my daughter just joined Kerry's staff. I just happened to be there that long-ago day. I saw what happened and heard what Kerry said and know what he meant. The truth happens to be with him...' Impacting Hard Late Monday...

[KellyAdmirer]

I was there that day, too, and saw a lot of medal throwing, though I don't remember Kerry at all and can't claim to be "4 or 5 feet" from him. Too bad I don't have such a crystal-clear memory of politically convenient events of 33 years ago like these guys claim to.

[T'wit]

>> Can anyone please make sense of this story for those of us with limited tolerance of b.s.? I can't figure out what the man said, didn't say, said he said, my head is spinning.

I have that problem too. Don't blame yourself. Oliphant is incoherent. This is clouds and smoke.

[Aliska]

On another thread, someone posted a picture of a cluster of military ribbons. They are wrapped around a thin metal base. They would not go real far, but they wouldn't just drift in the breeze either.

[lainie]

Thanks. But I mean Kerry too. :-)

[GWB00]

Does Thomas Oliphant look like he would ever have anything positive to write about a conservative?

This man is the quintessential Washington, liberal, elite, journalist.

[Ann Archy]

Oliphant the Sycophant. Isn't he married to the reportette, Susan Spencer???? And his Daughter WORKS for Kerry????

Nothing in this article shocks me except that Oliphant the Sycophant SPAWNED....ick. He has to be the eeliest, most feminine of all the Dems.....he's even more feminine than Barney Frank.

[ambrose]

How does one throw a ribbon across a fence?

Here's a test. Hold some ribbons in your hand, throw 'em as HARD as you can. See how far they go...

[EllaMinnow]

I'm so proud of that fine freepin' y'all gave Monsieur FlipFlop!

[surrey]

This morning WRKO our local radio station(Howie Carr) had the campaign director for a former rival of Kerry's. He mentioned Oliphant and remarked at some of the not so nice statements Oliphant made about Kerry. Something to do with needing 5 blackboards to diagram one of his answers.

[Burkeman1]

I live in Mass and have been familiar with this story for years- so maybe I am not representitive of the what the average American knows about the history of this scandal.

[OldFriend]

I saw it on TV.......they're dredging up all kinds of footage from years ago.

Chilling.

[EllaMinnow]

Why is his nose so brown?

Oh, wait...never mind.

[kabar]

Kerry said that there is no real distinction between medals and ribbons in terms of the gesture. So what is Oliphant's intent, to say that Kerry's 1984 story is the correct one and not the 1971 story? Kerry made that distinction in his 1984 story, i.e., his ribbons and others' medals, but Oliphant undercuts that explanation by saying Kerry only threw ribbons. Nice try.

[ambrose]

Kerry has said that he threw others' medals and his own ribbons. If Oliphant is giving us an accurate history here, then Kerry is still lying about the others' medals. Or Oliphant is lying. So hard to choose. Wait, I've got it . . . they're BOTH lying.

Bingo.

[EllaMinnow]

What network? My husband really wants to see this.

[Thebaddog]

Is there a satire meter on this thread?

[Ann Archy]

If he's so PROUD of his Medals and being considered a Decorated War Hero, why did he throw them away?? Maybe because he was awarded them way too easily?? Band-aid medals??

[Peach]

Exactly.

[samadams2000]

One more time a media person asks us to grant that they are impartial because they are just demoncats by coincidence...

[grassroot]

>>He threw medals?

6, 7 8 or 9? Actual medals? Read the quote above.<<

I thought Kerry had 3 purple hearts,a bronze star, and a silver star. By my reckoning, that comes to 5.
Whose were the other 1,2,3, or 4 that he supposedly threw?