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Me? A Kerry supporter? You are desperately in need of counseling. More so than anyone I know. Guess I can't expect you to know all, since you've been on FR for so short a period of time.

Just the facts. Enough BS.

A.Kerry didn't know Teresa existed in 1968.

B. He did in fact, volunteer. Period. I don't give a damn what his reasons were. Check out why many join the French Foreign Legion. Who knows, who cares. He volunteered. That is a fact.

C.So what if he looked up to JFK? Many did. Cliff Robertson played him on the Big Screen. Idolized by many. I see nothing wrong there. Many joined the Marines and some may have idolized John Wayne. Did it make them any less Marine?

D.These boats were nothing more than RPG magnets. Humvees without tires. They presented a large, crisp target. Safe duty?

Lastly, you pick apart his record based on what you have read here, there, and everywhere. Were you In-Country? A friend of mine has a Harley with a bumper sticker that I dearly love. It simply says,"VIETNAM, IF YOU WEREN'T THERE JUST SHUT THE F UP!"

After reading your previous message, I was, as I said, able to discern your absence of support for sKerry. I figured that out w/o a counselor! I've been around FR for a while longer than indicated in my profile. My first account disappeared with the hard drive of a previous computer. 9/11 stimulated me to open a new account. I don't see how long my tenure is on FR has anything to do with my views, but I do admit that this particular ad hominem argument--illogical and fallacious as it is--is widely used here.

I never said that sKerry knew Teresa in 1968. She's not his first billionaire wife (family net worth of ~$0.3B is close enough, don't you think?; especially when inflation adjusted to today's dollars), you know. Whether he knew his first one in '68 or not is immaterial. My guess is that John Boy was already dreaming of marrying into money by then.

I've acknowledged the nobility of sKerry volunteering and serving. Putting the circumstances of his decision to volunteer is relevant because sKerry himself has draped himself in the flag and in his service. (If I have to hear him talk about Old Glory flying over his head as he skippered his swift boat into battle again, I'll gag.) His motives for his actions tell us about his character--or lack thereof.

sKerry's crush on JFK was a bit pathological. He told everyone about it--in prep school, in college, and in the Navy. People who knew him then thought it a bit weird.

I don't question that swift boats on riverine duty was a very hazardous assignment. I've read that the a priori probability of being wounded or killed during a 12-month tour of duty was estimated to be 75%. (I doubt that this included band-aid wounds; including those probably drove the probability close to 100%.)

Yes, my knowledge of sKerry's war exploits does come from reading and listening. No, I wasn't in-country--I'm a tad bit too young. I have to tell you that I don't understand what me being in-country or not has to do with anything. To attempt to discredit me with that argument, or with your buddy's bumper sticker, catches you in another illogical, fallacious use of argumentum ad hominem. Tsk, tsk. But may I at least assume that we're both not voting for sKerry? In that are we not in violent agreement?