Minutes before John Kerry marched into the Fleet Center to accept the Democratic nomination, CBS reporter Byron Pitts pulled out the intimate personal information: "Senator Kerry is a very superstitious man. Just before he steps into the hall, he will do what he has always done before a major moment in his life. He will make a Sign of the Cross, then kiss the St. Christopher medallion his mother gave him as a child."What, no lucky CIA hat?
Aside from the confusion of religion and superstition, there is one obvious question for viewers: How does Pitts know this is true? Even if it is true, it's also true that no other reporter has passed this regimen along. A search of the massive Nexis database shows no mention of Kerry's St. Christopher medallion in the last two years, and there's no sign of it in the whole Nexis sample of the Boston Globe.I'm humming "When the Saints Go Marching In" myself.
After the speech, CBS's Pitts resumed serving up the humanizing Kerry spin: "Earlier, as the family was preparing to leave John Kerry's home in Boston, I'm told he whispered to his sister, remember the words of our mother on her deathbed when she said, 'John,' knowing he would run for president some day, 'remember, John, integrity, that's what matters.' Tonight, John Kerry tried to show that integrity."
Hey, maybe Byron is just a crappy reporter, despite holding down a gig with "prestigous" CBS. Let's see what else he has been up to.
In May, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth held a press conference at the National Press Club to express their opposition to Kerry's war stories and his presidential campaign. ABC and NBC ignored them. Guess which reporter arrived to besmirch them? None other than CBS reporter Byron Pitts, the man passing on whispered tales of Kerry family integrity.Gosh, I sure am surprised at that!
There's an obvious pattern here. Print the legend about the Democrat, and don't investigate. When the Democrat's critics try to object, denounce them in personal terms, and investigate them and their dastardly plots instead.They are indeed.
Now, many months after Kerry began touting his Vietnam adventures as proof of his qualifications for the White House, the Swift Boat vets have released a book and have made an ad full of Kerry's Vietnam comrades suggesting his stories are false. Are they right? If these soldiers -- and there are over 200 of them -- are telling the truth, Kerry is a national disgrace who shouldn't be allowed a visitor's pass to the White House, never mind the presidency.
What's depressing here for the American people is that the "mainstream press" is so relentlessly partisan that they have so utterly failed to see it as their job to explore the full biography of a man who stands a very decent chance of becoming the next president.
Since 1999, this national press corps devoted weeks to unproven charges and shadowy assertions that George W. Bush was hiding things about his service in the Texas Air National Guard. This national press corps has treated every nasty Democratic soft-money group and Michael Moore in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign as just a sign of great liberal vigor. The Kerry war stories were their test to see if they're reliable watchdogs or if they're just another coordinated part of the Democratic campaign machine. The results are in.
