Posted on 05/05/2004 9:56:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Dozens of Vietnam veterans questioned John Kerry's fitness to be president Tuesday, accusing him of exaggerating his credentials as a war hero and having betrayed U.S. troops in Southeast Asia with anti-war activities after his return home. The veterans' attack on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coincided with the Kerry campaign's launch in 19 key election states of two TV ads heralding his military and political service to the country.
In bitter, dueling news conferences that reopened the wounds of the Vietnam War era, Kerry's detractors openly belittled the Massachusetts senator while a smaller group of veterans defended him. Calling themselves "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" - in reference to the type of gunboat Kerry commanded on Vietnam's Mekong Delta - 184 vets signed a biting letter to him in which they said he is now trying to benefit from a war he once protested.
"You now seek to clad yourself in the very medals that you disdainfully threw away in the early years of your political career," the letter said. "You have deceived the public, and in the process have betrayed honorable men, to further your personal political goals.
"Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as commander-in-chief of the military forces."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
No chance for rebuttal. Just a statement with an ideological slant to it and then an unrelated question.
Easy. Yes, and I'm a Muslim.
The most memorable example of this (IMO) was the woman from the New York Times who submitted an insult in lieu of a proper question and got put in her place in no uncertain terms.
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