Newt: Kerry went to Paris and Negotiated with the Vietnamese

[DoYouEverWonder]

He spewing this stuff on FAUX right now.

This is their latest charge against Kerry. They claim they just found out he went to Paris, 3 times in secret and negotiated with the enemy.

These guys just keep upping the anti.

Oh and by the way, Newt where were you at the time. Screwing another wife?

[annxburns]

1. They must be panicking.

This is such bull crap.

[Fridays Child]

2. Kerry started the Vietnam War.

:smoke:

[merh]

17. Kerry with the help of big dawg's penis ...

they are to blame for all! <sarcasm and disdain dripping from my fingertips!>

[IndianaGreen]

3. Kerry did not "negotiate" with the Vietcong!

He did meet with members of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong delegation to the Paris peace talks, but he did not "negotiate," which has a sinister connotation.

The only ones to negotiate with the enemy were members of Reagan's 1980 Presidential campaign that met with Iranian representatives and told them that if Iran would keep the American hostages until after Election Day, that Reagan would give Iran a better deal than then President Jimmy Carter.

[dolstein]

12. But what the HELL was he doing meeting with them?

In case you weren't aware, the U.S. was still at war with North Vietnam. Just imagine if, say, Thomas Dewey had met with leaders of Germany in 1944.

[K-W]

15. Please do not equate the North Vietnamese to the Nazis.

For goodness sake.

[slojim240]

21. Somebody had to meet with them to stop that god-damned war!!

Evidently, our leaders at the time didn't have enough sense to meet for peace.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Many antiwar leaders met with the North Vietnamese

North Vietnam had been demonized by the propaganda machine and people did not know that had we allowed free elections in Vietnam in 1954, Ho Chi Minh would have been elected by a landslide.

"Uncle" Ho was Vietnam's George Washington!

[kentuck]

4. All along I thought that was Kissinger ??

I'm sure Kerry made some tough negotiations with the N Vietnamese..

[KittyWampus]

6. That. Is. Priceless.

One sentence sez it all...

:D

[annxburns]

5. how could a 26 year old low ranking naval officer

"negotiate" with the enemy?
Was he Kissinger? Was he in charge of the negotiations?

Horse-shit! Get the dems out there!

[Inland]

7. Good question. Seems to follow the pubbie smear tactic

Since Nixon did negotiate with the commies, the worst lie they can tell about Kerry is still not as "bad" as the truth about pubbies. Just another example.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. God forbid we should have a President with experience in Intl relations

stretching back 35 years. :eyes:

That's aside from the fact that Newt's characterization is false and deceptive.

[sangh0]

9. Sangha: Bush* went to Crawford and negotiated with Al Queda

.

[dolstein]

10. He met with the North Vietnamese, and I find this disturbing

It wasn't quite on the order of what Hanoi Jane did, but I find it pretty disturbing. I certainly hope Kerry got the approval of the State Department first. I thought it was treasonous when the Nixon campaign interfered with peace talks in 1968. I'm sure most DU'ers would agree. You'd have to be a flaming hypocrite not to have serious reservations about Kerry meeting with representatives of North Vietnam himself.

[KittyWampus]

13. Funny, You Swallow This Whole Without Question

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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

[dolstein]

20. Try answering the question

What the HELL was John Kerry doing meeting with representatives of North Vietnam while peace talks were still in progress.

Either he did or he didn't. If he did, then he damn well should have cleared his actions with the state department.

[sangh0]

31. Try reading the thread. Particularly post #18

It answers your question. Kerry spoke to the North Vietnamese to find out their position on returning POWs

The traitor! Care to tell us about how Hitler, Fonda, and Nixon all "interfered" with negotiations on behalf of POWs?

[KittyWampus]

35. What Do You Think? Sabotaging Talks So The War WOULD DRAG ON!!!

He was a conflicted Anti-War Activist who really didn't want the peace talks to work.

