Town of Braintree

`Tis the season for surrogates, and yesterday the Kerry campaign rolled out the best it's got in Bill Clinton. Voters will see Republican stars Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger stumping for President Bush [related, bio] this week, too.

So, who's got the edge in the surrogate wars? Bush, hands down. And it has more to do with what's being said than who's saying it.

Giuliani and Schwarzenegger are appealing to voters for support based on Bush's own record over the last four years. Clinton and John Kerry [related, bio] seem to be hoping voters will forget the Democratic nominee's 20 years in Washington and focus on Clinton's eight.

interview aired yesterday, Kerry explained how he hoped to benefit from Clinton's appearances. ``This was a very successful president. . . We balanced the budget, we paid down the debt two years in a row. . . 6.4 million people were lifted out of poverty. . . we raised the minimum wage.''

We don't know what any of that has to do with this campaign so we're glad Kerry enlightened us. ``I'm running for president, not Bill Clinton. But (his) policies made a difference to the lives of Americans and I want to remind Americans that there are better choices than George Bush is making.''

Oh? Like ignoring the al-Qaeda threat as it gathered, save for the occasional half-hearted missile strike and Osama indictment? Raising taxes instead of cutting them? Jawboning about drug costs instead of acting to reform Medicare?

Kerry's selective memory aside, at yesterday's Philadelphia rally a thinner, post-heart surgery Clinton was as beguiling as ever.

And Kerry was certainly buoyed, almost giddily recounting to the crowd that Clinton earlier had told him the only thing he and Bush had in common was that soon ``we will both be former presidents.''

Kerry forgot to mention one more thing. Like Bush in 2004, Clinton ran for re-election on his own record.

By Giuliani and Schwarzenegger

This is Worse than Jayson Blair.

Okay, now we get personal. The demise of The New York Times has been an extraordinary shock to me and a kind of benchmark for my own political migration. Like most New York Jewish boys from liberal homes the paper was a replacement religion for me. Many decades ago, when I was twenty-three and published my first novel, finding a short positive review in the Book Review validated me as a writer, enabling me to go on with my risky career. I was published by them several times in the eighties when I was an officer of the left-leaning International Association of Crime Writers. I owe a lot to the Times. I also fear them because they review my books and movies. But I cannot shut up. This kind of biased behavior is unconscionable. Although it is nowhere near as drastic, of course, it makes me think of the days of Walter Duranty, that Timesman who won a Pultizer while white-washing Stalin. How could such things happen, I always wondered. Now I know. They happen when people think they are doing the right thing for the right cause and in their zeal don't stop to consider the reality of what they are saying and writing. Yes, this is worse than Jayson Blair.

