The Kerry medals mystery - and why it matters

townhall.com ^ | 4/30/04 | Jeff Jacoby

[kattracks]

If John Kerry hadn't already clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, his medals meltdown on "Good Morning America" this week would have sunk his campaign. Much as Howard Dean's crazed "I Have A Scream" speech jolted voters into wondering whether someone so hotheaded should be allowed anywhere near the nuclear trigger, Kerry's abusive tirade on ABC gave millions of viewers a foretaste of how far presidential discourse will sink if Kerry becomes president.

Not one voter in 100 would vote against Kerry for trashing his Vietnam War medals at a Capitol Hill demonstration when he was 27 years old. What he did with his combat decorations in 1971 has no bearing on whether he is fit to be president today. That long-ago episode is an issue today only because Kerry's versions of it have changed so many times, and because it so perfectly typifies his lifelong habit of saying one thing today and something else tomorrow -- and then denying having done so.

So what *does* Kerry say he did with those medals? As with so many of his shifts and flip-flops, it's all on the record.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

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[Freesofar]

That is the point and all the liberal pundits just bypass it.

Even if the medal toss was an issue, why is it even a factor.
I dont remember Clinton getting any medals ,
......or did he get a nobel peace prize for Mogadishu ?

[Nonstatist]

Man, he's a terrible candidate! Still, I worry.

[Mo1]

No .. he didn't flip flop about those medals ... He lied about what really happened

[Unam Sanctam]

Not one voter in 100 would vote against Kerry for trashing his Vietnam War medals at a Capitol Hill demonstration when he was 27 years old.

I must be strange, because I do hold it and all of his anti-war activities when he got home against him. But then I hold Joschka Fischer's youthful mauling of a policeman and cavorting with terrorists against him. Moreover, in Kerry's case, I'm not sure his basic world view has changed since those anti-war days.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" Not one voter in 100 would vote against Kerry for trashing his Vietnam War medals at a Capitol Hill demonstration .."

Yes, they would.
It's like saying not one voter in 100 would vote against Jane Fonda because of her anti war treachery.
Kerry is not defined by his military service-but,his military disservice.

[Joe Boucher]

Here is a guy that couldn't run the fry line at McDonalds.