A Matter of Record
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And now the most compelling two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:
A Matter of Record
John Kerry's campaign has said he -- "never, ever" attended a 1971 meeting of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War that debated a plan to assassinate pro-war congressmen, insisting Kerry had resigned from the group months earlier.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But it now turns out Kerry was being followed by the FBI at the time, and newly released FBI records indicate Kerry was in fact at that November meeting in Kansas City. Kerry reportedly rejected the assassination plan, and then resigned shortly afterward -- not months earlier.
Kerry's campaign now says he -- "had no personal recollection of this meeting ... [but] if there are valid FBI surveillance reports ... we accept that historical footnote in the account of his work to end the difficult and divisive war."
A Liberal Definition?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Speaking of Kerry, Eminent former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite -- a frequent critic of the Bush administration -- now says Kerry -- "[has] some explaining to do." Cronkite says he can't figure out why Kerry denies being a liberal, especially since Kerry supports civil rights, environmental protection and rolling back President Bush's tax cuts to the wealthy.
Cronkite, in a public letter to Kerry, says -- "Are you afflicted with the [Michael] Dukakis syndrome -- that loss of nerve that has allowed conservatives both to define and to demonize liberalism for the past decade and more?"
Council Sends Condolences
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Iraqi Governing Council has sent a letter to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, extending -- "[the] warmest condolences" over yesterday's targeted killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
The council says -- "We would like to express our feelings of anger and shock from the sad news regarding the assassination of ... one of the prominent Palestinian leaders and fighters. ... Allah will cover [Yassin] with his grace."
Meanwhile, hospitals in Gaza are reporting a surge in babies named Ahmed Yassin over the past 24 hours, with one hospital reporting six such babies in just three hours. One new father insists -- "If one Yassin is killed, a thousand more will be born."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Coleman Controversial?
And from the wonderful world of education, Lowndes County, Alabama, decided to name a new school office building Coleman-Haynes Hall, but local activists complained that the name Coleman was offensive because Thomas Coleman was arrested 38 years ago for killing a civil rights activist.
Yet the building was not named for Thomas Coleman, it was named for his sister Hulda, a former superintendent of the county's school system. Besides, her brother was later acquitted of the killings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}No matter, said the activists, the mere last name -- "would be very [painful] to see ... up on that building." So, reports the Montgomery Advertiser, the building's name has now been changed.
— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report