Jack Ryan Precedent May Hurt Kerry

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After last week's front page headlines over ugly unsealed divorce record in the Republican Illinois senate race, media outlets now face a dilemma: What to do about Democrat presidential hopeful John Kerry's sealed divorce records!

The race is on in political and media circles to gauge the import of Kerry's sealed July 25, 1988 divorce from his first wife, Julia Stimson Thorne.

TRIBUNE, which successfully sued a court to gain access to Illinois Republican Jack Ryan's divorce papers and child custody records [over the objection of both Ryan and his former wife], is considering a similar push on Kerry, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

This could get interesting. There have been rumors that the divorce was a messy one. While it is doubtful that Kerry demanded that his former wive give him fellatio in public, other politically-damaging information could possibly surface.

The Kerry campaign late Sunday called any old divorce digging a game of political "gutter ball."

"This is a trash hunt," said a senior Kerry source, who asked not to be named.

Oh, I agree. But it was a "trash hunt" when it was done against a Republican Senate candidate in Illinois as well. That didn't stop some on the Left from celebrating. One assumes their tune will change if their boy Kerry is disgraced by similar revelations.

In 1991, a court also sealed a complaint amending the Kerry-Thorne divorce, concerning economic and child visitation issues, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

In her 1996 book, "Change of Heart," Thorne said that playing the role of wife to the rising political star had made her so depressed she wanted to kill herself.

Oh my. This could be very ugly, indeed!

However, in all likelihood, Kerry's records will remain sealed. A Democrat-appointed judge in California lamely justifying the unsealing of divorce records that would embarass a Republican candidate for the Senate is one thing. Getting just about any judge to justify the release of a Presidential candidate's 16-year old divorce records just a few months before the election is another thing entirely...

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Article Author: RJ Elliott

RJ Elliott is a three-time graduate of the University of Central Florida. His passions in life are sports, politics, and nature. He dislikes daytime television, anti-American dictators, and people who talk like Garrison Keillor. …

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Article comments

  • 1 - Al Barger

    Jun 28, 2004 at 2:29 am

    Oh, Kerry's records WILL be coming out. There's no way for them to stay sealed now. Sealed or not, a copy of them will be hitting the streets by hook or by crook.

    They SHOULDN'T, but they will. Like Ryan's.

  • 2 - Doc

    Jun 28, 2004 at 6:56 am

    It's not "The Ryan Precident", in the IL democratic primary one of the Dem's candidates had their divorce records made public.

    Quid pro quo.

    Jackie was going down (no pun!) anyway and it was the GOP that forced that family values fraud and hypocrite out.

  • 3 - Bob A. Booey

    Jun 28, 2004 at 7:27 am

    [personal attack deleted]

    For what it's worth, I don't believe there's anything nearly as embarrassing as what was in Ryan's records for Kerry. I also don't think that there will be a court ruling before November.

    That is all.

  • 4 - Mac Diva

    Jun 28, 2004 at 3:26 pm

    [personal attack deleted]

    I have posted two entries regarding the legal issues in getting divorce records released in this context. The key factors are that divorce records are rarely sealed (so there is a presumption that they should be open) and that Ryan, or any politician of any stature, is a public figure. With that information, it is clear to any capable person that the likelihood is presidential candidates' divorce records will be released.

    Eric Olsen, in his quest to have just about anything thrown up at Blogcritics to generate high numbers of posts, denies there is a difference between nonsense such as this entry and entries that offer accurate information. I believe the difference is obvious. I also believe allowing embarrassing attempts at blogging like this entry to pass insults readers. They click on an entry expecting to get accurate information or at least informed opinion, and they get this.

  • 5 - Jim Carruthers

    Jun 28, 2004 at 3:54 pm

    [personal attack deleted] , there was a great op-ed [in the Washington Post] about how this was probably the first sex-scandal which at it's core was about a married couple, not having sex.

    So, since the records were sealed to prevent stalking by Trekkies, why did Ryan drop out?

    And, we really need to know before you post again:

    When, sir, did you stop spanking your monkey?

    No, sir, answer the question, may I remind you, you are under subpoena!

  • 6 - Banned Guy

    Jun 30, 2004 at 12:36 am

    Read this

  • 7 - Eric Olsen

    Jun 30, 2004 at 7:07 am

    All: please, please please use HTML to create a link rather than just posting the URL in a comment. This distends the Most Recent Comments sidebar and can skew the entire post page if the URL is long enough. Thanks.

  • 8 - FaFa Fohi

    Jun 30, 2004 at 10:56 pm

    MD: Bob, you are bad.

    Me: Re Re Retard.

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