:eyes:

[sangh0]

37. Kerry wanted to find out NV's position on returning POWs

That's the "treason" Dolstein is referring to. See post #18

[KittyWampus]

38. Since You're So Smart Why Don't YOU Tell Us

about Kerry SECRETLY negotiating with the Viet Cong...

and maybe provide some documentation without resorting to freeperland.

[sangh0]

39. He'd rather imply TREASON

without knowing the facts. Sound familiar?

[sangh0]

19. You are wrong to compare Kerry's acts to Nixon's

Nixon DID negotiate, but Kerry did not so there's no reasonable comparison to be made. Kerry exercised his rights without interfering with our govts diplomatic efforts. Nixon committed a crime.

[dolstein]

26. What "rights" was he exercising?

I wasn't aware that we as private citizens the right to meet with representatives of an enemy government during wartime.

If he wasn't negotiating with the North Vietnamese, then what the hell was did doing? Having tea? Telling dirty jokes? Swapping recipes?

[sangh0]

Free speech, and you should be more aware of your rights

Private US citizens have the right to meet with representatives of enemy governments during wartime UNLESS legislation has been passed specifically prohibiting it, such as the legislative sanctions against Cuba. They just don't have the POWER to negotiate on behalf of the US Government

If he wasn't negotiating with the North Vietnamese, then what the hell was did doing? Having tea? Telling dirty jokes? Swapping recipes?

See post #18. Kerry was finding out about the NV's position on returning POW's.

[A_Possum]

24. Check out Kerry's actual testimony

before you make assumptions. It's posted below #18.

A number of people including Senator McCarthy and others met with BOTH delegations in Paris.

[slojim240]

27. At some point, you must meet with the enemy to have peace.

Every war that ever ended, ended with a meeting of enemies otherwise the war never ended.

[dolstein]

30. That;s for GOVERNMENT officials to do, not private citizens

Kerry wasn't a government official. He wasn't acting on behalf of the government. He was a private citizen. He had no business meeting with the North Vietnamese. That was, at best, a display of incredibly poor judgement and, at worst, treasonous.

[sangh0]

36. Wrong

There's a long history of private citizens meeting with the leaders of nations we're at war with. Armand Hammer is one name that pops up in my mind.

He had no business meeting with the North Vietnamese. That was, at best, a display of incredibly poor judgement and, at worst, treasonous.

Kerry wanted to find out about the NV's position on returning POW's. How is that treasonous?

[merh]

28. Only serious reservations I have is that * protects Usama's family

and got them out of the country -- VietNam is over - the evil is what we have in office now!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. Dude was a private citizen, and not in any position to "negotiate"

or give anything away to the N. Vietnamese. Sheesh.

[dolstein]

16. Being a "private citizen" has nothing to do with it

Jane Fonda was a private citizen when she went to Hanoi. That hardly excuses what she did. The same for Kerry.

[sangh0]

23. Wrong again

You seem to think that any all contacts with a foreign official are equal.

Nixon committed a crime
Fonda accused American soldiers and took the side of the N Vietnamese

Kerry did neither.

[emulatorloo]

25. Faux Newt Rush Swiftboat ETC ARE NOT CREDIBLE SOURCES for information

lets reserve judgement before condemning Kerry based on their "spin"

Maybe you forgot "Clinton Killed Foster" or the more recent "Kerry Screwed an Intern"

[IndianaGreen]

41. Kerry did not travel to Paris in secret, nor did he meet in secret

and he was not alone either!

The smear is when Newt characterizes Kerry as negotiating with the North Vietnamese/Vietcong delegation.

The real problem is that we are still debating a war that ended 35 years ago instead of talking about the war that is raging in Iraq today.

If there is any lesson to be derived from Vietnam is that any strategy to "stay the course" or "peace with honor" will only prolong the conflict. This is why we must pressure the candidates to commit to an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq, otherwise the next President will be consumed as Nixon was by antiwar resistance.

[A_Possum]

18. Well I told ya

I was predicting this two weeks ago, but all I got was guff from DU'ers.

