Posted on 08/20/2004 2:35:56 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
John Kerry was "way too much of a gentleman" when he let attacks on his Vietnam War record go unanswered, a former swift boat mate said Thursday while praising Kerry's decision to fight back.
"I talked to him on Monday. It's eating him up," said Jim Wasser, now an electrician in Kankakee. "He said, 'This is hurting me. It's tearing me up.'
"I know the real John Kerry. And John Kerry is proud of what's he's done," Wasser said. "He waited too long. I'm glad he finally came out. I'm proud of him."
Wasser, an unpaid Kerry campaign worker who spent six weeks on the rivers and canals of Vietnam with the presidential hopeful in the late 1960s, was among the local Vietnam veterans who have anxiously awaited Kerry's response to ads run by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The ads claim Kerry exaggerated his combat record to win medals.
Wasser said that from what he witnessed, Kerry's wartime record is legitimate. Soldiers speaking out against Kerry were on separate swift boats and not close enough to know what they're talking about, Wasser said.
Kimo Williams, a Vietnam vet and executive director of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, said he's been waiting for Kerry to fight back but that exaggeration was part of the culture in Vietnam. "You'll hear this from any veteran who is upfront about it: When we were there, we were always trying to find ways to take advantage of our situation," he said. "So when I look at John Kerry and the situation he was in, it's easy for me to say, 'OK, he may have done that.' But I don't see anything wrong if Kerry not so much falsified it but exaggerated it to make sure he got his Purple Heart."
Other local veterans are far more skeptical and say they will never forgive Kerry for joining the anti-war movement when he got back to the United States.
"I'm a Democrat, but without a doubt, I'm voting for Bush," said Thomas Maher, a Vietnam vet from Mount Greenwood who has never voted Republican in a presidential race. "If everything he did in Vietnam was totally correct, God bless him. . . . But you don't speak out against your own country."
Dennis Rombola, a Streamwood bus driver who was a gunner on Army helicopters in Vietnam, said he just doesn't believe Kerry.
"I got hit by some shrapnel and never took a Purple Heart," Rombola said. "To me, I think Kerry's a phony."
Contributing: AP
What do you think about this?
****Kimo Williams, a Vietnam vet and executive director of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, said he's been waiting for Kerry to fight back but
that exaggeration was part of the culture in Vietnam. "You'll hear this from any veteran who is upfront about it: When we were there, we were always trying to find
ways to take advantage of our situation," he said. "So when I look at John Kerry and the situation he was in, it's easy for me to say, 'OK, he may have done that.'
But I don't see anything wrong if Kerry not so much falsified it but exaggerated it to make sure he got his Purple Heart." ****
"I know the real John Kerry. And John Kerry is proud of what's he's done,"
Yes, he showed his 'pride' in tossing his 'medals' in protest and accusing U.S. troops of committing war crimes as matter of policy. Including himself!
Keep the posts coming. LOL!
This is praise!?????????????????????
The IRS might want to check this guy's account books for that Museum.
The rat "journalist" front-loaded the kerry supporter, but the rest of the article is negative towards lurch.
This story has more legs than a centipede!
So, Kerry is getting support from Wasser?
What happens, when Kerry's medals are proven to be based on fraudulent claims by Kerry?
Does that mean Kerry failed his Wasser, man? Like a Wasserman test.
Whenever Clinton was in hot water, recall how invariably a flurry of "news" pieces quickly followed, as if on cue, aiming to gin up 'sympathy' from the public? This reminds of it. Won't work. Kerry's reaction yesterday smacks of whinning (Mommy! Mommy! The Republicans are being oh soooooooo mean to me! Do something!). If anything, he looks defensive, emotional, reactive, but worse, he comes across as weak. Moreover, rather than addressing the charges, he tries to kill the messenger -- only fueling the controversy further.
Other local veterans are far more skeptical and say they will never forgive Kerry for joining the anti-war movement when he got back to the United States.
Cincy, that just about sums up the views of an overwhelming majority of Vets.
Hmmm, that's news.
If you would like to help the Swift Boat Vets ( as I have, and I urge all to do-- even a few dollars will help ) kindly click on this logo:
And, wasn't Kerry supposed to 'go dark' in August, to 'conserve' resources for the fall battle? hehehe, the Swift Boat ad was so ineffective, eh? ;-)
lol--lying does sseem to be a pox on the dim party.
The result from those PSA tests are being changed as we speak.
My prediction is this bozo will never make it to the first debate.
Rubbish! The internal polling data is what is eating Kerry up.
Ummm-that's because Kerry is a liar and he knows it. Glad to see he is enduring some justice for this lies.
He should just come "out" as the article says, hold a press conference with Tereeeeza smiling beside him and say:
"I am an War-Crime Committing American."
Bump!
He's a perfect LIBERAL.
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