Kerry's Big Secret Revisited

RealClearPolitics

I may have been too quick and too generous in giving John Kerry the benefit of the doubt about the full and complete release of his military records, as reported by the Boston Globe on Tuesday. As Thomas Lipscomb details in today's Chicago Sun-Times (below), some questions and confusion remain.

The exact details will most likely get sorted out in time, but just for the moment let's consider the one aspect of this story that we know for sure: Kerry released his records exclusively to The Boston Globe. This is an odd decision for someone seeking end speculation regarding the whole affair, and it's also a perfect example of why the issue of Kerry's military record continues to plague him.

Without maligning Michael Kranish's motives or his ability as a reporter, it's fair to point out that privately funneling documents through a single source from your hometown paper and then declaring the story "dead" and "over" is hardly the epitome of full public disclosure. John Kerry would never accept this type of standard from his political opponents or this administration. Why he thinks the public should accept it now from him is beyond me.

It's also an issue of fairness and bias in the press. When rumors and questions about George Bush's Texas Air National Guard service were recycled in early 2004, the press reacted like a pack of rabid animals, rushing to file FOIA requests and beating Scott McClellan bloody day after day with demands to see all relevant documents (Meanwhile, John Kerry's campaign took advantage of the media frenzy to send Terry McAuliffe and his minions out to denounce President Bush in public as having been AWOL). The press would have gone into high dudgeon if Bush had given documents to the Washington Times and then told everyone else to go take a hike.

Months later when questions were raised about Kerry's service record there was no media frenzy and no assault on Kerry by the press demanding full disclosure. Instead the press attacked Kerry's accusers, trying to dismiss and discredit the hundreds of veterans who came forward from all walks of life to go on the record with their complaints about Kerry.

The fact the Swift Boat Vets existed at all was the big story of the year (unprecedented in modern political history, I believe), and one that the mainstream press did their best to ignore. Is there any question what the press would have done if a similar group of a hundred (or even ten, for that matter) of George Bush's fellow Guardsmen had come forward to challenge his service, truthfulness and integrity?

Ironically enough, this was all happening right around the time Mary Mapes was phoning the Kerry campaign on behalf of Bill Burkett as part of a deal to get her hands on phony military records to put on air to damage President Bush.