VC surfaces
A new four-legged angle — actually a dog named “VC” — has suddenly materialized surrounding Sen. John Kerry‘s swift boat service in Vietnam.
In a 2004 presidential candidate questionnaire for Humane USA, Mr. Kerry was asked whether any pets have had an impact on his life.
“I have always had pets in my life, and there are a few that I remember very fondly,” Mr. Kerry replied. “When I was serving on a Swift Boat in Vietnam, my crewmates and I had a dog we called VC.
“One day as our Swift Boat was heading up a river, a mine exploded hard under our boat,” he continued. “After picking ourselves up, we discovered VC was MIA (missing in action). Several minutes of frantic search followed, after which we thought we’d lost him. We were relieved when another boat called asking if we were missing a dog.”
Said Mr. Kerry: “It turns out VC was catapulted from the deck of our boat and landed, confused but unhurt, on the deck of another boat in our patrol.”
J.J. Scheele, program director of Humane USA, confirmed yesterday that her organization did, in fact, receive the above statement from the Kerry campaign.
No military records on Mr. Kerry’s Web site, which aides say is a complete accounting, mention a mine exploding under his boat or any dog. The only report of a mine detonating “near” Mr. Kerry’s PCF 94 was March 13, 1969, when Mr. Kerry says he was injured and a man knocked overboard.
Magic cookies
Washington publicist Janet Donovan, who normally pens “Hollywood on the Potomac” (Congressional Quarterly signed her to write “Hollywood on the Charles” at the Democratic convention and “Hollywood on the Hudson” for next week’s Republican convention in New York City), says that despite rumors to the contrary the Bush vs. Heinz Kerry cookie cook-off remains in the oven.
“The First Lady Cookie Cook-Off sponsored by Family Circle has not come up with a winner yet,” says Ms. Donovan, noting that Fox News’ Brit Hume delivered a retraction on previous reports that the cookies were baked and Teresa Heinz Kerry‘s “pumpkin spice” cookies had crumbled.
“Not so,” says Ms. Donovan.
According to the magazine, the winner will not be announced until November. And these are no ordinary cookies.
“So far, the cookie contest has predicted the winner in the last three presidential elections,” says Susan Ungaro, editor-in-chief of Family Circle. She says it was Hillary Rodham Clinton once remarking of her public service career — “I could have stayed at home and baked cookies and had teas” — that became the impetus for the contest.
Mrs. Clinton went on to win with that inaugural contest with her chocolate-chip cookie recipe. Not only did she outbake then-first lady Barbara Bush, four years later in 1996, she “left Elizabeth Dole in a sticky situation with her pecan rolls,” Ms. Donovan notes.
Special delivery
Here’s one way to greet constituents during the August congressional recess.
When he wasn’t in Washington for the September 11commission hearings, Rep. J. Randy Forbes, Virginia Republican, donned a UPS uniform and spent the day riding along with UPS driver Glen Schrader.
The efficient delivery pair began their day in Richmond and made their last drop in Chesterfield.
Killer advice
Just in case anyone was wondering what one glorified cop killer thinks about the presidential campaign, Mumia Abu-Jamal has weighed in with his advice to Democrats.
“For millions of people, there exists in their minds, in their hearts a hunger for change,” Abu-Jamal writes in the latest issue of Workers World. “That hunger is becoming a driving force in the upcoming elections, and is being expressed in a way that can best be summed up: ‘Anybody But Bush.’”
Abu-Jamal’s death sentence for gunning down Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Faulkner in 1981 has made him an idol to many extreme leftists. The convicted murderer regularly contributes columns to Workers World, the weekly journal of a Marxist revolutionary party that is the main sponsor of International ANSWER, which in turn is a major sponsor of protests at next week’s Republican convention in New York.
From death row in a Pennsylvania state prison, Abu-Jamal warns his fellow Marxists of “problems” with supporting Sen. John Kerry:
“One of Kerry’s selling points is his plan to appeal to Europe to give a hand to the American colonial project in Iraq, instead of the cold shoulder which the Bush regime has received since the invasion and occupation of Iraq. …
“When, or if, a President Kerry speaks softly and perhaps in French to Europeans, seeking an infusion of European troops into the rolling ruins of a burning Iraq, he will hear a polite yet firm response: ‘Pardon! Monsieur Kerry — mais non!’”
John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.
