T. Boone Chickens

[meegbear]

You might have been following the (possibly drunken) mouthings of T. Boone Pickens from the American Spectator dinner the other night:

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt."

Pickens' original boast (again, I'm not discounting the possibility the man was shit-faced and egged on), for incontrovertible proof of one lie, just one, that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth told during the 2004 Presidential campaign.

Hell, I don't have access to any of the factual material and I'd take that challenge on in a heartbeat!

Kerry took Pickens' challenge head on, and good for him, because as with bullies of all stripes...Pickens' chickens out!:

Dear Senator Kerry:
So glad to hear from you regarding the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth political ad campaign, and an offer I made public at an American Spectator dinner in Washington, D.C. last week. I am intrigued by your letter, and am certainly open to your challenge.

My concern at the Spectator Dinner was, and continues to be, that you and other political figures were and are maligning the Swift Boat Veterans, and I want to prevent this important part of American history from being unfairly portrayed.

In order to disprove the accuracy of the Swift Boat ads, I will ultimately need you to provide the following:

1) The journal you maintained during your service in Vietnam.
2) Your military record, specifically your service records for the years 1971-1978, and copies of all movies and tapes made during your service.

When you have done so, if you can then prove anything in the ads was materially untrue, I will gladly award $1 million. As you know, I have been a long and proud supporter of the American military and veterans' causes. I now challenge you to make this commitment: If you cannot prove anything in the Swift Boat ads to be untrue, that you will make a $1 million gift to the charity I am choosing -- the Medal of Honor Foundation.

Gee...T. Boone...you never put conditions in your original challenge as the nature of the proof or anything beyond disproving one claim.

Did you wake up the next morning, take a couple of Excedrin, and as you were reviewing your performance the night before while shaving, nick yourself when you came to the sudden realization that, yes, indeedy, the one man who could factually, definitively and factually refute not just one, but any number of claims, would drop that bomb on you?

"Maligning the Swift Boat Veterans" is undoubtedly the funniest turn of phrase I've heard since Bruce Cutler said this in defense of John Gotti: "He has threatened to kill hundreds of people, and all the people that have been threatened on tape by John are alive and well, or, if not, they died of natural causes."

So who is T. Boone Pickens? Well, you could describe him in several ways: failed venture capitalist, failed political king maker, failed philanthropist, failed father...are ya seeing a pattern here?

Oh...and he's an executive director of the Rudy Giuliani campaign.

Nuff said.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/2007/11/t-boone-chickens.html

[Adelante]

1. Chicken Pickens

Coward.

[yardwork]

2. I think that Kerry has already released both those pieces of info.

[Jim__]

5. ... and copies of all movies and tapes made during your service.

If that's actually the condition, it's probably not doable. All movies and tapes ....

[yardwork]

7. I hope that Kerry releases everything he has and shoves it in Chicken's face.

This is no time to get technical. Kerry needs to release everything he's got - today.

[1corona4u]

14. I hope so too....

I can't imaging Kerry fabricating anything, or misrepresenting anything either. I wonder if chicken shit boy ever served? anyone know?

[karynnj]

13. He has released all his records to 3 newspapers

all of which verified that they were identical to what he had on his web site for over a year. (There was one additional page - that recommended accelerated promotion from his LAST Vietnam fitness report.

The reat is a fishing expedition.

Kerry's journal was a journal, not a diary. From the excerpts in Tour of Duty, he wrote about his insights, feelings, observations on what he saw, the country - including some beautiful passages describing the ecology, war - the concern that there was no meaning, concern about fitting back in. The surprise was how well he wrote - at times the prose was almost poetic. There was nothing quoted that glorified in war or in the medals he got. It was however written by a 25 year old - They are likely hoping for passages that would embarrass the 63 year old Senator. There likely are none - as he gave the journal to Brinkley with no editorial control. The main thing is there is nothing there that could prove or disprove any SBVT lie.

