John Kerry will say any damn thing he thinks will get him ahead. And it began in Vietnam in 1968, and you suspect it made it into his citations, and you know for sure it made it onto the floor of the Senate in 1986. He'll be whomever he needs to be to move on up, taking whatever position needs to be taken to get there.
Show me the Sunday paper story that can turn a known liar into a trustworthy spokesman. It doesn't exist.
For the percentage of America that so hates George W. Bush that they'd vote again even for the know widely-recognized-to-be-out-of-control Al Gore, none of this matters. Sure they are out there, and perhaps number even 10% of the electorate judging by ticket sales to F911. And then there are the folks who just pull the D lever, no matter how weird the nominee.
But I think there are millions of 9/11 Democrats, represented by RogerLSimon and others I suspect most of these people have kids or grandkids and understand we are in the fight of our lives --and their lives. And they aren't interesting in putting into the White House a man without a core, as Morton Kondracke put it to me today, or a fraud, as I have come to understand him.
John Kerry had his big moment --a brief period in which the control of the setting and the editing allowed him to project the life as he wishes it were seen by all people and at all times. Even at that moment he didn't carry a majority, and now that moment is gone --smashed in fact. And ten Sunday paper scoops won't put it back.
Great title. It says it all.
lol.
GRIDLEY Crew members (67-68) say Kerry exaggerated in TOUR OF DUTY
"...John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS
Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as First Lieutenant, the
officer in charge of the deck division, and I was Executive Officer,
or second in command..."
"...But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war
activities while our troops were still fighting, dying and being
tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.
For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in
the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces."
J. F. Kelly, Jr.
USS Gridley (CG-21) Executive Officer in 1967 and 1968.
GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html
Other crew members speak about John Kerry
(Looks like Kerry's shipmates, who did serve with him,
say he lied and told whoopers about his time on the GRIDLEY.
Remember these are not Swift Boat Vets,
BUT Kerry's crewmates who served with him on the GRIDLEY)
Examples follow:
"As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board
GRIDLEY as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac
Cruise. He remained on GRIDLEY through the 1968 cruise. Politics
aside, shipmates of the time who have read TOUR OF DUTY, the
authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the
chapter on GRIDLEY. "
1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page
74 that it is because “nothing much of note” happened while
he was
onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite
being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility
by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard
designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the
Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He
was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls,
because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small
boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the
ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship’s
small
boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs
Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the
impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He
certainly had less of an opportunity to collect “gongs” there.
2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First
Lieutenant is
responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire
crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent
that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their
officers would have been responsible for motivating them.
3. Page 87 has Kerry “shuttling sailors and provisions”
between
GRIDLEY and KITTY HAWK in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via
helo. That is how I went over to the KITTY HAWK. If such an event
did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.
4. Later on page 87 Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines.
He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving
women with babies dying of malnutrition. Now Olongapo was a wild and
wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the US Navy,
but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single
instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his
first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly
writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.
5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings
before going to Northern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole
that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and
pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would
have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang
would
have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud
cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during
our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of
being ominous.
More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. I was
part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken
in a screened in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in)
and made to unload our .45’s. The driver said that he did not
want
us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.
Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry’s immediate
boss)
can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses
remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I
spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore
at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks
about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls
arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the
words “cowboy” in his mouth, which ended up in the book.
There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead
VC.”
We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey
Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the
LZ’s
after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before.
Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore
party.
If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the
motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview
to wander Danang, eating dog meat and drinking beer in a bar (under
arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on
Vietnam in such a brief visit.
6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much
about
being “in charge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The
OOD is
in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but
hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as
OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time
onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway.
Although his fitness report as of 22 March says "he is qualified as
OOD(I) now" (Independent steaming – with no ships or land
anywhere
near) , only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from
July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified
after leaving the war zone.
Contribute to and support the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at http://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/index.php
Just sent them $25.
Want to join in the fun? Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!
Kerry Is Legend In His Own Mind - just like Walter Mitty.
If there was one group of vets that I wouldn't want PO'd at me it would be the Graduates from BUD who wear the trident and pistol. A fellow could get hurt doing that.
"Bottom Line......Kerry is a liar."
That'll work...
redrock
No matter which version of this sorry tale I hear one question stands alone.... With dozens of experienced sailors to chose from, why would anyone chose an arrogant, self-promoting showboater who had only just arrived to pilot a boat on a secret mission into Cambodia ?
I graduated from BUD/S class 105 in 1979, and have never been closer to Viet Nam or Cambodia than Okinawa and the PI. BUT, during my time in the teams (1980s) all of the instructors and team NCOs and officers above LT were "real deal SEALs" from the VN era. War stories were an integral part of our training: how to do it, and not do it, based on their actual experiences.
Based on what I learned at their feet, so to speak, I will say that I find the Swift boat insertion(s) into Cambodia story to be a laugable lie. Laughable, except he told it to slime Reagan in the 80s as another lying tricky Dick Nixon, running another illegal secret war (in Nicaragua this time).
That this lying self-serving scumbag could become C-I-C scares the hell out of me.
