John Kerry, Master Debater
The debate is only hours old, and already Matt Drudge has revealed two Kerrygaffes. The first was his claim that the New York subway system had to be shut down to accommodate the Republican convention; according to Drudge, it wasn’t. The second was worse: Kerry described in detail a visit to “Treblinka Square,” where he had presumably viewed KGB records. Listening to that in the car, I thought to myself that this couldn’t be right. For one thing, while I did not remember what country Treblinka was in, I was pretty sure it wasn’t the Soviet Union; else, the Nazis would have had a hell of a time setting up a death camp there. For another, if he had actually been to Treblinka, how could he be so crass as to tell us about the visit without even mentioning its gruesome history? The first time I went to Dachau as an adult, I was shocked to find out that there still was a living, breathing, generally ordinary town called Dachau. Yet what happened in Dachau was child’s play by comparison to Treblinka, a mass extermination camp on par with Auschwitz. No, I thought to myself, there is no way anyone could visit a town like Treblinka for any reason and not have Nazi horrors be front and center.
After that brief, not so deep thought, both candidates acted like nothing was up, as did that genius Jim Lehrer, and the topic shifted to something else. Then I arrived at the range, shot my co-worker’s ass, and quickly forgot that Treblinka had come up at all. But Matt Drudge didn’t, and right now, the “Treblinka Square” gaffe is right there on the front page. Apparently, the place Kerry really visited was Lubyanka Square. Or did he? Can anyone corroborate the trip, or might this be Cambodia lite?* I like to think that if I had been to Lubyanka, I’d get the name right. Maybe if I were George W (for “Malaprop,” with an upside-down M because he doesn’t know any better), I might confuse the name with Ljubljana, an inconsequential city that is the capital of the inconsequential Republic of Slovenia. But with Treblinka, an infamous extermination camp whose name doesn’t even sound that much like “Lubyanka?” Never! That’s like confusing Augsburg with Auschwitz, Dover with Dachau, Barcelona with Buchenwald, Adolph Coors with Adolf Hitler, or John Kerry with anybody who can find his ass with both hands and a flashlight. This is the kind of error you make when trying to memorize names of cities you’ve barely heard of. It just doesn’t happen when you actually go there - especially if you have ancestors who, had they not immigrated to the U.S. a couple of decades earlier, would likely have perished in Treblinka.
So far, two clearly identified gaffes are not enough to sink Kerry, or even defeat the general perception that he “won” last night’s debate. But are these the only two, or is this the tip of the iceberg? Kerry said a lot of stuff last night that sounded really cool, but query how much of it will stand up after the blogosphere has had a day or two to chew on it?
*If this is the case, it wouldn’t be the only example. Kerry strongly hinted at Cambodia when he prattled on about how:
Almost every step of the way, our troops have been left on these extraordinarily difficult missions. I know what it’s like to go out on one of those missions when you don’t know what’s around the corner.
Granted, he didn’t quite come out and say he went on a top-secret mission to some country where no one knew we had any troops. But he sure as hell implied it, and unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger’s allegedly misleading speech, he didn’t say anything else at last night’s debate that would tend to dispel such inferences.
October 1st, 2004 at 1:33 am
So Kerry’s been to Lambert Field and Treblinka Square.
What can you say? The guy gets around.
October 1st, 2004 at 1:47 am
I’m sure Molly Ivins will come out with a book of amusing Kerryisms any day. Gad, Treblinka Square - what a gruesome clunker. “Treblinka Square, that’s where Theresa bought some of those lovely candles that smelled so foul.”
October 1st, 2004 at 3:07 am
Debate Notes
I thought Kerry won the debate hands down. I thought that even as I was bending over backwards trying to give Bush points. That said, I wouldn’t vote for Kerry because I didn’t believe a word he said. Sure, I…
October 1st, 2004 at 1:45 pm
Well there were several inaccuracies in Bush’s statements as well, even though he remembered names better than I expected. Although him referring to President Putin as Vladimir (which he pronounced in that Jeff Foxworthy sorta way) seemed a bit odd. I think he also misprounced Jiang Zemin’s name once as well. I’d have to rewatch it for sure. I think although Bush obviously lost the debate and looked severely unPresidential, Karen Hughes should be commended for keeping him locked in that basement until he learned how to pronounce all those “funny foreign names.” Too bad she still can’t him to say terror, terrorist, nuclear or Iraq correctly.
October 1st, 2004 at 2:34 pm
that wikipedia is pretty great, huh? i just found it the other day, looking up that allawi stuff.
xrlq, is the treblinka slip the worst thing kerry said? read it in context: he’s obviously talking about russia. what did you feel about the substance?
as someone who’s freaked the f out by nuclear weapons, i felt a glimmer of hope hearing kerry address some realities and hypocrisies. like this: “You talk about mixed messages. We’re telling other people, You can’t have nuclear weapons, but we’re pursuing a new nuclear weapon that we might even contemplate using.” damn straight. Our recent aggressions have made the world, including the u.s., more dangerous, and it’s time to start having actions and words correspond.
kerry’s not my favorite person, and i have a lot of problems with him, but at LEAST he’s a grown up, and seems far more peaceable and diplomatic than w. bush last night just proved he’s a child. a fidgety, inarticle, offensive, delusional child. he just reinforced how screwed we are if he remains our precedent. i mean, president.
