Kerry's Watergate?

[cryofan]

Well, this substantial article (not quite sure of the original source) details what looks like a Dirty Tricks break-in by Kerry's brother and another Kerry campaign worker connected with a Kerry campaign about 30 years ago. They were caught breaking into an office operated by their opponent in the race, supposedly the were trying to cut the phone lines so that the opponent could not get out the vote for the impending election.

I am not quite sure what to make of this, but I am sure someone will let me know :-)

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1571/2003_Sept_16/107543547/p7/article.jhtml?term=

[mzmolly]

1. Yep, it's one of many things we are learning about John Kerry.

:(

[cthrumatrix]

40. politics of the past (and present) will come back to bite kerry

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. You finally found the hidden skeleton that will bring Kerry down!

OHHH NOOOO!!

lol

[Forkboy]

8. do you think what happened is ok?

this wont bring him down,but that's not the point.

Again,do you think this was an ok thing to do? Yes or no will suffice.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

15. Honestly,

I read up on this last year, so when I saw what it was, I didn't bother to re-read it this time, so I don't even remember the details well enough to answer your question. You are welcome to publicize this story as much as you think will benefit you and I feel no compulsion to stop you.

[Forkboy]

17. A dodge that would make Kerry proud

[sandnsea]

28. In a word, YES

If you read the damned article and understand the sleazy crap that happens during campaigns and that charges were dismissed; hell yes they did the exact right thing. Go register some voters or something. Geeesh.

[Forkboy]

32. I did read it and knew that

but I enjoy watching some do mental contortions to avoid having to answer something.It reveals something interesting in my eyes.

And I'll spend my time as I see fit,thank you very little.

[seventhson]

3. One of the people allegedly involved is Bonesman-Kerry top advisor

David Thorne.

Here is from the link above:


"Pretense to imaginary forebears may be a misdemeanor as these things go, but breaking and entering is not. Heard of Watergate? Get ready for Lowellgate.

On Sept. 18, 1972, the evening before the primary election during his second attempt for Congress, Kerry's brother Cameron and one Thomas Vallely, both part of his current campaign team, were arrested by Lowell police at 1:40 a.m. and charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny. The two were apprehended in the basement of a building whose door had been forced open, police said. It housed the headquarters of candidate DiFruscia. The Watergate scandal was making headlines at this time, and it was called the Lowell Watergate.

"They wanted to sever my telephone lines," DiFruscia said recently. Had those lines been cut, Kerry's opponent would not have been able to telephone supporters on Election Day to get out the vote and coordinate poll watchers, vital roles in a close election. "I do not know if they wanted to break into my office," says DiFruscia today. At the time he said, "All my IBM cards and the list of my voter identification in the greater Lowell area are in my headquarters."

Cameron and Vallely, along with David Thorne, who was Kerry's campaign manager at the time and has been close to him since they attended Yale together, did not deny the two entered the building in which they were captured."


Only one problem: this is from the Washington Times, though I doubt if they would print it if it were totally false. But I could be wrong about that.


David Thorne is Skull and Bones and is still Kerry's top advisor'confidante:

http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/22019542.html

Excerpt:

John Kerry's stay at a Swiss boarding school and his four years at the prestigious St. Paul's college preparatory school in New Hampshire paved the way for his natural friendship with David Thorne during their freshman year at Yale University in 1962.

Thorne, who grew up overseas, and Kerry were members of
Yale's elite Skull and Bones society. :freak: They unknowingly vied for the same girl - the half-sister of Jacqueline Kennedy - enlisted in the Navy together and served in Vietnam. Kerry would go on to marry Thorne's twin sister, Julia, in 1970.

Kerry - an active pilot, hockey player and student of classical guitar - approaches nothing halfheartedly, said Thorne, a Boston publisher and financial broker.

"I've witnessed this from the same cockpit. It's part of his wiring," said Thorne, who remains Kerry's closest friend. "He doesn't want to mess around. He wants to be the best."

[IndianaGreen]

10. Kerry was married to David Thorne's sister. (Skull & Bones)

So Kerry's first wife was the sister of a Bonesman. Then Kerry marries Teresa Heinz whose husband was also a Bonesman.

Isn't that kind of odd that Kerry has always been in Skull & Bones even through his choice of spouses? Is this some sort of sick Order of Skull & Bones rule?


