IPW Daily Report – Thursday, February 26, 2004
"We have a mountain to climb,"
said Herb
Wesson, former state assembly leader and
California chairman of Edwards' campaign.
"But we have just elected a governor who is an
actor. So nothing's impossible in this state."
“On Kerry's campaign website, the Bay State's
junior senator claims he deserves credit for
"holding Oliver North accountable and exposing the
fraud and abuse at the heart of the BCCI scandal."
In speeches and interviews, he goes even further
-- alleging that he "blew the whistle" on my
"illegal activities" in support of the Nicaraguan
Contras. It's great fodder for the political left
and hard-core radicals. It might even leave Ivy
League professors panting. There is only one
problem: It's not true.”
– writes Lt.
Col. Oliver North.
“More likely, the masters of the mainstream media
salivating over Kerry will give him yet another
free pass on these questions -- like so many
others. Unlike President Bush, who has now laid
bare his entire record of military service, Kerry
has apparently never had to do so.”
– writes Oliver
North.
“Kerry says, "I know something about carriers,"
alluding to his service in Vietnam. Since I don't
know of any aircraft carriers that were deployed
to the Mekong Delta, which one was he aboard?”
– writes Oliver
North.
California Debate tonight
Delegate count as of Feb. 25th
Oliver North demands Kerry response
Bush denounces Iran elections
California Debate tonight
"We have a mountain to climb," said Herb Wesson,
former state assembly leader and California
chairman of Edwards' campaign. "But we have just
elected a governor who is an actor. So nothing's
impossible in this state."
Tonight is the California Debate and John Edwards
is hoping for a miracle showing. With Rival John
Kerry leading in the polls on California, next
Tuesday’s primary is heavy on Edwards’ mind… not
to mention the other 9 states holding primaries
that day.
The four remaining Dem candidates will face off
this evening at the University of California. The
debate is sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and
CNN.
ABC News reports that Edwards will be endorsed
today by California Senate President Pro Tem John
Burton and ACORN, an advocacy organization for low
and moderate-income families. But John Kerry’s
endorsement today by The New York Times clearly
trumps.
The need for a strong Edwards performance in
tonight’s debate underlines the lopsidedness of
the Dem contest, as Kerry now has three times the
delegates that Edwards has won.
Delegate count as of Feb. 25th
Here are the latest delegate numbers, according to
ABC News:
John Kerry 670 (approx 31%
of 2162 to win)
John Edwards 195
Al Sharpton 15
Dennis Kucinich 10
Oliver North demands Kerry response
Oliver North’s not going to take it anymore. In a
searing column, posted on
www.FreeRepublic.com from
HumanEventsOnline, Lt Col. North says he’s
done turning the other cheek to John Kerry’s
personal attacks:
Even though
I'm one of the few Americans, besides President
George W. Bush, to be personally attacked by Sen.
John Kerry on a regular basis, it just hasn't
seemed right to respond. After all, President Bush
has been virtually silent as Kerry used four
letter expletives to describe his policies.
The commander
in chief turned the other cheek when Democrats
said he was "AWOL" and a "deserter." The president
was too polite to return fire when Kerry
denigrated National Guard service by equating it
with draft dodgers who "went to Canada." Given
this model of even-tempered presidential
propriety, who am I to stoop to throwing mud back
at Kerry just because he has slung it at me?
I have been
holding steadfastly to this noble position for
several months -- through interminable debates and
trumped up reporting from hyperventilated
reporters. But this week, one of the young
computer wizards who works down the hall informed
me, "You're all over the Kerry campaign website!"
"So?" I replied, somewhat irritated at the
intrusion. I make it a practice not to read the
reviews of my television show or books, and wasn't
prepared to make an exception for some political
website.
My young informant said, "He says he 'exposed
you!'" Given the alleged activities of certain
athletes and entertainers, the word "exposed"
caught my attention, so I investigated.
On Kerry's campaign website, the Bay State's
junior senator claims he deserves credit for
"holding Oliver North accountable and exposing the
fraud and abuse at the heart of the BCCI scandal."