October 1st, 2004 at 3:37 pm
Sounds like Sludge is fighting his enemy pretty vociferously.
October 1st, 2004 at 4:55 pm
Bil, I agree that Wikipedia is great. I’d almost forgotten about it until you linked to it the other day. My first exposure was when a group of bloggers all linked to the Wikipedia entry for “Jew,” to counter an anti-Semitic site that had managed to become the #1 Google hit for “Jew.” The project worked like a charm; after a month or two, Wikipedia was at the top, where it remains, and for a while, the hate site was off the front page completely. Unfortunately, the hate site has moved back to the #2 slot since, so perhaps we should Googlebomb nine other innocent sites.
As to Kerry’s statement on nukes, I cannot agree. I think President Bush drew exactly the right distinction - we should be concerned about WMD in the hands of terrorists. We gain nothing by ditching our own programs to “set a good example.” They’re not interested in following our examples, only in taking advantage of any weakness they can find. If I worked for the Bush campaign, I’d take Kerry’s line about ending the bunker-busting program and make a TV ad out of it. Why call Kerry soft on terror when he’ll do the dirty work for you?
Obviously, Kerry meant Russia, not Poland, when he referred to Lubyanka as “Treblinka.” My concern is not so much what Kerry meant to say, as what would have caused him to make a gaffe like this in the first place. Even if the two cities’ names sounded more alike, I would think that an inadvertent reference to a Nazi death camp would have made him cringe, unless his knowledge of history is so think that neither city has any real significance to him. And if that’s the case, I’d like to see someone corroborate whether he’s actually been to either city, or whether his whole point was another “Christmas in Cambodia” style fabrication.
Just out of curiosity - how did you find this blog?
October 1st, 2004 at 5:33 pm
the nukes issue is two-fold: track and contain existing stockpiles, such as in the former soviet union, and keep states from feeling the need to build up again. this has been an increase in the past 3 years. wrong direction, and we’re part of it.
our nuclear capability was not a deterant on 9-11. it’s a cold war vestige that needs to be dismantled.
sure, let’s see if we can get corroboration on kerry’s story.
i found your site by clicking around. i was going to be a smartass and say “ida know”, but that’s not distinguishing for a cartoonist of my stature. my son jeff, on the other hand…
October 1st, 2004 at 8:20 pm
Our current nuclear weapons are not a deterrant.
However, the new ones we’re designing, that Kerry bitched about, will be much more useful.
These are, unlike our old strategic nuclear weapons, smaller, 1-2 kiloton TACTICAL nukes.
We made some of these following the Korean War due to the problems that we faced there with positions fortified to resist normal shelling and bombing. Look up the Davy Crockett sometime…
Think of it this way: a daisy-cutter or a MOAB are both very useful weapons. They’re also extremely huge, and difficult to deploy properly. Tactical nuclear weapons give us the same advatanges, are smaller, allowing for more to be deployed from a single aircraft (or howitzer, for that matter), and also cheaper to produce, not to mention being independent of oil, unlike the fuel-air bombs currently being used.
The research, development, and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons is of paramount importance. To suggest otherwise, as you have done, is similar to suggesting during World War II that jet engines should not be researched (consider the effectiveness of the Nazi He162 Volksjager, even in the final stages of the War).
You can support candidates who will hobble our nation, but I certainly won’t vote to do so.
October 2nd, 2004 at 12:19 am
Bil: Ah. I thought maybe you’d been referred by Vic Lee (Pardon My Planet). I get the impression that most cartoonists know each other; is that correct?
Angry: Nice defense of the current program. Does this mean you’ll be voting to re-elect Bush after all?
October 2nd, 2004 at 6:38 am
2 things. Why would the KGB possibly allow anyone from the US, even such a left wing Senator such as Kerry, to review their records, and enter KGB Headquarters? Just do not see that happening. 2nd, when did he go there? If it was pre 1991, it would have been called Dzerzhinsky Square, after Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, the predesseor of the KGB.
October 2nd, 2004 at 10:42 am
I believe KGB headquarters abutted Dzerzhinsky Square, named for the founder of the Soviet Secret Service, Felix Dzerzhinsky. Since Dzerzhinsky was a Pole, Kerry at least came up with a wrong name in the right language.
October 2nd, 2004 at 11:07 am
Unfortunately, yes, I will be.
I wish I had a conservative to vote for, however.
Bill Owens for President, 2008.
October 2nd, 2004 at 12:52 pm
Dzerzhinsky in Lubyanka Square
I was with Charles, but that BBC article states things differently. I’ve heard Dzerzhinsky used used as if it were a proper place noun. Perhaps the building in Lubyanka Square was named after Dzerzhinsky? Or there was a colloquial usage of some sort?
October 2nd, 2004 at 12:53 pm
I meant Claude. Honest. Very sorry.
October 2nd, 2004 at 2:22 pm
I would have to go an look it back up, but an article I read this am said that the square was renamed when they took down the statue of Iron Felix. Still and all, I cannot seem to find when Kerry claims to have gone to Russia, to KGB headquarters. I am presuming it was awhile ago, otherwise he would have referred to it as the FIS.
October 2nd, 2004 at 6:56 pm
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October 5th, 2004 at 9:38 pm
Submitted for Your Approval
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The Council Has Spoken!
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