Is Kerry Blowing It?

New York Observer ^ | April 28, 2004 | by Robert Sam Anson

[ThreeYearLurker]

And from one of his friends no less

[ThreeYearLurker]

This is relevant because Kerry has denied this for years too.

[laconic]

Some facts about this: many of the so-called combat vets were phonies who had never worn the uniform. Many of those whose "testimony" about nonexistent "war crimes" Anson lauds in Jane Fonda's Winter Soldier Investigation were never in Vietnam.

[LS]

What's amazing is that the more Kerry tries to raise the ghost of Vietnam---whether as "conscience protestor" or "war hero"---it still bites him in the ass. That's because VIETNAM WAS AN ETERNITY AGO AND NO ONE IS INTERESTED. I don't mean to disparage our vets who fought there, but the realization needs to dawn on politicians, especially, that Vietnam was THREE WARS AGO!!!!

The Republicans in the 1890s finally figured out they couldn't run on the "bloody shirt" from the Civil War any longer, and raised a new generation of war heroes like Hamilton Fish and Teddy Roosevelt.

Again, no disparagement meant to Vietnam vets, but the heroes of the young adult generation are Norman Schwartzkopf and the Gulf War generation, and of the Millennials, Jessica Lynch (like it or not) and Pat Tillman. (Don't shoot me, I'm just telling you what my students say).

Bottom line: every time JFK tries to raise the ghost of Vietnam, either as an example of "U.S. imperialism" or as his patriotism, it will fail, just as Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush's references to WW II failed. The war (again, rightly or wrongly) is off the U.S. radar screen---all except for Oliver Stone-types.

I pray JFK keeps trying this angle. Sometime around November, after a 350 vote electoral loss, he might figure it out.

[gilliam]

denied what?

[ghost of nixon]

What was this Robert Sam Anson smoking before he wrote this?

[SZonian]

What's interesting is he fails to mention that the 150 "vets" were debunked as fakes.

Cheers!

[cripplecreek]

I look at it this way. You dont hand responsibility for the nation over to a man who wont take responsibility for the car in his drive way.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Oh, yes, just in case anyone asks you about Jane Fonda again, remember: When she was manning that Commie ack-ack gun, American pilots had clear sailing.

I agree.

Everytime someone asks about Jane Fonda, John Kerry should talk about the American soldiers.

[blanknoone]

Yeah, Mr. Kerry, listen to your friend. Admit you're a liberal. It'll be good for you. (Tee Hee Hee)

[Batrachian]

It's funny, and others have pointed it out, but no one in the media cared about George H.W. Bush's war record, or that of Bob Dole. In fact, they where laughed at because being a WWII vet made them seem like fuddy-duddies. Old geezers reminiscing about things that no one cares about anymore. Ancient history.

But John Kerry's military career, now that's important.

I've decided that I'm not going to pay lip-service to John Kerry's military service any more. He threw away the honor that he earned in Viet Nam when he threw those medals away. No one made him do that. He made a conscious decision and now he has to live with it. I don't care any more.

The only thing that matters now is John Kerry's record in the war against terrorism, and in that war he is AWOL.

[MEG33]

Oh,please do make that testimony in '71 into a commercial..please!Show it and the papers will expose the Winter Soldier project along with the vets who were never in Vietnam.

Do show how you read that list of atrocities you accused the majority of your comrades in arms of committing as though enumerating a weekend list of things to do.Please tell of your "talks" with the communist Vietnamese reps in Paris.

[ladyinred]

Same with your enemies on the right. Retreat, they smell blood. Smack ’em, they behave.

Sheesh!

[Peach]

That book Stolen Valor did so much to return honor to our Vietnam Veterans and to expose the faux soldiers and myths about our veterans.

[ladyinred]

Some of us do still care about Viet Nam LS. I understand your point, really I do, but there are many of us out here who lost friends and family there. I know 2 dear men who are not capable of holding down a job or having a normal life from the PTSS they got there.

John Effing Kerry betrayed them, and his country, and that alone disqualifies him to be the President of the United States in a lot of minds. We do certainly care about what he did about Viet Nam.

[colorado tanker]

Yes, by all means, Senator Kerry, drink this Anson-Aid and take his advice.

And this is one of Kerry's friends.

[kittymyrib]

That may work with the evil Right...but you better watch out if it's Hellary working behind the scenes with your FBI records!

[altura]

Even then he knew how to cadge good living out of his friends and wives. No sleeping with the lower classes for John.

[optimistically_conservative]

Anson wants Kerry to be unapologetically liberal in order to save his campaign.

OK, sounds good to me.

[arthurus]

I do think Mr. Anson is correct in his assessment. The issue of what Kerry did with those medals is no issue at all. Kery could have assuaged most of the old vets without alienating old hippies by saying he did what he did in 1971. It's done. His problem and the source of the "petty" sniping is his penchant for saying that which he thinks will fly with this particular group or that without regard to what he has said previously. That bespeaks indecisiveness, lack of ability to see past 5 minutes from now, lack of actual principles, and lack of any notion of truth.