Kerry quote misconstrued (11/2)

By Brendan Nyhan

As the liberal groups Media Matters and FAIR have pointed out, a statement John Kerry made in late 2001 about the use of napalm and flamethrowers in Afghanistan is being misconstrued as an endorsement of the use of Afghan troops at Tora Bora, a policy he has recently criticized for allegedly allowing Osama Bin Laden to escape.

Here is the exchange in question, which comes from the December 14, 2001 edition of CNN's "Larry King Live":

CALLER: Hello. Yes, I would like to ask the panel why they don't use napalm or flamethrowers on those tunnels and caves up there in Afghanistan?

KING: Senator Kerry?

CALLER: My golly, I think they could smoke him [Osama bin Laden] out.

KING: Senator Kerry?

KERRY: Well, I think it depends on where you are tactically. They may well be doing that at some point in time. But for the moment, what we are doing, I think, is having its impact and it is the best way to protect our troops and sort of minimalize the proximity, if you will. I think we have been doing this pretty effectively and we should continue to do it that way.

Kerry did say that "what we are doing" was the "best way to protect our troops" and minimize their proximity to hostile forces. But he was speaking generally about tactics used to clear tunnels and caves; it's not clear that he was endorsing the decision to conduct the Tora Bora operation using Afghan troops working with US special forces.

However, several politicians and commentators have suggested that Kerry's statement explicitly endorsed the tactics used at Tora Bora. President Bush, for instance, said the following on Oct. 25:

Before Senator Kerry got into political difficulty and revised his views, he saw our actions in Tora Bora differently. In the fall of 2001, on national TV, Senator Kerry said this, "I think we have been doing this pretty effectively, and we should continue to do it that way." At the time, the Senator said about Tora Bora, "I think we've been smart. I think the administration leadership has done it well and we are on the right track." Well, all I can tell you is that I am George W. Bush, and I approve of that message.

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer and New York Times columnist David Brooks have all repeated the claim. Wallace, for instance, said on Sunday that "back in 2001 [Kerry] was asked about the question of letting Afghan warlords try to capture bin Laden, and this is what he had to say: '[I]t is the best way to protect our troops and sort of minimalize the proximity, if you will. I think we have been doing this pretty effectively and we should continue to do it that way.'" Brooks wrote Saturday that Kerry "supported the strategy of using Afghans to hunt him down," citing the quote in question as evidence. And Krauthammer made a similar claim on Oct. 29.

What happened at Tora Bora is still not totally clear. But what Kerry said on "Larry King" can easily be checked by any journalist who cares to investigate.

Update 11/13 11:23 AM EST: Brooks issued a correction today.

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11/2/2004 11:53:33 AM EST |

A voter's guide to spin (11/2)

By Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan

In the final days of the campaign, a new controversy has given the presidential candidates opportunity to deceive the public further, while a flurry of ads and statements have reprised some of this year's most outrageous spin.

Most recently, a great deal of debate has centered on missing explosives from the Al Qaqaa facility in Iraq. The Bush campaign has misrepresented the evidence, while the Kerry camp misrepresented when the explosives were allegedly stolen.

After Kerry first criticized Bush for allegedly failing to secure the explosives, which had been sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Bush campaign spokesperson Steve Schmidt suggested that Kerry's claim had been disproved. Citing a NBC News report that a US military unit did not find explosives during an April 10, 2003 visit to the site, Schmidt stated, "John Kerry today launched attacks against the president that have been proven false before the day is over," he said, adding that Kerry "said American troops did not secure the explosives, when the explosives were already missing." But the NBC report was not conclusive proof that the explosives were missing, as Tom Brokaw pointed out the following night. Video from a Minneapolis television station shows US troops on April 18, 2003 entering a bunker containing materials experts identify as one of the high explosives in question. President Bush also attempted to silence his opponent with the specious claim that Kerry was "denigrating the action of our troops and commanders."

For his part, Kerry released an ad in which he insinuates that Bush recently failed to guard the bunkers at Al Qaqaa, rather than over a year ago. "In Iraq," Kerry states, "George Bush has overextended our troops and now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly explosives."

The candidates have also continued to repeat some of their most deceptive arguments.

For instance, the Bush/Cheney campaign has continued to make the misleading claim that Kerry is the "most liberal" member of the United States Senate. On October 22, for example, Bush stated, "My opponent has earned -- and I mean earned -- his rank as the most liberal member of the United States Senate," and on October 26 Cheney said, "The nonpartisan National Journal magazine analyzed his record and named him the most liberal member of the United States Senate." Bush and Cheney are actually referring to National Journal's 2003 rankings of members of the Senate. Because the senator was campaigning for much of the year, the rating is based on a relatively small number of roll call votes. An evaluation of all contested Senate votes from the year by political scientist Keith Poole showed that Kerry fell near the middle of his party; likewise, experts at the Brookings Institution found that, over the course of his career, Kerry's votes have put him closer to the center of the Senate Democratic caucus than the left wing.

The Bush campaign also continues to unfairly imply that individual Kerry votes against large appropriations bills were actually a series of votes directed against specific provisions within those bills. In one recent example, an ad titled "No Limit," released on October 28, asserts that Kerry "voted against 87 billion for our troops in combat in the War on Terror. Against body armor, bullets and supplies." However, all of those claims are based on a single vote against a huge supplemental appropriations bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Finally, Cheney has distorted Kerry's 1997 book The New War. On October 26, the Vice President claimed that it "does mention Yasser Arafat, whom John Kerry praises as a statesman and a role model." However, Cheney's selective quotation of two phrases is a distortion. The Senator actually wrote that "Only eleven years have passed since those words appeared in print. If nothing else, this indicates the velocity of change in the late twentieth century. Terrorist organizations with specific political agendas may be encouraged and emboldened by Yasser Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman, while those whose only object is to disrupt society require no such 'role models.'" In context, it appears that Kerry was commenting on the perception of Arafat in the world, not endorsing the Palestinian leader.

On the other side of the aisle, the Kerry campaign continues to distort the president's position on Social Security. On October 27, for example, Kerry told an audience in Iowa that Bush would spend "Four more years of trying to sell you on the same old plan to privatize Social Security and cut your benefits." A moment later, he mentioned "the Bush plan to privatize Social Security and cut your benefits." Bush has not endorsed a specific plan, however, and has emphasized that any plan he might implement would not change benefits for those currently at or near retirement age.

Kerry has also repeatedly accused Bush of, as he put it on October 29, "tax giveaways for millionaires along with a higher tax burden for you." A press release on October 26 made this charge even more explicit, accusing Bush in a headline of "Shifting the Tax Burden to the Middle Class." As FactCheck.org has pointed out, however, while it is true that the middle class is paying a higher percentage of all taxes, the overall dollar amount paid by the middle class has declined. Kerry's claim that the Bush administration has implemented a "higher tax burden" is technically true but highly misleading.

The 2004 campaign has sadly proven that voters must look beyond candidates' words to get good information on which to base their vote.

Update (11/2): A version of this post appeared in our Philadelphia Inquirer column today.

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11/1/2004 07:01:32 PM EST |

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