The Character Issue Will Hurt Kerry - BADLY

Self | 1-30-04 | Jonathan M. Stein

[sauropod]

read later

[philosofy123]

throwing the medals! The media need to keep repeating this info.

[hershey]

Kerry is a user, a hypocrite, and a liar. Let's hope the American people see through Botox Boy and Lovie and keep both out of the White House. Lovie's ego is bigger than Kerry's. She's as bad as Hitlery, and I couldn't stand another four years of that.

[Mo1]

Read Ann Coulter's column from yesterday at townhall.com

I found it this morning .. Ann sure has a way with words

[aodell]

Anyone who thinks the character issue is going to hurt Kerry has a short memory---especially if his lying about Botox is in question. Doesn't anyone remember the "I did not have sex with that woman!" thing? It didn't even matter. The guy is still adored by his followers.

[jmstein7]

Obviously you didn't read the article.

[jmstein7]

More Sources:

Boston Globe

Heroism, and growing concern about war

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 6/16/2003

"The Christmas Eve truce of 1968 was three minutes old when mortar fire exploded around John Forbes Kerry and his five-man crew on a 50-foot aluminum boat near Cambodia. ''Where is the enemy?'' a crewmate shouted.

In the distance, an elderly man was tending his water buffalo -- and serving as human cover for a dozen Viet Cong manning a machine-gun nest.

"Open fire; let's take 'em," Kerry ordered, according to his second-in-command, James Wasser of Illinois. Wasser blasted away with his M-60, hitting the old man, who slumped into the water, presumably dead."

"But the battles and moral dilemmas were in shades of gray, and Kerry to this day wrestles with the scenes of death he commanded.

In an intense three months of combat following that Christmas Eve battle, Kerry often would go beyond his Navy orders and beach his boat, in one case chasing and killing a teenage Viet Cong enemy who wore only a loin cloth and carried a rocket launcher. Kerry's aggressiveness in combat caused a commanding officer to wonder whether he should be given a medal or court-martialed."

"Along with Kerry's unquestionable and repeated bravery, he also took an action that has received far less notice: He requested and was granted a transfer out of Vietnam six months before his combat tour was slated to end on the grounds that he had earned three Purple Hearts. None of his wounds was disabling; he said one cost him two days of service and the other two did not lead to any absence."

"Kerry said. "But, look, the Viet Cong used women and children." He said there might have been a satchel containing explosives. "Who knows if they had -- under the rice -- a satchel, and if we had come along beside them they had thrown the satchel in the boat. ... So it was a terrible thing, but I've never thought we were somehow at fault or guilty."

"Roy Hoffmann, who commanded the coastal division in which Kerry served, worried about Kerry, at least at the beginning. He said Kerry and some other skippers initially "had difficulty carrying out direct orders. You know, they were playing the cowboy a little bit. John Kerry was one of them. You don't go out on your own when you are given certain type of patrols, and we were having difficulty with that.""

"The rules, he said, allowed a thrice-wounded soldier to return to the United States immediately. So Kerry went to talk to Commodore Charles F. Horne, an administrative official and commander of the coastal squadron in which Kerry served. Horne filled out a document on March 17, 1969, that said Kerry "has been thrice wounded in action while on duty incountry Vietnam. Reassignment is requested ... as a personal aide in Boston, New York, or Wash., D.C. area."

The document notes that Kerry was "presently on full-duty status and available for reassignment."

Horne, in a telephone interview, said the transfer request was allowed under then-existing naval instructions and was "above board and proper." Transfer was not automatic and was subject to approval by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, he said."

"Moreover, the instruction makes clear that Kerry could have asked that any reassignment be waived."

"The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer. He met with Horne, who agreed to forward the request, which Horne said probably ensured final approval."

[arasina]

By the way, I was so busy researching I forgot to mention that your article is nicely written. However, I don't think I would consider the "facts" about recklessly slaughtering to be undisputed.

[PISANO]

Character and the Democrat party of today do NOT mix. IMHO neither can stand to be in the same room together.

Hence...the following: Electibility in the democrat party is INVERSELY proportional to CHARACTER of the candidate.

[jmstein7]

If he denies it, we can demand his kill record; I mean, honestly... listening to him talk, you'd think his crewmen were trigger happy while he never fired a bullet.

[jmstein7]

I mean... the guy was in a "free fire" zone - he had to have at least fired a few times in that environment. So, I think the public deserves to know his kill record.

If Hillary demand that we see coffins coming home from Iraq, we can demand to see her party's candidate's kill record.

[aodell]

I did read the article. A lie is a lie, and a person who lies cannot be trusted.

You say "Bill Clinton’s lies were extrinsic to his ability to perform in office – i.e. he lied about receiving oral sex from an intern."

I strongly disagree. One of the qualifications for the highest office in the land is character and honesty. Clinton lied about sex because he was afraid his true character would be revealed if he didn't. Even he believed that people wouldn't trust him anymore if he told the truth.

By your philosophy, a President can lie about anything as long as it doesn't have to do with his "professional" work. A liar is a liar. And you can't draw a line between "professional" and "personal" lies. Good character won't allow either, and a good President wouldn't do either.

[dwd1]

I guess it is true. Throw dirt at the front runner.... I am not saying that Kerry is an angel but please don't tell me Bush is honest. The best that you can tell me is that he gets others to do his dirty work for him.

He delegates and gains deniability....

I think he has done a decent job on the war on terror but he does have some problems...

And he is not liked by everyone...

[Ciexyz]

I did read that she (Kerry's first wife) had a nervous breakdown after being ignored by John.

How sad. Kerry sounds like a selfish SOB.

[freedumb2003]

Our favorite Ann Coulter piece on Mr. F'ing Kerry:

I'm just a Gigalo

[JohnBDay]

For years John Kerry has tried to have it both ways. Proud of his record in Vietnam but equally proud of protesting being there in the first place.

[walden]

Mac Owens of NRO (teaches at Naval War College) said in a recent column that Kerry served honorably. Until new information surfaces, I'll go with that. Making up bogus charges is what the left does-- there's plenty of reasons not to like Kerry without making them up.

[dwd1]

Well stated...

[jmstein7]

No, no. . . I agree with you; in an ideal world, it should matter. But, for some reason, the public overlooked it, and that was why. I was just commenting on the common rationalization.

[jmstein7]

"Mac Owens of NRO (teaches at Naval War College) said in a recent column that Kerry served honorably. Until new information surfaces, I'll go with that. Making up bogus charges is what the left does-- there's plenty of reasons not to like Kerry without making them up."

You missed the point on that one. The point is, Kerry didn't do anything differently from anything else other Americans in Vietnam did... what he DID do is turn around and call THEM war criminals for doing it. So, if he calls his fellow serviceman war criminals, then, by his own definition, he must be one too.

The point was that he is a hypocrite. I'm not condemning his actions... I'm condemning his condemnation. If you haven't noticed, Kerry is a guy who likes to have it both ways.