RSSForm 180, Did He or Didn’t He?
John most certainly signed the Form SF 180, but, well, em, er, the staff is going through it, and then we have to talk to the Department of Defense, and then we will see what we are doing with it.
Oh, John, we know you well. You are like those moles in the whack a mole game. Every time you raise you head, the ol 180 mallet comes down and strikes you. You know if you release it, your political future is toast. And now the realization has come to you, if you do not release the records your political future is toast.
So you duck, dive, bob, weave, hoping for an act of god that you will not have to face the music. Good Luck.
AT THIS POINT it comes as no surprise. John Kerry is releasing all his military records — but then again, he isn’t.
During an interview yesterday with Globe editorial writers and columnists, the former Democratic presidential nominee was asked if had signed Form SF 180, authorizing the Department of Defense to grant access to all his military records.
”I have signed it,” Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ”still going through it” and ”very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it.”
The devil is usually in the details. With Kerry, it’s also in the dodges and digressions. After the interview, Kerry’s communications director, David Wade, was asked to clarify when Kerry signed SF 180 and when public access would be granted. Kerry drifted over to join the conversation, immediately raising the confusion level. He did not answer the question of when he signed the form or when the entire record will be made public.
Several e-mails later, Wade conveyed the following information: On Friday, May 20, Kerry obtained a copy of Form 180 and signed it. ”The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days. The Navy will then send out the records,” e-mailed Wade. Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on ”Meet the Press.”
Six months after Kerry’s loss to George W. Bush, it feels somewhat gratuitous to point out how hard it can be to get a clear, straight answer from Kerry on this and other matters. But as long as the Massachusetts senator is thinking about another presidential run, the candor gap remains on the table, because he puts it there.
When the Boston Globe is playing whack a mole with Kerry, you know it is going bad for him.
From A Blog Perspective:
Captain’s Quarters has a great point
Now, as Michelle notes, that request will take a few weeks for the Navy to process and provide a response. It may be the end of summer before any records are produced … and it could be a cold day in Hell before all or any of it gets released to the media. In fact, Kerry could argue that signing it was all he agreed to do. When, he could say, did I commit to sending it to the Navy? You FOOLS! Mwa-HAHAHAHA!
Lorie Byrd at Polipundit succinctly phrases it:
Hmm. Kerry keeps the “candor gap” on the table. Ya think?
Michelle Malkin wonders about which is true:
Last summer, “Unfit for Command” author John O’Neill said if Kerry signed SF-180, reporters or anyone else could obtain all of Kerry’s military records from DoD. “If he executes Standard Form 180, he would no longer be the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper would be the U.S. military,” he told the Washington Times.
… or in response to Captain’s Quarters post
This contradicts what John O’Neill said last summer. As I noted above, O’Neill said that once the SF-180 is signed and executed, anyone can obtain all of Kerry’s records directly from DoD. Either O’Neill was right or Morrissey is right, but not both. I’m sure the blogosphere will quickly figure it out.
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“… The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days ….”
I have this vague, hard to express feeling that there is something in this that isn’t what anyone would expect, like, maybe these two phrases do not relate to each other. Why wouldn’t they just write, “We will send it to the Navy the next few days”?