KERREY-ING NO ILLUSIONS (BOB KERREY LASHES OUT AT SWIFT BOAT VETS!)

NY Daily News ^ | 9/1/04

[areafiftyone]

New School president Bob Kerrey - a former Democratic senator from Nebraska and a Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam - had choice words for the Swifties accusing Sen. John Kerry of volunteering for Vietnam combat duty to pad his political résumé.

"Oh, f-- them," he told the Daily News' James Gordon Meek. "Quote me on that. The idea that you'd volunteer for [Swift boat duty] because you're thinking about a political career. ... That's what you think about doing if you want a posthumous political career."

Meanwhile, Creative Coalition co-president and "Dr. Vegas" star Joe Pantoliano wonders if FDR would fare better than Kerry if he were alive today.

"You'd have wheelchair veterans for truth coming out of the woodwork screaming, 'He's not really a cripple!'" the former "Sopranos" star told us at the coalition's party for former First Son Ron Reagan's collection of essays, "If You Had Five Minutes with the President."

[Petronski]

The idea that you'd volunteer for [Swift boat duty] because you're thinking about a political career. ...

Kerrey's badly misinformed. Kerry himself said he volunteered for swift boats when they were patroling away from the action because he wanted to avoid the action, but that after he'd been assigned the role of the swift boat was changed to river patrol.

[starfish923]

There are many people who were in SEAL team 1 with Bob Kerry who feel that his MoH was an overly generous award, and many more that feel that his in question massacre op is a black eye to the SEAL community should be investigated, and if found guilty he should be punished

I didn't know that.
I will go to the NavySEAL site and ask about that.

[El Gato]

He was elected in Nebraska in spite of that because of his Medal-of-Honor (which he really did earn). That medal does not mean he is (or was) ever conservative. The citizens of Nebraska elected him governor and then senator because of the medal -- not what he stood for.

Based on my Nebraska relatives reports, and some personal knowlege, I would disagree with that. He was much more moderate in those days. Not nearly so far left as John Kerry for example. Something about drinking the water in DC I think, after he became a Senator. He really went down hill (or to left, same thing) after a little "talk" he had with Clinton, prior to changing his vote on Clinton's first budget. He cast the deciding vote in favor, IIRC. I often wonder what Clinton said to him in that meeting, and if it involved Hillary's collection of FBI files? In any event after that he was pretty much Clinton's lap dog.

[El Gato]

It was probably less dangerous than Kennedy's PT-109 assignment, since NV had no real Navy.

Actually it was their Navy, their PT boats in fact, that led to the vastly increased US involvement in the Vietnam war. NV PT Boats attacked the USS Maddox with torpedos and shellfire. One dud shell was lodged in the Maddox, so we know that attack was quite real. USS Turner Joy joined Maddox and both ships then showed radar blips that they thought were attacking NV boats. They probably weren't. However the two incidents together are known as the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident", which lead Congress to authorize "whatever means necessary" in Southeast Asia. The rest is History, and a still festering wound in America.

[jordan8]

Whatever, it probably looked to Kerry like a great way to pad his resume with some "PT boat" service, and continue to realize what he saw as his destiny to be the second JFK.

Exactly right.

John Kerry: I didn't really want to get involved in the war . . . When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing"

Butcher Bob Kerry is wrong.

[jim_trent]

He certainly sounded more moderate when he was first running for Governor, however, once he got into office, (to give one example), he did not wait for gun-control laws to come to his desk so he could sign them. He got the anti-gunners to come here and offered them his support. Before him, there was no anti-gunowner movement in Nebraska. Afterward, it was well established. There are other examples of this difference between his words and actions. To my way of thinking, he was always very liberal, based on his actions.

However, you are correct that he has never been as far left as John Kerry. No one is further left than Kerry.

[Saundra Duffy]

The more and louder they protest, the better it looks for the Swift Boat Vets for the TRUTH.

[Travis McGee]

Bob Kerry knows first hand about atrocities. That's why he quit the senate: he knew the story was about to break.

[Travis McGee]

The Gulf of Tonkin is a LONG way from the Mekong Delta and coastal South Viet Nam. There was no offshore communist threat to the Swifts, none.

[cwb]

I just listened to this reported on Humes' show...and he didn't stop there. According to Kerrey, because Rove has repeated the SBVTs claim that JFK dishonored US soldiers in his 1971 testimony, he needs to resign.

