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Well said. And the correct history on Saratoga is indeed apt. gen'l Arnold was a war hero before he was a traitor, and Saratoga was the critical battle in the revolutionary war.

A Krauthammer column came down a bit different. He is usually excellent and he is perhaps right that in war-time records will be used in this current war-time
environment to show credibility in national security.

Yet Kerry is a special case.
Kerry has often used his 4 months in Vietnam as a prop in his 35 political career to tear down our military, not build it up.

Forst consider: Once Kerry's Vietnam record is examined more closely, quite a different picture will emerge. He only served four months in Vietnam as a Swift boat CO (Dec - March) and initiated a request to leave Vietnam a scant four days after receiving his third "wound." The approval was granted because of an administrative rule that permitted thrice-wounded personnel to request reassignment. Three very minor wounds in four months plus a Silver Star and Bronze Star for separate actions. Makes one wonder. He was also given an early out to run for Congress. Kerry got a leave to go home from Vietnam early so he could be active in politics.

1. In 1971, John Kerry was a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War protest group. Kerry testified to Congress that Americans in Vietnam had "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
He said, "We all did it."

He accused fellow veterans of being war criminals, but this awful charge was based on trumped on stories. In his book "Stolen Valor," B.G. Burkett points out that Mr. Kerry liberally used phony veterans to testify to atrocities they could not possibly have committed.

Kerry publicly supported Hanoi's position to use our POWs as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a peace agreement. Kerry threw what appeared to be his medals over a fence in front of the Capitol building in protest, on camera of course, but was caught in his lie years later when his medals turned up displayed on his office wall.

2. Kerry consistently helped The Hanoi regime. One example was preventing the Vietnam Human Rights Act (HR2833) from coming to a vote in the Senate, claiming human rights would deteriorate as a result. His actions sent a clear signal to Hanoi that Congress cares little about the human rights for which so many Americans fought and died.

3. Kerry voted against the first Gulf War. Without that successful war, we would not have removed Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and we would not have found out how close he was to nuclear weapons and stopped that program.
It may well have led to Saddam's Iraqi regime as a nuclear power and effectively controlling the world's oil supply.

4. In 1995, Senator Kerry voted to freeze defense spending for seven years, cutting over $34 billion from the defense budget.

5. Kerry supported in the 1980s the nuclear freeze , the cause-of-the-moment of the disarmament left.

6. Kerry has fought against intelligence services budgets.

7. The worst behavior we wait for last: Kerry has insisted that we need to 'win the peace' in Iraq, but when the time came to support the funding for the occupation, Kerry voted no, even though he voted yes on the original war authorization. In other words he voted against finishing what he voted to start. And he did this for the worst of reasons: To get some anti-iraq-war 'credibility' against primary opponent Howard Dean. Kerry, to put it bluntly, put politics over patriotism.

The list goes on.

Which is it? Does Kerry think Vietnam was a shameful military exercise or something to be proud of? Does he think his service of 4 months in Vietnam means he will protect our nation better?

What of the 35 years of tearing at our national security institutions, defaming our military, voting against military budgets, and being wobbly on matters of defense and security?

In Bush we have a man who served more time in actual service, albeit as a homeland-based jet pilot, and who got an honorable discharge with 5+ years of service. He never made a big deal of that service, but he has been leading as commander-in-chief these past 4 years. And he has made the tough choices to win the war-on-terror and act agressively against threats. In the end, it was his call to go into Afghanistan and Iraq - with willing allies, but not constrained or hamstrung by grovelling for consensus. Bush has stood up for our national secuirty. Whether you like all his decisions or not, he has been a true leader, and he doesnt need to show off medals he once claimed to throw away to prove it.

Who really is the one who went AWOL?

Kerry voted no, even though he voted yes on the original war authorization ...

When questioned about his authorization vote, Kerry stated it was only to create a talking point and that he now repudiates that vote because action was actually taken. If (God forfend) he becomes President what type of message will that send to America's enemies.

I too wonder what a serious vetting of the Kerry medals would unearth. 5 major awards in 5 months of Swift Boat service. Smacks of "gun-decking" to me.

He was also the person making the awards requests, being the Officer present. The ONLY Officer present, I'll guess.

I wonder what his shipmates might say today. After all, they still had to complete their tours after "Pretty Boy" left. Were any of them wounded at the same time as he, or was he the only one in the line of fire?

Bogus awards happened to Lyndon Johnson and Joseph McCarthy and a host of others during WW II to add luster to the politically ambitious. Kerry was politically ambitious. And though it does not necessarily follow that he has an undeserved award, he had both motive and opportunity.

BTTT.

BTTT, your tagline is pretty sharp.