Inside Politics

A surprising review

” ‘Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,’ the highly contested anti-Kerry documentary, should not be shown by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. It should be shown in its entirety on all the networks, cable stations and on public television,” New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley said yesterday in a review.

“This histrionic, often specious and deeply sad film does not do much more damage to Senator John Kerry’s reputation than have the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s negative ads, which have flooded television markets in almost every swing state. But it does help viewers better understand the rage fueling the unhappy band of brothers who oppose Mr. Kerry’s candidacy and his claim to heroism,” the reviewer said.

“Sinclair, the nation’s largest television station group, reaching about a quarter of United States television households, backed down this week and announced that it would use only excerpts from the 42-minute film as part of an hourlong news program about political use of the media, ‘A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media.’ That’s too bad: What is most enlightening about this film is not the depiction of Mr. Kerry as a traitor; it is the testimony of the former POWs’ describing the torture they endured in captivity and the shock they felt when celebrities like Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden visited their prisons in North Vietnam and sided with the enemy.”

Clinton’s dream job

Former President Bill Clinton has set his sights on becoming United Nations’ secretary-general, United Press International reports.

A Clinton insider and a senior U.N. source told the wire service that the 58-year-old former president would like to be named leader of the world body when Kofi Annan’s term ends early in 2006.

“He definitely wants to do it,” the Clinton insider said this week.

“A Clinton candidacy is likely to receive overwhelming support from U.N. member states, particularly the Third World,” UPI chief international correspondent Roland Flamini said. “Diplomats in Washington say Clinton would galvanize the United Nations and give an enormous boost to its prestige. But the former president’s hopes hang on a crucial question that will not be addressed until after the presidential elections: Can he get the support of the U.S. government — a prerequisite for nomination? ”

No color code

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry says he would discontinue the color-coded terror alerts issued by the Department of Homeland Security and find “some more thoughtful way of alerting America,” according to an interview to be published today in Rolling Stone magazine.

“I think Americans, sadly, laugh at it,” Mr. Kerry said, referring to the alerts. “They don’t know what to do.”

Mr. Kerry said he felt “a sense of bitter disappointment” by the ads run by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that questioned his conduct and the medals he received as a naval lieutenant during the Vietnam War. But he insisted that he and others had dealt effectively with the ad controversy, despite widespread criticism that his campaign had been slow to respond.

Story Continues →