JFK is reacting so badly to this, that he is making the charges famous. Compare that to the Bush Camp's silence to the Democrat hit books.
Methinks Kerry doth protest too much.
Here's hoping JF Kerry hasn't read this somewhere. :-))
All responses I have heard, except one WSJ editorial by Jim Rassmassan (sp?), has been ad-hominum, not factual refutations. Even J. Rass. did not refute the substance of the SBV's charges.
Personally, I agree with other writers ("moderates"). Though it's likely that Kerry dummied up documentation for his metals, the Navy bought it, and it's a settled issue. The Cambodia issue is a straw dog, i.e. it won't matter either way. The issue Kerry cannot overcome, the primary issue is why he left a hot-combat theator 8 months early. No man of character could walk away from his command, his crew, in the middle of a combat situation. He might be carried away (i.e. dead or wounded), but he would say "got my three medals.. bye boys, good luck, keep your heads down". That was the action of a coward and/or opportunist, not a hero, and not a man qualified to be CIC.
His post-war anti-American activities were that of a free American. I disagree with them, but they do not disqualify him for high office. Absent direct evidence of collaboration with enemy agents, his war protests were legal and Constitutional.
J.F. Kerry made himself forever unfit for command when he walked away from his during combat in 1968.
SFS