Football Fans For Truth

Football Fans For Truth, a real 527 organization, has updated their site with more evidence showing that John Kerry is not a true sports fan or athlete. Among the charges: he doesn't know the name of the venerable home of the Green Bay Packers, he "throws a football like a girl," and he "can't catch a football at all." Not limiting themselves to football, they also provide plenty of evidence he doesn't know much about baseball.

Comments

So What...

[ThePilgrim]

The election is for Presedent, not head coach.

Big Fat Deal

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, so John Kerry claims to like football, but he isn't a hardcore football fan. Who cares.

I consider myself to be a NASCAR fan. I can tell you that I root for Mayfield and Kahne (despite driving a Chevy myself ;). I can tell you that I don't have much respect for Dale Junior, that I think Tony Stewart has a serious attitude problem, and that I'd love to see Mark Martin's Viagra-endorsing self win the cup again. I watch the race almost every week. But beyond that, I can't tell you much.

There are people out there who could tell you, from memory, Junior's last five wins, which tracks they were at, which months they took place. There are people who could tell you how many yards Brett Favre has passed for in his last 10 games, what team he was up against in each of those games, and who the opposing QB was.

There are people who could recite all kinds of NASCAR stats, or football stats, or baseball stats, or QuakeCon winners, because they're obsessed.

John Kerry "throws like a girl?" GWB was a freakin' cheerleader. Let's see the "Football Fans for Truth" post that on their front page...

Re:What the Fuck?

[Sailor Coruscant]

You missed the fact that it's a parody of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth campaign.

Questionable origins of the "Eddie Yost" story

[elwinc]

I've been in an email discussion about the "Eddie Yost" story -- the claim that several years ago, Kerry claimed his favorite Red Sox player was Eddie Yost, who coached for the Sox but never played there. Here's what I've dug up:

First Mention is in this 7/15/04 Peter Gammons piece. Most of it is about Baseball, but here's the relevant paragraph:

Thing called love

We have been led to cynically believe that many politicians are disingenuous and generally phony, but few will ever beat Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. This man, who changed his middle initial to be JFK and at an anti-Vietnam rally threw someone else's medals into the water, made a self-promotion appearance with Boston talk-show maven Eddie Andelman and claimed he was a big Red Sox fan from his days growing up in Groton, Mass. And at the promotion he said Eddie Yost was his favorite player.

This remarkable paragraph contains three assertions about Kerry: "middle initial", "medals", and "Yost." The first two are erroneous, and the third is not testable. "Middle initial" is false -- Kerry's middle name is his mother's maiden name, Forbes, a famous old Boston name. Gammons has an error in his "medals" story, Kerry threw ribbons over a fence; not medals in the water. You can read Thomas Oliphant's eyewitness account here or here. To summarize, Gammons makes three assertions about Kerry, and the first to are erroneous. What about the third? I don't know any way to prove a negative, but the very first mention of the "Yost" story that I can find, in Boston or anywhere else, is that 7/15 Gammons column. It's all over the blogsphere now, but Gammons has first mention. Given Gammons' other errors, I don't find it very credible.

Now just to complicate matters, Gammons brings up the "Yost" story again five days later in another column. Again, it's mostly about baseball, but here's the relevant paragraph:

So who puts the bug in candidates' ears about seeming what they are not? John Kerry last week professed to be a big fan of "Manny Ortez," then re-emphasized the phoofery by correcting it to "David Ortez." No, that was Dave (Baby) Cortez and "The Happy Organ." A few years back Kerry went on a Boston station with Eddie Andelman and said "my favorite Red Sox player of all time is The Walking Man, Eddie Yost," who never played for the Red Sox. Kerry is going to sweep New England. He's going to get 70 percent of the vote in Massachusetts. He doesn't have to be a Red Sox fan, all he has to do is not be John Ashcroft.

This time, the "Yost" story is folded in with less controversial claims. If you're an anti-Kerry blogger, this version looks less foolish, but given the first mention amongst two canards, I don't find it credible on Gammons' say-so alone. I say bring me independent confirmation or dump it.

And now a bit on the meta-story. Let me shamelessy copy the Daily Howler and quote David Broder:

In a year when war in Iraq, the threat of terrorism and looming problems with the federal budget and the nation's health care system cry out for serious debate, the news organizations on which people should be able to depend have been diverted into chasing sham events: a scurrilous and largely inaccurate attack on the Vietnam service of John Kerry and a forged document charging President Bush with disobeying an order for an Air National Guard physical.

Almost. Ladies and gentleman, we're watching a brilliant campaign at

Re:Questionable origins of the "Eddie Yost" story

[pudge]

First, jeez, lighten up. Anyone who would put this much thought into the actual truth of the story has some issues. It's a joke. Maybe it is true, maybe it is not, but either way, it's funny.

Second, we know Kerry doesn't even the names of the two star hitters on the Red Sox, thinking they are one person. That's far worse than thinking Yost played for the Sox, even if it is not true.

Third, you can't be serious about the forgeries. We know beyond any reasonable doubt that they are forgeries. Any criminal jury would have returned a quick verdict on this one. There is no open question remaining, except who did it. The only people saying they still believe they are authentic are Burkett and CBS: CBS' own experts, the secretary from the base, Killian's family and colleagues from the base, all say it is not real. If you put half the effort into investigating the memos as you have the Yost story, you would know they are forgeries.

Fourth, of course the criticisms about Kerry are about what he says, because he hasn't done anything. Kerry himself rarely talks about what he has done (except in Vietnam), because there's nothing there of interest. Further, I don't know how you can consider what Bush has done in Iraq a substantive issue, but the fact that Kerry has completely reversed his position on Iraq is not (e.g., the invasion was "the right decision" in May 2003, but now it is "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time"). How is this not substantive, when he might be taking over responsibility for the war, and we don't know where he stands on it?

Fifth, there's nothing unpatriotic about having some fun and making jokes. You're humourless, and that is your problem, not ours.

Re:lighten up!

[rhild]

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh." - George Bernard Shaw

You know...

[dmayle]

You know, Slashdot has been a lot more fun since they added this new humour section. I don't always find all of the jokes to be great, and I still don't get why there's an American flag for a logo, but it's still mostly amusing, nonetheless...

Re:Luckily, people don't seem to pay attention

[b-baggins]

---
He still has no respect for the Constitution and will deprive you of each and every right he deems necessary in the name of security.
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Which, of course, is why it was impossible for you to post the above anti-government message.

Cognitive Dissonance. Say it slowly while looking in your mirror.