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Soldier of political fortune: John Kerry's military disservice
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, February 17, 2004 | Doug Powers

Posted on 02/17/2004 12:38:39 AM PST by JohnHuang2

Soldier of political fortune: John Kerry's military disservice


Posted: February 16, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

As a kid in the early '70s, I remember catching glimpses of the fallout from the war on the TV news. The death of my cousin, a proud Marine, in Vietnam brought the war home to my family several years earlier, and I'd heard them talking about it, but I was too young to understand what was happening. All I knew was that, whatever it was, it was something controversial.

We watched nightly as Walter Cronkite showed us people burning draft cards, throwing rocks, and looters who were taking everything with the exception of a shower. People were protesting Vietnam, my parents were protesting Cronkite, and I was just trying to eat some fish sticks.

In all of the seemingly indifferent innocence of my youth back in those days, I still never would have expected that, someday, some of those protesters I saw on television would end up castigating political opponents for not serving in Vietnam. Now I realize that was incredibly naive, but that's what your childhood is for – thinking rationally. Life has a way of beating the logic right out of you.

Leading the Vietnam protest charge, in many ways, was Jane Fonda. "Hanoi Jane," as she came to be known after using a North Vietnamese Army anti-aircraft gun as a chaise lounge, posing for a photo op with NVA troops, and listening to them beg her to put on her costume from "Barbarella," is now featured in a picture circulating from that era. The photo shows Fonda and John Kerry, after his military service ended, at a protest rally.

Fonda and Kerry could be bedfellows of irony. Jane was a staunch feminist, and now sits in her living room while the grandkids are in the backyard playing balloon toss with her old breast implants, and Kerry is partly financing a campaign to appeal to the "working people" by selling his art collection and borrowing millions of dollars against a house purchased by his wife – just like all of us "working people" would do.

Not only should those who served in Vietnam be insulted by Kerry's constant changing of sides and his trivialization of President Bush's National Guard service, but so should those who honorably serve and have served in the Guard. The National Guard often has the most difficult job of all during a time of a highly controversial war such as Vietnam – patrolling American streets making sure peace activists don't kill anybody.

Turbulent times such as the late '60s and early '70s proved to us the National Guard could be sent into the war zones, but until they were notified, they stayed in the United States to battle those who were vehemently against the war. They have to scrap with both sides of the war equation and, for that, they deserve our utmost respect and support.

John Kerry's flip-flopping is almost enough to make you long for the honesty and integrity of Bill Clinton, isn't it? Clinton didn't make any bones about it – he "loathed" the military. When war broke out and he was of draft age, he practically put on a wig and go-go boots, shoved a couple of Nerf balls down his shirt, held a "baby" to his chest, and spent the next couple of years pretending to breastfeed a swaddled wheel of cheese until the coast was clear.

As for John Kerry, he's done so many 180s in the past few decades, he's got to be dizzy. He fought in Vietnam, and then became an outspoken protester. As a senator, Kerry said that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous threat who must go – now he's bashing President Bush who, along with our great military, got rid of Saddam Hussein. Kerry now claims to be proud of his Vietnam service, and is belittling George W. Bush for not going. Kerry's point is lost in his past views. Bush did nothing more than what the likes of Fonda and Kerry were urging people to do in the early '70s – stay out of Vietnam.

Kerry shouldn't be running against Bush, he should be endorsing him.

We're well aware that politicians lie, cheat, steal and perhaps even have affairs with interns and offer passports to Africa as payment. That's a given. What can't be forgiven is the attempt by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War, and even the current battle on terror, to proclaim false support to get some votes.

The memory of all the great soldiers who served, fought and died in Vietnam, and in every other conflict, deserve far more than phony hugs from counterfeit friends with political agendas.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2004; dougpowers; hanoijane; hanoijohn; kerry
Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Quote of the Day by js1138

1 posted on 02/17/2004 12:38:40 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
I can hear it now... Bush v. Kerry debate:

"You'll be pleased to learn, Senator Kerry, that we are, in fact, out of Vietnam."
2 posted on 02/17/2004 1:49:34 AM PST by thoughtomator ("What do I know? I'm just the President." - George W. Bush, Superbowl XXXVIII halftime statement)
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To: JohnHuang2

Kerry's done more flipping than those pancakes he has served on the campaign trail.

3 posted on 02/17/2004 4:25:37 AM PST by tapatio
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To: JohnHuang2
The real John Kerry Isn't..............

(Ann Coulter shows you the real person)

4 posted on 02/17/2004 4:59:35 AM PST by yoe (WMD come in small containers/vials...small minds don't want you to know that.)
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To: JohnHuang2
Nail him.
5 posted on 02/17/2004 5:01:08 AM PST by Stallone (Guess who Al Qaeda wants to be President?)
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To: JohnHuang2
If I might recycle a bit of a post I submitted yesterday:


When W signed up for the Texas ANG as a pilot he was probably facing a greater risk just from operational accidents than Kerry would have faced in the offshore swift boat patrols he thought he was signing up for [here I refer to a Harvard Crimson interview from about 1970 - can anyone provide a link?]. That doesn't even take into account the combat that many of us feared our interceptor force might have had to face in those dark days of the Cold War. Mind you, I admire the way Kerry performed when he found himself in combat, but I do not think Kerry took much pride in his own behavior when it was politically expedient to protest the war. Now that it is politically expedient to be a war hero, he has developed a bit of nostalgia for his days as what he would have called a "baby killer" upon his return from Vietnam. I guess I should be glad he is finally recognizing the heroism and positive character of those who served in that unfortunate war, even if he is about 30 years late.

From someone who joined the Navy to avoid ground combat to unwitting combatant to ashamed veteran and war protester to proud war hero in only 30 years - quite a trip.
6 posted on 02/17/2004 5:12:21 AM PST by Law is not justice but process
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To: JohnHuang2
The number of U.S. males who served in VietNam, is relatively small compared to the total U.S. male population of that era.

The majority of VietNam Veterans I know do not going around bragging about their service, and do not support Kerry's action as a war protestor.

IMO Kerry will receive very little support from VietNam-Era veterans.

7 posted on 02/17/2004 6:53:57 AM PST by gitmogrunt (God Bless Our Troops)
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