Reply #23: Ponnuru's Oct. `91 article was not the FIRST one on Kerry's two letters [View All]

[JaneQPublic]

The story was reported earlier, on March 1991, as a "Notebook" item in The New Republic (note the below dates in bold):

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Turns out I was giving Kerry too much credit. Rather than take a side--albeit the one he thought was most expedient--Kerry actually stood on both sides of the first Gulf war, much like he did this time around. Consider this "Notebook" item from TNR's March 25, 1991 issue, which ran under the headline "Same Senator, Same Constituent":

"Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition ... to the early use of military force by the US against Iraq. I share your concerns. On January 11, I voted in favor of a resolution that would have insisted that economic sanctions be given more time to work and against a resolution giving the president the immediate authority to go to war."

--letter from Senator John Kerry to Wallace Carter of Newton Centre, Massachusetts, dated January 22 <1991>

"Thank you very much for contacting me to express your support for the actions of President Bush in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush's response to the crisis and the policy goals he has established with our military deployment in the Persian Gulf."

--Senator Kerry to Wallace Carter, January 31 <1991>
Will someone PLEASE put this guy out of his misery? Please?
NOTE: Special thanks to TNR reporter-researcher Josh Benson for dredging up this item.

UPDATE: Ramesh Ponnuru was all over this story back in October of 2002. (As he points out, eerily self-consciously, what better evidence is there that conservatives will use this stuff against Kerry in the general election?)

http://www.tnr.com/etc.mhtml?pid=1261
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Actually, it's completely irrelevant WHO broke this story, but discussing help keeps the thread kicked!