The films are films Kerry made. Someone who was involved in looking through them for either Going Up River or the campaign posted here years ago that the tapes had VERY little Kerry on them. Kerry was filming the scenery or the boats when they were NOT on missions. From memory, Kerry filmed his crew and they him walking towards the camera and had his family send copies to their families. He said there was not a single aggressive pose - remember that in 2004, we saw the same few minutes of film in everthing. They are going by RW rumors that Kerry re-created events like those he got medals for on tape- that Kerry tried to squelch in early 2003 by showing the Jon Keller (NYT) all the films. That never made sense as they never gained control of the land around the canals - so to do that he would have put his crew at huge risk - which he clearly wouldn't do.

The problem they have with the records is that none say Kerry was a coward, traitor and a bad person. Because they can not except that a MA Democrat was a brave highly decorated hero causes their minds to explode. Even if Kerry gave them all this personal information - they would ask for more. After all, maybe he did something wrong in grade school (except is was their sociopath who blew up frogs and branded kids).

[Jim__]

3. Chicken Pickens adds conditions.

I guess he knows how easy it is to prove the Swift Boat Liars lied.

[BobRossi]

4. Just another chickenhawk.

[rasputin1952]

6. As usual, the "conditions" are beyond the scope of what can

actually be delivered. Pickens and his ilk believe that war is a John Wayne movie, cameras everywhere to take only the best shots, editors by the battalion to ensure that only the correct angles are taken...etc.

Since Pickens and his ilk have never stood among those who have had been thrust into the maelstrom, he has no notion that when one is being hammered by mortars, rockets and small arms fire...about the last thing anyone is worried about is how this will look on film. That is why there are Combat Photographers, and they are few and far between, generally not putting themselves into the line of fire just to make sure that some jerk like Pickens can get his rocks off on calling a soldier, sailor, airman or marine some kind of "phony".

Hey...Pickens...how much money did you make during those years when you sat at home speculating on the escalating cost of the war, and how your coffers could be filled while our men and women bled on distant fields. You are nothing more than a coward that reeks of his own urine and fecal stained clothing.

You disgust me.

[rox63]

8. This item summarized the whole story quite nicely

Story has a Swift ending

November 19, 2007
BY ZAY N. SMITH Sun-Times Columnist

News Item: Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, a bankroller of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, offers $1 million to anyone who can show that any of the charges the group made was false.

News Item: John Kerry quickly accepts the challenge, telling Pickens in a letter that "I trust that you are a man of your word" and that the $1 million would go to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

News Item: T. Boone Pickens starts changing the conditions of his offer and otherwise backing out.

Some stories almost tell themselves.


Source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/quicktakes/657302,CST-NWS-qt19.article

[sinkingfeeling]

9. He also 'owns' Oklahoma State University's sports department. Has donated $millions to build new

football stadium, etc.

[PatGund]

10. It's unwinnable....

Kerry could produce proof verified by God with letters of flame, and the Swift Boat liars and their backers will still "choose to disbelieve it".

We're seeing this already - Kerry accepted, and Pickens moved the goalposts. If Kerry provides the info Pickens asked for - Pickens will do it again and again and again and again until Kerry *can't* provide the info and THEN claim victory.

Kerry *should* hold Pickens feet to the fire on the original bet Pickens made - but if Kerry had that kind of brass gonads, he would have won in 2004......

[calimary]

11. I like it! EXCELLENT name change. I hope it sticks. Straight up his ass.

t. boone CHICKENS.

[1corona4u]

12. Jeez....

what an asshole...

[Vickers]

15. Ask the Swift Drunkards to provide Idiot George's military record.

Plus, all of that excellent footage of him in Vietnam. :patriot:

[shireen]

16. he's not completely evil

During the Katrina disaster, Pickens financed several flights to get animals out of the area to west coast shelters where they were given medical treatment, then either reunited with their pet parents or adopted. I will ALWAYS be grateful to him and his wife for caring about our furry friends.

I'm in no way endorsing what he did to Kerry; it was despicable. But please realize that people are complex, they are capable of doing bad things, and good things.


Caption:
The Continental Airlines flight from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was chartered for about $50,000 by Texas oil tycoon Boone Pickens and his wife, Madeleine, in a movement dubbed "Operation Pet Lift."
Some dogs were placed in cages in the cargo section while others rode in the passenger cabin, where they barked and wagged their tails.
Source: http://savethepetskatrinarescue.blogspot.com/2005/10/dogs-in-flight-photo.html