Byrd's office defends Kerry

[Mass]

All I have to say is a big : Thank you senator.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/16624914.htm

Sen. Byrd's office responds

ROBERT Maranto's op-ed about Sen. John Kerry is asinine, and the quotation he attributed to Sen. Robert Byrd is completely false. To think that Mr. Maranto is shaping the minds of young people gives one considerable pause.

Sen. Kerry has dedicated his life to public service. He served in the military. He saved the lives of fellow soldiers. And, for many years, he has represented the people of Massachusetts in the Senate, where his ideas and knowledge have helped to make this nation a better place for all Americans.

To create outright false quotations from current and former members of Congress for the sole purpose of denigrating a man who continues to serve his country honorably and forthrightly is irresponsible. Mr. Maranto's venom has no regard for the truth.

I would hope that the Daily News would have a higher regard for the veracity of information that it provides to its readers than to continue to publish this trash.

Tom Gavin, Communications Director

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd's Office

Editor's note: The op-ed was a parody, meant to spoof of the senator's treatment by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the 2004 presidential race.

[karynnj]

1. Thanks for posting this

That op-ed was atrocious and it was not labelled as a spoof. As it was not obvious that it was a spoof, the writer in his stupidity has lent his name and his institutions's to a new swiftboating effort.

The op-ed likely will be seen by far more people than the op-ed explaining it. This is despicable.

[TayTay]

2. Philly Inquirer is under new management

They endorsed Kerry for President in, I think, Aug of 2004. They wanted it clearly understood where they stood that year. Since then, the paper was bought by conservative owners. We can now see the fruits of that purchase in editorials like this.

[karynnj]

4. Weren't they the paper that

actuially had a multi day set of articles endorsing Kerry.

[wisteria]

13. Here is an early June 04 endorsement from the Daily News and

the Inquire ran a 21 day endorsement. I am looking for that.


http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/cands/endorsements/phildlynews061604.html

Amaisingly, all links to the Inquire endosement lead to dead ends. I did find this though to verify the 21 day endorsement.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4127088

[karynnj]

14. Thanks, I was confused on which Philly paper

The 21 day one was cool.

[blm]

12. Remember how agitated I was by that purchase by RW activists?

Not just corporate GOPers, but RW ACTIVISTS, fer chrissakes.

[karynnj]

15. I wonder how his University justifies this

especially from a History professor.

[blm]

3. Had an email exchange with the writer and though it was parody he said the point

was accurate and reflected what he and his colleagues believe. I went after him on all the corruption Kerry uncovered and he basically said - Oh yeah, I forgot about that because it never gets talked about. I also sent him the Sirota link and the Small Business article naming Kerry a top lawmaker.


If I was running the communications campaign from behind the scenes this country would have known EVERYTHING TRUE ABOUT KERRY that made this country's governance a more honest record.

[wisteria]

5. I missed this one. I suppose my family didn't want to bring it to my attention.

Is there a link somewhere?

[Mass]

6. Here

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/16585467.htm

[wisteria]

8. Thanks! n/t

[ProSense]

9. Note the article isn't labeled

satire or parody, but they attached that note to Byrd's response.

[Island Blue]

11. Thanks for the link.

That was disgusting. What the f*ck was the point of this "spoof"? I am really getting sick and tired of this crap, and it makes me want to fight even harder for Senator Kerry even though I know that I will never have an opportunity to vote for him again.

Thank you to Senator Byrd and his staff for setting the record straight - now every other person "quoted" in that piece needs to step up to the plate and do the same.

[Inuca]

17. Does the link still work?

I tried several times, and I get a blank page. Not an error, just an empty page. Maybe it's better, busy day and I should not be reading garbage.

[ProSense]

7. Love this:

"asinine." That sums it up. Thank you Senator Byrd.

[wisteria]

10. Wow, just malicious and mean. Everyone quoted in this piece should be sent a copy of this to clarify

or refute their quoted remarks.

[saltpoint]

16. O God I just love this defense of John Kerry.

It's notably rare and completely appropriate.

Byrd is not the most liberal Senator around but he certainly has a dignity to him that can't be dismissed. I really appreciate his praise of John Kerry. These two aren't even the same kind of Democrats, but Byrd burns through the political differences and gets to the heart of the man, the need for honor among colleagues, and praise among fellow public servants.

Balloons and cake and champagne.

Thanks, Senator Byrd, and to Mass for putting this up for us.

[mloutre]

18. Robert Maranto is a doink. Robert Byrd is not.

(Well, not *all* of the time, anyway.)

Rumor inside the Beltway is that Maranto has been tapped as Communications Director for Wayne Newton's dark-horse 2008 presidential campaign.

[saltpoint]

19. Well, Wayne's got my vote.