Drudge Headline: Kerry Alluded to Bush as "Deserter"

[wyldwolf]

Good for Kerry!

FLASHBACK: Kerry in 2000 claimed it is a matter of character that Bush avoided duty oversees by joining the Texas Air National Guard. No documents have been found to show he reported for duty as ordered in Alabama in 1972... 'Those of us who were in the military wonder how it is that someone who is supposedly serving on active duty, having taken that oath, can miss a whole year of service without even explaining where it went,' said Kerry... Developing...

my choices... in order...

[Guaranteed]

1. Wow...it came out...

Just heard about that a few hours ago here on DU, and Drudge has ahold of it now....

[jenk]

2. kerry ALLUDED! my god, he ALLUDED!

is that all drudge has?

[wyldwolf]

5. Did you read the Kerry quote?

'Those of us who were in the military wonder how it is that someone who is supposedly serving on active duty, having taken that oath, can miss a whole year of service without even explaining where it went,' said Kerry

[windansea]

3. hmmmm

so Kerry agrees with MM??

perhaps a reporter will ask him

[Guaranteed]

7. That's pretty blatant politics, there, by Kerry. nt

[Kahuna]

15. Right again. I seem to recall Kerry saying that. Yet on Crossfire...

he ran away from it. :eyes:

I don't blame him from running away from it. But doesn't he realize that his words will come back to haunt him?

[mikehiggins]

21. No, as often as they see it happen, they never think it can happen to

them.

Its a form of denial.

[Kahuna]

24. I love you Mike..

:loveya: I just love your name. :7

[Mistress Quickly]

4. too early too early!!!

It'll be a non-issue, down the memory hole by the GE!!!!

Tell me it won't "go away" like everything else!

If not, then watch out!

:scared:

Our attention will have to be diverted!

[HereSince1628]

17. Testing the water...how deep is that belief?

If its deep enough the candidates will take the plunge...

If they realize that 30 million or so people in the democratic base believe aWol was AWOL then they'll not be afraid of it. At present they are playing careful with newscasters playing phony patriot.

[anti-NAFTA]

6. It's about time.

I didn't like how Clark played into Brit(ish sympathizer) Hume's hands by saying, "I don't know about that," when asked about the desertion thing.

Thank you Kerry for having some cojones.

[Guaranteed]

8. He said it back in 2000 when he was defending Gore...

post election, I believe, in the mess...

[windansea]

9. heh...we'll see

I bet Kerry backpedals from this one

[girl gone mad]

12. Be fair..

Clark defended Moore, even said "Moore's not the only one saying that." Maybe he doesn't know the facts the way some of us do, but he took a hit by not distancing himself from Moore when Jennings gave him the chance, and I think that does take courage.

We'll see if Kerry is willing to make this an issue now.

[mikehiggins]

25. That is a silly position to take

Drudge is referring to supposed comments four years ago.

The question this time was whether or not Clark should denounce Moore for calling Bush a deserter. Clark refused to do that, saying Moore had a perfect right to mention the charges. He also said that he had heard similar charges elsewhere but hadn't looked into it any further.

The easy thing would have been to denounce Moore. Standing up for an unpopular public figure's right to say what he thought took cojones.

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. if Kerry is going to bring it up as a major issue

He should know 100% whether the deserter story is true or not and have some papers and stories ready to prove it.

But I'd love to see him ask Bush about that during the debates.

[girl gone mad]

16. Right.

Whichever candidate is willing to speak out on this is going to have to bring hard evidence to the table. I hope the campaigns are trying to dig up the evidence.

[Cocoa]

11. does Drudge have "deserter" in quotes?

if so, did Kerry use that word?

There's a big difference between what Kerry said in that quote, and calling him a deserter.

[LoZoccolo]

13. This is the dawning of a new era in right-wing propaganda.

During the war and through the period that Ann Coulter's Treason was out, you would get attacked for attacking the war or the former governor and the excuse given was that you had ulterior motives - you "hated America".

They can't really say that about this issue so now, when you do it, you get attacked for no stated reason. It's just treated like it's scandalous that you would even bring something like this up.

There's a fake controversy in the Drudge headline as well. The real controversial part in this issue is whether or not you can call him a "deserter" - whether or not you can actually use that word to describe what he did - for a charge of going AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard when they were not being deployed in combat. This Kerry quote doesn't even fall into that controversy because, as you can see from the part quoted, he didn't even use that word. The way Drudge spins it, it looks like it does.

[eileen from OH]

14. It's gonna be spun as a BAD thing

to even hint that our illustrious brave leader was AWOL. Starting with the use of "deserter" vs "AWOL."

I swear if Kerry gets defensive or backs down/away from this I will be very, very unhappy. This got BURIED in 2000 and if he blows the opportunity to get it out there it will stay forever buried. He doesn't have to claim it - just say something along the lines of "well, there does seem to be a missing year there. I don't know what that means, do you?"

I'm thinking whoever's gonna be on the Sunday talk shows better be prepared with all the info and sources.

eileen from OH

[cthrumatrix]

18. it's spun to show dems that kerry is your guy --- they WANT you to pick

him...which is a red flag... Drudge is spin machine

[Abigail147]

31. The media is picking Kerry and Edwards for you folks.

Don't you get it? They are safe but lack the necessary animus to push the Republicans out. Dean can.

[philosophie_en_rose]

22. Yes, because Democrats should always support Republicans.

:eyes:

[JPJones]

19. If you are AWOL

for more than 30 days, you are a deserter. So by saying that he was gone for a year is saying that he was a deserter.

www.awolbush.com

[Frances]

20. Would the correct answer to the person bringing up this issue be

I based my opinion on a story in the Boston Globe in 2000. Have you checked out the documents to determine if the story is true?

[The Magistrate]

30. That Would Be An Excellent Answer, Ma'am

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[kskiska]

23. Seems to me the only people to get upset by this

are Bush* supporters anyway. It's great that this charge is out there in headlines to jog memories. One glaring fact is that * himself never addressed the issue – one way or another. If he could prove otherwise, why not do it?

[gulliver]

26. So why did Kerry dis Clark on Crossfire?

I didn't see it, but I have read that Kerry criticized Clark for defending Moore's right to say the very same thing Kerry said in 2000.

[Kahuna]

27. Kerry said, he wouldn't say that (bush = "deserter").. then..

implied that Clark was wrong to say it. He didn't really specifically slam Clark. But it was implied in a pious manner.

[flpoljunkie]

28. "Bring it On," Drudge. It will be great to contrast Kerry's service with *

Perhaps this will spur a lazy, feckless press to finally get to the bottom of Bush's missing year in the Guard.

[Kahuna]

29. Oops! Drudge may have the wrong Kerry. It may have been..

Bob Kerrey. Of course, that little distinction won't matter to Drudge.