Is There a Kinko's In Hanoi?

Fresh on the heels of one anti-Kerry scoop that flamed out -- too confusing, isn't it a good thing lie about and to the UN? -- comes this a, wait for it, smoking gun proving beyond all doubt that John Kerry was Uncle's Ho butt-boy.

Font experts, have at it.

For me, the big story is the evident push to get these stories out in the closing days of the election, which harkens back in Poppy Bush's late "black love child" offensive against Bill Clinton in 1992. This, in turn, suggests Karl Rove is sweating bullets right now and big swings are still possible.

Comments

[arthur]

This font expert finds that the letters K-e-r-r-y appear, kerned or unkerned, in either document, and there's no reason to suspect that the rather vague mentions of U.S. protestors have anything to do with Kerry.

[Call me snake]

Taylor: Or it could mean that Bob Shrum has the New York Fucking Times working with him with bullshit stories about missing explosives that were gone before US armored units got to Al Qaqaa.

Perhaps Rove's working hard because he knows "the paper of record" and most other media outlets are de facto helping Kerry.

[SR]

Maybe these are real, but I do have some doubts that US military translators would actually go to the trouble of putting accent marks on Vietnamese names (e.g., Thieu, which has a circumflex over the "e") in what appears to be an internal document not intended for publication.

[joe]

This document demonstrates that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, American communists worked to oppose the Vietnam War, and that these communists were in contact with foreign communist governments. Shocking as that may be.

Know who else worked against the Vietnam War? Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

American communists went to the Paris Peace talks, and took some marching orders there. Know who else went to the Paris Peach talks? VVAW.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Basically, it's the "Martin Luther King was a communist agent/Dwight Eisenhower is the conscious agent of international communism," guilt by association shtick all over again. Communists, who had contacts with the Soviets, tried to co-opt the anti-war movement, just as they had tried to co-opt the civil rights movement, and just as they had tried to co-opt the anti-Nazi Popular Front movement of the 30s and early 40s. Is this actually news to anyone?

[Jim "Bat Boy" Walsh]

I keep getting World Net Daily mixed up with the Weekly World News. One's about as credible as the other, though WWN is a lot more fun.

[mobile]

The article on World Net Daily is obviously a crude forgery! The author refers to Viet Cong leader Madame Nguyen Thi Binh in the article and then later refers to her as Madame Binh. BUT, in Vietnamese culture (as in Chinese, Korean, and many others), the important thing to remember is that the surname, or as I like to call it, the family name, is listed FIRST, while the given names, or "given names" as I call them, are listed LAST. Therefore, the author should have made subsequent references to this woman not as Madame Binh, but as Madame Nguyen. In fact, in this context, Binh is equivalent to what we Westerners would call the MIDDLE name. Calling this woman Madame Binh would be like referring to the two major candidates as Mr. Walker or Mr. Forbes. Clearly, this author is a total ignoramus, and any thing the article says, any documents it links to, and in fact any information on the entire World Net Daily site may be safely ignored as so much misinformed poppycock.

[Brian]

Reminds me of the last days of the 1992 campaign, when we started hearing rumors about Clinton going to Moscow while at Oxford in the late 60s. Has a whiff of the desperate about it. I can't imagine this Ho Chi Kerry stuff works on anyone who isn't already voting against him?

[joe]

I remember that! When I first heard the story, I thought it had been reported in the LONDON Times, and concluded it might bear some resemblance to truth. Soon after, I realized it was from the WASHINGTON Times, a very different animal.

[trainwreck]

Communist? Isn't that one of those weird political parties, like the Libertarians or Greens or something?

[TWC]

This stuff is old news. It has been speculated for decades that there was a connection between the anti-war movement and the commies. There probably was. But does that taint Kerry? Well, the people who like him will overlook it as thin and desperate. The Bush crowd already buys it so their preaching to that choir. Some people hold 'Hanoi Jane' grudges but they won't vote for Kerry either. And regardless of a proven commie connection there isn't much doubt that Kerry was Hanoi's butt boy. That left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Will it change the outcome of this election? Doubt.

[Fred Gillette]

Bat Boy,

Isn't one of the World Weekly News' lead articles this week, 'Presidential Candidate's Wives Found in Hot Tub with Alien"? What are we wasting our time on this puny Viet Nam allegation when the wife of the future President Of The Greatest Nation On Earth(tm)may be engaging in intergalactic crossbreeding?

[Fred Gillette]

BTW, TWC, never use 'butt boy' and 'bad taste in the mouth' in the same paragraph. eewwwwuuuu! (shudder)

[Agammamon]

. . .The author refers to Viet Cong leader Madame Nguyen Thi Binh in the article and then later refers to her as Madame Binh. BUT, in Vietnamese culture. . .

But, the translators would know that and may have reversed the names in the document to accord with Western custom. Its a problem everal people I've worked with have run into.

Which only goes to show what high standards of journalism the WND maintains and so we accept everything they print as gospel.

[Curtis]

A reminder to John Kerry: Maybe you had better not sign form 180. Who'd notice?

[SR]

Question for the "John Kerry Should Sign a Form 180" crowd: If Kerry approved the release of his entire military record (which Bush hasn't either, as I recall), and the records showed that he served honorably and competently, would you then vote for him? If not, why should he care about your whining?

[Curtis]

SR: It would make a big difference to me, yes. And I was *whining* eh?

[Bob]

This story doesn't rock my boat, but I think the Kerry less-than-honorable discharge rumour might have some legs. Look for that in the next few days.

[SR]

Curtis, actually you weren't too bad. I just snapped because literally every time Kerry's Vietnam service comes up, someone announces that he should release his records. In most of those cases, the earlier postings by those person indicate that they wouldn't vote for Kerry anyway. I will not vote for Kerry or defend his service in Vietnam, but frankly, if someone's mind is already made up, why should Kerry compromise his privacy for their benefit? (Particularly when Bush hasn't released his records either.)

[joe]

Bob, the "John Kerry, bad serviceman" shtick has run its course. Everyone who might have been convinced by it already is. Anything coming out now is going to be greeting with "Yeah yeah yeah, swift boat guys Vietnam War protests angry veterans yadda yadda yadda."

[Curtis]

Rove, by the way, isn't the only one sweating bullets these days. I don't assume that the Democrats aren't up to the same monkey business.