If some 527 were to run some ads with quotes from this story, would Kerry benefit, or Bush?

If some 527 were to run some ads with quotes from this story, would Kerry benefit, or Bush?

Joe Scarborough just had a debate between John O’Neill and John Hurley. It’s the first time I’ve seen a fair debate between the two sides, with no interruptions for ad hominems allowed.

I think that O’Neill has prepared the battlefield very carefully. I also think that Senator Kerry is in big trouble–his self-aggrandizement and lies for the past three-plus decades are finally catching up with him. One almost wonders if the Clintons are orchestrating this to keep the path clear for Hillary in four years.

[Update on Tuesday afternoon (6:20 Eastern)]

Brit Hume is interviewing O’Neill one on one.

Of course, to be fair, probably few of them have any actual firearms experience, given their stance on guns…

The Kerry campaign, in response to charges that he’s soft on intelligence, says that he was Vice-Chair of the Intelligence Committee. This is an assertion easily proven false. Apparently whoever came up with this gem didn’t know the difference between their candidate and his former colleague, Senator Bob Kerrey.

You’d like to think that, given how much baggage from his past the Senator apparently carries, he’d hire competent people to defend his record. You’d also like to think that the people he’d hire to help run the country, if elected, would be more competent than those he’s hired to run his campaign.

Unfortunately, there’s sparse evidence on the ground that either of these hopes will be other than forlorn.

Of course, to be fair, probably few of them have any actual firearms experience, given their stance on guns…

The Kerry campaign, in response to charges that he’s soft on intelligence, says that he was Vice-Chair of the Intelligence Committee. This is an assertion easily proven false. Apparently whoever came up with this gem didn’t know the difference between their candidate and his former colleague, Senator Bob Kerrey.

You’d like to think that, given how much baggage from his past the Senator apparently carries, he’d hire competent people to defend his record. You’d also like to think that the people he’d hire to help run the country, if elected, would be more competent than those he’s hired to run his campaign.

Unfortunately, there’s sparse evidence on the ground that either of these hopes will be other than forlorn.

Of course, to be fair, probably few of them have any actual firearms experience, given their stance on guns…

The Kerry campaign, in response to charges that he’s soft on intelligence, says that he was Vice-Chair of the Intelligence Committee. This is an assertion easily proven false. Apparently whoever came up with this gem didn’t know the difference between their candidate and his former colleague, Senator Bob Kerrey.

You’d like to think that, given how much baggage from his past the Senator apparently carries, he’d hire competent people to defend his record. You’d also like to think that the people he’d hire to help run the country, if elected, would be more competent than those he’s hired to run his campaign.

Unfortunately, there’s sparse evidence on the ground that either of these hopes will be other than forlorn.

Mickey Kaus has long noted that Senator Kerry does much better when he doesn’t campaign. The less people see of him, the better he does in the polls. So this story, that he’s taking the next three weeks off, isn’t necessarily that surprising. However, I wonder if it’s also a way to continue to avoid press questions about his Vietnam record, and hoping that it will somehow blow over by then? Clearly, his people still don’t have a substantive response to the Swift Vets’ charges, instead deflecting them with a non-sequitur:

Along the trail, the campaign also had to deal with a variety of distractions.

A group of Vietnam veterans, angry at Kerry’s anti-war activities when he returned from Southeast Asia, accused Kerry of misrepresenting his combat record, and the extent of his wounds.

Kerry aides called the charges ludicrous, contrasting their candidates’ three Purple Hearts with the lack of war experience from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush and Cheney’s war records, or lack thereof, aren’t the issue, of course, since they’ve never made them one. Neither of them has claimed their respective behavior in the late sixties as uniquely qualifying them for the job, as Kerry has. Try as the Kerry campaign might, such comparisons are spurious. The issue is not Kerry’s record versus theirs, but his claimed record, on which he’s staked his candidacy, versus the reality.

If Kerry doesn’t fear the truth, he should be demanding that journalists investigate the claims of his former band of brothers, and validate him, instead of engaging in ad hominem attacks on them. But apparently that’s a very big “if.” Easier to go on vacation and attempt to change the subject.

[Late afternoon update]

Here’s another Vietnam vet (he claims to be a former SEAL) who finds Kerry’s Cambodia stories more than a little fishy.

[Another update, a few minutes later]

Brit Hume is not going to let this story go away. After getting into a heated discussion with Juan Williams over this yesterday on Fox News Sunday, he devoted half the panel to it today on his show. And Juan continues to be an obfuscating moron, claiming that the Washington Post and New York Times have already investigated the claims. Both Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke set him straight, but I’m sure that he still doesn’t get it. Fred calls the mainstream media’s failure to report this the biggest dereliction of journalistic duty that he’s ever seen in his career.

McGreevey has suckered the gay community into supporting him.

This is pathetic. Don’t they realize how much damage he’s doing to their cause? Do they really want to embrace a “gay” governor who (ignoring the other rampant corruption in Jersey Democrat politics in general) hired his gay lover in a highly-paid position in national and state security for which he was utterly unqualified, in the middle of a war? If they had any sense, they’d be backing away and disavowing him as rapidly and vociferously as possible. But apparently sexual orientation conquers all. Even when it’s possibly fake.

[Update on Monday morning]

Reader Scott Ferguson complains in comments that Barney Frank and the other people cited in the NY Post article aren’t representative of the gay community.

Fair enough. Please provide me with someone who is. I’d be happy to link to criticisms of McGreevey from other prominent gay activists (or even some polling data), if someone can provide some.

Boy, what a time for Andrew Sullivan to be on vacation…

McGreevey has suckered the gay community into supporting him.

This is pathetic. Don’t they realize how much damage he’s doing to their cause? Do they really want to embrace a “gay” governor who (ignoring the other rampant corruption in Jersey Democrat politics in general) hired his gay lover in a highly-paid position in national and state security for which he was utterly unqualified, in the middle of a war? If they had any sense, they’d be backing away and disavowing him as rapidly and vociferously as possible. But apparently sexual orientation conquers all. Even when it’s possibly fake.

[Update on Monday morning]

Reader Scott Ferguson complains in comments that Barney Frank and the other people cited in the NY Post article aren’t representative of the gay community.

Fair enough. Please provide me with someone who is. I’d be happy to link to criticisms of McGreevey from other prominent gay activists (or even some polling data), if someone can provide some.

Boy, what a time for Andrew Sullivan to be on vacation…

McGreevey has suckered the gay community into supporting him.

This is pathetic. Don’t they realize how much damage he’s doing to their cause? Do they really want to embrace a “gay” governor who (ignoring the other rampant corruption in Jersey Democrat politics in general) hired his gay lover in a highly-paid position in national and state security for which he was utterly unqualified, in the middle of a war? If they had any sense, they’d be backing away and disavowing him as rapidly and vociferously as possible. But apparently sexual orientation conquers all. Even when it’s possibly fake.

[Update on Monday morning]

Reader Scott Ferguson complains in comments that Barney Frank and the other people cited in the NY Post article aren’t representative of the gay community.

Fair enough. Please provide me with someone who is. I’d be happy to link to criticisms of McGreevey from other prominent gay activists (or even some polling data), if someone can provide some.

Boy, what a time for Andrew Sullivan to be on vacation…