Thomas Lipscomb reports
Over the weekend we took note of the fact that the Washington Post's Saturday story on John Kerry's days as the leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War blurrily retraced the reporting of Thomas Lipscomb six months ago: "The Post picks up the scent."
In recent days Lipscomb has been breaking new ground in the coverage of John Kerry's medals and citations. We are huge fans of Lipscomb and his journalistic doggedness. Last night Lipscomb wrote to update us:
This is straight HARD NEWS not editorial advocacy...The war between the Swiftees and the Kerry Campaign has just entered a new phase…When it comes to reporting, Thomas Lipscomb is the real deal. Take a look at his latest stories and trust that we'll keep you posted.The US Navy vs John Kerry.
Now it isn’t a question of conflicting reminiscences of sexagenarians… about whether there was or wasn’t 2 ½ miles of riverbank gunfire on March 12, 1969, and how many men were in the boat with Kerry when he claimed to be wounded under enemy fire, that may or may not have been present. It is a question of the official Navy records Kerry has asked us to look at.
There has been a lot of print and internet pickup…Here are two this morning: "'V' for valor or Kerry's version?" and "Kerry's war vs. Kerry." Nice as a reporter to be mentioned by name. And I have a lot more coming.
No Kerry spokesperson has returned calls except for David Wade who referred me to Michael Meehan, the expert on Kerry records. No call back after 8 calls over three days to Meehan. Scarborough Country bookers couldn’t get a spokesperson for Kerry to come on the show with me last Friday.
There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation. The American electorate and 25 million veterans certainly deserve to hear one. Kerry should sign the SF-180 and get it over with. He has NOT released his complete records which might well clear this up…no matter what Mark Meehan told Tony Snow on Saturday.
But the lame explanation the Kerry spokespeople have come up with is hilarious. You have to be totally brain dead to accept that explanation without a followup. Supposedly, Kerry “lost” the first two citations, and asked the Secretary of the Navy for a replacement. Outside of the fact that Kerry “forgot” a few little details like voting on an assassination plot against 6 US senators…“forgot” where he was on Christmas 1968 (wasn’t Sa Dec in Cambodia?), “forgot” his first purple heart was a self-inflicted wound, he also seems to “lose” things -- all of which his campaign have now conceded in fact. He “lost” his resignation letter from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and now he “lost” these citations.And yet Doug Brinkley has assured me that “Kerry saves everything.” And this raises a troubling question.
Can the American electorate in these perilous times afford such a forgetful president who loses critical paperwork. At least Sandy Berger steals his and puts it back. Maybe it would prefer someone like Bush who at least knows what he is doing from day to day and has at least not “forgotten” to keep Al Qaeda from attacking the United States for three years, “lying” retard that he is in the eyes of the Red Diaper Baby Parade in New York on Sunday.
But the sad part of this is the sheer contempt Kerry shows for the intelligence for his fellow citizens. The 25 million of us who are veterans know what to do when we lose a citation. Even those of us with a marginal IQ can figure it out. We write the Personnel Records Office and they send us a copy. We are only human and we lose things… but the bureaucracies like Records Offices of the Armed Forces are inhuman and they have the originals.
I found that out in the 4th grade when I “lost” an unpleasant report card on the way home. The school promptly provided a copy. For military the Personnel Records Office xerox them and send them to us. Big deal. I am searching for someone who decided this required a reissue from the Secretary of the Navy’s Office. Please ask your readers to check in if that ever occurred to any of them as a natural alternative. And where DID that “flowery” language come from?
I am just a naturally curious person. And John Kerry is a totally absorbing delight for a guy like me to bore in on. I am not enthralled with Bush and I am equally unenthralled with Kerry. But the more I look into Kerry, the more the stage managing, the manipulation, and the sheer unmitigated arrogance of the man interest me.
Now I am not now and never have been a member of the VRWC and I have yet to receive the big check promised by Halliburton, The RNC, and Richard Mellon Scaife. I am still open to a better offer from George Soros.
But like Grant before Richmond… “I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.”
There is lots more to come.
