Mark Steyn: Kerry’s quagmire

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 08/28/04 | Mark Steyn

[hattend]

Aside from the three or four Swiftees who’ve been persuaded to travel around the country with him, all the hundreds of other Swiftvets loathe him, and many of them are determined to stick to him like DNA to Monica’s dress.

BTTT

LOL

[MHT]

Kerry's run a horrible campaign--and he's STILL in a tie with Bush? The Media has massaged JFK's image like a prostitute would service her favorite client. Can you imagine how much further ahead Bush would be if the media could be neutral? Not even pro-Bush, just neutral.

[Renfield]

"...Aside from the three or four Swiftees who’ve been persuaded to travel around the country with him, all the hundreds of other Swiftvets loathe him, and many of them are determined to stick to him like DNA to Monica’s dress..."

This may be Steyn's best line ever!!

[blackie]

In case you missed it. :)

[NYCVirago]

It's absolutely true that Kerry could have defused this whole thing if he hadn't fought back. He could have said, "I respect these vets and they have the right to their opinion and to their memories. My memories and opinions are different." and as he has said earlier, "I was a young man in 1971 and I was quoting other vets and went overboard, I was caught up in the moment and I apologize."

Exactly. But Kerry and his minions are so arrogant, they won't even acknowledge that fellow veterans even have the right to criticize them!

[NYCVirago]

I knew plenty of these types. They over-corrected. They missed the Hendrix/Doors/Iron Butterfly era and discovered Hait Ashbury too late. As George Harrison said, the authentic hippies were gone and it was now just a sad skid row. Kerry missed the exciting years of 66-69 and was desperate to be a true counter-culture freak. So he, and a million more, tried too hard in 70-73 to ape the scocialist hippie protester image, but it was all too late and sad.

Spot-on analysis. Good post.

[NYCVirago]

Kerry is keeping this story alive. He knows whatever damage was to be done has been done. Now he will keep fanning the flames and luring the Swift Boat Vets into additional attacks. He wants everyone to focus on Vietnam. He does not want anybody talking about his 20 years in the Senate! Very Clintonesque. Very dangerous. We are being played.

No, we're not being played at all. There's going to be plenty of talk about Kerry's Senate record next week at the convention, for one thing.

[Brian Allen]

[Overall] 46 per cent think [Kerry is] exaggerating or lying ... [His] . ... negatives outweigh his positives on the sole issue ... chosen to define [His] .... candidacy.

Among .... critical swing voters .... 48 per cent think he’s ... exaggerating or lying.


..... If ... Kerry [Is still being hounded] by mid-September, he’ll be mired in a Vietnam quagmire of his own making. And, unlike the original .... [This time] there’s no early release.

President Bush by a minimum 10% margin and a minimum 44 Electoral College States to 6 plus DC.

[Next?]

Thanks for the ping, Pokes.

[nyconse]

What a great post...you are absolutely correct. He was a poser. You saw people as late as 1979 acting like they were hippies. If everyone who said they were at Woodstock really was at Woodstock...You would have needed the entire East Coast. Thanks for the compliment. I really dislike Kerry; I probably go overboard sometimes. LOL

[finnigan2]

I don't want to jinx this thing, but I hope everyone is keeping a list of the names of the showbiz and media clymers who have been covering this guy's butt and promoting his candidacy so that, the day after Bush is elected, we can all send them e-mails telling them to shove it where the sun don't shine - and to hold it there for four more years!

[shaggy eel]

The Democrats may not know how to run a school district or a highway department, but they’re supposed to be able to run scandals.

,,, and they'll get better and better at it until they work out that candidates like Klinton and Kerry are diseases being proffered as cures.

[TASMANIANRED]

He should of said all those things but he couldn't say them.

Kerry's entire life is a lie. He is a cardboard cut out.

He has a 30+year history in the Senate where the only thing he did was endorse a socialist/anti military agenda. He couldn't run on that. He has nothing to distinguish him from any other liberal senator.

The only thing he has to run on is the fabrications of VietNam.

If he said he was wrong about his activities and his actions after his combat he loses his base.

Nobody votes for oatmeal. Without the fabrications and embelished history, Kerry is liberal oatmeal without any cinnamon or sugar. I believe the Irish call it gruel.

[Roscoe Karns]

That has always been my take on Kerry too. Thanks for saying it so well.

[Tax-chick]

later

[MEG33]

Steyn bump

[Victoria Delsoul]

But Kerry was hopping mad about this breach of senatorial clubbability and rang the old boy to complain. Dole refused to apologise and recounted his subsequent conversation with the candidate to Sean Hannity's radio audience a couple of hours later. Here's the bit I like. Kerry is whining about this and that, and Dole says to him, 'Everybody likes quiet heroes, John. Everybody knows you were in Vietnam and the less you say about it the better.'

I know, that was a great comment by Sen. Dole, especially when he emphasized Kerry's senatorial career.

I like this comment by Mark Steyn…

Well, no. They don't send you home. But you can choose to leave. And that's what Kerry did. He got three scratches and went home eight months early. Despite the convention speech about how 'we were all in the same boat', the commander left his men in the boat and cleared off back to Massachusetts. That's the essence of the Kerry military record, and the more the clumsy Democrat operatives insult anti-Kerry veterans, the easier it is to summarise the candidate as devastatingly as Bob Dole does.

LOL!!! Let's get ready to rumble!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the ping, Pokey.

[easonc52]

He has a 30+year history in the Senate where the only thing he did was endorse a socialist/anti military agenda.

I know I'm prejudice, and perhaps I should listen to both sides to be fair, but there are times when I find it difficult to listen to the hype from the other side (along with the sheople buying it all).

It seems to me that President Bush has composure and confidence. I also believe that shortly, kerry will be on the receiving end of the other barrel.

[easonc52]

Actually, I just feel sad for all the people who don't have enough time to pay enough attention to see the truth.

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks for the ping, Pokey!

1. Only sKerry could so "swiftly" turn "Bring it on!" to "Make it stop!"

2. One of the things that is getting lost here, and is really frustrating to me because I can't do anything about it, is the McGreevey situation. Can't the NJ conservatives (or the helpers here) do SOMETHING to get him out before September 2 so the people of NJ can have someone to vote for this election?