Kerry, the Swift Boat Vets, and The Man Behind the Curtain

Lileks, (whose Bleat is read in the White House, by the way, which I discovered through Instapundit), points us to a preview of a Beer with presidential candiate John Kerry article that includes this tidbit:

Kerry says he loves competition, loves the feeling of it, throwing the lacrosse ball around, and talks about his greatest athletic moment: "A hat trick as a senior in the Harvard-Yale soccer game ... I think I got down on my knees and hit the ground."

Considering all the news that's come out about inconsistencies in John Kerry's depiction of his time in Vietnam via the Swift Boat Vets, when I come across a specific claim that Kerry makes about his past, a little alarm goes off in my head. Is it true that John Kerry scored a hat trick in a Harvard-Yale soccer game? Has anyone independently verified the facts?

Given all the time and resources in the world, I might take the time to investigate the hat trick story myself. Not that it's germane to the election, except as it speaks to his credibility.

Let's be clear. I am not asserting that John Kerry did not, in fact, score a hat trick against Harvard, nor have I seen anyone else claim this story to be false or exaggerated.

My point is that John Kerry's credibility about his past has sunk to such lows that anytime I see him state specifics I'm hoping there's independent testimony, a witness, a blogger like Captain Ed to check out the facts.

It seems I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Vietnam veterans opposing John Kerry have scored a hit with a tough TV ad that claims he lied about his war record — it makes swing voters think twice about backing Kerry, an independent study has found.

The ad planted doubts in the minds of 27 percent of independent voters who planned to vote for Kerry or leaned pro-Kerry. After seeing it, they were no longer sure they'd back him, the study found.

Speaking of the Swift Boat Vets, Mitch does an admirable job of knocking down the democrats attacks on the messengers. Although they're still keeping candidate Kerry away from the press so he won't have to answer questions about those pesky facts, the campaign must finally realize the story has legs. I caught out of the periphery of my vision some vets standing behind a Kerry podium. They again seemed to be attacking the messengers, rather than addressing the charges.

Ignore that man behind the curtain!

Comments

[Douglas]

Kerry did indeed score a hat trick
in the game against Harvard, and won
a letter for the 1965 Yale soccer
team, along with 15 other guys.

It should be noted the story of the
hat trick, and the notice of winning
the letter was the only mention of
Kerry on page 128 of the 1966 Yale
Classbook, where the story of the
soccer team is told. You can find
it at

http://mssa.library.yale.edu/madid/showzoom.php?id=pubs&seqnum=213&title=Yale+Class+of+1966&pg=1&imgNum=6675&PHPSESSID=9e42000ea4aa1c2f8bb787d1d53ef784

It says...

"Led by the offensive play of John
King, Derek Bush, John Griswold and
captain Joe Upton, and the superb
goal tending of sophomore John
Skrobat, the squad placed second
in the Ivy League with an 8-3 record."

What this tells me is that there were
at least five guys on the team that
had a bigger impact than John Kerry.

[DC]

Thanks Doug for checking out the hat trick story.

It's come to the point where one feels the need for independent confirmation of any fact the Senator claims for his bio.

[PederS]

Also see http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=250786