Accusations Flying About Re: Mrs. Kerry

Received this from a Republican friend & thought I’d bring it to this forum; sunlight has a way of killing slime:

It was sent with the subject “Mrs. Kerry is scary”, which I find highly ironic considering the fear-mongering Republican media machine.

I don’t know if the all of the accusations are true, or even necessarily troublesome, but what struck me is that given the large sums of money donated by Mrs. Kerry, it seems quite possible that some could wind up in the pockets of questionable characters. Sort of like, when you donate money to United Way and one of the Boy Scout troop leaders they funded turns out to have molested a child; by their logic it could be argued that you supported pedophiles.

Anybody know anything about this G2 Bulletin?

So what’s the source of this bit of literary tripe? Or is it just one of those chain letter libels that makes its way around the net?

Rightists who claim to know what is “good for America” are no better than leftists who claim to know what is “the common good”. Delete the glurge.

I hear that she doesn’t even use ketchup, and secretly stocks her fridge with mayonaise. Anybody who will put that French concoction on their freedom fries just has to be a communist.

Ohhhhhhh she sounds like she might just kind of be a bit scary…best vote for Bush. We know he is scary. No use in taking a chance on maybes.

Ah yes, a little peering under rocks on the net reveals a Mr. Joseph Farah, the author of the posted article. Mr. Farah is an “independent journalist” who “reports stories that the mainstream media won’t” report. He appears to be a rightie talk-show hack with collaboration ties to Rush Limbaugh’s book, and who has published his own book “Taking America Back”. It seems that he has some journalism credentials, but I can’t get a take on his overall politics from the bit that I’ve read.

Oh. So Kerry’s a MASS Ketchup Man–more despicable even than a TX Oil Man.

Anti war groups? Justice for the acused? How can we tolerate this!

And even if they do…so?

Tentative agreement here…but please define “our.”

I sense fear of foreighers/fear of education/fear of the devil we do not know in support of the devil we do know. Fer Chrisakes, we’re not electing Teresa any more than we did Babs or Hillary.

Kerry’s opponents need to do better than this. I’m disappointed.

You can’t expect very much from idiots.

From a press release–dated March 2004–on the Tides Foundation’s web site:

Interestingly enough, the International Action Center is against Kerry/Edwards and plans to protest at the DNC.

The Mikklesons contacted The Heinz Endowments about it, and its president says it’s complete crap.

For what that’s worth.

Joseph Farah is a regular contributor to Worldnet Daily, and I’ve consistently found him to be entirely dishonest.

Check that: he’s also the founder of WorldNetDaily.

For those of y’all unfamiliar with it, it’s an extremely right-wing and evangelical Christian rag with, in my opinion, a sufficient history of lies, misinformation, and spin as to make it untrustworthy in the extreme, not to mention virtually unreadable.

You know, though, just slinging mud back doesn’t shed any light on the subject.

The Heinz Endowments has given some money to the Tides organization. And they are a very liberal organization in general. I wouldn’t give them one thin dime, myself.

But it seems that the grants in 2003 went to the Tides Center branch in Pittsburgh, for the following purposes:

Tides Center —Western Pennsylvania
For Sustainable Pittsburgh operating support
Howard Heinz Endowment $300,000

Tides Center—Western Pennsylvania
For the Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership for
development of the Pennsylvania Biodiversity
Conservation Plan
Vira I. Heinz Endowment $150,000

Tides Center —Western Pennsylvania
For southwestern Pennsylvania natural amenities
and green infrastructure plan
Howard Heinz Endowment $600,000

Tides Center —Western Pennsylvania
For the Cool Space Locator project
Howard Heinz Endowment $200,000

Tides Center —Western Pennsylvania
To support the second phase of the Youth Standards
initiative aimed at improving the quality of services
for youth ages 11–19
Vira I. Heinz Endowment $60,000

Tides Center —Western Pennsylvania
To support projects targeted at retaining young people
and encouraging community involvement via the
Sprout Fund
Howard Heinz Endowment $100,000

Tides Center—Western Pennsylvania
For the implementation of WorkKeys testing in high schools
Vira I. Heinz Endowment $250,000

Source: http://www.heinz.org/files/Report2002.pdf

The statement on the Tides Foundation website backs up this pattern of giving.

There’s nothing to see here. The worst that can be said is that giving the Tides Foundation this money let them use their own money to fund the National Lawyers’ Guild and CAIR. And that’s a big big stretch.

A debunking:

BTW, according to the May 03, 2004 issue of Newsweek (and probably other sources I’m too lazy to look up), Mrs. Kerry was a registered Republican until last year, so the implication from the OP’s quoted e-mail that she changed party affiliation when she married John Kerry is incorrect.

Oh. So what we have here is a whole houshold of flip-floppers. How’d we miss that! :slight_smile:

She DOESN’T SPEND John Heinz’s money. John Heinz is dead and buried - he doesn’t possess a dime. Teresa Kerry spends her own damn money.

For a party that correctly champions inheritance laws, Republicans are awfully quick to jump ship when it suits them.

An excellent point, Munch!

[bolding mine]
Why do they keep referring to it as his (John Heinz’) money - like he personally went out and sold all that ketchup and those pickles? Seems to me it’s hers now. And (mostly) she got it the same way he did - inheritance.

Take issue with how she spends her money, if you must (I don’t). But don’t call it his.

Damn my slow fingers and computer.
And you, too, Munch, while I’m at it, for beating me to the point! :wink:

Thanks.

Another line that pisses me off is the “is that someone you want sleeping on the next pillow to the President of the United States?” Why make it sound so sinister? Do you think she’s going to be up late at night plotting his murder by sticking a knitting needle through his ear or something? Christ, she’s a sincere woman who’s seemingly worked hard her whole life, and is charismatic enough to draw the romantic attention of influential and powerful men. That isn’t a bad thing.

Wow, glad I posted this! I was busy replying to the rest of this friend’s email while my babies nap & I just didn’t know anything about the Teresa Kerry accusations. Thanks for the links! Hopefully her circle of email friends will read the corrections I sent, who knows how much further it’s already gone. Wshew! :wink: Fighting ignorance is hard work!