# Gee, what a surprise. Kerry affair rumors were bogus **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 16, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541 "2004-02-16T20:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/21 "2004-02-16T22:42:34Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > I am shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you! The Shrieking Monkey Brigade is giving Kerry a pass? But after showing themselves to be so willing to pillory GWB over imagined faults and imaginary crimes, I was _sure_ that the same standard would have been applied to Kerry! The disillusionment is too much for me to bear! > > Oh, wait. Business as usual for you guys. N’ermind. Giving Kerry a pass for WHAT? There’s not even allegation. What are you _suggesting_ that he did? What “imaginary faults” has Bush been pilloried for? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/22 "2004-02-16T22:44:24Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > But after showing themselves to be so willing to pillory GWB over imagined faults and imaginary crimes, I was _sure_ that the same standard would have been applied to Kerry! We’re not done pillorying him over his _actual_ faults and crimes. We’ll wait until we run out of those or until he loses. We will then stop, unlike the yapping dogs still going after Bill Clinton more than three years after he left office… ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/23 "2004-02-16T22:46:26Z")
Yes Brutus, he’s been given a pass…a pass from what, nobody knows, because Drudge, “Drudged” up some shit which was unsubstantiated and unproven to say the least. Now with Drudge on the backpedal… As I said, yes, he’s been “given a pass”, in your words. GWB has committed 95% of all wrongs he’s been charged with. Kerry was charged with one count of “banging an intern”, and she turned out not to have even worked for him and firther, had a relationship with someone in his campaign, not him. What is there to be “given a pass” for? Sam ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/24 "2004-02-16T22:56:53Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > And speaking of Clinton, I guess the press really is wholly libera and hates all conservativel. Everyone knows how they covered that incident up. Aesiron, how did that “l” end up all the way over there? Oh yeah, and I can’t wait until Kerry is president. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/25 "2004-02-16T23:15:27Z")
Yo, Brutus? Do you remember when your boys had the audacity to impeach a President for lying to a grand jury over a blow job? The years-long shark hunt for that? Remember how Newt Gingrich promised he would mention infidelity at every press conference he gave, while he was banging his own intern and eventually divorced his second wife to marry her? Do you remember when a President had the audacity to give false information to Congress during a Constitutionally mandated State of the Union Address? How about when some of the Vice President’s staffers treasonously ratted out a CIA agent as a form of political retribution? Remember when they “accidentally” reported to Congress that drilling for oil in Alaska wouldn’t harm the elk herds when the data said it would? The Shrieking Monkey Brigade rides on the backs of elephants, my friend. You’d better remember that, or it’s going to cost you your country. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/26 "2004-02-16T23:38:36Z")
1. National Guard service (pre-Disco). 2. Who, exactly, are you scrogging? 3. Jessica, is she really that stupid? 4. Michael Jackson, can he get a fair trial? [sub]5. terrorism 5. economy 6. education[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/27 "2004-02-16T23:45:08Z")
> [@Beagle](#): > > 1. National Guard service (pre-Disco). > 2. Who, exactly, are you scrogging? > 3. Jessica, is she really that stupid? > 4. Michael Jackson, can he get a fair trial? > [sub]5. terrorism > 5. economy > 6. education[/sub] You forgot Janet’s boob. ---
**Author:** ![dave316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/28 "2004-02-16T23:48:49Z")
this non story blew up in Bush and Rove’s faces so bad The Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/29 "2004-02-16T23:53:05Z")
> [@dave316](#): > > this non story blew up in Bush and Rove’s faces so bad The Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level Alert Level Red-Face! Alert Level Red-Face! The chickens have come to roost! I repeat, the chickens have come to roost! ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/30 "2004-02-16T23:54:50Z")
> [@Sofa King](#): > > The Shrieking Monkey Brigade rides on the backs of elephants, my friend. You’d better remember that, or it’s going to cost you your country. Can I have this for my sig? Thanks, Robin ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/31 "2004-02-17T00:05:32Z")
My dear, you can have the screaming monkey off my back. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/32 "2004-02-17T00:08:34Z")
Next up from Matt Drudge: “KERRY MAY SUPPORT GAY CONVERSION - Cousin of Campaign Staffer Seen Buying Barbra Streisand Album!” Stop the presses! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/33 "2004-02-17T00:50:20Z")
> [@](#): > > **Kerry separated from his first wife, Julia Thorne, in 1983** , and they finalized their divorce in 1988. Thorne, who has since remarried an architect, has written an affecting book about depression, You Are Not Alone, **which describes her breakdown in 1980** while married to Kerry: “My mind ravaged by corroding voices, my body defeated by bone-rattling panics, I sat on the edge of my bed minutes from taking my life.” After the divorce, the couple’s two daughters (Alexandra, 29, is an actress and film student based in L.A.) stayed in Boston with their mother, who in her book credits her recovery to therapy and antidepressants. Meanwhile, Kerry commuted weekly from Washington to be with the girls. So her breakdown was three years before they split up. BTW…the divorce wasn’t final until 1988 [http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/n\_9522/index2.html](http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/n_9522/index2.html) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/34 "2004-02-17T00:55:55Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > …Ken Ya believe it?.. Drag him out and shoot him. I’ll swear out the warrant later. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/35 "2004-02-17T01:01:27Z")
By the way, where’s friend **Sam, the Canadian Eagle**? Surely we should have heard from good ol’ **Sam** about this? **Sam! Sam!!** Where you at, **Sam?** Olly-olly-oxen-free! ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/36 "2004-02-17T01:01:57Z")
