Kerry campaign provides military records

AP | 4/20/04 | NEDRA PICKLER

[Howlin]

Off point, what in the HELL has happened to Joe Scarborough? He has a segment going with the title "?Saudis to rig U.S. Election?"

That's been totally discredited this very day!

[Miss Marple]

You show up on a great many threads, and NEVER have a positive comment. Either you are a disruptor, or you need counseling.

[MJY1288]

I would believe "Brain Injury"

[concerned about politics]

You can't take away the fact that he was in combat. But with all his bragging you damn well can question an officer who got out in 4 months.

Maybe he told them he was queer. He's the girly boy type. Maybe they just figured he was.

[familyofman]

"You made my point for me; you are a CONTRARIAN on every single thread."

Did you ever stop to think that I don't post where I agree with the general opinion. I'll have to start posting agreement comments - which I don't normally do. I do feel that some different views on issues are worthwhile, if for nothing else making people question (just a tad) alternatives to what is generally agreed upon.

[jwalsh07]

John Kerry thought his military record was untouchable. It wasn't, he underestimated the animus many feel for him for his betrayal of his fellow vets 34 years agoby stereotyping them as baby killing, drug addled whackjobs.

When he jumped on the Bush Guard Duty bandwagon, his untouchability went POOF!

[Stultis]

Check out the AP spin

Spin, hell. They're out right editing and rewording Kerry's comments! It's unbelievable! This reporter is acting like he (or she) is the Kerry Campaign's communications director. For instance:

Kerry on Friday questioned Republicans who avoided the war and now criticize him on national security, but he didn't mention Bush.

"I fought under that flag and I saw that flag draped over the coffins of friends," Kerry said. "I'm tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid the chance to serve when they had the chance."

I don't have the exact quote at hand from another source for comparison, but I *think* words may have actually been left out within the quotation marks. In any case I remember hearing Kerry's comment well enough to know that the reporter has absolutely changed the sense of it with his introductory sentence.

Kerry was most definitely NOT complaining about criticism of his position(s) on "national security". That may be what the reporter thinks Kerry should have said, but it's nothing like what Kerry did say.

Kerry complained in plain English (or as plain as his English ever gets anyway) about Republicans in the Bush administration/campaign attacking his patriotism.

Bear in mind that the distinction has been frequently drawn by pundits and campaigners on both sides between attacking a person's record or policy on the one hand, and attacking a person's patriotism (or engaging in some other personal, ad hominem attack) on the other. Kerry's comments quite unambiguously fell on one side of that dichotomy (in so far as what he was accusing Republicans of doing) and the reporter, on his/her own initiative, just picked them up and moved them to the other side of the dichotomy!!!

Apparently this reporter knows that on one (in the Bush administration/campaign) has attacked Kerry's "patriotism." The reporter is sufficiently embarrassed for Kerry, so it would seem, that he/she has actually corrected Kerry (in surreptitious, Orwellian fashion by editing the historical record). Either that or the reporter is massively incompetent, yet this report is full of such covering for Kerry gaffes/exaggerations/misstatements.

[SerpentDove]

I know of one sure-fire reason John Kerry will never be President, and it has nothing to do with his politics (although that won't help him any).

It is that Americans will never vote for a President who looks like Herman Munster.

And I'm not kidding. They won't do it.

[watchin]

Just one minor correction, sport. It's KERRY who keeps bringing up his service record. He can't speak five words without saying "Vietnam".

Bush was accused of the same thing with the flight suit and the aircraft carrier. His records have already been released. You can be sure that the unbiased media has searched them for any possible scandal.

In other words, your warnings are a waste of time. Bush has been given the full rectal exam, while Kerry gets a pass.

[MJY1288]

Joe Scarborough works for MSNBC, they will play it up for all it's worth

[Tribune7]

Basically he recieved the Frank Burns Purple Heart award?

That's good. That's real good. A keeper.

[Future Useless Eater]

Kerry-Hillary thing just last week - yes
Senatrix leave for Jamaica -dunno.

[MamaLucci]

This really doesn't square at all with what Kerry told Russert last Sunday.....he told Russert "I know what it's like to almost die...". The funny thing is, he told Russert the EXACT same thing back in 2002. So, for those of you who want Kerry's military record to go unquestioned, perhaps Kerry's exaggeration and hyperbole are causing people to question his service. He needs to quit saying he "almost died" in Vietnam.

Here's something I posted on the Sunday Show thread last Sunday:

Kerry on today's Meet the Press (4-18-04): I know what it’s like to almost die....

This seems to be a Kerry theme....here are just a few of the various Kerry quotes found on Google....they go on and on...

"I know what it's like to try to choose between friend and foe in a foreign country when you're carrying out the policy of your nation,"

"I know what it's like for these guys, who are going down streets and they suck in their breath, and they don't know where the rocket's coming from, and they're standing guard and they don't know if the station wagon that's driving at them is a bomb or a family.."

"I know what it's like to be spied on by the government, because that's what they did to me when I came back and stood up against the war."

"But I know what it's like to come from behind. I'm known as a good closer, and I intend to be a good closer in this campaign.''

And this is REALLY interesting....from a Dec. 4, 2002 article, quoting John Kerry on MTP:

He continued, "I've seen people die and I know what it's like to almost die. I don't think that -you know, dying is scary for a while, but in the end, the punishment is gone. When you're alive and you're deprived of your freedom each day … that is tough, my friend."

Almost verbatim what he said on TODAY's MTP

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Doesn't fit into the Purple Heart criteria.

[concerned about politics]

I find it hard to believe that "LT, MC, USNR" or "LCDR, MC, USN" cannot be deciphered on that medical record due to bad handwriting.

I want to see that signature.

If that was a Corpsman's signature, that would be the smoking gun that documents that Kerry sea lawyered himself into a phony Purple Heart which he later used to sea lawyer himself out of combat after only 4 months of service.

Good point. The Democrats thought they had questions about Bush's military records!!!
I'll bet the Democrats know the real story, and that's why Hillary is being wooed by the press. It's not too late for a presidential draft, you know.

[familyofman]

"...animus many feel for him for his betrayal of his fellow vets 34 years agoby stereotyping them as baby killing, drug addled whackjobs."

That is a totally different record from the one he has from his time in Vietnam. The 2 can be separated & evaluated on their own.

[gitmo]

" He said it would not be made available to the public because Kerry considers it a private medical record."

That's what Rush said!

[Solamente]

Maybe it was vacillation instead of Bacitracin! That would explain plenty!

[Petronski]

HAWKEYE: Shell fragment!?! Frank, that was an eggshell!

[mass55th]

"If I got the dates right, he got two in a three week period! "

And from what I understand from other articles, the first was received within 24 hours of his arrival in Vietnam. Fast work!