Posted on 08/25/2004 11:42:18 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Bump!
Very long, but a very good read.
Totally unrelated to the Swift Boat Vets, Vietnam is going to ruin Kerry. A lot of Americans know men who served in Vietnam, and they know that those men don't like talking about what happened there. It's almost universal.
And it should be particluarly the case for a man who claims to have seen what Kerry saw.
Americans also know that the men they know that served did not all come home with decorations, even though they served for months or years longer than Kerry. They know there's something fishy about the volume of awards Kerry garnered in what was effectively three months time.
At some point you have to just let Kerry talk about Vietnam; the more he does the more unseemly it becomes. Americans don't need anyone to tell them this either.
I hear Kerry was seeking time on 60 mins to issue an apology. Let's hope he does. It's long overdue and, coming at this stage of the campaign, Kerry will get no credit (no matter how hard the MSM tries) for that apology. It'll be seen as rank opportunism, an admission that he slandered the vets and/or insincere.
Worth the read!
>>I hear Kerry was seeking time on 60 mins to issue an apology. <<
Any 60 minutes program will be a hit piece on the Swiftboat Vets and W. It will carefully orchestrated and totally dishonest. Now if he goes on Meet the Press, it could go either way, depending on how desperate Russell is to defeat W.
A long article but very, very good.
Long, but definitely worth the read.
Kerry can moan and complain about a "Bush attack machine" but the truth is that the people who are after his scalp now are veterans first and Republicans second -- if at all.
A must read
bttt
Kerry bragging about Vietnam will be his "Howard Dean goes locoweed in Corn Country" moment.
bttt
Bump! Great read!
Bump!
No one found it even a taahaad pretentious--not even the first 1000 words? Just loved the "Those who actively opposed the war, with the exception of the most extreme Jane Fonda-types, are not to be branded as cowards or traitors to their country." Even by the writer's over-liberal "rules" Kerry qualifies as one who can be branded a traitor. But the writer never followed that thread.
Most apologists for the "protests" of the era - attempt to paint the protestors as possessing some "high order conviction against war"...
NONE of them explained WHY the protests fell silent almost immediately after the draft was discontinued....
To my mind -- that made it clear they protested ONLY because they were afraid of being forced to serve... Believing them to be cowards or traitors, may be harsh - but not totally unreasonable...
Semper Fi
This is an excellent article and I would encourage everyone to go to Opinion Journal and read the whole article because it is full of hot links, some you have to register to read, but many are readily available. This article is a clear rational explanation of the Veterans' complaints about John Kerry.
as usual, the WSJ has the best, the very best, article on this subject I have read. This is the keeper, expresses what all else try to but do not do as well.
Bump!
I agree that there will be no apology from Kerry, maybe a carefully worded nolo contendere, but no apology. The apology is just hype to excuse giving Kerry face time on tv on the eve of the Republican convention, when the focus should be on the Republicans, and draw in viewers at the same time.
The notion that the vet doing the talking is a phony while the quiet vet in the corner is the 'real' one is an urban myth in my experience...
Bragging and self promotion are one thing...talking about events that really happend and about the character and bravery of heros you personaly knew.. is quite another...
imo
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