Kerry's divorce records may be unsealed

Last week voters in Illinois were greeted, by their morning papers, with news that Republican senate candidate Jack Ryan pressured his wife into having 'relations' (I know ATS is a family site, but I can't step around that) with him in public areas like Parisian and New York sex clubs.

Now Tribune broadcasting, on the heels of its Ryan victory, is pressuring the Mass. court to release John Kerry's divorce records, according to Drudge (who was insulted in HIS article at least, for saying that this was going on, by the Kerry camp):
www.drudgereport.com...



Well, what effect will this have on the campaign IF Kerry's records show that he was up to no good?

[edit on 28-6-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

[edit on 30-6-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

Kerry has ruled out unsealing his divorce docs:

news.yahoo.com.../nm/20040630/pl_nm/campaign_kerry_divorce_dc_3&printer=1

Now that I think about it... I think the public has the right to get a glimpse of the personal life of a man who may command thousands of nuclear warheads. If he was emotionally abusive to his wife, we have the right to know.

Yea, we should know about Bush and Cheney's financial record as well. Seeing as he is currently commander-in-chief. Wouldn't hurt to look in their personal history as well? Oh wait, yea it will. Bush did too much Coke. Peace.

well..

I think we have a right to see if a guy is emotionally stable. Kerry's ex-wife wrote a book about her divorce a few years ago... in which she describes the marriage as 'suffocating'... so some sort of emotional abuse *may* have happened.

and, yes, I agree that Bush's financial records should be released... which they have, so far as I know.

BTW, i'm bringing this up not to be sleazy... but to point out that this could be the thing that torpedos Kerry.

for reference, here's the ats thread on the Jack ryan sex scandal that opened this possibility up:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Ryan was married to actress Jeri Ryan (seven of nine from star trek) and pressured her for public sex.... an allegation that Ryan had sealed in the divorce records.

He thought this info would never get out, but, to paraphrase the words of the Chicago Tribune, all skeletons come out in the modern political era.

I want to see Cheney's energy records! Kerry disclosed everything he was supposed to, in accordance to law. I think divorce records are no one's buisiness. If he were to disclose them, I would hope he would do it only with the permission of his ex-wife. It's her life too. she endorses Kerry, I guess that says something. She wrote a book, "You Are Not Alone" and it talks about her thoughts of suicide and the divorce.

This is just beyond belief. Anyone can say anything and then let the rest of us sort it out - it's just garbage.

I am not a Kerry supporter and I do believe that we should know what kind of character we are putting in office - BUT this is just going too far!

There is another person involved and everyone makes mistakes and or has had encounters with people who saw a reality that didn't exist. We don;t know - we cannot judge.

My real concern is this - why don't we have people running for office that really are above reproach? Cause - k - like it or not - he who is without sin - cast the first stone. Geez, the great people of this Country do not come forth to lead cause their lives would be trashed, their loved ones would be subjected to god knows what and great men/woman would not put their loved ones into the fray of the spin doctors (cause even if you are perfect it can be spun).

We've lost all respect in this country and we get what we deserve. (sorry this turned into a rant but I do hope someone got my piont - there really need to be limits.)

I think that they should Deffinately be unseal the Records......Shouldnt we know if we are going to have another**scandalious President**

WOW, I wanna know what time of day they take a dump,

Who in there right mind would wanna run for pres now days with all this crap.... Bush Rules... wake up america.............

Originally posted by onlyinmydreams
Now that I think about it... I think the public has the right to get a glimpse of the personal life of a man who may command thousands of nuclear warheads. If he was emotionally abusive to his wife, we have the right to know.

I normally say "No! Their personal life is their business!" but in the case of the President of the U.S. (or any major country), you have a good point there...

I think that's a load of crap. A man's criminal records when he's running for office, hell yeah, his divorce records have no place in his or Bush's presidential campaign. Even if he was divorced for cheating on his wife, it doesn't mean he'll be another Clinton as Truth_Hunter_1976 thinks. 'Emotional abuse' is another poor reason for wanting to open his records, it's not like he can 'emotionally abuse' the citizens of the country, his aides and the Senate possibly, but not enough to interfere with his governing ability. That's where the whole 'checks and balances' idea of the government should kick in.

I don't support either candidate, but I still don't feel that opening his divorce records should be allowed into either candidates campaign or be used to affect the opinions of the voters.

Originally posted by kaoszero
I think that's a load of crap. A man's criminal records when he's running for office, hell yeah, his divorce records have no place in his or Bush's presidential campaign...

Then again, you've got a good point too! I was thinking about criminal records in my earlier post. Unless she divorced him for a criminal reason (like he beat her & the kids), I don't care.

