Posted on 08/31/2004 12:31:12 AM PDT by demlosers
Democrats: GOP 'mocking our troops'
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Delegates to the Republican National Convention found a new way to take a jab at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam service record: by sporting adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them.
Morton Blackwell, a prominent Virginia delegate, has been handing out the heart-covered bandages to delegates, who've worn them on their chins, cheeks, the backs of their hands and other places.
Blackwell is president of the Leadership Institute, a nonpartisan educational foundation he founded in 1979. According to its Web site, the institute prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media.
Kerry was a decorated Navy officer in Vietnam who became a prominent antiwar activist upon his return home. A group calling itself "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" has accused Kerry of lying to win combat decorations in Vietnam, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
And last week, former Sen. Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential nominee, brought more attention to the allegations when he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "With three Purple Hearts, he never bled that I know of. And they're all superficial wounds."
Dole apologized for the remark the next day after a personal call from Kerry, saying that before taping the interview, "maybe I should have stayed longer for brunch somewhere."
Donna Cain, an Oregon delegate, wore a purple heart bandage on her wrist.
"Probably a lot of people are handing them out because they are very symbolic," she said. Kerry, she said, "has made the war that he served in far more important than his recent records of the last 18 to 20 years."
Kerry's campaign has denounced the allegations as a smear.
Other veterans and military records from the time have contradicted the swift boat group's allegations.
Kerry's campaign
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If John Kerry can't handle a few purple band-aids, how on earth is he going to defeat Al-Qaeda?
I think they are mocking the first purple heart incident where Dr. Letson treated the injury with a Band Aid.
I disagree. This sort of thing advances the story that John Kerry is not telling the truth about his VietNam service. In order to express their outrage and condemnation, CNN has to back up 10 paragraphs to explain what the allegations are against Kerry.
In may when the Swifties first appeared, they were completely ignored by the press. Now the press is obsessed with them.
Besides, it gives the Kerry camp one more chance to melt down and for Kerry to have a Howard Dean moment. The real story of the Swift Boat Vets is not the allegations themselves but the horrible way Kerry and his gang react to this stuff.
Additionally, the election will hinge on turnout. You won't get Kerry supporters to vote for Bush, but you can make them apathetic toward Kerry. If 5-10% of Kerry's voters stay home on election day, Bush will win in a landslide.
You can count of CNN to be upset over ANYTHING that refutes THEIR version of the truth.....
The RECORD documents that Kerry's 1st Purple Heart "wound" was treated with a BAND-AID and what we call Neosporin....
The Band-Aid is a sign of recognition that Kerry "bled" for America.....just a little..
Semper Fi
Absolutely. This is a very smart idea. To me, it's a no-brainer -- completely a political plus for us. Kudos to Blackwell for thinking of it, or making it happen anyway.
Dole gets minus points, though, for stepping on his own excellent comments by appearing to "apologize" for them.
The Senate Club really takes the starch out of a guy.
You'd think a man with a genuine Purple Heart would have more guts than to back off a perfectly reasonable comment just because Kerry used to serve with him in the Senate.
Rats can't take it, but they can sure dish it out.
I'm not sure that Dole's "apology" is any more true than the "fact" that the Swifties have "been discredited and contradicted by military records".
I heard Dole on talk radio the next day and he was absolutely unapologetic.
I've never seen the press report more what they WANT the story to be, rather than what it actually is. Other than the entire Clinton Administration.
Look's like the sucker punch is working. All the liberal media is reporting it,..spreading the word and instilling familiarity with the issue amongst the American people. All that is needed is a catalyst to sway the entire public opinion away from Kerry,...and Hillary has joined herself onto the same bandwagon of supporting Kerry and trashing the SwiftboatVets.
Stategic manifestations that neither Hillary nor Kerry have what it really takes to hold positions of international leadership. IMHO, they lack intuition of maneuver warfare.
If memory serves...
The SBVT started this entire campaign against Kerry with less than $500,000,
I understand they have already collected more than $2,500,000 from many thousands of Internet contributors...
Can you IMAGINE the damage they're going to be able to do to Kerry's sorry ass with that kind of cash?
Semper Fi
So where do I get some Purple Heart band-aids??
I've heard these refered to as 'Purple Owies'.
Which is really funny, considering Kerry's reputation for nuance and flexibility.
Buy a box of bandaids and a purple marker with which to draw on the hearts.
Like the truth even matters to these people. If the media were doing their job, they'd stop parroting DNC talking points and start asking John Kerry to explain some of the discrepencies in his records.
The Democrats are going to have their talking points anyway. If it wasn't purple band-aids it would be Halliburton or Abu Grahib or My Pet Goat or the "unwinnable War On Terror". As long as they're going to rant, it might as well be on our terms.
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.