Kerry grills nominee over Swift boat

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON - A Senate hearing that began with glowing tributes to a St. Louis businessman and his qualifications to become ambassador to Belgium turned bitterly divisive Tuesday after he was criticized for supporting a controversial conservative group.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., grilled nominee Sam Fox about why he donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential race. The group of Vietnam veterans made unsubstantiated allegations against Kerry — then the Democratic presidential nominee — and charged that Kerry did not deserve the medals he won in the Vietnam War.

(snip)

Fox said he didn't recall who asked him to give to the group and blamed partisans on both sides for contributing to so-called 527 groups that are not subject to conventional campaign finance rules.

"So is that your judgment that you would bring to the ambassadorship, that two wrongs make a right?" Kerry asked.

"I did it because politically it's necessary if the other side's doing it," Fox said.

more…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_go_co/ambassador_swift_boat

[muntrv]

1. I say eat him up and crap him out.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Good for Kerry. Vote 'no', John. nt

[kurth]

3. "He (Sam Fox) didn't recall who asked him to give $50,000"

Ya know, who can keep track of stuff like that????

[brentspeak]

6. Yeah, really. And the idiot thinks he deserves a spot as a U.S. ambassador

[bleever]

14. That's crazy talk.

If I needed to keep track of all my 50K political investments, I'd need one of them electronic Wizard organizers.

[Norquist Nemesis]

33. That's what caught my eye too! Is that chump change for this guy?

and because "the other side is doing it" it's necessary? Newsflash fella! There's a LOT of people in this country that don't make that don't make $50,000 in salary and you just wrote a check and forgot about it?

:grr:

[politicasista]

4. K&R

:kick:

[speedoo]

5. "if the other side is doing it"..... what was the other side doing?

Has anyone checked Mr. Fox' bio to see whether he ever served?

Or is he just another rethug chickenhawk?

[spooky3]

7. They weren't lying and smearing.

Typical denial from the wingnuts.

[ginnyinWI]

8. Kerry skewered him.

It was great. He carefully asked enough questions to show how ignorant and unqualified this guy is. Then he put him on the spot about his donating to the Swifties. And didn't let up, asking him over and over again why he did it if he thinks it's wrong. The guy could only squirm. And Obama backed up Kerry at the end by pointing out that this was more than politics, this was a fraud commited on the American people.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. Yes, Obama hit the nail on the head; particularly when he stated that

he would have liked to hear Reynard own up to his effective, if casual complicity, and what a mistake it was; a mistake moreover that he deeply regretted ever since. Though I should have liked to hear Barak use the term, "'plumbed new depths' (maybe adding "of moral turpitude") even for American politics".

As one would expect, generally, Fox came across as as a very worldly-wise, wily old bird, particularly for a neo-Republican, since they tend to give every appearance of being deficient in quite an elementary dimension of humanity, the lack of which seriously impairs the functioning of the intellect.

The only time, the cage door sprang open and he burst out looking like a cheap hustler, was when, chortling at is own rudeness/clumsiness/presumption, he asked Kerry to "speak up". There are more respectful and polite ways of expressing that request -particularly for an ambassador. But we're talking about a neo-Republican, after all, and you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. But maybe, I heard a third party relaying it as such, and he had actually asked if John would mind "speaking a little louder" or "raising his voice a little".

Contrast that bar-room oafishness, with Kerry's polite, even diffident explanation to him that someone "off-stage" was requesting that he bring the microphone a little closer. You can't buy "class". Social grace it may be, but it's not a commodity. Old Joe Gargery knew a thing or two... "Ever the best of friends, Pip, old chap."

After his delivery of the flim-flam about Fox's impressive record as a servant to the nation, with his dynamic business entrepreneurship, the way Kerry lowered the boom with his first question, with its profoundly seminal implications, was absolutely hilarious.

To be fair to Foxy, though, he couldn't have handled it more expertly than by glossing over it the way he did, subsuming it all under the one word, "Iraq", as though, that were the only reason why American politics is held in such total opprobium and disgust throughout the world, and avoiding any number of specifics he might have been questioned on.

But Kerry wasn't finished with him was he? He's like a dog with a bone. If he were running some one down to you, it would be no use at all saying to him, "He speaks highly of you......" Despite Fox's encomiums to him, Johnno obstinately pursued the theme of the highly questionable level of Fox's judgment for this office of an ambassadorship.

It's a jungle out there. Dog eat dog. I deplore it, of course. I really believe in honesty in public life. But what can you do? The Democrats are just as bad. (Really....?) The soul of the small-town, Tammny Hall hustler applying for the post of Ambassador to Belgium. Nuff said. Not for the neos, though ... by a long chalk. Ignorance is bliss.

[ginnyinWI]

32. I don't think anybody in that room believed he gave the money innocently.

And Kerry, ever the old prosecutor, had him dangling on the line like a hooked fish. One of his talents is to become very, very cool and extremely focused when homing in on his foe, using his superior intellect to best advantage. I'm sure he enjoyed it a lot and went out of there smiling inwardly.

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. Yes, the velvety smooth-way he slipped that stiletto between Foxys ribs

and slowly twisted it, once... twice.... three times, etc., was something to behold. Hilarious!

Kerry is clearly not someone anyone in their right mind would want to mix it with in a court-room, if they were in the wrong.

[bigworld]

9. Anyone have the transcript?

[_dynamicdems]

12. I haven't seen a transcript yet, but there's video.

http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/hearings/2007/hrg070227p.html

Just click the link that says NOMINATIONS and it will open in RealPlayer. Kerry starts to question Fox a little over an hour and a half into it.