Since we're on the subject, just where do we draw the line when looking up the records of candidates for public office? Criminal records are a must. Military records if they served. How about financial records? They will be spending the public's money, and if they can't handle their own...

Yeah...

as funny as this may sound... prior to the development of nuclear (and bio) weapons, I think that a president's private life should have been their own (in fact, most 19th century presidents were weaker than the Speakers of the House in terms of political power, so their lives still were their own)... but in an era where one man controls powers that ancient people would have called godlike... I think it's fair and not necessarily sleazy to look into the overall psychological aspects of the person. And, with that in mind, when is a person more like themselves than when dealing with thier wife?

To be fair... if there were some lurking documentation on Bush's psysche, I would want to see it, too.

So far as Cheney and energy goes.... Well, if you really sit back and think about it, disclosing our country's energy strategy would be no different than revealing our grand geopolitical strategy for the next 50 years. After all, energy is a resource, and one that people fight over because it boils down to quality of life issues. With that in mind, I don't think the Sierra club has a right to know what private energy recommendations are, just as they don't have a right to know every war tactic a general advises the president to use. If that sound like a contradiction to what i wrote above, keep in mind that the idea of 'survival' is paramount in my thinking.

Ultimately, though, I wish we could have an honest energy discussion in this country... one where the public was expected to make honest, and non-emotional, decisions regarding energy. That is to say... It's dumb to hang onto gas burning cars simply for machismo reasons, but it's also foolish to balk at a war because one of its fallouts will be that more oil (energy) will be on the market and available for purchase.

thunder,
candidates are already required to disclose their financial records.


And if people want to say the same old stuff about Bush being a bad fighter pilot.... Well, the other side has a lot of infor regarding the superficiality of Kerry's wounds.


In time, as the US military becomes more and more mechanized, and as it becomes ever clearer that only rich men may become president, I think people will focus more on the personality and psychological aspects of a candidate. Why?: Because a president won't be leading the troops into battle, nor will he really run the economy (The Fed chairman really does that)... but he does steward the nuclear arsenal. With that in mind, I think that the issue of personality and character are tatamount.

I think you all need to remember that in addition to running for President, Mr. Kerry is a human being and an American citizen.

Considering that this site is full of people who go nuts when they think people are invading their privacy I find it odd that anyone would encourage such a STUPID precedent such as making a man's marriage problems public knowledge.

This is not the business of a quarter billion people. This is between Kerry and his ex-wife. That's all.

I do not care about his weddings and divorces. I care about his ideas and plans for this country. If you want to vote for Kerry vote for him because of what he thinks. Or don't vote for him because of what he thinks. Why in the world does his divorce have to be a factor here.

Oh, and if you think you're going to avoid "scandalous" presidents by popping open people's personal lives, keep in mind Bill Clinton was "happily" married when running for President and look what happened there. So what.

There should be privacy allowed for the families of candidates and for the candidates themselves as well. Vote on issues not on tabloid headline materials.

People! The FBI released 20,000 documents on Kerry! He himself has given us personal information. Yet you still want more from Kerry? Well, lets make a deal, Bush reveals his driving/criminal/other records, Kerry reveals his divorce record. Wait, that will never happen for Bush doesn't want everyone to know he was/is a drunken coke fiend. Kerry has opened about 90% of his life to the public, Bush has given 0%. Why the hell do you attack Kerry for wanting his sex life secret but think it is ok for Bush and Co to hide every little detail about themselves? Bull#!

For all the people here who think these records should be unsealed, not one of you has noted that most all of Bush's records are sealed. his driving records, his governor records (hidden away in daddy's library I hear). While I don't like either candidate but if the Bush camp is calling for Kerry's divorce records to be unsealed, well thats just laughable!

When Kerry the Ketchup boy announced he was running for pres his life became an open book and it is now open for all to see.

Close the book and your hiding something.

Life can a real bummer, but if Kerry wants to be number 1, king of the world he has to disclose all.

Either way he is screwed, its getting late in the election cycle and i think this is just the first in a series of slams at Kerry and its all down hill from here for all of us in regards to commercials and pokes and jabs before November.

God help us all, its election time in the good ol USA

john

SIRR1, you do realize that Bush has released none of his records? Yes Kerry is running for president so his political life is an open book. But his personal life is also an open book, as soon as Bush lets his life out. Hell, Bush won't let out his political book. Bush is such a #ing douchedyke on christmas it is ridiculus. He orders the FBI to release 20,000 files on Kerry, but then has ALL of his records locked away. He is the one hiding things, not Kerry.