Talk:Tom Harkin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tom Harkin is part of WikiProject U.S. Congress, an attempt to build a comprehensive guide to the United States Congress. You can help by editing this article. This template adds articles to Category:WikiProject U.S. Congress articles.

This article is part of WikiProject Iowa, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Iowa.

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material of any kind that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

This page is about an active politician who is running for office, is in office and campaigning for re-election, or is involved in some political conflict or controversy. Because of this, this article is at risk of biased editing, talk-page trolling, and simple vandalism.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. [FAQ] (If you rated the article, please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
	This article is supported by the Politics and government work group.

[edit] Today, I added a link and details about recent article

If anyone takes issue with that edit, please comment here. [[User:Rex071404|Rex071404 ]] 09:07, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Neutral POV

I've dialed back the description of Harkin's '92 service record controversy to report the facts without putting a GOP spin on them: According to the cited articles, Harkin made claims that were true in isolation (i.e., he was a pilot, he flew combat air patrols, he was in Vietnam), but together these statements left a false impression (i.e., Harkin was a pilot who flew combat missions in Vietnam) that Harkin was forced to correct.

Flat assertions that Harkin "falsely claimed" something need to be backed up with a cite to a genuinely false claim (i.e., a statement by Harkin that says "I flew combat missions in Vietnam"), not to a partisan blog or an author with an axe to grind. Let's leave the right-wing talking points where they belong.

As a disclaimer, I have no ties to Tom Harkin aside from being a member of the same party.

71.139.239.154 16:30, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I did cite the exact quote. To make you happy, I changed the cite from Insta-pundit (which is a right wing blog) to the Wall Street Journal article on the same statement. Is David Broder a GOP hack? He is the source. Is Tom Harkin a GOP hack? He is the one who actually said he spent a year flying combat missions in Vietnam.

Did Tom Harkin fly combat missions in Vietnam? No he did not. Did he tell David Broder (as the cite specifically shows) that he did? Yes. Harkin falsely claimed that he flew combat missions in Vietnam. He was called on the claim and had to recant. He didn't "create a false impression" he made a false statement.

I've added back the insta pundit source, along with the WSJ article. Although it is a conservative blog it actually gives a bit more context than the WSJ opinion piece. No harm in having both. To clarify, the 1979 quote from Harkin appears to come from a Congressional rountable discussion which Broder later quoted from in a book. It's not entirely clear whether Broder was there personally. The Insta Pundit source reproduces a section of another book (not Broder's) that suggests Harkin flew about a dozen missions into Vietnam while he was stationed in Japan. This may require more research. TMS63112 21:48, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I have taken out both the Insta Pundit and the WSJ opinion piece in favor of a more detailed WSJ article written while Harkin was running for president. I hope the current language fairly reflects the facts as presented in that article. TMS63112 20:37, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abortion edits

About the Abortion edits, what is POV? Why is it OK to say he is staunchly pro-Israel, and cite to examples, but not point out that he is staunchly pro-abortion and cite to his exact positions. As a disclaimer I will say that I am Catholic, and in fact went to the same high school as Harkin. During the last election his campaign came to my church and distributed flyers pointing out how he is actually "pro-life". I looked into his voting record. The positions that I have cited with regards to Harkin's abortion stands, are his exact positions. Not to point out the obvious but I am a "newbie". If I am stepping out of bounds by using Harkin's own quotes, or by pointing out his actual positions, please let me know. I meant to respond to you directly, but being a newbie I couldn't figure out how. Sorry about that.

The problem is not that you cite Harkin's voting record on abortion. The problem is that the language you used in doing so seems intended to condemn his position. I will try to re-phrase it in a more NPOV manner. TMS63112 17:20, 30 May 2006 (UTC)