From what you said, 'Kerry's clear discomfort', he was more than just nervous. He must have seen a hostile crowd and tried to whip through the speech without having tomatoes thrown at his head. If he'd been a man thirty years ago, he wouldn't hae done any of that treasonous crap, but he did. At some point, though, he should have looked around, realized he was ten, fifteen years older, and made a very public apology for his behavior. Like Hanoi Jane did, not that she managed to save her career. No, that was toast. She blamed her treasonous antics on her youth. Nobody in his right mind would buy that for a minute, but it's all she could come up with. So why didn't Kerry take the same route? His liberal base would've been ticked, but they'd have gotten over it, esp. when his voting record...the few times he bothered to show up and vote...was so far left.
If he'd done that, he'd have drained rage and righteous anger from the vets and most of America. It would have been over and done with. He could still have run on his military service, just a few tweaks here and there, how he'd have done things differently. He loves this country, blah, blah, blah.
Evidently, he couldn't do it. That says volumes about Kerry, none of it good. He's dangerous. Someone on the news on the radio...maybe Ron Silver...just said that Kerry hated America. That describes him to a 'T'.
That was an outstanding post.