It worked with John Kerry. Remember him, the decorated Vietnam War veteran who was trashed in '04 by the creepily named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth?" They ran ads and had a best selling book:
They even dusted it off and ran with it again when President Obama nominated Kerry for Secretary of State.
It worked so well in 2004, with Kerry being all naive and honorable, and too slow to fight back, that it was inevitable that Trump's minions would hurry up and turn over those rocks to find someone who would do the same to Hillary.
It wasn't hard to find one. Gary Byrne has cooked up an instant best seller full of lies and innuendo called "Crisis of Character." He is a former uniformed Secret Service agent, and has been spouting this nonsense since the Bill Clinton years. His book has most recently been promoted by -- no surprise -- Donald Trump, during his campaign rallies. And, sadly, it is currently No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Erroneously, I must add, in the non-fiction category.
The book has been trashed -- I mean, fact-checked -- by David Brock of Media Matters, who has been fighting the good fight ever since he jumped ship on the republican dirty tricks gang. Gail Collins' review in the New York Times is an entertaining read, and serves the same purpose. Basically, Byrne, based on his rank with the Secret Service, could not have been anywhere near where he claims to have seen incidents with both Bill and Hillary. His claims have been debunked by none other than the Association of Former Agents of the U.S. Secret Service. In fact, Byrne even contradicts his own testimony regarding tissues and towels.
Unfortunately, every right wing-nut who has been jerking off to Donald Trump's witticisms for the past year has run out to get a copy of the book. And I can't tell you how much I hate to say this: Charleston County Public Library (which took several months and repeated requests to get Michael D'Antonio's well reviewed Trump biography, Never Enough, and has still not purchased Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next) has 62 holds on its nine copies of the book.
You will be hearing whackos spewing the old lies and rumors as though they themselves witnessed it. Don't waste your time reading the book, life is way too short, but do read one of the reviews and articles that debunk this piece of garbage, so you can defend yourself from the onslaught. My guess is that Hillary and her team are already all over it.
People sometimes confuse the wonderful Borowitz Report fantasies with reality. This is why.
South Carolina's own Joe Wilson, who everyone in the world knows for the class clown act of yelling "you lie" at the President of the United States during a Congressional speech, is at it again.
On Wednesday, at a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing, he posed a "question" to Secretary of State John Kerry, asking whether President Obama was working the Syria angle to in effect take our attention away from Benghazi and Obamacare.
Well, even Borowitz couldn't have dreamed that up.
John Kerry, who has up to now been able to narrate lists of evidence about the worst atrocities in his infamous monotone, responded in kind to this nonsense.
However, when Wilson's buddy from South Carolina Jeff Duncan held forth with the same accusations, Kerry had had it (4:20):
It's good to know that South Carolina is heavily represented in the House Idiot Caucus, but it's a bit upsetting to think that these guys also serve on the committee that asks the questions that will determine the vote on intervention in Syria.
I like to think that back in the home districts, constituents are looking a little embarrassed and not high-fiving each other in the streets.
Meanwhile, it was good to see John Kerry get his blood up. This decision is far too important to stand on Congressional form and politeness.
Apparently, in the midst of your identity crisis, you have decided to advertise on Daily Kos to get support for your Benghazi rant. It must have been quite the thrill when you learned of Susan Rice's investment portfolio, which includes the company building the Keystone XL pipeline, and even better, that it was a "liberal" group (RootsAction) that is demanding her immediate divestment of those funds.
Wow. Just step back and watch the Dems shoot themselves in the foot. Hasn't happened for awhile. You must have forgotten how good that feels.
Well, back to Benghazi. You should step back a bit from those late night bitch sessions with John McCain, and realize just how crazy your paranoia really is. You know there was nothing for Obama to gain by denying that terrorism was at the root of the attack weeks before the election. If anything, terrorism would have gained him votes. Let us not forget just how many free miles W. redeemed by playing the terrorism card.
Pardon me for mixing metaphors. I am giddy with the insanity of the post-election right-wingnuts.
I have already gone on about how silly it is for you and grumpy old John to attack Rice's statements on the Sunday talk shows. And then the old coot actually insulted her intelligence!
When I first heard the comment I was sure it had to have come from a Saturday Night Live skit. But no, that was John McCain at his most irascible. Don't you just want to grab him by the shoulders sometimes and say, "Look in the mirror, John!"
It is also obvious that the Republican strategy is to move Kerry out of the Senate and make way for Scott Brown, who, if I may remind you, lost the election. I'm not going to say it's not going to happen because, well, we are Democrats, and we don't like easy goals. But you can't deny it: either you are plotting with the republicans so you can get that Massachusetts seat back (and maybe be able to ride around with Scott Brown in his pickup), or you are attacking a qualified African-American woman because you cannot admit that she is a qualified African-American woman.
Either case, Lindsey, I hope that you are smart enough to look to the future, like, two years into the future. Those guys you've been hanging out with at home in South Carolina don't like you anymore. You're left with the unpopular out of town kids, like John McCain. You are very likely to be challenged by the Tea Party, because you will never be crazy enough to be accepted by them. And while John McCain gives a good rendition of the Mad Hatter, he's going to make it harder for you to be friends with anyone on either side.
So that leaves, well, just trying to do the right thing. You have had bouts of that in the past, so I know you can do it. Just ask yourself what would Lindsey Graham do if Mitt was in the White House. Because I know you wouldn't agree with him all the time either, but chances would be good that the arguments would be a bit more grounded in reality.
Respectfully,
Agnes
