Poor Kerry - even his "Band of Brothers" helped prove that
Kerry lied....
Les Jones Blog
E-commerce, Biology, Photography, and Life in East Tennessee
August 22, 2004
The Kerry Grill: "This Week," "Fox News Sunday"
The Kerry Grill - where news about John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is seared - seared! - into your memory
Good morning. Today was a good day to make a pot of coffee and watch the Sunday talk shows. There was a significant advance on the Cambodia question on Chris Wallace's show this morning. Vietnam Veterans for John Kerry's John Hurley gave up the Christmas in Cambodia story, while promising testimony from other Kerry crewmates to back up the general claim of being in Cambodia at some time. He also admitted a serious mistake in Kerry's account of events.
Fox News Sunday
On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Vietnam Veterans for John Kerry's John Hurley faced Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's Van Odell.
Under questioning about the Cambodia question, Hurley repeats the description of the Cambodian border as a "watery area; there's no sign that says 'welcome to Cambodia'." O'Neill challenged that assertion on "This Week," noting that when he worked in that same area after Kerry left that there were gunboats at the border to prevent boats from crossing.
Under questioning from Wallace, Hurley acknowledged that Kerry was wrong about the date, but maintains Kerry was five miles inside Cambodia at a different date.
Chris Wallace (CW): Let me pursue that. What proof do you have that John Kerry was ever five miles inside Cambodia?
John Hurley (JH): John Kerry's word.
CW: Do you have a single record?
JH: No. I do not. John Kerry was in Cambodia. They have requested to drop off various operations group and deliver various supplies. They were in there. His crew will say the same thing.
CW: Well, you say the crew. He's had crew members who have stood up and defended him on almost everything else. Do you have a single crew member who's come forward to say he was five miles inside Cambodia?
JH: This hasn't been an issue until really recently. And why we're going back now and revisiting where John Kerry was on a single night in 1968 is beyond me. The same questions can be asked of President Bush. Where was he when he was supposed to be reporting for duty in Alabama. Those questions need to be raised and asked as well. John Kerry acknowledges he was in Cambodia. Where he was on any given night is not part of this discussion. It should not be part of this discussion.
CW: I take it then the answer is "no" you don't have a single crew member who will say he was in Cambodia, five miles inside Cambodia, on December, Christmas Eve, 1968 or any other night.
JH: On other nights, yes, they will say that. On December 24th they will not say that, because....
CW: Who's (crosstalk) say that? Because I haven't heard a crew member who's....
JH: It was the 94 boat. This issue hasn't come up. It's the reason why it hasn't been addressed. On Christmas Eve he was on the 44 boat, they were near the Cambodian border. They may or may not have crossed over. On a different occasion on the 94 boat they were five miles deep into Cambodia. It was a month later, a month and a half later. The crew will testify to that.
CW: Mr Odell, let's go back to you.
We'll have to wait and see if testimony from anyone on the 94 crew is forthcoming. That's perhaps not the biggest revelation this morning.
Kerry: Oops! Wrong Month, Wrong Boat, and Wrong Crew
So Kerry originally claimed he was in Cambodia at
Christmastime, 1968. That would have been on the 44 boat.
Now Kerry's people (via John Hurley on Fox News Sunday)
say Kerry was on the 94 boat when he entered Cambodia. To
summarize, Kerry is saying it was not only a different
month, but a different boat and a different crew. That's
not a small mistake, and this isn't a small admission for
the Kerry campaign.
Kerry only spent about four and a half months on his swift boat tour. Stephen Gardner served with Kerry on the 44 boat for two and a half months, which encompassed not only Christmas, but the entire month of December, and he says they never went to Cambodia. The day after Gardner said so on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, the Kerry campaign admitted the date was wrong, and later changed their story and said Kerry was in Cambodia in January or February.
Note that this August 18th article in the Boston Globe quotes one of Kerry's supporters and crewmates on the 94 boat saying the boat never went to Cambodia.
Michael Medeiros, who served aboard the No. 94 with Kerry and appeared with him at the Democratic National Convention, vividly recalled an occasion on which Kerry and the crew chased an enemy to the Cambodian border but did not go beyond the border. Yet Medeiros said he could not recall dropping off special forces in Cambodia or going inside Cambodia with Kerry.
Medeiros wasn't with Kerry for Kerry's entire time on the 94 boat, but his statement certainly constrains Kerry's timeline for claiming he was in Cambodia. That timeline is further constrained by the fact that Kerry was onboard the 94 for only a short time from February to mid-March, when he left swift boat duty. Medeiros already accounts for part of that short time. If the Swift Vets find enough Kerry crew members who will go on the record about Cambodia, it's very possible they'll be able to account for all of Kerry's swift boat tour and refute the idea he was ever in Cambodia.
ABC's This Week
Host George Stephanopoulos moderated a discussion between Unfit for Command author John O'Neill and former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta on This Week. O'Neill was very strong and got in most of the talk time. Podesta was off-base and shrill. He kept trying to turn the debate back to Bush's military service, but O'Neill and Stephanopoulos wouldn't let him. Stephanopoulos, anticipating a heated exchange, had enumerated discussion points (Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Cambodia, War Crimes) displayed on-air and stuck to them.
Though the piece ran to less than 20 minutes, it was very informative. Transcripts of the show are unfortunately not free. I have it TiVoed, but I probably don't have time to give a treatment of the whole show.
Where's the Kerry campaign?
Podesta represented the pro-Kerry side on This Week. The other night on Scarborough Country the pro-Kerry side was represented by John Hurley of Vietnam Veterans for John Kerry, with Stephen Gardner representing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. On Fox News Sunday SBVT member Van Odell debated Hurley.
Where are Kerry's own people? I can't tell if his campaign is just disorganized, or if Kerry wants to keep some distance between him and the SBVT to avoid going on the record on some of these issues.
Posted by lesjones
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