President Bush has nominated Sam Fox, who donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans in 2004, for an ambassador post, and of course, he has to be approved by the senate. John Kerry questions him about his donation. A summary:
Fox starts off by stating that 527 organizations are wrong:
[L]et me just say this: I’m against 527s, I’ve always been against 527s. I think, again, they’re mean and destructive, I think they’ve hurt a lot of good, decent people.
He knows what’s coming, because he immediately, and without specific prompting, tries to butter up Kerry:
And, Senator Kerry, I very much respect your dedicated service to this country. I know that you were not drafted — you volunteered. You went to Vietnam. You were wounded. Highly decorated. Senator, you’re a hero. And there isn’t anybody or anything that’s going to take that away from you.
So, Kerry asks him why the hell he donated $50,000 to one of the meanest 527 organizations of the time. He expounds at length on two weasel reasons.
Excuse #1: He gives to so many organizations, he can’t keep track of them all:
I do not know who asked me. If you were to take my 1,000 contributions and go right down the list, I bet you I couldn’t give you five percent of them… Of who asked me.
Senator, if I had reason to believe and if I were convinced that the money was going to be used to, in any untruthful or false way, knowingly, I would not give.
Excuse #2: This is my favorite. Since the other side was funding smear campaigns via 527s, his side could not afford not to:
All of the 527s were smearing lies…I think if one side is giving then the other side almost has to and I think that the real responsibility should rest with the Congress to either ban 527s or to certainly curtail and regulate them. That’s the problem.
Kerry goes on to justifiably rip Fox a new one. Remember, someone with these kinds of morals is being appointed as representative of our country.