Months and months after Kerry’s loss to George W. Bush, it’s somewhat gratuitous to point out how hard it can be to get a clear, straight answer from Kerry on this or any other issue. As long as the Senator believes he has a shot at another presidential run, the candor gap remains on the table, because he puts it there.
On one hand, he seems to have concluded that Democrats have a ‘’branding” problem, much like a company selling razor blades. The Democratic Party, said Kerry, needs ‘’a new brand. That’s the challenge.” For 25 years, he said, Democrats did not fight negative branding by their opponents. As a result, he said, Democrats are now labelled as ‘’tax, spend, weak, things like that.”
Later, Kerry said, ‘’Let me be crystal clear. We do not have to reformulate or redefine the Democratic Party. I’m tired of hearing that the Democratic Party doesn’t stand for anything.” The party, he said, stands for healthcare for every single American; public education that works and gets the necessary resources, with strict accountability; foreign policy that demonstrates both strength and respect for multinationalism; a tax structure that is fair; protecting the environment, and energy independence.
Interesting, Monsieur Kerry. So which is it? Brand or re-brand? That is the question. I suppose it depends on what day of the week it is, what kind of mood you’re in, or who the audience is–what your response is. This kind of wishy-washy namby pamby response is precisely the reason why we keep hammering on the same point:
You promised the American people on Russert’s Show Meet the Press, that you’d release your military records. Release them to the American people the way Bush did, Mr. Kerry. If you need to call someone in the Bush administration to find out how it’s done, drop them a line. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to assist. Or you can release them to me. I’d be happy to share that information with the American people: unedited and unadorned, with no apologies or coverups of–for example-the truth behind the 6-year delay between your exit from the military and your Honorary Discharge.
Kerry made a juvenile attempt at getting the heat off of himself and trying to turn the tables on John O’Neill by demanding that HE fill out his form 180. But John has nothing to hide and is perfectly prepared to do so.
Kerry’s Senate offices could not provide a copy of the Kerry SF 180 and would not answer inquiries. Is it possible that Kerry filled it out wrong or sent it to the wrong place?
John O’Neill made Kerry an offer:
“I’ll be happy to bring one to Kerry’s office and help him fill it out. And then we can take mine and his and deliver them to the right place together to make sure, as Kerry puts it, ‘the truth in its entirety will come out.’ “
There are just a few questions we have that we’d like to see cleared up before the next election.
“There is nothing magic about signing a SF 180,” said former Naval Judge Advocate General Mark Sullivan. “It is sort of like your checkbook. You can fill out a check for one dollar or a million. It is the same check form.”
“And the Globe story says Kerry sent it to the Navy Personnel Command, which is only a limited storage location. So it is not surprising that the Globe then notes that what they received was largely ‘duplication’ of records previously released. The Navy Personnel Command primarily stores a subset of service records rather than a person’s full military records. There is no doubt there are a lot of after-action records missing from what Kerry has released,” said Sullivan.
Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has already found a discrepancy confirmed by the Department of the Navy of “at least a hundred pages” missing from those already disclosed by Kerry.
Kerry insists ‘’The truth in its entirety will come out . . . the truth will come out.”
Signing Form 180 is the first step. Releasing his entire military record to the public is the second.
We are still waiting.
We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Free Kerry’s 180, click here to email Cao, include the url for your blog. The blogburst is every Tuesday, so don’t forget to blog about it. All you have to do is encourage Kerry to set his 180 FREE, I’ll send you the code for the blogroll.
The more people we have, the merrier!
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