<Why did the pompous ass call the Secret Service agent a son of a bitch?>
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It's sad that junior has not done one thing since he has been president which the republican party can use as a base for a campaign. This is why they must try to mislead the public with such things as a statement made by Kerry which was probably made in jest.
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At Time, the Gore-ing of Kerry has started. To understand how bad it gets in Karen Tumulty’s current report, let’s recall a pointless event from Kerry’s March vacation.
On March 18, the first day of his Idaho respite, Kerry hit the slopes of a local mountain. On the second snowboarding run, the schussing solon was knocked to the ground by a Secret Service agent. Writing wryly in ABC’s The Note, Ed O’Keefe said what happened next:
O’KEEFE: The slope-cade of two Ski Patrollers, several Secret Service agents, two journalists, one camera and one Kerry aide suddenly came to a halt. The Massachusetts Senator lay on the ground, removed his Smith sunglasses, and surveyed the damage.
Assured that the ABC News camera accompanying the entourage had not captured Kerry’s fall, the Senator glared at your sloping Noter and assured, “I don’t fall down. That son of a bitch ran into me.”
Later, the Kerry camp said Kerry was joking when he made this troubling remark. But corrupted elements in your society want you to focus on such total trivia. On March 21, the Boston Globe’s Patrick Healy explained what some “operatives” did:
HEALY: When John F. Kerry cursed about a Secret Service agent who had collided with him Thursday on a snowboarding run, Republican strategists rejoiced: The senator might be on vacation, but he was not taking a break from making gaffes they could use to embarrass him…
Bush campaign officials expressed confidence in recent days that they are successfully sullying Kerry’s image and defining him in voters’ minds as a flip-flopper who says whatever he thinks voters want to hear. Republican operatives even circulated to reporters and party members news of Kerry’s jab at his Secret Service escort—which Kerry aides say the senator made in jest. “It’s perfect material showing that Kerry will say anything, and can’t control what he says,” one Republican strategist said.
As with Gore, so with Kerry. To state the obvious, none of these “Republican operatives” were present to see what occurred. They didn’t have any way to judge the tone of Kerry’s comment. Nor did these strategists actually think that this incident schools us about Kerry’s character. But they do think the nation is full of rubes, and they hope to distract us all from thinking about things that matter.
Result? These “operatives” passed the word to reporters, and the usual suspects rushed into action, pretending they were deeply concerned over Kerry’s deeply troubling conduct. How dumb do they want your lives to be? Here was Kathleen Parker in the Chicago Tribune (and a host of other papers). Just imagine—they publish this crap!
PARKER: When Sen. John F. Kerry fell—or was toppled by a Secret Service agent—from his perch on a snowboard recently, the would-be president clarified events with rare grace:
“I don’t fall down,” he said. “That son-of-a-bitch ran into me.” Or “knocked me over,” depending on which version you read.
Spoken like a true 7-year-old. Any parent will recognize the template: Little boy falls down, then jumps to his feet and declares for the benefit of anyone who will indulge his fractured ego: “I meant to do that.”
Sometimes the little tyke will run over to his mother if she’s nearby and hit her for good measure. Smart mommies understand that the lad can’t bear the humiliation and has to blame his one true love, the one who is supposed to protect him from both mortal and psychic pain.
Parker, of course, is a consummate idiot. The Washington Times’ Tony Blankley isn’t, but he was willing to play the role in service to what operatives sent him:
BLANKLEY: [W]hat may become the enduring exemplar of the Kerry style was his spontaneous expletive on the ski slopes when his Secret Service guard bumped into him by accident (while guarding him): “I don’t fall down. The S.O.B. knocked me over.” To instinctively say that about the man who is sworn to put himself between Mr. Kerry and a bullet, paints a lasting and contemptible character portrait. Contrast that with what Ronald Reagan said shortly after he was shot: “Honey, I forgot to duck.”
Human life just can’t get dumber. But this is what those “Republican operatives” want your lives to be about. For two years during Campaign 2000, they generated mindless complaints about Gore. Now they’re out “sullying” Kerry.
