Posted on 05/04/2006 1:13:03 PM PDT by Phil Harmonic
Two years ago, Charleston's Billy Schachte was caught in the undertow of presidential campaign debates over the circumstances of John Kerry's first Purple Heart. He had commanded Kerry's first Vietnam combat mission and his recollection of the experience was very much different than Kerry's published account.
Today, this tussle over truth and confusion simmers on just beneath the public's attention. That's likely to change soon. Television news veteran Marvin Kalb and his daughter are working through a Harvard-based grant to publish a book that will include commentary on the effectiveness and the credibility of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and Schachte's personal role in the 2004 campaign.
Billy Schachte was a hesitant player on America's biggest political stage. Next time, he says, he will not be so reluctant. He has a pointed response to Marvin Kalb's inquiries and to anyone else who wants to join the discussion: facts define truth and truth cures confusion; Senator Kerry should release all his military records and his personal chronicle. The disagreement can be settled accordingly.
[snip]
In early 2004, New Orleans-based historian Douglas Brinkley published "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War." Kerry recalled he was in command of the skimmer, and his version includes engaging enemy sampans and then being wounded in an exchange of fire and that's how he said he qualified for his first Purple Heart.
"According to him, I was not even in the boat," the admiral says. "I was astonished. A rookie would never be put in command, and his account of how he was wounded in his first mission is just incredible."
[snip]
...the admiral and many others were nagged by the looming questions: How could Kerry be so confused, and how did he qualify for his first Purple Heart award?
(Excerpt) Read more at charleston.net ...
Did you know that John Kerry served in Viet Nam?
Ping
what would China do?
If we don't get on the ball, China will get there before us!
The admiral bristles at such a premise and wonders why Kalb does not insist that Kerry release his entire service record.
"The truth is not scattered, it's in John Kerry's records," Schachte contends. "This debate is so unnecessary, and Senator Kerry should end it once and for all and authorize release of all his military records. He owes it to America to do just that."
Great article. John we are still waiting for you to release your service records!
Did he really? He should have said so during his political career and not be so modest.
I heard he was a vet, therefore capable of expounding on many topics unrelated to war and other such stuff.
PS (or BS) he was wounded in action.
"Idle speculation"
Hillary has John pinned down by the Post-election Tim Russert interview where Kerry said he would release all of his records. Kerry had a selective release to the Boston Globe to calm the furor, but that won't do. A detailed book defending him from Hahvard might give the MSM enough not to look into this further.
BTW I think this first purple heart story is a wash, a maybe, maybe not situation.
The truth is not scattered, it's in John Kerry's records," Schachte contends. "This debate is so unnecessary, and Senator Kerry should end it once and for all and authorize release of all his military records. He owes it to America to do just that."
To be precise, he released them to the LA Times and the AP as well.
BTW I think this first purple heart story is a wash, a maybe, maybe not situation.
To this day, as far as I know, the circumstances under which his first PH was awarded (some 2-3 MONTHS after the "qualifying" event) are unknown. Perhaps Marvin Kalb will fill in the blanks?
Yep, it look like Kalb was retained to put an end to the SwiftVets so they don't come back in 2008. You can be sure that, behind the scenes, Hillary is working to damage Kerry.
Hold Kerry to his own standard, have some one leak the docs for the good of the country.
Hold the phone!
Did I read this right here, that fake, phony, fraud John Kerry STILL hasn't released his full military records?
Go public with it!
If CBS could, why can't we?
Kerry has not released papers to show that he served in Viet Nam or that he even received any Purple Heart of any other medals. It is possible that he wrote up all of the info himself and has not properly received any medals.
John Kerry prove yourself!
I'm unsure at this point as to Kalb's motivations, nor who, if anyone, might be motivating him. As Kerry is overtly engaged in his own political rehabilitation, it is within the realm of plausibility, if not certainty, that his rivals for the '08 nomination may develop a newfound interest in the Swift Boat allegations. It would be interesting to learn what political inclinations Kalb may have demonstrated in his journalistic career...or who he may have overtly supported, if anyone.
You can be sure that, behind the scenes, Hillary is working to damage Kerry.
Well, it looks like Demos have all but discounted Kerry as viable for '08 (Eleanor Clift recently described him as a "windsurfing dilletante"). I'm thinking that in Hillary's calculus, Kerry isn't yet on her radar.
