Posted on 08/25/2004 12:45:00 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
PHILADELPHIA — Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry defended his Vietnam War record last 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 raised $1.7 million for the Democratic Party, said criticism of his decorated service in Vietnam has "become so petty it's almost pathetic."
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."
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: "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 or George Bush?"
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 yesterday at Cooper Union in New York, Kerry sought to turn the campaign debate to other issues.
"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 told 850 invited supporters in the city where Republicans will nominate Bush for re-election next week.
He also tried to paint Bush as 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. "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.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer for Bush's re-election campaign disclosed yesterday that he has been providing legal advice to the anti-Kerry veterans group.
On Saturday, retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier resigned as a member of the Bush campaign's veterans' steering committee after it was learned that he appeared in the Swift Boat Veterans' television ad.
Both the Bush campaign and the veterans' group say there is no coordination.
Ginsberg said the group "came to me and said, 'We have a point of view we want to get into the First Amendment debate right now. There's a new law. It's very complicated. We want to comply with the law; will you keep us in the bounds of the law?'
"I said yes, absolutely, as I would do for anyone."
Ginsberg said he never told the Bush campaign what he discussed with the group, or vice versa, and doesn't advise the group on ad strategies. He said he had not yet decided whether to charge the Swift Boat Veterans a fee for his work.
"It's another piece of the mounting evidence of the ties between the Bush campaign and this group," Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton said of Ginsberg's admission. "The longer President Bush waits to specifically condemn this smear, the more it looks like his campaign is behind it."
Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said, "There has been no coordination at any time."
That's A LOT different than saying, Kerry earned his.....
Old media is getting jittery.
Hiya, Cincy :-)
Hi JohnHuang2
Yes, they are. May they jitter themselves into a nervous breakdown. They can't keep the lid on this one. There are Vietnam veterans who have been silenced by them and by Kerry and his ilk since 1971. It's time it stopped. LET our Vietnam veterans SPEAK!!!
Kerry asserts he's proud of service — and activism AND LIES.
BTTT!
Just wait til people see the new Swifties' commercial. I cannot believe what I just heard John F*ckin' say. He thinks people will like his anti-military and anti-American activism? Sure, and there's a mansion in Boston I'd love to sell you.
Kerry was mum about his anti-war activism before he was proud of it.
lol
Hey, Mrs. Shove It! will be buy it ;-)
So Kerry is evidently still proud of accusing his fellow Vets of being war criminals... and he expects them to stop telling the truth?
What a two-faced dirtball.
Mr. Moral Choice himself: Mr. I-don't-believe-in-abortion-because-I'm-a-practicing-Catholic-but-I-won't-inflict-my-views (you know the rest, and the hyphens are just too hard to continue) believes SO strongly (in whatever it is he believes--sure ain't Catholicism, maybe it's feminism) that he can, in good consciense, vote for the atrocity of partial-birth abortion. Imagine someone like that--someone with utterly NO conscience but poll-conscience--committing your children to war--much less serving as a profile in courage or role model in justice or righteousness or prudence or . . .
If he thinks this is going to help, it won't. Heck, even Jane Fonda had enough sense to eventually apologize for what she did during Vietnam.
We'd love to judge you by your record as a Vietnam protestor. Maybe you could answer a few simple questions to help us understand it better.
What, exactly, did you throw over the fence? Your medals? Your Ribbons? Somebody else's medals and ribbons? All of these? None of these? What?
What exactly did you do when others in your Anti-War group proposed the assassination of US Senators? Has your position on assassinating Senators changed at all over the years?
Can you shed some light on the rumor that while you were still in the Naval Reserves, you flew to Paris and negotiated the surrender of the United States to representatives of the Communist government of North VietNam? Do you have any minutes or transcripts from these meetings?
Will you release The New Soldier into the Public Domain so that anyone who wants to publish a copy can publish it?
The Swiftboat Veterans For Truth alleged that you weren't in Cambodia in Christmas 1968. Then your campaign admitted that you weren't in Cambodia in Christmas 1968. The Swiftboat Vets also alleged that one or more of your purple hearts may have been accidentally self-inflicted, and later your campaign admitted that it's possible that one of your purple hearts was accidentally self inflicted. The Swiftboat Vets also said that before the US votes for President, it should judge John Kerry's character based on his anti-War activities. Now you are saying the exact same thing. What exactly is your problem with the Swiftboat Veterans For Truth?
Another question for Kerry:
"Would you characterize your service to your country as a War Protestor as more honorable or less honorable than, say, someone who flew fighter jets in the Texas Air National Guard for 6 years?"
Number one, we didn't make Kerry's war record the issue, he did.
Number two, George Bush did not betray his fellow military men by calling them war criminals while they were dying on the battlefield.
Number three, a true hero wouldn't think of accepting medals on dubious merits, especially if it meant he would go home while his buddies continued to suffer and die in combat.
since when is 10 months two terms? LMAO this guy lies right to your face and keeps going,,,,,,,
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