SwiftVets.com

[kmudd]

Interview With Jay Nordlinger, Maryanne Marsh


Hannity & Colmes (Fox News Network); 8/23/2004; Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes




Hannity & Colmes (Fox News Network)

08-23-2004

COLMES: Tonight, from the HANNITY & COLMES notebook, Republicans are already lining up to run for president in 2008.

"Newsweek" and "The New York Post" are reporting that New York Governor George Pataki recently held a strategy session with key advisers to discuss a run for the White House in four years.

And earlier this month, the "Lincoln Journal-Star" reported that Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is also considering a run. I guess with election day 2008 now just 1,545 days away, why wait?

But before that election comes, we've got this one. And a new ad from the Kerry campaign accuses President Bush of a smear campaign. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KERRY: I'm John Kerry, and I approved this message.

ANNOUNCER: American soldiers are fighting in Iraq. Families struggle to afford health care. Jobs heading overseas. Instead of solutions, George Bush's campaign supports a front group attacking John Kerry's military record, attacks called smears, lies.

Senator McCain calls them dishonest. Bush smeared John McCain four years ago. Now he's doing it to John Kerry.

George Bush, denounce the smear. Get back to the issues. America deserves better.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COLMES: Does the president need to apologize or does Senator Kerry?

Joining us now, Democratic strategist and Fox News political analyst Maryanne Marsh, and the managing editor of the "National Review," Jay Nordlinger.

Clearly, those supporting Bush are going to say the other side should apologize and vice versa. But look, there are so many ties here to the Bush campaign. We've heard all the arguments, heard about a rally in Florida this weekend coordinated with Bush/Cheney '04. And the swift boat veterans were there handing out flyers.

Come on. I mean, clearly, there's a lot of interlocking pieces here.

Why shouldn't Bush distance himself from this and just say, "Look, this should stop. This swift boat stuff should stop"?

JAY NORDLINGER, MANAGING EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Well, he did make a statement today. He did kind of a pox on all of their houses. He denounced these so-called 527 ads.

COLMES: That's not specific to this. And you know that.

NORDLINGER: That's right. That's right. I don't believe this coordination from the Bush campaign and these groups.

COLMES: What about that rally in Gainesville on Saturday, where they were handing out flyers? We have the swift boat veterans and the Bush/Cheney '04, working together to hand out swift boat flyers.

NORDLINGER: That's politics. We are in a presidential election.

COLMES: Then, they are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) each other.

NORDLINGER: These people have strong opinions. They have a right to express them. We've heard from pro-Kerry vets ad nauseum, especially at the Democratic Convention.

COLMES: Yes, but the guy that appeared in the commercial that was out last week, who just had to resign as an adviser to veteran affairs for Bush. He was a Bush official who was in one of these ads.

NORDLINGER: Fair enough. There's got to be -- there's got to be clear separation. But obviously there's a lot...

COLMES: But there hasn't been.

NORDLINGER: I'm not sure that's true, Alan. I'm not sure that there's something hand in glove here. These people are motivated by a desire to defeat Kerry and to re-elect Bush, and the same is true with George Soros and the people the Democrats...

(CROSSTALK) COLMES: John Kerry has denounced the MoveOn.org ad that was against George W. Bush.

Let me ask you about this, Maryanne. Clearly, there are all these interlocking pieces there, as I just said. We know what they are. They've been exposed. These guys keep changing their story, and they want to deny that there's a connection.

MARYANNE MARSH, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think whether there's a connection or not, I think what you have to look at is what John Kerry needs to do.

And what John Kerry needs to do is to hit Bush as hard as Bush has hit him. And the way you do that is you remind people that Bush betrayed this country about why we went to war in Iraq, just like he betrayed them when he didn't fight in Vietnam.

That's why his record of service is important in this election...

HANNITY: And Maryanne -- and Maryanne...

MARSH: Just like...

(CROSSTALK) HANNITY: That type of rhetoric, that's disgraceful...

MARSH: It's not.

HANNITY: ... because John Kerry -- John Kerry said leaving Saddam unfettered with nuclear weapons and WMDs is unacceptable. It's a real and grave threat to America.

You give him a pass because he's a Democrat. You guys give Ted Kennedy a pass. He can call the president a liar, said he concocted a war for political gain. He can let Terry McAuliffe say the president is AWOL.

MARSH: Sean, you know what, Sean?

HANNITY: You let your MoveOn.org ads go out, and then you get punched back, and you guys can't take it.

MARSH: No. There's a big difference between what I'm saying and everything you and you allege everyone else has said. There are two people...

HANNITY: Not alleged; it happened.

MARSH: John Kerry and George Bush, the Bush campaign has now gone after John Kerry's military service. John Kerry needs to do the same.

HANNITY: And Maryanne, let me give you -- let me educate you here.

(CROSSTALK) MARSH: George Bush had a chance. Everybody's had a chance.

HANNITY: It is not -- Maryanne, I'm not going to let you get away with this. George Bush has praised his record in Vietnam.

(CROSSTALK) HANNITY: He said it last week. He said it this week.

MARSH: And it's totally disingenuous, because he doesn't want to take responsibility for anything...

(CROSSTALK) HANNITY: He's not responsible -- Well, then you're going to accept responsibility for MoveOn.org comparing the president to Adolph Hitler, because that's what you guys are funding on your site.

(CROSSTALK) MARSH: ... are responsible for each other. No one expects an apology, and I don't believe there's any coordination between either of them.

(CROSSTALK) HANNITY: You guys can dish it out, but you can't take it.

MARSH: Kerry should go after his record on 9/11 and his record on Iraq.

HANNITY: All right, Maryanne, let him talk. Go ahead.

NORDLINGER: I'm sorry to interrupt, but this really is an extraordinary campaign. I think I've heard this before. But she said a minute ago that George Bush betrayed this country by not serving in Vietnam. I don't believe that's a charge I've heard before. This is really a weird campaign.

HANNITY: That's nasty, Maryanne. You should apologize for that. Why don't you apologize for that?

MARSH: I'm not going to apologize. Because...

(CROSSTALK) HANNITY: You're going to say George Bush betrayed his country? He betrayed his country?

NORDLINGER: She's done so.

MARSH: By not serving because when he had a chance to serve his country, he didn't. And he betrayed this country by getting us into the war in Iraq.

(CROSSTALK) COLMES: Leave it right there, Maryanne. And Jay, thank you very much for being with us.

[neverforget]

How did allegedly finding one flyer, without any SwiftVets markings, at a Republican Party HQ become handing out flyers together at a rally?

Other than that, she is so totally believable.

Sarcasm off/

[kmudd]

As others pointed out anyone can make a flyer even a Kerry staffer.

[kmudd]

Senator Kerry many people served during the Vietnam era without going to Vietnam do you agree with your spokeswman that they betrayed this country? How about you Max Cleland?