This is not the end of the story, this is the beginning. Up until now the story was a “non-story”. The more mainstream press would not touch it. Now, with a denial, they can run with it. Are we really to believe that the Democrats, who see through all the Republican schemes to take the nipples out of infants’ mouths, will accept – on first blush – a denial? I’m not saying that infidelity should be an issue in presidential politics. But, politicians must decide if they are going to hold themselves out as “happily married men” and deny any contact with any other women, or just admit it. There has always been the “honey pot” scheme that allegedly dogged JFK. [aside] Why don’t the Democrats that worship JFK ever actually support any of his policies (lower taxes, strong defense)?[/a] Honey pot: Basically, a president with baggage in the closet could be manipulated, either by foreign agents or domestic blackmail. The Secret Service could be put in an unenviable position. Can’t blame Rove for this one. It was posted in the OP. > [@](#): > > **The statement did not address purported quotes by Polier’s parents in the British tabloid The Sun that were harshly critical of Kerry.** Then, in the Drudge article: > [@](#): > > \*\*She would joke that she was dating the next president of the United States, says a source. > > Polier’s flippant remarks and flirtatious manner, according to friends, fueled the intrigue.\*\* To me all this suggests that there is a fire under this smoke. Kerry has said that it is all BS. I wonder if he has records for where he was when the alleged sexual contact occurred. So, it’s multiple sourced, and there is a denial. Bringing up that National Guard issue might be the thing that eventually brings Kerry down. If I were one of the Democrats pulling the strings, I’d be thinking about a Plan B candidate with less damage control. Seriously, it’s not too late. Kerry’s numbers will only go down from here, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/37 "2004-02-17T01:29:11Z")
> [@Beagle](#): > > To me all this suggests that there is a fire under this smoke. Kerry has said that it is all BS. I wonder if he has records for where he was when the alleged sexual contact occurred. So, it’s multiple sourced, and there is a denial. Sometimes where there’s smoke, there’s just a stinkpot. None of the supposed multiple sources has (a) come forward to make a public accusation, or (b) offered anything, even to the Drudge sludgemeister, that backs up the original story – which was, you may recall, riddled with factual errors, such as stating that the woman was an intern (Hey, Monica!), when she’d never even worked for Kerry. Are you seriously suggesting that a denial from all parties involved, including the woman’s parents, should be read as “It’s all true! Pile-on time”? Or will Kerry and the woman have to document every moment of their lives to prove that there was never an occasion where they were in the same place at the same time? And then, no doubt, be accused of altering records. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Bringing up that National Guard issue might be the thing that eventually brings Kerry down. If I were one of the Democrats pulling the strings, I’d be thinking about a Plan B candidate with less damage control. Seriously, it’s not too late. Kerry’s numbers will only go down from here, IMO. And who says Kerry brought up the National Guard thing? In point of fact, it was the _Boston Globe_ that raised the issue in the 2000 election. Kerry has consistently refused to criticize Bush on that issue. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/38 "2004-02-17T02:00:28Z")
I’d just like to say: **Who gives a flipping fuck about politicians’ sex lives??? On what planet is that a reasonable basis upon which to choose a leader???** Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/39 "2004-02-17T02:05:06Z")
I think I’ll bookmark this link until the election. \. It’s an article from last year in the New Yorker by Joe Klein about Kerry–here’s most of the stuff about the marriage to Julia: > [@](#): > > Kerry is understandably loath to talk about the details of the marriage; his reticence is compounded by the fact that Julia was suffering from severe depression…They separated in 1982, after Kerry decided to run for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Julia’s mental condition was precarious, but Kerry chose to push ahead with the race. “When I get focussed and set out to do something, I’m pretty good at staying focussed,” Kerry told me. “You don’t want to let yourself down, you know what I’m saying? One loss is enough. You don’t have to screw up everything else.” He went on to say that there were days during the campaign when he and Julia would have wrenching morning discussions about their children and their future living arrangements, “and then, in the afternoon, I’d have to put on a smiling face and say, ‘Hi, I’m John Kerry, I’d like you to vote for me,’ and I’d feel empty inside doing it. It was not an easy process.” > > David Thorne calls the separation “an extended psychodrama.” There were, apparently, several attempts to reconcile, but the divorce became final in 1988. Julia is now living in Montana. Full article [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?021202fa\_fact1](http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?021202fa_fact1) here. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541/40 "2004-02-17T02:11:31Z")
You can always tell what the hate radio talk is on stories of the day because all the pubbies on the message boards begin parakeeting the latest Rush spin in concert. **Beagle’s** post reads exactly like every single post on Free Repugnant. The spin is to try to compare the bogus Kerry slander-story with the Shrub AWOL story and argue that the “liberal media” has a double standard. They didn’t cover the Kerry slime without some sort of evidence but they have been covering Shrub’s deriliction of duty during Nam. The Pubs try to argue with a straight face that there is no evidence that Shrub was AWOL and that it’s unfair to make him prove a negative. It’s an obvious stretch, they’re trying to make an analogy between a fairly well substantiated charge aginst Bush and a totally unfounded, unsubstantiated and now debunked rumor about JFK2. There was never even a clearly defined allegation against Kerry much less any proof. Oh, and the Freepers have apparently all decided that Polier and her parents were bought off by Kerry and that the press is all in on the conspiracy. Comparisons to Watergate keep arising. They are calling for “independent investigations” as though rumors of nookie are equivalent to grave criminal allegations. Are there any smart people at all on that board or are they all unmitigated morons? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gee-what-a-surprise-kerry-affair-rumors-were-bogus/229541.md?page=3)