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...

[hope]

LOL! I'm scurring through the channels trying to find ABC..I don't even know what channel to look for!

[GarySpFc]

So Kerry threw his ribbons over the fence on 4/23/71. Hmmmm, I find it ironic he was wearing them when he testified before Congress later on 4/23/71. :)

[Ann Archy]

That picture!!! LOL!!!

Oliphant the Sycophant is one of the reasons I stopped watching C-Span....others were David Corn and Eric something. Gross so-called males.

[Puddleglum]

Ribbons are small but pretty stiff, metal-backed decorations - like a rectangular, metal-backed button. They're not like state fair "first place" ribbons.

But the point is, he let everybody believe he'd thrown his medals until he decided to run for senate, then he told everyone "Oh no, I only threw my ribbons." Well, it's all the same act of dishonor. The fact that he tried to split the issue shows he's a weasel. He should've just said, "Yeah, I was a young hothead and threw away my military decorations."

[Hand em their arse]

Ya know, my god I thought I was the only one thinking that!! Good thing it wasnt' a windy day for the poor guy...

[blue-duncan]

Unfortunately the "witness" is a reporter for the Globe and is therefore, presumed to be in error or lying, which is the Globe's definition of news.

[Ann Archy]

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

WOW! He must be Superman to have stood BEHIND Kerry and seen all that!! Tommy, the human Gerbil, is QUITE the Superhero!!

[Clara Lou]

Too bad I don't have such a crystal-clear memory of politically convenient events of 33 years ago like these guys claim to.
You raise a very good point. Oliphant seems to have very graphic-- and convenient-- memories of particular details. Fascinating....

[antiRepublicrat]

She'd still be alive if not for Teddy. IIRC, by the way the car was she had quite a bit of air left, long enough for Ted to take his time rescuing her. And the car wasn't submerged, the door being just a couple feet under the surface. Instead he left for 10 hours without even trying.

[billhilly]

That is the one, and he follows a short line of Massachusetts lap dogs in the press who swoon over anything democratic. We can all remember those presidential landslides where Massachusetts, Minnesota and the District of Columbia, (the bitch set me up) democratic victories have seared themselves into our history. Even Ted Kennedy flourishes in that hot house of self importance.

[jimbo123]

oliphant@globe.com

[DefCon]

"... I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons...Kerry had arrived here with only the ribbons he wore on his shirt..."
- - -
So which is it?
He had them in his pocket?
Or he wore them on his shirt?

[isthisnickcool]

my daughter just joined Kerry's staff....

WOW! This is the most interesting thing. Oliphant has a daughter? That means he had to have had sex with a woman. This IS news!

[colorado tanker]

This article is completely wrong.

There is no difference between ribbons and medals. When a service member is decorated he or she is given a box with one ribbon and one medal. They are one and the same. Some uniforms call for wearing the ribbon, others for the medal.

In 1971, John Effing Kerry said he threw his medals over the fence. He might have thrown ribbons and meant medals - they are interchangeable. Many people use the word "medal" when they mean the decoration.

Later, Effing Kerry decided he wanted to put away VVAW medal-throwing Kerry and replace him with Silver Star war hero Kerry. So, Kerry lied and said he hadn't thrown his medals away, he said he threw away somebody else's medals. When that story couldn't hold he invented an untrue distinction between medals and ribbons and said he'd only thrown his ribbons away but not his medals. Kerry is implying to a press and public who don't know that his ribbons are different from his medals, like a ribbon at a fair, but certainly not his coveted Silver Star and Purple Hearts, but that is not true. Throwing away the ribbon is the same as throwing away the medal. Now he has to explain his contradictory statements - which time was he lying?

But Kerry is only in this spot because he tried to deny what he did by lying and claiming a distinction between medals and ribbons that does not exist - and he did it so he could claim he didn't throw away his decorations, which he manifestly did, as Mr. Oliphant verifies.

[timydnuc]

Let me try to settle this. You are awarded (winning is not an option when it comes to awards) the official "metal" in the form of a hanging star from a ribbon, the "ribbon" that is worn on a more casual uniform (as apposed to dress blues) are a representation of the original decoration. They both represent the same decoration, only made for different uniforms. The casual greens equal the ribbon, the formal dress blues are the actual decoration. The decoration comes with both the ribbon, and the metal. They both mean the same thing.

Been there, done that. Don't ask, I was just doing my job.

[savedbygrace]

The problem that liars face is that of keeping track of their lies, and also keeping track of all the interrelated facts that must be rearranged to fit their lies. Few can keep all those balls in the air at the same time.

[Rockpile]

A she-male like Oliphant COULDN'T have seen Kerry throw anything-------he would have been too engrossed in looking at Kerry's ass.

[SerpentDove]

So he was lying when he said he threw "the medals themselves" ...Bronze Star, etc.??

How STOOPID does he think we are?

[jimbo123]

And he's calling Charlie Gibson a liar, it seems. I wonder what Gibson thinks about this:

charles.gibson@abc.com

[LibLieSlayer]

Let's see.....one POS low-life, slimeball, anti-American, limp-wristed, girly-man dim lying to cover-up for another POS low-life, slimeball, anti-American, limp-wristed, girly-man dim....nothing unusual in that.

LLS