And Baghdad Bob is probably more truthful, too. 
Posted on 08/22/2004 8:21:27 PM PDT by Pikamax
Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty By Charles Laurence in New York (Filed: 07/03/2004)
Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.
Senator Kerry on the campaign trail in Iowa He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.
The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam.
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."
Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.
"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."
Sen Kerry's campaign headquarters in Washington refused an opportunity to deny the report. Despite repeated telephone calls from The Telegraph, a spokesman refused to comment. Another Democrat official said merely: "In Vietnam, John Kerry proved his patriotism beyond question. Everyone knows that."
A senior Republican strategist, who asked not to be named, said: "I've not heard this before. This undercuts Kerry's complaints about Bush and it continues to pose questions as to his credibility among ordinary Vietnam veterans."
He said it would fuel concerns over the way Sen Kerry made a name for himself by leading anti-war protests in Washington and Boston in the late 1960s and early 1970s after he had completed his service in the US Navy, even while his former comrades continued to fight and die.
A newly-published biography of Sen Kerry by Douglas Brinkley, A Tour of Duty, makes no mention of the requested deferment or planned year in Paris. At the time, it was still unclear just how long America would remain in Vietnam, and it might have seemed that a year's deferral of service could render enlistment unnecessary.
According to the Democratic Party's version of Sen Kerry's military history, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Harvard through eagerness to do his duty, and sailed with the Navy for combat as soon as he graduated in 1966.
Sen Kerry won a gallantry medal for his service as a gunboat captain on the Mekong Delta, and was honorably discharged with three "purple heart" medals after sustaining three wounds. He has consistently presented himself as a leader who argued against the war only after fulfilling his duty in the field. Supporters argue that his war record makes him a more trustworthy leader than President Bush, who served sporadically in the National Guard at home.
"This means that Kerry didn't jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed, and it is a very nice piece of information," said Lucianne Goldberg, a prominent Republican campaigner.
Republican strategists for President Bush were already investigating Sen Kerry's record of three wounds sustained in Vietnam. "We find that he had only one day off sick - with three wounds? What exactly were these wounds?" she asked.
Mr Goldhaber recalled that, during a day spent with Sen Kerry and one assistant during his congressional campaign, he had described his involvement, service and decision to oppose the war in great detail.
"I am not at all surprised that he wants to be president, because he exuded ambition from the word go," said Dr Goldhaber. "At the time, the idea that he tried to persuade the draft board to let him spend a year in Paris was just a detail."
A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign declined to comment.
And Baghdad Bob is probably more truthful, too.
This senior Republican stategist had better start reading on freerepublic.com ,this news has been around here for quite some time.
Eh. What's so bad about us, eh? We invented basketball, eh. Eh, I'm getting tired, eh. I think I'll go moose hunting, eh.
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
I mean, that dude hasn't even seen my posts!
What else has he missed out on?
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
MAybe one of our service guys can clear somethingup for me....Kerry claims to have been in ROTC during his four years at Harvard...I thought if one was in ROTC during junior and senior years then you were committed to do a certain amount of service when college was over....Am I wrong Was Kerry really in ROTC? Wasn't ROTC mostly for Army and Marines? J F'n Kerry was a sailor wasn't he not a Marine? I dont know I am just so confused by the stories (sarcasm>)
I believe that at the time he chose the Navy, the Army was doing all the heavy lifting in Vietnam. (Of course, there was also the original JFK to emulate!)
What else did Kerry have to run on? He's nothing but an ultraliberal from Massachusetts. He's always been unelectable from a national perspective. All 'Rats saw The 'Toon get away with murder for eight years by lying their butts off, so they think they can do it, too. For example, Algore's attempt to steal the 2000 election would have never happened if not for his admiration of The 'Toon's ability to lie and cheat successfully. Kerry, like Algore, doesn't have the charisma to carry it off.
Great omnibus JFnK is a modern Cincinatus post.
;^)
" Johnny, if you wanted to live in fantasy land you should have stuck to making airhead movies like me".
Even though it's 6 mo. old, this info is important to get out because he has been saying he "volunteered" right after college when the truth is his deferment ran out. He needs to be called on that while saying it.
Go bact to the top and look. This article is from March of this year. I had to do a double-take, too, after wondering why they were just coming out with info we've known for months.
Polybius, many thanks for your reply and for all of the info on First Division. I got a good chuckle thinking about Lt. jg Kerry as the Gridley's S.L.J.O.
I think that should be Kerry's new moniker on these Vietnam threads. S.L.J.O. Kerry. Yeah, that's the ticket.
When Kerry finally did make it to Paris, he was able to consult and consort with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
Outside CBS' NYC network news studio on 57th St during the Democrat Primary debate one Sunday, a group of South Vietnamese veterans chanted "Kerry Viet Cong" at the pen of Kerry Suporters 50 yards away.
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