Kerry Stands Behind E-Mail on Hastert Comments

Kerry Stands Behind E-Mail on Hastert Comments
By CARL HULSE
Published: November 27, 2005

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 - Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has challenged comments that Senator John Kerry made about him, but an adviser to the senator said today that Mr. Kerry did not err when he told supporters this month that Mr. Hastert had called a Democratic congressman a "coward" for urging a troop withdrawal from Iraq.

"There is no question that the Republicans mounted an attack on John Murtha," the Kerry adviser, Jenny Backus, said, referring to Representative John P. Murtha, who sparked a partisan storm on Capitol Hill when he recently said the troops should come home. "They are trying to rewrite history."

snip...

The back-and-forth underscores the continuing political turmoil Mr. Murtha sparked and how it has evolved into a proxy for dueling party positions on Iraq.

It also indicates that Mr. Kerry has adopted a more aggressive approach to responding to political charges than he did during his presidential campaign, when he was faulted for his handling of attacks on his own service record by veterans drawn from the ranks of the Navy Swift boat units that Mr. Kerry served with in Vietnam.


a lot more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/politics/27cnd-haster.html


I believe Kerry.

:P

Doesn't sound like he was saying what a good man John Murtha is to me.

"I am saddened by the comments made today by Rep. Murtha. It is clear that as Nancy Pelosi's top lieutenant on armed services, Rep. Murtha and Democratic leaders have adopted a policy of cut and run. They would prefer that the United States surrender to the terrorists who would harm innocent Americans. To add insult to injury, this is done while the President is on foreign soil.

"Four years ago, America as we knew it changed. The terrorists attacked our people and attacked our nation. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives. Families were destroyed, and our children lost their sense of peace. On that day, we learned that we no longer had a choice. Failure to act -- and act strongly -- left our nation vulnerable to Osama bin Laden and his band of terrorist followers.

"But now, Rep. Murtha and other Democrats want us to retreat. They want us to wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists of the world. It is unfortunate that this is all politics all the time. We need to have a strong consistent policy that will protect our men and women who are fighting to protect us overseas. We must not cower like European nations who are now fighting terrorists on their soil.

"This is the highest insult to the brave men and women serving overseas. They have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our citizens, our way of life and our ideals of freedom and democracy. And they have done excellent work. In the four years since September 11th, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least 10 major terrorist attacks. Three of those attacks were planned on U.S. soil.

"I have known John Murtha to be a long-term veteran of this institution. He has stood up for our troops and has helped to provide them with the right equipment to do their job. We all saw the same pained faces among Americans when terrorists slammed into the Twin Towers. Did he see the faces the rest of America saw when terrorists plowed into the Pentagon or when the plane that was headed for a Washington target went down in Pennsylvania? I saw the faces that day, and, Mr. Murtha, that was no illusion."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=56904

on continuing to try to tie 9-11 in with the invasion of Iraq? I am so sick of it I could scream! In fact, I often do.

I hope Kerry and other Democrats throw the 9-11/Iraq connection lie back in their faces every time it's uttered.

I am sick to death of the Iraq-9/11 connection they insist on making every freaking day in every God damned interview. They still do it, continually, despite all evidence to the contrary.
I wish there was a buzzer that went off every time one of them tied the two. There would be TVs on the curb every trash day with shoes, coffee mugs and similar heavy objects sticking out of the shattered screens.

9/11 bzzzz....
9/11 bzzzz....
9/11 bzzzz....

Honey, where's the remote?
It's in the TV, dear.

Kerry should demand a retraction for Haster's statements claiming Dems want to retreat and surrender the US to terrorists and for the perennial 9-11/Iraq references.

The actual quoting of Hastert's remarks show that Kerry was right. I thought Ms. Backus' comments were dead-on and that she did a great job in response.

I think this was a positive article, espcially the part where the Times gives Kerry some kudos for 'learning.' (Hey, it's the Times, this is a compliment.)

I really don't see why Haskett wants his words back out there - which he had to know would happen. The "learning" is funny though because Kerry came out, I think within a day for McCain, Kerrey, and Clealand. So this wasn't new behavior.

I actually have semi mixed feeling on this because they gave so little coverage to his far more significant exit plan proposal and his work in the Senate. It did show how scared Haskett is of the email - the text of which was very close to Kerry's Senate floor comments. (It's telling that they reference the email rather than the official Senate speech.)