President Richard Nixon blijkt in de dagen van John Kerry's anti-Vietnam-activisme regelmatig met medewerkers over Kerry gepraat te hebben. Vooral de acties van Vietnam-veteranen op de Mall gaf reden tot discussie. Er zijn wat fragmenten van dergelijke discussies boven water gekomen:
Nixon, over de persaandacht voor de veteranenactie: ''[Of] course the real, one of the real problems, this goddamn press is so [unintelligible] unfair. They, they don't give our Republicans who are out tryin' to answer these people, and they put 'em on. Apparently the guy that's really good, the only good one of the damn veterans group, only good from a PR standpoint, is Kerry ..... [the] news [is] all Kerry.''
Vier dagen later sprak hij nogmaals over Kerry met zijn secretaresse, Rose Mary Woods.
Woods: ''I think people are getting sick to death seeing nothing on their television but those bums.''
Nixon: ''Really? ..... they ran, you know, that, that fellow Leary or - ''
Woods: ''Kerry.''
Nixon: ''Kerry so much. He was very, very good, they say.''
Daarna vertelde Nixon over een roddel dat Kerry helemaal niet op de Mall had geslapen, samen met zijn legermaatjes
'Nixon: ''He wasn't livin' down there with those guys.''
Woods: ''No.''
Nixon: ''He's livin' out in a posh pad in Georgetown. That's where he was.''
gepubliceerd door Marc op vrijdag, april 30, 2004 #