John Forbes Harkin?

Or, Thomas Richard Kerry?

Tom Harkin, Fake War Hero.

P.S. See Candidate Harkin Stretches the Truth, from the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 26, 1991:

If running for president is a game of truth or consequences, then a lot of Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's critics would like to see him face the consequences....

In 1979, Mr. Harkin, then a congressman, participated in a round-table discussion arranged by the Congressional Vietnam Veterans' Caucus. "I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962," Mr. Harkin said at that meeting, in words that were later quoted in a book, Changing of the Guard, by Washington Post political writer David Broder. "One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. I did no bombing."

That clearly is not an accurate picture of his Navy service. Though Mr. Harkin stresses he is proud of his Navy record — "I put my ass on the line day after day" — he concedes now he never flew combat air patrols in Vietnam....

In his presidential campaign, as in most of his other races, Mr. Harkin frequently refers to his brother Frank, who has been deaf since age nine. At one breakfast meeting with reporters, Mr. Harkin told how Frank had a good job for 23 years in a Des Moines plant, until new owners broke the union. Frank was "busted" too, he said, ending up on a human "trash heap." The only job he could find was cleaning toilets. "That's what's happening in America today," exclaimed Mr. Harkin.

Actually, it turns out, Frank lost his job years ago. Sen. Harkin put Frank back on his feet in the 1970s, when Jimmy Carter was president, by finding him a job as a postal worker under a new program aimed at helping disadvantaged workers. Frank worked there until his retirement with health benefits and a pension....

What a sweet example of Core's Law of New Media at work.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 08/18/04 05:44:56 PM
Categorized as Political.