Posted on 08/23/2004 2:03:39 PM PDT by kattracks
Presidential candidate John Kerry telephoned former Sen. Bob Dole Monday morning to complain about Dole's demand a day earlier that he apologize to Vietnam veterans for protesting the war, the one-time Republican presidential candidate revealed Monday afternoon."John Kerry called me this morning, which surprised me," Dole told radio host Sean Hannity. "He said he was very disappointed, we'd been friends. I said John, we're still friends, but [the Swiftvets] have first amendment rights, just as your people have first amendment rights.
Dole told Kerry, "I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I don't believe everyone of these people who have talked about what happened are Republican liars.
"And very frankly, Bush is my guy, and I'm tired of people on your side calling him everything from a coward to a traitor to everything - a deserter."
Dole said he urged Kerry, "Why don't you call George Bush today and say, 'Mr. President, let's stop all this stuff about the National Guard and Vietnam - and let's talk about the issues."
Dole said Kerry responded, "I haven't spent one dime attacking President Bush."
But the Republican war hero shot back, "You don't have to. You've got all the so-called mainstream media, plus you've got MoveOn.org. and all these other groups that have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to tarnish Bush's image."
"Don't tell me you don't know what some of these people are doing," he told Kerry.
"Everybody like quiet heroes," Dole added, saying he told Kerry, "John, everybody knows you were in Vietnam and the less you say about it, the better."
Dole said he tried to end the tense conversation cordially by telling Kerry, "I wish you good luck, up to a point."
John F. Kerry in Vietnam -- He fled, never bled, turned red, misled.
One thing is certain: Kerry will never have the confidence
of the troops who must fight the War on Terror.
World War II
In 1942, Bob Dole joined the Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II. He became a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division.
By April of 1945, he was fighting the Nazis in the hills of Italy where the action was fast paced. One of the platoon's radio men was hit. Bob Dole crawled out of his foxhole to help him, but it was too late.
Suddenly, while trying to assist the downed radio man, Dole was hit by Nazi machine gun fire in the upper right back and his right arm was so damaged that it was unrecognizable. Dole was immediately given morphine by an Army field medic to alleviate the pain, and his forehead was marked with an "M" in his own blood to alert medics. He was not expected to live.
Dole waited nine long hours on the Italian battlefield before he was finally taken to the Fifteenth Evacuation Hospital. After a brief stay in a field Army hospital in Italy, he was transported back to the United States and to Topeka's Winter General Army Hospital, where he continued his painful recovery and endured a kidney operation. Then, he was transferred to Percy Jones Army Medical Center in Michigan, where he survived his second brush with death -- blood clotting. He was a patient in that hospital along with Phillip A. Hart, whose name graces one of the U.S. Senate office buildings, where Bob Dole occupied an office.
Eventually, he returned to Percy Jones Army Medical Hospital for extensive therapy on his rebuilt arm. It took about three years and nine operations for Bob Dole to rehabilitate. He learned to strengthen his injured arm, and also had to learn how to write with his left hand, as the doctors could not rebuild the excessive damage done by the Nazi machine gun fire.
Bob Dole was twice decorated for heroic achievement, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star Medal for his attempt to assist the downed radio man.
I'll say it again, Dole's the best danged knife artist in DC. :)
Woo HOO! Another home run for truth!
Gee, can't wait for the 5:00 news!
ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, all will surely lead w this story!......oh, well...., perhaps in December.
Great article! Thanks for the ping, EdReform!Dole Defends Swiftees in Call From Kerry
Excerpt:
Dole told Kerry, "I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I don't believe everyone of these people who have talked about what happened are Republican liars.
"And very frankly, Bush is my guy, and I'm tired of people on your side calling him everything from a coward to a traitor to everything - a deserter."
Dole said he urged Kerry, "Why don't you call George Bush today and say, 'Mr. President, let's stop all this stuff about the National Guard and Vietnam - and let's talk about the issues."
Dole said Kerry responded, "I haven't spent one dime attacking President Bush."
But the Republican war hero shot back, "You don't have to. You've got all the so-called mainstream media, plus you've got MoveOn.org. and all these other groups that have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to tarnish Bush's image."
"Don't tell me you don't know what some of these people are doing," he told Kerry.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
I remember that! It was great.
After Kerry loses the election, the Bobster can spend some time teaching him about war-hero humility.
Well said Bob! Thank you!
I believe the phrase is Strike while the iron is hot.
Even more appropriate in light of the Cialis reference.
WOW...this is series HUGH.....
....I thought the John F'n "flip-flop fop"ry was imploding....but the Swifties hit the fast forward switch.
Bob Dole was on Sean Hannity's show and he said the same thing and more. He sounds great!
John F'n "flip-flop fop"ry = John F'n "flip-flop fop" Kerry
Bob "WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE" Dole gets his revenge!
Bush hasn't saved Kerry at all.
Just watch, TROLL.
Kerry's own story of his service
IS honorable; it's others' stories
contradicting Kerry that make it
look dishonorable.
Hee hee hee...Bush, dummy that he
is, don't know nuttin' more 'bout
Kerry's service than what Kerry
claims.
Meanwhile, Dole & the Swifties &
BOMBSHELLS incoming are gonna
bury Kerry under an avalanche!!!
ROTFLMHO!
You must have had the "Companion to Cicero" book too?
" "Major Garrett just said on Special Report that the Kerry campaign is now admitting that Kerry's first PH may have come from an " unintentional self inflicted wound."
But, Jake Tapper on World News Tonight, just interviewed Patrick Runyon from Kerry's swift boat-who swears that Kerry was hit by enemy fire, thus deserving his first PH.
However, in the Michael Kranish Book- " The Official Biography etc.etc."
Page 72
" Zaladonis and Runyon both said they were too busy to notice how Kerry was hit."
"Unfit For Command "- Page 35
Runyon- " I can't say for sure one way or the other." ( how Kerry got wounded )
"I know he did get nicked, a scrape on the arm."
" In a seperate conversation, Runyon related that he never knew Kerry was wounded."
ABC reports that that John Kerry says he does not have to refute the charges by the SBVFT,
because " Pentagon records and eyewitnesses support Kerry's version."
I meant what I said -- he didn't sound like this one time in the 1996 campaign and after Clinton left office he and Clinton were on TV together and he had nothing but good to say about Clinton. Comparing what I said to taking a swipe at his military record is ludicrous. You must have a new screen name because I swear you have done the same thing to me before. Hope you enjoy yourself because I am not apologizing and not changing what I said!
Unlike some people, I respect what someone has done to defend this nation, but that doesn't give them a free pass from criticism for the rest of their life. I don't believe I said anything wrong -- ask a good number of Republicans what they thought of Bob Dole in 1996 and what they thought of him with Clinton after Bush was elected and they will give you the same answer. Not to mention some of his appointments of Chairman while head of the Senate.
I could say -- what took him so long to go after Kerry when he felt this way?
Called the opposite side to COMPLAIN???? This is beyond weird. It is downright STRANGE behavior for a grown man, especially one seeking the position of POTUS. It is surprisingly immature, gossipy, and GOOFY. Kerry is a loose screw.
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