frankenlies.com
#4: Swifties Debunked? No. Franken Debunked.
On pages 69 to 81 of Truth, Franken undertakes a disjointed and scatterbrained attempt to defend John Kerry’s record against the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). Towards the beginning of his digressive and waffling passage, Franken writes, on page 73,
"[T]he mainstream press debunk[ed] each and every charge made by John O’Neill and his swarm of lying vermin (the Swift Boat Veterans)."
Only in Franken’s dreams is this the case.
"Each and every charge"? Sorry, Al.
Among the many assertions from the SBVT that Kerry defenders failed to discredit (or they simply ignored) are the following:
1. John Kerry claimed he was on a mission in Cambodia on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1968. In fact, Kerry said on the Senate floor in 1986 that the incident had been "seared" into his memory.
*** Eventually, Kerry’s own campaign had to admit that this tale was simply untrue.12. In a journal entry dated December 11, 1968, Kerry wrote, "[w]e hadn’t been shot at yet" since arriving in Vietnam. But nine days earlier, on December 2, 1968, Kerry solicited his first Purple Heart, claiming he suffered an injury from enemy fire. This is clearly a problematic contradiction.
*** On August 24, 2004, it was reported, "Kerry’s campaign has said it is possible his first Purple Heart was awarded for an unintentionally self-inflicted wound."23. In the Tour of Duty biography, by Douglas Brinkley, Kerry tells the story of how on the morning of March 13, 1969, he "got a piece of small grenade in my @ss" (page 313). Kerry relates how the grenade set off as he was standing too close to a bin of rice that he was trying to destroy. Mysteriously, later that same day, Kerry claimed his third Purple Heart, citing a wound suffered in the exact same place on his fanny. He claims it came from an underwater mine.3
4. John Kerry, as a member of the Naval Reserves, met with the enemy in Paris in 1970 and 1971.
*** In March of 2005, Marty Meehan, one of Kerry's spokespersons, acknowledged Kerry did actually meet with Madame Binh, the foreign minister for the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG/the "Viet Cong") in Paris.45. At an April 23, 1971, anti-war demonstration, Kerry was seen tossing medals over a fence at the U.S. Capitol. In a Nov. 6, 1971, television interview on WRC's "Viewpoints," Kerry said, “[T]he medals themselves ... I gave back, I can’t remember, six, seven, eight, nine.” Over the years, however, Kerry's story has changed so many times, it's hard to keep track. Medals? Ribbons? Wha--? For some help on this, see "One Fence, Nine Medals, Four Kerrys," by Ingrid Langsather, at http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=3760.
6. John Kerry claimed on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971 that he "deliberated for about two weeks" in deciding whether to return to the States after his four months in Vietnam. Kerry’s last "wound" was on March 13, 1969, but by March 17, 1969, at 7:42 am, his request for reassignment in the United States had already arrived in Washington. "Two weeks"?? Uh-uh.5
ADDENDUM
Franken’s false and desperate attack of the SBVT only indicates that Franken is still smarting from his Friday February 18, 2005, appearance on the Michael Medved radio show. On that show, Franken had the lucky opportunity to debate John O’Neill, the leader of SBVT, and the co-author of Unfit for Command.
Were listeners treated to a point-by-point rebuttal by Franken of "each and every charge" by SBVT? No. Not at all. Instead, Franken claimed he was "ambushed."6 He "went ape," wrote one observer.7 At one point, rather than questioning O’Neill, Franken questioned the host Medved if he had been in the military. Geesh.
Another eyewitness reported,
"During the microphone check, Al Franken was cursing Michael, calling veteran John O'Neill a disgrace... He didn't think anyone in radio land would hear I suppose, but forgot that the blogger was in the studio ... Franken even threw down his headphones before the show began, and Michael reasoned with him and persuaded him to sit down again. Within 30 seconds we came on the air ... After Franken threw down his chair and stomped off pouting, Michael continued talking with Swift Vet John O’Neill ..."8
Ouch!
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Notes:
1 John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, PhD. Unfit for Command (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2004, 2005), p. 46. Also: “Kerry's Latest Flip-Flop, Cambodia -- Did He Lie to the U.S. Senate?” Human Events, posted Aug 11, 2004. http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=4771.
2 Unfit for Command, Epilogue, pp. 6-7. Also: “John Kerry’s First Purple Heart” (video), accessed November 2005 from http://www.swiftvets.com/swiftvetsandpows/.
3 Unfit for Command, p. 89.
4 Unfit for Command, Epilogue, p. 22.
5 Unfit for Command, p. 94.
6 There is some video with some (low) audio at http://www.thenationaldebate.com/video/FrankenRage01.wmv.
7 http://www.thenationaldebate.com/blog/archives/2005/02/franken_explode_3.html