Is Chris Matthews Unable or Unwilling to understand a simple exchange between Bush and Russert?

MSNBC

[futureceo31]

Well.. maybe this interview did what it what supposed to do.. The Rats in their glee are forgetting that the majority of the people dont like to see a president put down and attacked. This is going to backfire like it did against the repbs in 1996 with Clinton.

[cake_crumb]

Speaking of leftist bias...one of my favorite parts of the interview was when Russert started off with those "exit polls" of DEMOCRAT VOTERS which said something like 70 percent of them were angry with the president. Yeah, they were all voting for Kerry or Dean, so I guess so! DUH! Big whup.

[EllaMinnow]

Did you catch Russert showing the big graphic of a quote from VOGUE Magazine?

Oh yeah, that Vogue, they're really up on what we "commoners" think!

[olde north church]

In a way, this is on topic, these people aren't being called out on ridiculous statements. I was watching Bill Maher on Larry King a few weeks ago, he said something about 41 having breakfast with a bin Laden on 9/11 and he did that smug little eye roll. That "Oh, I'm such an enlightened, above it all individual." I wish I had a friend on the Larry's set, that I could have called and told her to kick him in the unmentionables. Then see what a smug little twerp he was.

[Laverne]

I guess I mis-read your post; I thought it said you were making an exception to watch her show tonight....tired eyes, I guess!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Here you go everyone. Sorry I didn't format this better earlier (just getting over a flu, and really tired). This is an e-mail we rec'd from several fellow Vets. It is obviously going around in *Vietnam Vet* groups and mailings. Feel free to use it.

FRegards, VH&W
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is an article by Terry Garlock, who flew Cobras in 334th Armed Helicopter Company in RVN.

He was severely injured when a surface to air missle blew off his tail rotor and a portion of the tail boom. Terry spent several years in hospital and therapy. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has an exclusive on this for 30 days, so it can't be published in a newspaper or magazine until after that; but he is allowing this to be sent to you with that understanding. All the Best, Charlie Bagnal

---

"Many Vietnam Vets Will Object to Kerry"
by Terry Garlock

Now that Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is claiming the veteran vote based on his war record, both sides of that story should be told. To appreciate the dark side of Sen. Kerry's war record, you should know a few things about Vietnam veterans.

For example, having fought in an unpopular war 30 something years ago, and having been awarded medals, is noteworthy. But it doesn't give anyone a pass -- their record and their ideas should be examined on their own merit.

And reporters make a mistake when they divide us into decorated veterans like Sen. Kerry and then all the others. We like to think of ourselves as brothers, whether we fought the enemy directly in combat or served in vital support roles in protected areas that were often exposed to attack.

Even today, after all this time, when two Vietnam veterans meet one another for the first time they are likely to say "Welcome home brother!" because many were never welcomed home - they met the cold shoulder of an ungrateful nation on their return.

Those of us whose job was combat feel a very special brotherhood. We learned to trust our brothers on the ground, on the water and in the air to do the right things to protect one another, even under fire. We came to deeply value the same trust they placed in us, and that mutual trust would form a bond that cannot be fully explained in words.

We quietly feared dying in battle, but there was something we feared even more. We knew if we should panic under fire and fail to do our job, we might lose our brothers' trust or we might lose their lives, and this we feared more than anything.

Like Sen. Kerry, I have a few medals. But among combat veterans, who has what medal doesn't make a dime's worth of difference between us. What matters is that we are, for the rest of our life, brothers who kept faith with one another in a miserable war.

A young John Kerry, however, broke faith with his brothers when he returned to the US. With the financial aid of Jane Fonda he led highly visible protests against the war.

He wrote a book that many considered to be pro-Hanoi, titled The New Soldier. The cover photo of his book depicted veterans in patchwork military uniforms, folding the American flag upside down and mocking the legendary image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima.

Sen. Kerry publicly supported Hanoi's position to use our POWs as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a peace agreement. Sen. Kerry played a key role in "Winter Soldier," a Jane Fonda event where over 100 men, many of whom were later discredited, testified about atrocities committed in the Vietnam war by American soldiers.

In 1971 Sen. Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said our soldiers in Vietnam were not America's best, as Vice President Agnew had claimed, but that they were committing widespread rape, torture and murder of Vietnamese civilians. We who were there know that to be untrue. Later that same day Sen. Kerry threw what he said were his medals over a fence in front of the capitol building in protest, on camera of course, but was years later caught in his lie when his medals turned up displayed on his office wall.

Some say Sen. Kerry's anti-war stance arose from his political ambitions since the war was so unpopular, and I cannot say I know his motivations. But when he ran for congress in 1972 maybe he thought his book and it's cover would be an embarrassment since it remarkably disappeared from store and library shelves. I would guess Hercule Poirot himself could not find a copy today.