And they didn't "just find out," bah, Kerry talked about it in his senate testimony. He didn't go in secret, and a number of congressmen had also spoken to the delegations in Paris.

The truth--Nixon was stalling and men were dying and Kerry was trying to make sure that returning the POW's was part of the deal. If he'd done anything illegal, he would have been arrested on the way out of the chamber. But he wasn't, he was treated with considerable respect by the Congressional Committee.

After they spin this Paris stuff, the next thing you will hear is, Kerry negotiated with the Communists in Nicaragua. Count on it.



**********
Kerry, the Congressional Record, 1971

The Chairman: Do you support or do you have any particular views about any one of them you wish to give the committee?

Mr. Kerry: My feeling, Senator, is undoubtedly this Congress, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I do not believe that this Congress will, in fact, end the war as we would like to, which is immediately and unilaterally and, therefore, if I were to speak I would say we would set a date and the date obviously would be the earliest possible date. But I would like to say, in answering that, that I do not believe it is necessary to stall any longer. I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh's points it has been stated time and time again, and was stated by Senator Vance Hartke when he returned from Paris, and it has been stated by many other officials of this Government, if the United States were to set a date for withdrawal the prisoners of war would be returned. (The same POW's who were so "devastated" by this attempt to get them freed sooner rather than later?)

I think this negates very clearly the argument of the President that we have to maintain a presence in Vietnam, to use as a negotiating block for the return of those prisoners. The setting of a date will accomplish that...




Mr. Kerry: Senator, if I may interject, I think that what we are trying to say is we do have a method. We believe we do have a plan, and that plan is that if this body were by some means either to permit a special referendum in this country so that the country itself might decide and therefore avoid this recrimination which people constantly refer to or if they couldn't do that, at least do it through immediate legislation which would state there would be an immediate cease-fire and we would be willing to undertake negotiations for a coalition government. But at the present moment that is not going to happen, so we are talking about men continuing to die for nothing and I think there is a tremendous moral question here which the Congress of the United States is ignoring.

The Chairman: The congress cannot directly under our system negotiate a cease-fire or anything of this kind. Under our constitutional system we can advice the President. We have to persuade the President of the urgency of taking this action. Now we have certain ways in which to proceed. We can, of course, express ourselves in a resolution or we can pass an act which directly affects appropriations which is the most concrete positive way the Congress can express itself.

But Congress has no capacity under our system to go out and negotiate a cease-fire. We have to persuade the Executive to do this for the country.

Mr. Kerry: Mr. Chairman, I realize that full well as a student of political science. I realize that we cannot negotiate treaties and I realize that even my visits in Paris, precedents had been set by Senator McCarthy and others, in a sense are on the borderline of private individuals negotiating, et cetera. I understand these things. But what I am saying is that I believe that there is a mood in this country which I know you are aware of and you have been one of the strongest critics of this war for the longest time. But I think if can talk in this legislative body about filibustering for porkbarrell programs, then we should start now to talk about filibustering for the saving of lives and of our country. (Applause.)

And this, Mr. Chairman, is what we are trying to convey.



**********

on edit: removed a doubled post of part of the testimony

[annxburns]

32. Wow, Newt - what a SECRET!

YOu investigative journalist you ....

[greatauntoftriplets]

29. In Paris in 1971.....

I walked past the building where the Paris Peace Talks were being held. They took one look at me and decided to keep negotiating.

[MasonJar]

33. Is that the same Vietnamese that we were allegedly trying to

protect? Or is that the Vietnamese that are now our allies?

[edbermac]

34. Newt went to Saigon to negotiate with the Vietnamese for pre-teen oral.

It's a well known fact!

:nopity:

[MrBenchley]

40. Thank Christ! Maybe our boys can leave Saigon soon....

You know, the more they spew this stuff, the more it becomes apparant they can't discuss any issues in THIS century...

[liberal N proud]

42. Didn't John McCain work with Kerry on this?

I am not sure, and I can't find any information, but I was under the impression that McCain also worked woth Kerry on normalizing relations with Vietnam.
If someone knows more, please share.