And the Gore-ing of Kerry has started at Time, thanks to Karen Tumulty. In a stunningly disingenuous report, Tumulty pretends to be amazed at the way these incidents have started to plague the Dem hopeful. Of course, reporters always pretend they don’t know how these spin campaigns happen. Karen plays dumb with the best:
TUMULTY (pgh 1): Never had John Kerry encountered a more target-rich environment than the week that saw the Bush White House hauled in to explain itself to both the Supreme Court and the 9/11 commission, not to mention the first anniversary of the aircraft-carrier landing that turned “mission accomplished” into a punch line. But what did the challenger find himself talking about for three days? The question of what, precisely, he tossed over a fence in front of the Capitol during an antiwar protest 33 years ago. The point of contention was whether the much decorated Vietnam veteran who still carries shrapnel in his thigh threw away medals, as he told a local Washington television station in 1971, or ribbons, which is how he subsequently described them to nearly everyone else. Political hands of both parties expressed wonderment over how it was that any politician could find himself on the defensive about his own medals for valor and sacrifice.
But of course, Tumulty understands full well how Kerry “could find himself on the defensive”—how he “found himself talking about” that trivial, 33-year-old comment. Kerry “found himself on the defensive” because Republican operatives had passed these topics to scribes, and those scribes had agreed to flog them. As the press corps showed in its War Against Gore, any pol can “find himself on the defensive” if the press corps, as a group, is willing to run with invented, foolish tales. But the press corps always feigns total ignorance, pretending they don’t know how this works. How do pols like Gore or Kerry “find themselves talking about” these topics? Reporters like Tumulty know full well. And they know that they mustn’t explain it.
Why did Gore, during Campaign 2000, “find himself talking” about inane topics? Because the RNC kept “circulating” the topics, and the press corps kept bringing them up. So too with Kerry in the past few months, as Healy’s dispatch nicely explains. And so with Tumulty’s phony report—which brings that pointless snowboard spill back in the view of the voters.
Yes, there it is in Tumulty’s piece—that stupid event which “Republican operatives” began to “circulate to reporters,” hoping to “sully Kerry’s image.” How does Tumulty use the event? Her report includes three “Reality Checks”—illustrated items, reviewing instances in which Kerry has allegedly misspoken. Try to believe—just try to believe—that this is one of the troubling examples Tumulty highlights for readers. Try to believe that you live in a world where you’re asked to be troubled by this:
ON HIS SNOWBOARDING SKILLS
Kerry complained that a Secret Service agent caused his spill while snowboarding in Idaho in March, griping, “I don’t fall. That son of a bitch ran into me.”
Reality Check
Kerry went on to fall several more times that day, without any help from his bodyguards.
Amazing, isn’t it? Tumulty adapts this pointless event, turning it into a troubling example of Kerry’s failure to tell the truth! Kerry said, “I don’t fall down”—but he fell several more times! Try to believe that you live in a world where something so completely inane is now part of your White House campaign. This reads like a “Goofus and Gallant tale”—from Highlights magazine for children. (Of course, Tumulty makes this event a twofer, since she includes the salty language “Republican operatives” originally loved.)
Why does Kerry “find himself talking” about all manner of pointless arcana? Easy! “Republican operatives” circulate pure, total crap—and people like Tumulty run fast to type it. We know Karen a bit—she’s a charming person—and we also know that she’s perfectly bright. So why would Tumulty and Time even dream of putting such consummate garbage in print? We don’t know, but we do know this: At Time, the Gore-ing of Kerry now seems to have started. That made a joke out of Campaign 2000. It seems that’s their plan once again.
NO, REALLY: Out of a lengthy public career, Time picked three Kerry comments to highlight. And one was a comment—likely a joke—he made when he fell down on the slopes. Could you ever have dreamed—could you ever have dreamed—that you would live in a world so inane? Osama wants to kill your children. And this is what Tumulty hands you.
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