Kerry, with his first wife, Julia Thorne,
celebrating his win in the 1972 primary.
Kerry buried the field of Democrats with
huge tallies in the towns where antiwar
sentiment was strongest.
(Globe Staff File Photo / Bill Brett)

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061803.shtml

[IndianaGreen]

4. Here is the Boston Globe version of Kerry's Break-in

To win the primary, the newcomer overcame the election eve arrest of his brother, Cameron, and campaign field director Thomas J. Vallely, both then 22, in the basement of a Lowell building that housed the headquarters of Kerry and another Democratic contender, state Representative Anthony R. DiFruscia of Lawrence. It was almost 2 a.m. - 30 hours before the polls opened - when the two were arrested on charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny.

That day's Sun blared a memorable, double-deck headline: "Kerry brother arrested in Lowell `Watergate."' DiFruscia, getting some extra ink in the campaign's waning hours, had drawn the parallel to the break-in at Democratic headquarters in Washington three months earlier.

The Kerry camp declared it a setup, saying that the two responded to an anonymous phone call, minutes earlier, threatening to cut the campaign's 36 phone lines on the day before its get-out-the-vote effort. Lowell Police arrested the pair in an area near the trunk line for all of the building's phones.

To this day Kerry becomes animated talking about the episode, convinced it was part of a conspiracy against his insurgency. He said he does not know who was involved. He dismissed as ridiculous the charge that DiFruscia was a target. "He didn't figure in the race," said Kerry.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061803.shtml

[seventhson]

5. The Skull and Bones Chickens come home to roost

How does an opponent in a primary "not figure in the race"?

All three of these guys are STILL in Kerry's campaign.

If it were you and me we might still be in jail.

[bigtree]

11. I know how you like to include all of the quotes

Kerry's brother today declines to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the arrests and the charges, which were dropped a year later.

"It was an impulsive, rash thing that we did and that John Kerry ended up having to deal with," said Cam Kerry, now a partner at the Boston law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. "That's all we're going to say on that one."

Vallely, a former Marine who served in Vietnam and later became a state representative in Boston, had more to say.

"I kicked in the door," he said, and then, police swarmed the area. Vallely said DiFruscia's office was of no interest; the Kerry phone lines were. In hindsight, he said, "We probably were overreacting to someone who was joking."


Big nothing. That's why John won that election.

[bigtree]

6. here we go again. sorced from a republican rag

Insight on the News is a national biweekly newsmagazine published in Washington by the Washington Times Corp. As Newsweek is the sister publication of the Washington Post, Insight is the sister publication of the Washington Times.



Tell me, do you agree with everything this republican rag and its hacks write? Or just the drivel about John Kerry?

[IndianaGreen]

7. The Boston Globe carried the same story

I guess any source that says anything negative about Kerry is to be immediately dismissed as a GOP rag.

It won't work!

[Forkboy]

9. And while the Globe has been hard on Kerry

it's not even close to a right-wing rag.That would be the Boston Herald.

[bigtree]

12. Check the Globe story

Stir up old news, but it doesn't amount to anything more than grousing. You don't have proof that John did anything wrong, and the charges were dropped. I know you think some big conspiracy exists but this is an old story that got nowhere. He won that election. Trust the people.

You don't have any proof that they were'nt responding to a legitimate threat to the phone lines. But you will insist to push the innuendo. That's all it is you know. That's right. You do know. Anything to bring him down, notwithstanding protests to the contrary.

See how easy it is to assume?

[Forkboy]

14. Just pointing out that the Globe isn't right-wing

[Old and In the Way]

36. Owned by the New York Times

It's not the same paper that it was when the Taylor family owned it...believe me.

[Forkboy]

39. I live here...I know who owns it

I know that it's not the paper it was.

I know also that it's still a far cry from being a right wing rag.

[Old and In the Way]

41. Then you know Joan Vennochi's hit peices on Kerry and Jeff Jacoby's

RW slant on everything. Not my idea of the liberal paper that I knew back in the early 70's...not even close.

Great sports section, though.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Were the charges dropped because they were Skull & Bones?

Remember how the Kennedys helped Michael Skakel avoid prosecution for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley in Greenwich?

Skull & Bones's power comes from the influence of its members.

[bigtree]

19. SKULL&BONES

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[DaisyUCSB]

20. Skakel is innocent and the only reason he has been set up

is because racist Hannity-buddy Mark Fuhrman wrote a frame-up book designed to implicate him

[IndianaGreen]

21. Skakel was convicted by a jury of his peers

Sorry, but the jury saw all of the evidence and Skakel was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Author responds to Kennedy article in 'Atlantic Monthly'

Updated Feb. 6, 2003, 9:42 a.m. ET
Author responds to Kennedy article in 'Atlantic Monthly'

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — Author Dominick Dunne denies accusations by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he unfairly pushed for the murder conviction of Kennedy's cousin Michael Skakel.

