John Kerry: Unfit for Command -- Update 23

[Continued from Update 22]

From Michelle Malkin:

Goat Droppings

The Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party has made much ado of President Bush's decision to finish reading "My Pet Goat" to Florida schoolchildren for several minutes after he was informed of the terrorist attacks on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. John Kerry picked up Moore's goat droppings and his campaign is running with them--despite Kerry's own admission on CNN's Larry King Live that after the attacks, he, along with Sen. Tom Daschle, couldn't think. The Washington Times reported:

[Kerry] recalled walking into the office of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, and watching the second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

"And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table, and then we just realized nobody could think," Mr. Kerry recalled, "And then 'Boom!' Right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon."

That was a span of roughly 35 minutes, according to precise timelines of the day...

The Times' Diana West notes today how FDR reacted after the Pearl Harbor attack:

[..]

After calling the secretary of state, Manchester writes, "the President of the United States did nothing for 18 minutes." Eighteen minutes. Why, that's 11, maybe 12 minutes more than George W. Bush paused during a visit to a Florida elementary school before taking action on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. ...

[...]

The First Lady's even getting into the fray. [Aside: Isn't it nice having a First Lady after 8 years of Hillary? Is this country ready for Teresa?] Discerning Texan has more.

Laura Slams Critics of Bush’s 9/11 classroom actions

[...]

"I think that's a ridiculous allegation by John Kerry — it's absurd," Mrs. Bush told The Post. "And I think what my husband did was perfectly appropriate. I think it was the right thing to do in front of the children."

"I think it was the right thing to do in front of the press that were there. And while he was there for those seven short minutes, his staff was getting more information.

"They didn't have any more information than what [chief of staff] Andy Card had told him when he came into the room."

You go, girl!

*****

From Cassandra on all of those connections between SBVT and the Bush campaign:

The NY Times Outdoes Itself

[...]

Who can forget the shadowy Web of Connections that finally proved beyond all doubt that John O'Neill's lesbian sister's ex-wife's hamster once bore the illegitimate cross-species love child of that shrew Laura Bush's daughter Lauren's pet Gerbil, thus establishing to any disinterested party that the White House was certainly funding the Swift Vets latest disgraceful ads?

[...]

*****

From Discerning Texan:

Mainstream media now onto Silver Star Irregularities

Last Sunday I posted a story detailing how some investigative journalists have found a mysterious “V” in the citation record for John Kerry’s Silver Star. Then on Wednesday I posted a follow-up story which found additional irregularities with the Silver Star citations (not the least of which--there were 3 separate citations, years apart, for the same medal; something that is unheard of in the military). Now it appears that the mainstream media has finally awakened to this story: the Chicago Sun-Times ran a story on this on Friday, and now the Washington Times has in its Op/Ed section a column about the mysterious “V” in Kerry’s record:

[...]

Mr. and Mrs. Holzer bring up another interesting point. Over at JohnKerry.com, the Navy citation for Mr. Kerry's Silver Star does not mention the combat "V". It appears, then, that the Navy didn't mistakingly grant a "V" with Mr. Kerry's Silver Star. So, how did it get into Mr. Kerry's DD 214?

This is more serious than one would think. In Title 19, U.S. Code, Section 1001, the law states: "Whoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States, knowingly and willfully ... makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both." As Mr. Lipscomb reports, a complaint filed by Mr. Burkett actually led to the sentencing of Navy Capt. Roger D. Edwards to 115 days in the brig for falsification of his records.

[...]

From Cassandra

Hopefully My Last Word On Kerry's Silver Star With Combat V

[...]

Most people have a hard enough time following the intricacies of a story like this. The simpler the story, the more effective it will be. And the basic facts are these:

1. The combat V is not authorized for award with the Silver Star.
2. According to B.G. Burkett's research, he found no records where the combat V had been awarded with the Silver Star, except where the official record had been fraudulently altered.
3. Kerry's Silver Star citation makes no mention of a combat V. How, then, did it suddenly appear on his subsequent DD214 signed by Secretary Lehman?

What prompted the 2 subsequent embellishments of his war record? Let Kerry answer this question. Anything we need to know will come out of his answer - he requested the change, therefore he should not be allowed to duck the question. The rest is really just a distraction until we hear what he has to say.

[...]

From my earlier post on this subject:

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature.

"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said. ...

*****

Byron York has Rear Admiral William L. Schachte's statement about the incident for which Jean Fraud Kerry was awarded his first Purple Heart. Please note my deliberate use of the phrases "for which" and "was awarded" as opposed to "during which" and "earned."