He's a lefty!! He's at the Harvard School of Jounalism.
Marvin Kalb, Lecturer in Public Policy, is a Senior Fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy and Faculty Chair for the Kennedy School's Washington programs. Kalb was the Shorenstein Center's Founding Director and Edward R. Murrow Professor of Press and Public Policy (1987-1999). His distinguished journalism career encompasses 30 years of award-winning reporting for CBS and NBC News....."
This will be a slime job on the Swift Boat Vets - it is probably the first salvo in Kerry's attempt to run for President again in '08.
The best (and most) political money I ever spent was on the Swift Boat Vet's efforts to derail Kerry. It worked ...a bit too close for comfort but it worked!
I'm ready to back them again....any time, any where!
Count me in on that!
Hey, hey, ho, ho, Kerry, sign your one-eight-oh!
Kerry isnt confused . He is a Liar. He wont sign the Form 180 because it will prove he is a liar.
I hope the swiftee's take their fight with Kerry to Massachusetts/ Even though the population there has been bought off by pork they should know the truth.
You need to be precise about this. Imprecision opens a door that Kerry propagandists will drive a Mack Truck through.
Kerry HAS signed a Form 180. What he HASN'T signed is a Form 180 authorizing unrestricted PUBLIC access to his military records. Nor has he authorized anyone but his "hagiographer", David Brinkley, access to his Vietnam-era private joutnals. I wonder if Kalb has been granted a key to the inner sanctum? If he has?...well...you be the judge as to Kalb's predisposition going in.
Kerry Hangs Back From Disclosure to All
The NY Sun June 9, 2005 Josh Gerstein
http://www.nysun.com/article/15135
Did Kerry really release Navy records?
Chicagao Sun Times June 9, 2005 THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-lip09.html
Distribute these url's!
Links to Anti Kerry sites
212 LINKS
News reports,
Viper's Vietnam Veterans Page
http://members.aol.com/ga1449ga/links/links.html
EXPOSE HANOI KERRY!
MUST SEE WEBSITE!!!!
http://www.kerrystreason.com/index.html
Full details here!
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com
Yes
or will this be an unbiased assesment of the facts?
No
This'll bring some nuts out of the woodwork!
He released some of them in a shell game, and the DMB (DriveByMedia) pretended he released them all.
You need to be precise about this. Imprecision opens a door that Kerry propagandists will drive a Mack Truck through.
Kerry HAS signed a Form 180. What he HASN'T signed is a Form 180 authorizing unrestricted PUBLIC access to his military records. Nor has he authorized anyone but his "hagiographer", David Brinkley, access to his Vietnam-era private joutnals. I wonder if Kalb has been granted a key to the inner sanctum? If he has?...well...you be the judge as to Kalb's predisposition going in.
In addition to not releasing his records to the public, when he actually did sign the 180 and release records to reporters who were decidedly friendly towards his agenda, he only submitted the 180 to the department of the Navy instead of the National Records Archives in St, Louis. The Navy only possesses a subset of Kerry's records (which he had already vetted by selectively transferring from the NRO to the Navy.)
It's all a big shell game that the DBM is more than happy to play along with.
UPDATE III: I asked Swift Boat Veteran For Truth John O'Neill for a comment, he tells me:
'We called for Kerry to execute a form which would permit anyone to examine his full and unexpulgated military records at the Navy Department and the National Personnel Records Center.
Instead he executed a form permitting his hometown paper to obtain the records currently at the Navy Department. The Navy Department previously indicated its records did not include various materials.
This is hardly what we called for. If he did execute a complete release of all records we could then answer questions such as (1)Did he ever receive orders to Cambodia or file any report of such a mission (whether at Christmas or otherwise); (2) What was his discharge status between 1970 and 1978 (when he received a discharge) and was it affected by his meetings in 1970 and 1971 with the North Vietnamese? (3)why did he receive much later citations for medals purportedly signed by Secretary Lehman who said he did not know of them; (4) Are there Hostile Fire and Personnel Injured by Hostile Fire Reports for Kerry's Dec. 1968 Purple Heart (when the officer in charge of the boat Admiral Schacte, the treating Surgeon Louis Letson, and Kerry's Division Commander deny there was hostile fire causing a scratch) awarded three months later under unknown circumstances. '
FYI...there is nobody every received orders for Cambodia...until the overthrow....I was the 3rd airplane to land in Pnom Phenh....behind a Thai Airliner and a C-130...the day after the ruckus. Kerry is a liar...pure and simple...oh by the way that was in 1970....a few years after the coward went back to Taxxachussets...