[rodeodance]

10. Sweet Revenge

[rodeodance]

11. obama has a comment also.

.....Fox said he played no part in crafting the Swift Boat message and called on Congress to ban or more carefully regulate 527s.

But Kerry said the incident raised questions about Fox's fitness to serve as an ambassador.

The back-and-forth overshadowed the early part of the hearing, in which a bipartisan group of lawmakers offered glowing reviews of Fox.

Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., a presidential hopeful and chairman of Tuesday's hearing, said he found Fox's responses "unsatisfying." He said he would have preferred if Fox admitted it was a mistake to contribute to the Swift Boat group.

Fox, 77, is founder and chairman of the Clayton, Mo.-based Harbour Group. He was deemed a "pioneer" by
President Bush's campaign for helping to raise at least $100,000.

[Supersedeas]

24. there's not a Repig in this nation with half the class of either of them

[wisteria]

13. It was important for Kerry to bring this up. It comes down to the integrity of the man.

I was a joy to watch this man fiddle with his pen and stumble for answers trying to justify his involvement with funding this group of lier's even after they had been widely discredited. I hope he was sitting in a puddle when Kerry was done with him.

Oh, and Obama made some wonderful comments a about how the SBVT had perpetrated a fraud on America and how it had a major impact on the election outcome. (I don't personally agree with that degree of impact, but it was a good statement none the less.)

[babylonsister]

15. How sweet! Sam Fox is a tool also; his corp. is called

Harbour Group, and here are some facts that are just out there for historical info:

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/sam_fox.html

When you're done, I hope you connected the dots!\

And here are his creds(?)

University: BA Business, Washington University in St. Louis (1951)
Administrator: Board of Trustees, Washington University in St. Louis (1989-)

Boy Scouts of America Chairman and President, Greater St. Louis Council
Libby Legal Defense Trust
Republican Jewish Coalition National Chairman
Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
Bush Pioneer 2000
Bush Pioneer 2004 Ranger
Ukrainian Ancestry paternal
Jewish Ancestry

[Fridays Child]

16. Sam Fox? His name should be Sam Weasel.

What a fidgety, little slimebag.

[keopeli]

17. I have no problem with the fact that he gave to Swift Boats liars but the political slap in the face

In a free country, there's a lot of shit you have to deal with, and greedy liars are chief among them.

What I have a problem with is the media, who failed to play their neutral role and investigate the allegations. I also have a problem with the fact that there were no political repercussions for such a blatant attack. It just proves what dark, dark days those were when NO ONE would speak up or involve themselves and the media provided no compass for the people.

Think about it - Kerry should have won, were it not for fraud in Ohio. Had he done so, the Swift Boat Liars would have gotten their just rewards.

But Bush beat Kerry officially and now he's nominating a Swift Boat funder to be Ambassador to Belgium - where NATO is. NATO - who is in Afghanistan.

And THAT is why Kerry is interceding on behalf of Americans. We have had enough cronyism and incompetence. So many well qualified Americans can do great things in government, but they are not even considered because they never "tithed to the king."

Our international problems can be traced with the breadcrumbs left by hoards of buddies and pals who serve only their vanity and run when the tide turns.

[orleans]

18. oh NOW kerry "grills" him--too bad he didn't open his mouth

about it when we needed him to.

(sorry--*still* not over it)

[BlueManDude]

19. Why doesn't he just put a "hold" on the nomination and be done with it?

Isn't that what a GOPer would do? I remember one guy during the Clinton years was stopped when a GOP senator put a "hold" on him becuase he was gay.

You have to fight fire with fire. The madness will only stop when the GOP is confronted with the same nasty, unfair tactics that they themselves employ.

[6000eliot]

20. As if this nomination isn't repayment for that 50 K!

[Vinca]

21. Payback's a bitch. nt

[liberal1973]

23. Heck yeah.

What's disturbing is that this liar is 77 years old. He still doesn't know better. What a lack of character. Character is something all the repugs lack. This guy is the poster child of these repug types who are a part or help fund the smear jobs. I mean look at the bs done to Al Gore.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

22. Does the Democratic majority have enough balls to deny this asshole his political payoff?

[Gold Metal Flake]

26. That is my question.

[IWantAChange]

27. This guy has Repuke Presidential timber written all over him , spelled I-D-I-O-T

[confludemocrat]

28. Agree w/ response #1 above

Kerry can't hold this guy up (it'd be seen as unseemly), but another senator should take the lead on putting a permanant hold on this asshole's nomination.
He is being rewarded specifically for the swift boating money he gave.

[Felix Mala]

29. So did this scumbag get by? Pioneers only have to raise 100K

to assure another 4 years of incompetent government. That's pretty cheap for a country as nice as The Netherlands. Wonder how much he gave "under the table" aside from compulsory j/o?

[WorldResident]

30. Why couldn't some other Senator have come to Kerry's defense?

To expose Kerry in this fashion is not right.

[confludemocrat]

31. That's always been my issue w/ Dem senators, thinking they're "above it all"

Kerry clearly is not good at defending himself, but no one in his caucus ever steps up for him. Ever.
WTF?

[mrdmk]

35. This guy knows nothing of Belgium, maybe a little more about Europe

If Sam Fox were interviewing for a job, he would not be given the position.

[JerseygirlCT]

36. Oh I hope he absolutely NAILED the jerk. Payback's a bitch, huh Fox? nt

[lies and propaganda]

37. Psst.. too bad he could grill the Swift liars themselves...

had to play nice Democrat...

[ray of light]

38. Me thinks there will be more paybacks. I don't know why I think that.

[wisteria]

39. I watched it again today, it plays out even better the second time around. LOL! n/tr