Transcripts From a Chicken Hawk

March 19, 2002

On March 12th, in both a BuzzFlash Editorial and a BuzzFlash Reader Contribution, we called Tom DeLay a Chicken Hawk for making ridiculous comments about Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam and Kerry's questions about the Nixonian secrecy of the Bush Administration's War on Terrorism. Plenty of ridiculous things pour from Tom DeLay's mouth, but this latest blathering was almost without equal when backlit with DeLay's incredible (if not racist) statements regarding why he avoided service in Vietnam.

The BuzzFlash articles received a lot of attention from both the BuzzFlash Readers and the online community, including a nice mention in a Working For Change article by Bill Berkowitz. Today, a BuzzFlash Reader ran across the actual transcripts of DeLay's comments and we thought the offensive section should be posted on BuzzFlash for the world to see.

Hold your nose before reading it, because it really stinks.

* * *

The transcript is from the March 9, 2002 broadcast of CNN's Saturday Edition, with host Jonathan Karl.

KARL: Now, John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, possible candidate for president in two years, put out a very sharply worded or said a very sharply worded response to you when he was up in New Hampshire. Let me read you a little bit of what John Kerry said.

He said, "Let me clear tonight to Senator Lott and to Tom DeLay. One of the lessons I learned in Vietnam, a war they did not have to endure, those who try to stifle the vibrancy of our democracy and shield policies from scrutiny behind a false cloak of patriotism miss the real value of what our troops defend and how we best defend our troops. We will ask questions and we will defend our democracy."

That from John Kerry, obviously trying to make much of the fact that he is somebody who has served in war, he is somebody who has seen battle. What do you say to John Kerry?

DELAY: Well, the last I remember, Senator John Kerry was against the war in Vietnam even though he served in it, and went around the country undermining the military overseas in trying to fight this war and giving aid to those that were trying to run the war from Washington, DC

If we had had the leadership of a George W. Bush back in the Vietnam War days, we probably would not have lost that war. We would have gone in and won it. We would have given our soldiers the kinds of weapons that they needed. We would not have the rules of engagement that the liberals put on them. We would have allowed them to win this war.

And that's what happening here. George W. Bush is giving our military all of the support that they need. They are giving the military all of the weapons that they need, and giving them the international support from a coalition that they need. We're going to win this war because we are focused on it and we have a resolve to win it.

For the complete transcript, visit here:
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/09/tt.00.html

* * *