The thing that annoys me, is that Lefties will argue that Kerry has released his records, due to the limited release of documents Kerry made to his sycophant at the Boston Globe.
marinebrat is exactly correct.
The poo poo is about to hit the rotary cooling device and Hanoi John is fixin' to get a face full! It's time that spineless, back-stabbing, lying scumbag gets exposed for pile of $hit he really is.
>>This will be a slime job on the Swift Boat Vets - it is probably the first salvo in Kerry's attempt to run for President again in '08.
Not necessarily. If, say, he's a Hillary supporter, he may be looking to validate the SBVT, and knock Kerry out of the race.
>>I'm unsure at this point as to Kalb's motivations, nor who, if anyone, might be motivating him.
Hard to tell from the FEC database as well. This is the only result from a contributor query on Kalb, Marvin:
KALB, MARVIN
CHEVY CHASE, MD 20815
RETIRED
BARTH, ANDY
VIA ANDY BARTH FOR CONGRESS
11/30/2005 1000.00 26990206507
Total Contributions: 1000.00
Let's be even MORE exact. Kerry did NOT release his records to 3 "news organizations". He released his records to SPECIFIC, named reporters at each news organization.
Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe
Glen Johnson of the Associated Press
Steve Braun of the Los Angeles Times
Jeeze, that's hard to watch even today. I have so much respect and admiration for John O'Neil. He put his life on the line for me in Vietnam, and he's still willing today to place himself in the line of fire of America's enemies.
It gives me the creeps just to watch "Leisure Suit Larry!"
I keep some more vids of Mr.O'Neil and (if you can stomach it...) good info about Kerry on my homepage. Feel free to link to them any time.
> But... Johnny's a hero, a zippo hero, a VC hero!
Ummmm... Charles Upham VC with Bar is a VC hero. John Kerry has little in common with him.
(The Victoria Cross is the British Commonwealth's highest military honor. Very, very few have been issued ever. Charles Upham VC is one of only three soldiers to be awarded the medal twice: first in Crete, then in North Africa)
Actually, I don't think so...at least according to another report from Powerline...
Josh Gerstein also explores the limitations of Kerry's SF 180 in his New York Sun article: "Kerry hangs back from disclosure to all." Gerstein quotes John O'Neill emphasizing absent records, but also quotes a Navy spokesman attesting to the completeness of the records released:[T]he Navy spokesman, Commander Hernandez, said the latest release does include the papers from St. Louis. "It's the whole record," he said.
That's interesting. Hadn't seen that.
That's not surprising. Once Kerry was able to dupe, yet again, a sympathetic media as well as an unsympathetic media (spell that blogosphere) who had tired of the story and no longer perceived Kerry as a threat, the pursuit of the Kerry truth came to a screeching halt.
Well, guess what sports fans...he rises. Must the Swiftees do the heavy-lifting for America again?
If your right and we see the lefty Kalb endorsing the veracity of the Swift Boat Vets, you'll be able to knock me over with a feather.
Stranger things have happened; after all its politics!
In the primary, all a RAT candidate has to do is appear to want to help John Kerry. At the first debate one of the candidates would say: John, in order to win the presidency, you've got to answer the false allegations tainting your courageous and heroic service to our country. Why not release your full military record NOW, so you don't give the Pubbies and Swifties another chance to distort your record.
He'll be damned if he does (content of file), and damned if he doesn't (he was asked by a fellow RAT, not a Pubbie).
Perhaps, but I'd venture it's much deeper than that...much, much deeper.
What is, perhaps, at stake for Kalb, as well as the "journalists" who "wrote" the conventional wisdom of the "Vietnam Experience" into the national psyche, is his own credibility. The Swiftees attacked that conventional wisdom, and John Kerry is their surrogate, their icon. They MUST rehabilitate him in defense of their own ideology. The Swift Boat story has ALWAYS been about that.
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