"He was convicted of murder -- not by me, but in a court of law by a jury of his peers -- and that can never be erased," Dunne wrote in an article published in the March issue of Vanity Fair.

<snip>

Dunne also challenged Kennedy's assertion that police were not intimidated by the wealthy and well-connected Skakels, saying a former Greenwich police officer told him they were.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/moxley/020603_dunne_ap.html

[seventhson]

18. And the Boston Herald endorsed Kerry

Funny thing those right wing rags

[Old and In the Way]

35. Yes, it's true......John Kerry was the 1st person to ever play hardball

in Massachussetts politics. It was quite the scandel at the time.

Seriously now, that's a plus for John when he goes up against the masters of dirty politics. John knows how to play the game.

[jbfam4]

13. HUMMMMM

Could this be the info that Hannity said he had on Kennedy?

[seventhson]

23. If we send this out to the media and Dean and Edwards campaign

en masse - it is bound to get some play.

it MIGHT get some play somewhere.

I sent it out big time to many mainstream media outlets. (See locked thread here):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=194223

If it is not picked up by tomorrow it WILL come out if we keep hammering at it. For those who are troubled by Kerry and Bones especially this action might help.

Peace and thanks to those who are supportive on this!

I think this story is HUGE!

[bigtree]

24. spreading crap

Aren't you noble and proud? I view these candidates as no less human than I, and I believe we should treat them as we would have others treat us. This is obviously a gleeful attempt to smear and bring down a decent public servant, and more importantly, a fellow human. With all of the crap you are spreading (See locked thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=194223) I am surprised anyone is following your advice on anything.

You are playing to the lowest instincts. Your rumor mongering and distortions serve to reflect only on yourself. This is not debate, this is character assasination of a fine man. No one believes the crap excuses for it. This form of politics is sickening.

[IndianaGreen]

25. Did you complain when Dean was getting bashed for a solid month?

This is the primary season, and everything that has been posted is from a published article. Kerry is getting back but a fraction of what his campaign, together with Gephardt's, has done.

[seventhson]

30. Maybe we Dems need to look at it carefully before Bush gets ahold of it

if we dismiss it too cavalierly and it turns out to be true crap, then we would be remiss in our civic duties.

Let's get the facts before we give Kerry any benefit of presuming he is squeaky clean.

[IndianaGreen]

31. We don't want to nominate a loser to go against Bush

and Kerry's endless flip-flops make him extremely vulnerable. In fact, Bush doesn't have to do anything other than show video clips of Kerry contradicting himself.

[oasis]

26. Stalegate.

[sandnsea]

27. Charges dismissed, in the article

1972. They got a phone call that their phone lines were going to be cut and went into the building. Mysterious phone tip and then the police just happen to show up when they're in the building. Riiight.

This is really reaching.

[IndianaGreen]

29. Everyone thought that Watergate was a third-rate burglary

and look at what happened.

This incident may reveal more about the values and character of the candidate and some of his friends.

[La_Serpiente]

33. Amazing

Printing right-wing trash on DU from INSIGHT MAGAZINE!!!!

Get a life you guys. This is below DU.

[IndianaGreen]

34. The same story appears in The Boston Globe

Kerry supporters cannot explain away this mini-Watergate which can be evidence of things to come. Kerry could become another Nixon!

[La_Serpiente]

37. what happened to them?

Were they found guilty? Was there any hard evidence of wrongdoing? The Justice System did its work and the case is closed.

There is no reason why anyone should be pushing this shit.

You seem like a good researcher IndianaGreen. If you have any evidence as to whether Kerry was guilty or not, that would be great. So far, I don't see any hard evidence of it.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Moderator]

42. locking - conservative news source

This article is from the magazine of the Washington Times, Insight Magazine.

http://www.insightmag.com/

7. You may not post any material from extreme right-wing sources, specifically WorldNetDaily.com, Newsmax.com, FreeRepublic.com, and their ilk. Material from more "mainstream" conservative writers or sources, such as The Washington Times and Fox News, are permitted as long as the post includes a clear warning about the source. (For example: "WARNING: Please note that this article is written by George Will.")