Many good and decent people other than Sen. Kerry opposed the Vietnam war.

Many of us who fought it hated it, too, I know I did.

But like Jane Fonda's infamous visit to Hanoi in 1972, Sen. Kerry's public actions encouraged our enemy at a time they were killing America's sons.

Decades after the war was done, interviews with our former enemy's leaders confirmed that public protests in the US, like Sen. Kerry's, played a significant role in their strategy and worked against our chances of victory.

Many of us wonder which of our brothers who died young would be alive today had people like Jane Fonda and Sen. Kerry objected to the war in a more suitable way.

Now that it serves his ambition to be President, Sen. Kerry reminds the public of his war record daily, but the story of the dark side of that record is not being told.

Many Vietnam veterans have taken notice, and many of us will vigorously oppose Sen. Kerry's election to any office. I will be one of them.

---

Terry L. Garlock of Peachtree City, GA was a Cobra helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

(usma1956) Posted By: BAGNAL Charles W 1956 20783 G1

[ozzysmom]

I agree. Chrissy and Timmy boy are both so....well...you know....9/10. It is upsetting to hear them spin and spin but there is one picture that they will not be able to spin. In my part of the country, anyone associated with Jane Fonda is a traitor to this country and it will sink Kerry faster than the Titantic! That picture should be in every campaign ad...it will speak for itself...they can't find anything dirty on President Bush so they make it up but WE don't have to spin or make up lies--but it is up to us to let the people know exactly who Kerry is--the media is certainly not going to do it.

[cake_crumb]

"Did you catch Russert showing the big graphic of a quote from VOGUE Magazine?"

No....thank heaven! What was the Vogue quote?

[cake_crumb]

" I was watching Bill Maher on Larry King a few weeks ago, he said something about 41 having breakfast with a bin Laden on 9/11 and he did that smug little eye roll."

That's ANOTHER urban legend they keep trying to puch: how the Bush family is all tight with the bin Ladens.

[EllaMinnow]

It was some put-down of GWB by Kerry. Kerry, of course, is perfectly suited to giving political interviews to a glossy fashion magazine.

Maybe they got him a bargain on the Botox.

[cake_crumb]

Thank you. Bets on the media turning a deaf ear to Kerry's military record, both war hero and war protestor within 3 months...to push the public furor under the rug? Oh they'll be back 60 days before the election with more War Hero stories. After the dim witted have forgotten the details of there despicable tactics.

[Mo1]

Please Read post #126

[cake_crumb]

"It was some put-down of GWB by Kerry. Kerry, of course, is perfectly suited to giving political interviews to a glossy fashion magazine."

Oh THAT, yeah I do remember that. Something about how Russert was going to come off sounding more presidential than President Bush. No bias there.

[gogipper]

C'mon, that is stooping to their level. We can respect his service to the country and his sacrifice. That doesn't mean that his judgement on issues of national security were not objectionable.

[gogipper]

I am with you. The services are designed to be a three legged stool, the active, reserve and guard. I think they are playing with fire denigrating guard service.

[hotpotato]

I guess I mis-read your post; I thought it said you were making an exception to watch her show tonight....tired eyes, I guess!

My comment:

"I never watch her show. Tonight will not be an exception."

Unfortunately, Dennis Miller's show was a repeat from last week. Ann Coulter will be on tomorrow night, I guess.

[olde north church]

I mean no disrespect, I know I'm newbie here but I'm a veteran of the politcal struggle for a long, long time. You can't just worry about stooping, you have to be prepared to crawl on your belly to win. 2nd place it 1st place loser. This is not a world where you can go back to the pub, savor your beer and talk about "the good fight". Every time you lose there is more you have to pull back up to where you want to be.
One of the greatest war stories I have ever read was about a general who after his soldiers had disembarked from his ships, set them on fire. There was no way back, only victory or death.

[McGavin999]

Thanks for posting that. I watched H & C tonight and listened to the dem serrogates claim that it doesn't matter, that republicans are "desperate", and that exposing Kerry for what he is means that we are losing.

What the dems don't understand is that there are many of us alive today who still have huge, gaping wounds that have been carefully papered over for years. This is ripping that off and exposing those wounds. Perhaps this will cause them to heal, who knows, but I really don't think the dems realize just how dangerous this is to them.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

3. It would not have made sense to retrain Bush on those Fighters when he only had 8 months of service left.

Not to say one branch of service has the exact same policies as another but the A.F. in the Early 80s and the Navy in the 90s both had policies of not transferring someone with less than 1 year of committment left.

It doesn't make make any sense to transfer someone to train them on a new airframe and then have them leave the service, in all likelihood before they even finished training.

[The Wizard]

unwilling....this sorry asshole is still shilling for the warren report....the only jerk left in Washington who thinks Oswald shot someone...