Why the Long Face? Kerry caught in damage-control lie.

[Vis Numar]

No, not Botox! Notorious campaign contributior Johnny Chung (remember him?)

http://slate.msn.com/id/2094809/

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Mikey forgot to add Kerry returned the money

Oops!

[lancdem]

2. Just a small omission

:eyes:

[NoMoreRedInk]

3. All candidates get busted doing this and have to return the money...

It happens to every campaign every year. It's nice that they're allowed to make amends after they get caught, and if it's our candidate, we accept the give-back as proper penance and move on. If it's their guy, we moan and groan about it.

They do the same thing on the other side of the aisle.

I got caught stealing a car two months ago. After I got caught, I gave it back. Nothing happened. How nice is that?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. So the republicans have returned cash to the healthcare industry for the

medicare bill?

Wrong. Kerry was CLEARLY unaware of who Johnny Chung was. He did a favor for a supporter as ANY candidate would do..and when it turned out to NOT be the right thing to do, he did the right thing.

To me this situation is no worse than the situation John McCain unwittingly found himself in with the S and L industry a few years back.

Somehow, he survived and gets more applause on DU than John Kerry, a lifelong liberal Democrat! Go figure!

[David Dunham]

4. Mikey Kaus is a Dino of the worst sort; he loves GWB

[dsc]

6. funny I was called a crackpot who attacked the messanger

when I pointed this out after he attacked Dean. Gee how things change.

[lancdem]

9. Josh Marshall says Mickey thinks every Dem candidate/front-runner/

president in the last 10 years has a "character problem." http://talkingpointsmemo.com

Is Kaus really a Dem???

[bushwakker]

12. He's a Dem the same way Zell Miller is a Dem

meaning no he's not a Dem

[lancdem]

13. What about the Bush admin. WMD and other lies?

No "character problem" there, huh, Mickey?

[dsc]

14. You don't have to convince me

Unlike most of the people complaining now I had him pegged when he was attacking Dean. Back then he was considered a great man by most people who are complaining now.

[ramapo]

7. Newsweek too

Don't remember them mentioning the money was returned either though I didn't read the article carefully.

Expect more as the media digs deep to help Bush out.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Check out what Mediawhoresonline.com thinks of Isikoff

The guy that made Julie Steele's life a living hell.

[dsc]

15. again back when he trashed Dean

and I pointed out what a scum bucket Isikof is I was called attacking the messanger. Gee that is funny how it works.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. Gosh did I do that to you?

I don't think so. Can you save the venom for the ass that did?

[dsc]

20. It wasn't venom

It was simple honesty. For Kerry supporters to now have complaints about these journalists rings very hollow. If you didn't care then, and to my knowledge you uttered not one word, then why should I care now?

[bushwakker]

8. Kaus was trashing Dean

before he turned his attention to Kerry. He's, one of these a-holes (Zell Miller, Chris Matthews and Camille Paglia come to mind)that like to proclaim themselves Dems then proceed to trash the party and its leaders. They do this because they think it gives them some kind of credibilty and a veneer of independence. Actually it's just plain greed and cowardice.

[lancdem]

11. I don't see how any Dem with a brain

could support Chimpy. There's no rational reason, period.

[dsc]

16. funny virtually every Kerry supporter

called me a bitter crack pot when I pointed out what a scum he is.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. Virtually every Kerry supporter?

Isn't that a bit hyperbolic?

[dsc]

21. maybe

but I don't recall even one giving a hoot back when it was Dean being attacked. They may not all have cheered but they sure didn't mind either.

[Adjoran]

19. McCain wasn't "unwittingly" involved

with Keating. Keating was a campaign donor, McCain did favors for him. His involvement wasn't as deep as the other "Keating Five" Senators, but he was taking money and using influence.

It was that experience that woke McCain up, and led him to champion CFR. He's certainly rehabilitated himself, but that doesn't mean he was innocent at the outset.

It's not whether you give the money back when the story hits the press. It's whether you take it in the first place. Most in DC take it. But no Senator took more in the last 15 years from lobbyists than Kerry.

The defense "they got nothing in return" will only hold up if a careful examination of the voting record shows Kerry voting against these contributors most of the time. IF he did, why do you suppose they kept giving him cash? Just to piss off the corporations who hired them to lobby?