TOM MAGUIRE says that The Boston Globe’s Mike Kranish, author of the exploded Kerry retraction story — and, it seems, subject of some conflict-of-interest problems — is “cooked.” (“Kranish wrote a wildly deceptive and misleading story.”) Meanwhile Beldar shares some personal experience.
(Via Roger Simon, who has further thoughts.)
UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt says that claims on Drudge yesterday that Kranish was author of the official campaign biography are wrong — though apparently the Amazon page for the book said so until some time last night. (That’s what readers have emailed me — but now it just says Kerry & Edwards are the authors). [LATER: Actually, it still says Kranish, sometimes, I guess due to cacheing issues — and I’ve saved a screenshot since this issue seems to be of some public importance.] If I understand the constantly-shifting aspects of this story, Kranish was supposed to write the foreword, but backed out — and I guess the Amazon page wasn’t updated to reflect the change until this became a big story.
None of this, however, answers Maguire’s criticisms about inaccurate and deceptive reporting. And the whole thing still seems kind of dodgy.
But scroll up from the Hugh Hewitt link — or just click here — for more questions about the Christmas-in-Cambodia bit, which seems beyond dodgy. As Hewitt observes: “The venom directed at Kerry’s critics among the swift boat veterans, including Ann Lewis and Donna Brazille on Crossfire today calling these men ‘liars’– tells me that the Kerry campaign is deeply worried about this attack on the central theme of Kerry’s campaign. Well, if he lied about being sent to Cambodia, Kerry’s narrative is in trouble.”
“In trouble” is putting it mildly. They’re certainly acting desperate.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Kranish / Kerry book thing is a side issue — though an embarrassing one for the Globe — but here’s the BarnesandNoble.com page, which says more about Kranish’s role in the book. Key bit: “Can the Kerry/Edwards ‘Real Deal’ succeed? In his introduction, the Boston Globe‘s Michael Kranish provides keen insight into what a Kerry/Edwards administration could mean for America’s future.”
In fact, however, the Kerry campaign has put the book up in PDF form and the introduction is now signed by Kerry and Edwards.
Does this make Kranish a more (or less) reliable source? Given Maguire’s dissection of his actual reporting, I don’t think it matters much. But the whole thing still strikes me as dodgy. More background here, though I’m not sure how well it fits with the Globe version here. More interesting stuff in the comments here. And note this. [LATER: The cache in the previous link has been cleared and a new, Kranish-free version substituted.]
More here.
