[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

1) Bush's avoidance of service in the Viet Nam War was brought to the forum long before Kerry came into the picture. 2) Kerry is using all he has to offer that he thinks might benefit his campaign. What is new there... 3) Kerry's statements to Congress back in '71 were RIGHT IN LINE with the thinking, the concerns, and popular, counter-culture opinion of the times. He spoke for an entire generation with his words back then, who thought that young American men's lives were being ruined and/or destroyed for a futile cause. The counter culture was trying to SAVE these men--not denigrate them. Many veterans were forced into service, and many of them, and others who were NOT forced, but whose minds were changed after serving, looked at Kerry as their spokesperson. It is easy now to say what he did was self serving...now that he is running for office. As I said, I am not a Kerry fan, but I do not believe his appearance before Congress back then was self serving.

[Chad Fairbanks]

The counter culture was trying to SAVE these men--not denigrate them.

Ahhh... so, those hippie freaks at the airport who tossed bags of blood and piss at my father did it because they loved him, right?

Go sell your crap to someone else, because I ain't buying.

[Miss Marple]

Hey, I was an Air Force wife then, and Kerry didn't speak for me, nor for any of the guys from my high school who served in Viet Nam!!! Quit accepting the media's interpretation. He did NOT speak for a generation! I want no part of his claptrap and lies! I never did!

He was not noble; he was self-serving! AND he LIED!!!!

[Conservababe]

Really, not self serving? He asked for a deferment for the draft to study in France. It was denied. He then joined the Navy before he would be drafted. His number was a lot higher than George Bush in the lottery, did you know?

[AnAmericanMother]

1. I don't see Bush avoiding service. Many NG pilots went to VN, and if his plane had not become obsolete his unit would most likely have. Folks who were trying to avoid service didn't sign up for flight training, they would be counting socks in a QM company somewhere in the Midwest.

2. Nobody objects to Kerry's using his service in his campaign. What I object to is what appears to be undeserved decorations that he put himself in for, and apparent doctoring of his records over time to improve them. That's dishonest and hypocritical, and it has nothing to do with his actual service.

3. I was almost 20 in '71, my husband-to-be was in ROTC, and I beg to differ. Kerry wasn't speaking for "an entire generation" - he was speaking for a small group of liberals who were determined to destroy American morale and undermine the troops at home and abroad. And I don't care if he was "self serving" or not (even if I think he was) - false accusations of atrocities including torture and indiscriminate slaying of civilians and burning villages, etc. is just wrong. Even if you suppose that his aim (undermining American resolve) was "noble," no end justifies such fundamentally evil means. And you'll note that he is STILL at it - encouraging our enemies by undermining the country while our soldiers are being shot at.

When you add all the facts together - Kerry's Kennedy connection, his short tour via the sea-lawyering dodge of "three ouchies and you're out", his attempt to run as a war hero before running as an anti-war candidate (reminiscent of George Wallace running as a moderate, getting whipped, then deciding nobody would ever run to the right of him again on the race issue . . . ) - it does look self serving to me.

It's not about his service - it's what he did afterwards that smells.

[Howlin]

3) Kerry's statements to Congress back in '71 were RIGHT IN LINE with the thinking, the concerns, and popular, counter-culture opinion of the times.

You're right about that; the "culture" that wanted to destroy this country. Thank goodness there weren't that many of them.

He spoke for an entire generation with his words back then, who thought that young American men's lives were being ruined and/or destroyed for a futile cause.

He spoke for himself and his band of American hating "brothers," most of who lied about even BEING in Vietnam.

The counter culture was trying to SAVE these men--not denigrate them.

No, they were and are trying to destroy this country; we stood up to them back in the 60's and 70's and now they're back to try to finish America off.

Many veterans were forced into service, and many of them, and others who were NOT forced, but whose minds were changed after serving, looked at Kerry as their spokesperson.

Did you miss seeing John O'Neill all over TV this very week?

It is easy now to say what he did was self serving...now that he is running for office.

Actually officers AND people who served with him said it back then.

As I said, I am not a Kerry fan

You could have fooled me.

but I do not believe his appearance before Congress back then was self serving.

Proving how little you know about what really went on back then.