By Walter Duranty

I WANT MY GI SON TO SERVE UNDER




I WANT MY GI SON TO SERVE UNDER BUSH

THE clich?© goes: ''Just business, nothing personal.'' The hell it is.
John Kerry makes me weak in the ankles ?— and now it's personal, not business.
In the next few days, there will be a person reporting for duty in Iraq. His name is Army Capt. Peter J. Dunleavy. Capt. Peter J. Dunleavy is not one ounce more special than the guys and gals he will go to Iraq with ?— no more special than the thousands of the brave boys and girls who have gone before him, and those who will certainly go after him.
He is, of course, special to his wife, Debbie, his mother, Gloria, his brother, Sean, Sean's girlfriend, Laura ?— and his friends in the sports bars who cheer for the Giants.
He is special to me, as are all the thousands of boys and girls who serve this country, because he looks at fear as a headache and duty as the ultimate.
And yet, John Kerry makes it look like those guys and gals are just victims ?— wrong war, wrong time, wrong place.
How dare he say that to our brave boys and girls? How dare he whisper it ?— let alone shout it to the whole world?
''Don't know. I'll just go where I am needed,'' he says matter-of-factly.
Sunday he left for another base, where he will be re-equipped, before taking off to Iraq in a few days. On Saturday night, Pete and wife Debbie, a reservist in the Navy, had their last night out for a long time ?— at the Navy Ball.
It was there that Pete was given the official honor of re-enlisting his wife for another two years.
Capt. Pete is not worried about Kerry's outrageous statement ?— wrong war, wrong time, wrong place ?— because he's stronger and braver than that.
But I sure am worried. In my book, Kerry is giving comfort and succor to the enemy. And don't forget that Tokyo Rose got jail time for it after World War II, and Jane Fonda, Kerry's soul mate, should have during Vietnam.''Look, don't worry. I have been in the Reserves for more than 10 years ?— we are all well-trained, well-equipped,'' said Capt. Pete. ''To be honest, apart from having to leave Debbie back here, I'm psyched,'' he told me. ''It's a privilege to serve and be given a new chapter of experience. ''I'll just knock this tour over and get on with it. No biggie.''
I was in Baghdad last year, and it was very easy for me. Death was everywhere, but no one was shooting at me. But that won't be the case for Pete and the men and women with him.
''Dude, don't worry about it,'' Capt. Pete says again.
And that's the attitude of the thousands below him and above him, the brave men and women doing the fighting. But this father does worry ?— and worries even more about John Kerry.
When John Kerry says wrong war, wrong time, wrong place he undermines not my boy, but our boys. He embarrasses the United States abroad and he saps morale.
And that demands the severest reprimand. It is duplicity and cowardice and political opportunism of the worst kind. It's enough to make you cry.
I don't care what's on your watch, Sen. Kerry, this one's on my watch.
And then we come to the final ''see ya later'' at the airport. We hugged ?— and I couldn't talk.
Then I felt something strange ?— for the first time, after a lifetime of feeling like an adolescent, I felt old. Sending a kid off to war does that, I guess.
So Capt. Peter J. Dunleavy ?— and all the guys and gals that are going with you, and all that are there, and all that will come after you ?— go for the sake of our freedom. For the sake of your wife Debbie's freedom, your mother Gloria's freedom, your brother Sean's freedom, his girlfriend Laura's freedom ?— and the freedom of the boys in the sports bars cheering for the Giants.
Heck, for the sake of your dog's freedom. His name is Salty Dog. He loves you so much.
To you and all your comrades: Go with God.



By A Rather Staunch Republican

A WORD of advice to New York Cit

A WORD of advice to New York City taxi drivers: If you support President Bush in this GOP-hostile town, keep your mouth shut.
Last week, I introduced you to Etzer Jerome, who was fined $500 and had his hack license suspended for three weeks after he expressed fondness for Bush to a passenger. Well, he's not the first driver to run afoul of the unwritten Code of Politically Correct Cabby Conduct.
Meet Mira Chaikin.
Last summer, the 15-year taxi veteran disagreed with a passenger over the war in Iraq (news - web sites) ?— which she favors.
Chaikin was fined $150 by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. For being ''discourteous.''
''I said, 'The troops are doing a good job.' And she [the passenger] went off on it,'' contends Chaikin, of Queens, who attends John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Here's what happened:
In July 2003, Chaikin picked up a woman at Penn Station and headed toward East 86th Street. ''Soon after, the conversation turned to the war in Iraq . . . with [the passenger] indicating she opposed it, while [Chaikin] supported the war,'' administrative-law Judge Frank Fioramonti wrote after Chaikin's disciplinary hearing last Sept. 15.
The passenger, who only gave me her initials, K.B. ?— identities are kept secret in TLC tribunals ?— told me, ''It escalated to her [Chaikin] attacking me and my character because I'm a musician.''
K.B. insists Chaikin accused her of doing drugs and having sex at anti-war rallies.
In a recording I've reviewed of the hearing, Chaikin denies making rude comments. Judge Fioramonti continually interrupts her. He deemed the passenger ''credible.'' Chaikin's appeal was denied.


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