Kerry Fends Off Attacks Over War Record

AP ^ | 08/24/04 | AP

[Pikamax]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Democrat John Kerry (website - news - bio) defended his Vietnam War record Tuesday night from accusations that he didn't deserve his medals and invited voters to judge his 1970s anti-war activism as an indication of the "kind of president I'm going to be."

Kerry, speaking at a fund-raiser that the campaign said raised $1.7 million for the Democratic Party, said criticism of his decorated service in Vietnam has "become so petty it's almost pathetic in a way."

Kerry has been reaching out to fellow soldiers for help battling the fallout from a group of veterans who accuse him of lying about his record. Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant, a member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said Kerry called him Sunday night and asked if he was aware of the group's activities.

"I said, `I am one, John,'" said Brant, who had appeared at a news conference announcing the group in May. "There was a moment of hesitation and he said, `I appreciate your honesty.' He said, `Well, why are you?'"

Brant said he told Kerry he was most upset about Kerry's protests after returning from the war, when he accused soldiers of committing atrocities. "I said, `You know that's not true,'" Brant said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "That's been simmering in me about 35 years."

Brant said Kerry said he didn't mean everyone in the war was involved in the atrocities. The Massachusetts senator also offered to meet to discuss their differences, Brant said. He said he declined, saying, "I know what I know."

At the fund-raiser, Kerry defended his anti-war activism as "an act of conscience."

"You can judge my character, incidentally, by that," Kerry said. "Because when the time for moral crisis existed in this country, I wasn't taking care of myself, I was taking care of public policy. I was taking care of things that made a difference to the life of this nation. You may not have agreed with me, but I stood up and was counted and that's the kind of president I'm going to be."

Brant, who like Kerry was skipper of a Navy swift boat patrolling the Mekong Delta in 1968-1969 and now lives in Virginia, said he did not witness any of the incidents that led to Kerry winning medals. Others in the swift boat group have appeared in a television ad questioning whether Kerry lied to get them. Kerry said he earned his three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star under the process set up by the Navy "and I'm proud of them and I'm proud of my service and I'm proud that I stood up against the war when I came home because it was the right thing to do."

Kerry also struck back at people who criticize him for trying to glorify only four months of service in Vietnam.

"I was there longer than that, number one," he said. "Number two, I served two tours. Number three, they thought enough of my service to make me aide to an admiral."

Kerry served six months aboard the USS Gridley, which supported aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, before a four-month tour in the Mekong Delta that repeatedly brought him close to gunfire. After Kerry got three Purple Hearts for injuries from enemy fire, he was reassigned out of the combat zone and got his requested assignment to be a personal aide to an admiral in New York.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, introducing Kerry at the fund-raiser, said by watching the group's ads, "you'd think this was a 1962 or a 1976 presidential election."

"If you want this election to be decided on the Vietnam War, then I ask you one question: Who served this country better during the Vietnam War, John Kerry (website - news - bio) or George Bush?" Rendell said.

Bush served stateside in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war, and did not see combat. Democrats have questioned whether he always showed up for duty.

During a speech earlier Tuesday at Cooper Union in New York, Kerry sought to turn the campaign debate to issues on which he thinks he can win - and away from questions about his Vietnam service. He also tried to paint Bush as the candidate who has been dishonest.

"My duty, as I understand it, is to be a president and commander in chief who finds the truth and tells the truth instead of misleading the American people," Kerry said to 850 invited supporters in the city where Republicans will nominate Bush for re-election next week. "My duty is to be a president who tells the truth instead of hiding behind front groups, saying anything and doing anything to avoid the real issues that matter like jobs, health care and the war in Iraq."

Kerry spoke a day after Bush criticized attack ads run by outside groups - known as 527s because of an IRS code provision - including the commercials being aired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry has said the veterans group is a front for the president's re-election campaign. The Bush campaign denies any coordination.

Kerry's campaign will go on the air in Nevada, New Mexico and Pennsylvania on Wednesday with a commercial responding to a new ad there by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"The Bush campaign and its allies have turned to the tactics of fear and smear because they can't talk about jobs, health care, energy independence and rebuilding our alliances," Kerry said.

Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry's attempt to declare himself a victim of negative ads is "stunning hypocrisy." He said, "His campaign has hid behind and benefited from $63 million in attack ads by shadowy 527 groups."

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On the Net:

[Numbers Guy]

judge his 1970s anti-war activism as an indication of the "kind of president I'm going to be."

A president who slanders our troops by falsely claiming they've committed atrocities?

[avital2]

make it all go away (ha!) and release your military and medical records, oh, John!!!

