Intellectual Honesty

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

President Bush was repeatedly portrayed as the less intellectual candidate during last year's presidential campaign, but it turns out he and former Democratic candidate John Kerry had nearly identical grade averages while at Yale University in the 1960s.

Kerry's newly released Navy records show he had a cumulative average of 76, or C. In fact, he received four D's his freshman year — in geology, political science and two history courses. President Bush also had a cumulative grade average in the upper 70s. As for any substantive new material about Kerry's military career, The Boston Globe says the newly released records offer nothing.

Pat Disliked Clinton?

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the late New York Democrat who in 2000 helped Hillary Clinton win the Senate seat he was vacating, actually disdained Clinton — that according to a new book by journalist Edward Klein, titled "The Truth About Hillary." The book says Moynihan's wife, Liz, who managed her husband's campaigns, also felt this way, and complained to a friend that Clinton was a "duplicitous" and ruthless woman who "would say or do anything that would forward her ambitions. ... She can look you straight in the eye and lie."

A Clinton spokesman calls the book "fiction," and Moynihan's daughter says it's "utterly and completely wrong." Liz Moynihan could not be reached for comment.

McCain Setting His 'Mark' on White House?

Political consultant Mark McKinnon, who oversaw the advertising of President Bush's two presidential campaigns, has committed to help Arizona Republican Senator John McCain in a 2008 presidential bid. According to a Republican source quoted by The Dallas Morning News, the two recently met for lunch in the Senate dining room to discuss the support. The source didn't specify what McKinnon's role would be.

But there is a catch: McKinnon would reconsider giving help to McCain should Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or Florida Governor Jeb Bush decide to run in 2008. The White House says Jeb won't run.

‘Close To 100 ... Homicides’?

Monday night on our panel, one of the contributors said there were "close to 100 ... homicides" at U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, while more than 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody in those countries, only about 26 deaths have been investigated as criminal homicides.

Research by the AP found that another 20 deaths were due to what the Army calls, "justifiable homicide" where deadly force was used "appropriately," 22 more were from an insurgent-led mortar attack on Abu Ghraib prison last year, and 29 others were due to suspected natural causes or accidents.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report