In speeches and interviews, he goes even further
-- alleging that he "blew the whistle" on my
"illegal activities" in support of the Nicaraguan
Contras. It's great fodder for the political left
and hard-core radicals. It might even leave Ivy
League professors panting. There is only one
problem: It's not true.
John Kerry wasn't even on the so-called bipartisan
congressional committee that spent months
investigating the so-called Iran-Contra affair. He
never asked me, or any of us involved in
supporting the Nicaraguan democratic resistance, a
single question. At no time did he question me or
anyone else I worked with about our efforts to
rescue Americans from dungeons in Beirut. He says
he held me accountable? How? When? Where?
Perhaps one of the eager newshounds panting after
Kerry will ask him. And maybe Kerry -- or more
likely someone on his extensive campaign staff --
will produce some convoluted answers. They may
even cite some subcommittee hearings that Kerry
held months after the close of the official
investigation. His little witch hunt eventually
did publish a report that was so incredibly biased
as to give the word "slander" an inadequate
definition.
More likely, the masters of the mainstream media
salivating over Kerry will give him yet another
free pass on these questions -- like so many
others. Unlike President Bush, who has now laid
bare his entire record of military service, Kerry
has apparently never had to do so. This leads
inevitably to the kind of confused hyperbole in
the articles attached to the Kerry campaign
website.
Some reporters, undoubtedly too young to even
remember that this is the 36th anniversary of the
"Tet Offensive," describe Kerry as having served
two tours in Vietnam. Others report that he served
four months on patrol boats in the Mekong Delta.
That would be two months less than Al Gore -- and
nine months less than most of us "Viet Nam Vets."
Kerry says, "I know something about carriers,"
alluding to his service in Vietnam. Since I don't
know of any aircraft carriers that were deployed
to the Mekong Delta, which one was he aboard? How
many months did he serve in Vietnam? Where? What
carrier? Did he come home early? Was it because of
the severity of his wounds or something else? What
does the military record say?
Kerry has the same problem with his post-Vietnam,
anti-government activities. He says that photos of
him with Jane Fonda are fakes. Did he ever appear
with Jane Fonda? Fonda eventually apologized to
America's Vietnam veterans for actions that Gen.
Giap and other Vietnamese leaders said prolonged
the war and encouraged the NVA to keep on fighting
-- and killing Americans. Did Kerry ever
apologize? Where? When?
Kerry testified under oath before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 that Americans
in Vietnam had "raped, cut off ears, cut off
heads, taped wires from portable telephones to
human genitals and turned up the power, cut off
limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at
civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent
of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun,
poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the
countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the
normal ravage of war."
Set aside the horrific and defamatory nature of
these accusations and ask this: Did he witness
these atrocities? Did he try to stop them? If not,
was he held accountable for dereliction of duty?
If he knows the perpetrators, did he ever see that
they were brought to justice? If not, why?
Kerry and his cronies in the Democratic Party have
made Vietnam an issue in this campaign. They have
slandered Bush for his service during the war.
Until Kerry truthfully answers the questions above
-- and a whole lot more about his actions during
the war -- many of us are going to wonder what the
middle initial "F" in John F. Kerry stands for. Is
it "Fiction"? Or is it simply "False"?
Bush denounces Iran elections
President Bush made clear his position regarding
the so-called elections in Iran by officially
denouncing them, as reported by the Reuters news
organization:
"I am very
disappointed in the recently disputed
parliamentary elections in Iran," Bush said in a
statement read by his spokesman, Scott
McClellan.
Bush said the disqualification of the candidates
"deprived many Iranians of the opportunity to
freely choose their representatives."
"I join many in Iran and around the world in
condemning the Iranian regime's efforts to stifle
freedom of expression, including the closing of
two leading reformist newspapers in the run-up to
the elections. Such measures undermine the rule of
law and are clear attempts to deny the Iranian
people's desire to freely choose their leaders,"
Bush said.
Elections were held last Friday in Iran, where
2,500 reformist candidates were barred.
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