Posted on 08/22/2004 1:59:13 PM PDT by kattracks
CRAWFORD, Texas - Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry (news - web sites) apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds."Dole also called on Kerry to release all the records of his service in Vietnam.
Separately, President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election campaign continued to deny links to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry group running ads in three states, after the resignation of a campaign volunteer who appeared in the group's new ad.
With Kerry taking a break from campaigning, running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) said Bush needs to tell the group to pull its ads, a step the White House and the Bush campaign refuse to take. The White House and Bush's campaign note that Kerry has benefited from more than $62 million worth of similar advertising against the president.
"This is the moment of truth for President Bush," Edwards said in North Carolina. "The American people have to hear directly that these ads need to come off the air." Kerry also fought back in another new ad.
Dole told CNN's "Late Edition" that he warned Kerry months ago about going "too far" and that the Democrat may have himself to blame for the current situation, in which polls show him losing support among veterans.
"One day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons," Dole said. "The next day he's standing there, `I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran.
"Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans who served. He wasn't the only one in Vietnam," said Dole, whose World War II wounds left him without the use of his right arm.
Dole added: "And here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."
Kerry's supporters rose to his defense.
"Senator Kerry carries shrapnel in his thigh as distinct from President Bush who carries two fillings in his teeth from his service in the Alabama National Guard, which seems to be his only time that he showed up," John Podesta, former chief of staff in the Clinton White House, said on ABC's "This Week."
Bush served stateside in the Guard during the Vietnam years. Podesta's reference was to the White House's release of documents earlier this year showing Bush's dental visits during his Guard years after questions arose about whether he had always reported for duty.
Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman also blamed Kerry for the ongoing debate, complaining on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "Kerry himself has attacked the president for his service during the Vietnam years," while the Republican's campaign has "so strongly praised" Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam.
The Bush campaign also said the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) should immediately dismiss what it termed a "frivolous" complaint by Kerry's campaign alleging coordination between the re-election effort and the Swift Boat group.
The White House and the Bush campaign for weeks have denied any connection to the Swift Boat organization, whose early financial support came largely from a prominent Texas businessman with longtime ties to the state's top Republicans, including Bush.
The group's latest ad includes a Bush-Cheney volunteer, retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier, condemning Kerry's 1971 congressional testimony that Dole spoke of. Cordier was a prisoner of war during Vietnam.
"Colonel Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement," a Bush campaign statement said. "Because of his involvement Colonel Cordier will no longer participate as a volunteer for Bush-Cheney '04."
A new Kerry TV ad urged the president to "denounce the smear" and 'get back to the issues" because America deserves better." The 30-second commercial, to air in the same three states as the Swift Boat group ad — Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin — compares Kerry's situation to the 2000 primary campaign when "Bush smeared John McCain."
McCain has condemned the ads and called on the president to do so, too.
In response, Bush's campaign released a copy of a letter it was sending to television station managers on Monday defending itself from the claims in the new Kerry ad.
Questions mounted over the motives of Kerry's critics, two of whom had praised his service in 1996, even as Kerry's supporters faced questions about the candidate. Among the allegations is that Kerry lied about being in neutral Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968.
"I don't think anyone knows for sure whether or not they were in Cambodia that night, but they were near Cambodia on Christmas Eve," John Hurley, who heads a pro-Kerry veterans group, said on "Fox News Sunday." "He was five miles into Cambodia on a different occasion."
Another allegation is that Kerry was not under enemy fire as after-action reports say he was, an incident for which he received a Bronze Star, one of five medals earned in Vietnam.
"The after-action reports were written from Kerry's spot reports from that day," said Kerry critic Van Odell, also appearing on the same program. "None of us knew he even got the Bronze Star until more recently."
and I WILL pass it on to other folks. Sorry.
Listen to the link in #76. I think it will amaze you.
Rush said that he was on Kerry´s boat all along.
s h u d d e r
I missed these "repeatedly" repudiations ---can you provide evidence ?
More...He was on Kerry´s boat all along, and when Chicken Kerry fled the scene with such speed, Rassman lost his balance and fell out into the river. It sounds like Rassman also lost his balance in his cabeza.
I'm sorry that I can't provide evidence. But I swear I have read more than one interview of Fonda during which the interviewer confronted her about her activities in Hanoi and she did not defend them; in fact, she apologized.
How much more direct can you get than to go to the enemy and denounce your own country from theirs? To take a note, handed in secret, from a POW and turn it over to his captors? To don the enemies uniform and have cheesecake photos of yourself and enemy soldiers taken in order to humiliate and dishearten your own country and its soldiers and POWs?
bump
Here’s a Letter to the Editor I just sent to our local rag:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Below is a Letter to the Editor on which I would appreciate your consideration. Please call me if you have questions concerning this submission. Thank you for your consideration.
Also, should you elect to print this letter, please use my email address with my name so anyone that would like to comment may via email.
=======
Kerry Can’t Stand the Heat
Wasn't it John Kerry who recently said "Bring it on" if anyone wanted to scrutinize his often repeated exploits during and after the Vietnam War? That brings to mind a schoolboy picking a fight in school yard and hoping the target doesn’t take him up on it.
Now, 254 of his former Swift Boat crewmates who have signed affidavits and are appearing in Television ads against him took him up on his call out. Former POWs are speaking out stating the congressional testimony John Kerry gave was fodder for the Vietnamese as they were tortured. They took Sen. Kerry up on his attempted intimidation.
Now Mr. Kerry would like them to back off. Using the same analogy he is begging for someone, anyone to make them stop. However, Kerry's actions during and upon his return from Vietnam should not be beyond reproach. His anti-war actions and allegations against veterans should not be shielded from scrutiny.
Instead of taking the “positive approach” that he said he would, Kerry (as most liberals) sees all manner of conspiracies in the opposition. President Bush on the other hand has endured a year of daily lambasting by Kerry surrogates and a willing media partner. I don’t recall President Bush once asking someone, anyone to pull them off.
As a veteran, which type of individual do I want in my foxhole?
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Thank you for your consideration. We enjoy and rely on your paper!
Respectfully yours,
Me
Regards . . . Penny
What a wonderful idea!!! I told my husband (he's the veteran in the family) and he went to the link you provided and thanked him. He told him that we are so grateful that someone has finally asked Kerry to apologize for his smearing of the Vietnam vets. Thank you for the link!
His persistent breaks are becoming seamless ;)
Kerry wants to plaster his purple hearts all over the news but accuses everyone asking any questions in reference to them as being on a partisan campaign against him. In a secret conspiracy which the Bush campaign is behind and obviously financing.
If the Swift Boat vetrans want to voice there opinion and Kerry DID throw out some derogatory and inflaming comments after the war when it served him best to be anti-war (As it is today). Why should they not have their word heard?
Red6
I Love your name. Everytime I come across it I crack up all over again. Thank you for the good laughs.
It's not schrapnel in his thigh, it's rice krispies in his hiney.
What a cheap, cheap shot!
The old guy is mixing it up!
Dole got attacked by a Kerry stooge the other day. Bad idea.
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