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Kerry pays tribute to fellow Veterans
AP | 5/31/04 | NANCY BENAC

Posted on 05/31/2004 7:02:29 AM PDT by kattracks

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry paid a solemn early morning visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Monday, offering a quiet Memorial Day counterpoint to President Bush's tribute to the fallen across the Potomac River at Arlington National Cemetery.

On a cool, misty morning, Kerry slowed walked along the black granite wedge, pausing to seek out a few names of significance to him.

Kerry visited the wall with the family of William Bronson of Gardner, Mass. Bronson died in 1976 from a seizure related to a head wound he suffered in 1968 during combat in Vietnam.

The Democratic presidential candidate worked with Bronson's family and the Navy to have Bronson's name added to the wall.

His name was recently inscribed on the memorial wall and will be officially enrolled during ceremonies later Monday.

"I'm very happy we could get this done," Kerry told Bronson's mother, Barbara, and other family members Monday. "He belongs here."

Kerry placed a wreath near Bronson's name and made the sign of the cross before pausing for a few moments of silence.

The wall is a touchstone of sorts for Kerry, who came home from Vietnam with three Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze stars — and growing dismay at the way the war was unfolding. He soon became a leader of the anti-war movement.

A number of Kerry's close friends from decades past are among the dead whose names are etched on the memorial's polished black granite walls. It was here that Kerry brought his future wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, when he first began seeing her. They stopped to stroll along the memorial as he drove her home from a dinner party in 1994.

From Washington, Kerry was heading to Portsmouth, Va., where he was to join Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott for the city's annual Memorial Day parade. Portsmouth is home of the naval shipyard.

Just last week, the Kerry campaign signaled new interest in Republican-leaning Virginia when it announced plans to begin running TV ads in the state.

Population shifts over the past few years have made Virginia more attractive to Democrats, campaign aides say. And the campaign hopes Kerry's war record will have particular appeal along the Virginia coast, with its heavy military presence.



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agitprop; aidandcomfort; antiwarmovement; kerry; kerrywasinvietnam; liedtocongress; liedtomedia; lyingliar; memorialday; memorialday2004; memorialdayphotoop; photoop; traitor; treason; unfitforoffice; veterans; vets; vietnam; vietnamveterans; vietnamvets; vietnamwar; warcriminal; wintersoldier
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To: kattracks

"Well, it's my understanding that she just fired a few short bursts from that anti-aircraft weapon, Senator. I don't think she actually hit any of our aircraft. So, no... I wouldn't call that treason."


41 posted on 05/31/2004 9:07:39 AM PDT by badgerlandjim (Hillary Clinton is to politics as Helen Thomas is to beauty)
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To: shagbark

I am reminded of something Clinton did also. I think he was a fundraiser or something and to make it a real emotional moment he poked himself in the eye to produce a tear to make it look good.

Frauds.


42 posted on 05/31/2004 9:11:25 AM PDT by Mustangcountry
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To: kattracks
A number of Kerry's close friends from decades past are among the dead whose names are etched on the memorial's polished black granite walls.

And what would that 'number' be?.... <1

It was here that Kerry brought his future wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, when he first began seeing her. They stopped to stroll along the memorial as he drove her home from a dinner party in 1994.

Great con game to work on the ketchup lady...tell his B.S. war stories to the gullible...get her all emotional then take her to see some names...(that he probably memorized earlier)...and claim he knew them or was 'in battle' with them...with them when they died...blah blah blah.....

He's a lying sack of crap ...nothing more...nothing less...

imo....

43 posted on 05/31/2004 9:46:03 AM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: kattracks

Did John Kerry go to the Veterans' Memorial in 2002 and 2003 or is this just something he does in the midst of a war in an election year?


44 posted on 05/31/2004 10:01:39 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: kattracks
Exerpts of the epilogue of John Kerry's book - "The New Soldier"

We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans' Day waving small flags, calling to memory those who died for the "greater glory of the United States." We will not accept the rhetoric. We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars---in fact, we will find it hard to join anything at all and when we do, we will demand relevancy such as other organizations have recently been unable to provide. We will not take solace from the creation of monuments or the naming of parks after a select few of the thousands of dead Americans and Vietnamese. We will not uphold traditions which decorously memorialize which was base and grim.

Ignore Kerry's photo ops. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper instead.

45 posted on 05/31/2004 10:10:59 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: Mustangcountry

See post #45.


46 posted on 05/31/2004 10:14:22 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: weegee

JFK is a traitor. Lets take him down.


47 posted on 05/31/2004 11:04:26 AM PDT by Mustangcountry
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To: kattracks
Good grief! The prose on this piece made me gag. "On a cool, misty morning", indeed.

I can't wait to read the snide remarks the AP will insert on their coverage of President Bush's appearance. And I took the business about "offering a quiet Memorial Day counterpoint" as a way of saying in a subtle way how unfair that President Bush had his incumbent platform to speak from so humble old Kerry is quietly doing the best he can to say and do his own noble deeds. Bah.

Then we come to this:

The Democratic presidential candidate worked with Bronson's family and the Navy to have Bronson's name added to the wall.

His name was recently inscribed on the memorial wall and will be officially enrolled during ceremonies later Monday.

So when did Kerry start "working" to get Bronson's name added to the wall? Why wasn't he "working" on it lo these many years he's been a U.S. Senator. Why did it take being a presidential candidate to accomplish this?

48 posted on 05/31/2004 11:17:31 AM PDT by cyncooper
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To: Mustangcountry; All

In case you haven't heard .. Kerry was approached by a protester who ask if Kerry was planning to apologize for spitting on these men when he returned from Vietnam.

Of course .. only FOX has reported this.


49 posted on 05/31/2004 12:59:33 PM PDT by CyberAnt (The 2004 Election is for the SOUL of AMERICA)
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