John Kerry's Master Plan: a screen treatment by Scott C. Smith

[scottcsmith]

Last night on the MSNBC program Hardball, host Chris Matthews interviewed Larry Thurlow, one of the Swift boat veterans participating in the character assassination of John Kerry. During the interview, Thurlow made a cryptic reference to a "master plan" Kerry supposedly had, orchestrated from the moment he set foot in Vietnam, that would, uh, somehow help him get elected to public office one day. Here's a bit of the transcript:

THURLOW: ...it became apparent early on that John Kerry had a master plan that went far beyond the service in the swift boats, and because of the fact that he was trying to engineer a record, so to speak, for himself, he was not a trustworthy member of a very tightly-knit unit that counted on each other at every second. And once it became apparent that he had this plan that kind of excluded what was required of us at certain times, it became apparent to me that you could not count on him.

And this...

THURLOW: Im saying that he had a plan that included not only being a war hero but getting an early out.

I'm pleased to present the following screen treatment for a film based on Kerry's Vietnam service. I don't have a good name yet, so I'll just call it John Kerry's Master Plan.

JOHN KERRY'S MASTER PLAN
a film treatment by
Scott C. Smith
inspired by the Swift Boat Veterans for The Truth

Ext: YALE UNIVERSITY

We start with an establishing shot of YALE UNIVERSITY, in all of its glory. It is January, 1966.

CUT TO

INT YALE DORM ROOM. It is a large room, but standard Dorm room decor. As we PAN around room, we see the back of someone, seated at a desk. Slowly we move towards the desk to reveal a young man. It is JOHN KERRY. He is writing in a diary. As he writes, we hear Kerry's VO:

JOHN KERRY: Diary, I am about to set the Master Plan in action. Next month I will enlist in the United States Navy. I think the Navy is the best choice -- I will get involved in combat but will not be as vulnerable as the troops on the ground. Now, I'll just have to figure out how to get injured three times so I can leave service early. You know, just be there as long as necessary -- say, four months -- and my goal during those four months will be my being awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and the three Purple Hearts. This country rallies behind a president with military experience. Diary, I could be a peanut farmer from Georgia and still get elected president, as long as I have that military background. And I'd be the most popular president ever!

CUT TO:
EXT -- Military Processing Station Cruitsta, New York, NY. A drab, grey building. The camera slowly moves towards a window and glides through. We see a group of young men, including JOHN KERRY, standing, taking the oath of enlistment. We are coming into the room at the very end of the oath.

CUT TO:

CU of John Kerry.

KERRY: So help me god.

CUT TO:

EXT -- Naval Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island

We observe a group of officer candidates running. FADE TO:

Montage, a few minutes of footage of the officer candidates involved in the same kinds of activities as Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman.

CUT TO:

INT -- Barracks. We are in a small room, with two beds. Once again, we see John Kerry at a desk, writing in his diary, and we hear his thoughts in VO:

JOHN KERRY: Diary, the plan is in action. Soon I will be commissioned an officer. And when that happens, I will request duty in Vietnam. And, once in Vietnam, I will create questionable situations that will leave doubt in the minds of my superiors about my fitness as an officer. They will later remember me to be a bad officer. I will be exposed for having orchestrated events that result in my being awarded the Bronze Star, Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. But so what! That'll show my initiative -- my willingness to get the job done. This is great press -- the public will eat up the uncovering of my deceit and thus will put me into the White House!

KERRY closes his diary and carefully tucks it into the false bottom of his locker. Kerry begins to cackle.

Stay tuned for part two of John Kerry's Master Plan!

[Lisa]

1. don't forget to show him cutting up a piece of metal with tinsnips ...

... to produce convincing "shrapnel" to stick into himself so as to get those bogus Purple Hearts! And of course, make sure to light the scene from below to make him look more sinister and conniving.

[scottcsmith]

2. Good idea!

And an evil laugh, of course. "Mwwwwaaaa HaaaaaaHaaaaa Ha!"