[icwhatudo]

I keep seeing mentions of Kerry camp now admitting 1st purple heart a mistake-COULD SOMEONE PLEASE LINK!!! Or is this just about the journal entry and people are saying "SEE HE ADMITS IT"

Help please-thanks

[Jim Robinson]

"Kerry Fends Off Attacks Over War Record"

In his dreams.

In fact, his nightmare is barely beginning.

[Ciexyz]

Shut up, Governor Rendell. Focus on fixing the problems you're bringing to the state of PA with your agenda of expanding gambling casinos and raising taxes.

[ahadams2]

man you got that one right! only you forgot to include a president who gives aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war...which even out does billy jeff who gave aid and comfort to the enemy (communist china) in what was technically peace time.

[NavySEAL F-16]

At the fund-raiser, Kerry defended his anti-war activism as "an act of conscience."

Like stabbing your fellow sailors and POWs in the back.

[VadeRetro]

"You can judge my character, incidentally, by that," Kerry said. "Because when the time for moral crisis existed in this country, I wasn't taking care of myself, I was taking care of public policy. I was taking care of things that made a difference to the life of this nation. You may not have agreed with me, but I stood up and was counted and that's the kind of president I'm going to be."

You stood up for the enemy, John. Then you went down to Nicaragua and stood up for Danny Ortega. Then you voted against every weapons system we use to any good effect now. And yes, I think that's the kind of President you'd be, a saboteur of our interests against every enemy we'll ever have.

[Ron in Acreage]

Kerry spits on vets for 30 years. Now it's payback you son of a bitch JFK!

[Faith]

Try this.

[1L]

...in hopes of furthering his own political ambitions.

I'm truly beginning to rethink my views on Bill Clinton being the worst the RATS have to offer. 10 years ago or so, when I first heard Kerry had actually served in Vietnam and been decorated, I couldn't understand why he was so liberal. I was terribly suspicious that something wasn't adding up. When he flipped on Iraq, I was almost sure something was not adding up.

Now I find out it was even worse than I could have dreamed. This guy is pathological. At least Gore's lies were funny.

[Lunkhead_01]

Kerry's website claims he "enlisted" and "volunteered". But he asked his draft board to allow him to study in France before he "enlisted" and "volunteered".

The DD Form 214 on his website for the time he was in Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island lists his address as being on Indian Hill Road in Groton, Massachusetts. He had been living in Cambridge. Yet, his draft board is listed as Board #59 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Why was that his draft board when it's over an hour away from both Groton and Cambridge?

A little known fact is that the sons of the rich and famous often registered from an address -- such as the one in Newburyport -- which had large numbers of sons of working class people who graduated high school and volunteered. Why did the sons of the rich do this? Because each volunteer reduced the draft quota on the specific board by one. In theory it would be possible for a draft board that had a large number of young men volunteer to avoid the draft to have to draft no one in any given month.

I wonder if that's why Kerry's draft board was so far from either of his residences before he entered the Navy.

[CyberAnt]

Then Kerry says the charges by the SBV is "petty".

[atomicpossum]

Okay, Kerry, you went before Congress parrotting things from the Winter Soldier Investigation as things you were told happened (though, strangely, you admit that you committed atrocities, too).You now know that some significant number of these 'vets' who testified were either not in Nam or not even vets. Obviously, since these stories were lies, it is equally likely that some folks who WERE vets in Nam also lied when they claimed atrocities. So how much of the material that you came out of Winter Soldier with was false?

[How much of the myth of Vietnam as that 'illegal, immoral war' is based on the lies of Winter Soldier?]

He has a lot to answer for, and he's ducking it. Of course, if this, his grand claim to fame, is shown to be based on nothing but lies, lies that he willingly shilled for at the expense of his country, how could he fulfill his ambitions of the Presidency, and what does that say about John Kerry as a human being?

[avital2]

meanwhile,oh, John, you went off and left your swiftboat crew high and dry as soon as the ink was dry on your PH #3. how many times during this Iraq war have we heard the wounded soldiers say they needed to get well fast and get back to their units because they were depending on them. nothing like a your skipper skipping the country in the heat of combat!!!

[Pharmboy]

Kerry and Ortega? That commie sumb*tch? You must be mistaken...oops...nevermind.

[VadeRetro]

And of course that's "Pile-O-Dung" Harkin in the middle. Freshman Senators in 1985, both of them IIRC.

[VeniVidiVici]

Why was that his draft board when it's over an hour away from both Groton and Cambridge?

That's a very interesting point. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Michael Barnes]

In fact, his nightmare is barely beginning.

haha...exactly.