He (and a few other Democrats) now say that since Rove is using phrases from the SBVTs ad, it is proof of collusion between the Bush campaign and the Swifties.

Wow...it just keeps getting more delusional and desperate from the Democrats...especially since Kerry has continually made the same claims that MoveOn has been making for over a year.

[dead]

Kerrey has his own Vietnam atrocities to deal with.

[truthandlife]

You know you are losing the debate when you have to use these tactics.

[Plutarch]

The idea that you'd volunteer for [Swift boat duty] because you're thinking about a political career. ... That's what you think about doing if you want a posthumous political career."

Wow, if it was that dangerous, maybe an ambitious political type who got into Swift boats thinking it was mere coastal patrol-- not brown water-- might scheme to get out as soon as possible. Like maybe fabricating "wounds" with which to obtain the three Purple Hearts that requisite for an early exit.

[kcvl]

Bob Kerrey and Max Cleland Call for Karl Rove's Resignation

9/1/2004 4:59:00 PM

---

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to today's outrageous attacks on John Kerry's service by Karl Rove, former Georgia Senator Max Cleland and former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey made the following statements

Senator Max Cleland:

"Karl Rove was behind it all, it's part of his smear campaign to tarnish to tarnish the records and service of Vietnam Veterans, and now he's doing it again. I find it interesting that three different people have had to resign from basically the Bush Campaign and their official duties because of this ad, because they are all tied together."

Senator Bob Kerrey:

"If the question is whether or not there is any independence left between the campaign and these swift boat ads, that question has now been answered. Karl Rove has been in enough political campaigns to understand how separate you need to be from these independent efforts and he just ended that separation. If Ginsberg resigned, so should he."

---

WHERE WERE THEY?

KARL ROVE - TOO BUSY WORKING ON CAMPAIGNS

ROVE GOT STUDENT DEFERMENT, THEN DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE. According to the Bush campaign, Rove drew the number 84 in the draft lottery when he graduated from high school in 1969 and received a student deferment upon enrolling at the University of Utah that fall. In the fall of 1971, after transferring to the University of Maryland, he was notified by his draft board in Salt Lake City that his student deferment had been revoked. Rove then was put into the extended priority status, which Schmidt said made him among the first eligible to be called in early 1972, but he was not called. (Washington Post, 4/17/04)

ROVE WORKED ON CAMPAIGNS, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS. "Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate's headquarters promising 'free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing.'" In 1971, Karl Rove quit college to become executive director of the College Republicans. From 1973-74, Rove worked as an assistant to Bush's father at the RNC. Rove opposed compulsory service and avoided the draft, winning high school debates with his views. But Rove supported Nixon in Vietnam, saying, "I was living in a relatively conservative state (Utah), and it was hard to sympathize with all those Commies," he says. (Washington Post, 7/23/99; Houston Press, 6/17/99; James Moore, Bush's Brain, p.121-22)

ROVE OPPOSED THE DRAFT. According to the book "Bush's Brain," about Karl Rove, "Rove had doubts about the war... In any case, he felt that government had no right to require citizens to serve in the military. 'He was opposed to compulsory service. He felt we don't need the damn government telling us what to do. We can do it on our own,' (a friend of Rove's said) ...Whether guided more by the apprehension of being drafted or a commitment to individual liberty - Rove was no fan of the war, or at least the draft." (Moore, Bush's Brain, p.120)

DICK CHENEY - HAD OTHER PRIORITIES

CHENEY RECEIVED FIVE DEFERMENTS. Dick Cheney had four student deferments, despite dropping out of college twice, and one for having his first child. In 1967, Cheney was 26 and no longer eligible for the draft. Cheney once stated that he had "other priorities in the 60's than military service." (Washington Post, 4/30/91, New York Times, 5/1/04)

CHENEY'S DEFERMENT CHRONOLOGY RAISES QUESTIONS. Cheney received five deferments from 1963-1966: four 2-S student deferments and one under the 3-A classification - "registrant with a child or children; or registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents." In his Senate confirmation hearing, Cheney said he "would have obviously been happy to serve had I been called," but a look at his activities from the Fall of 1959 until he turned 26 (and thus was ineligible for the draft) in 1967 suggest he may have actively avoided the draft:

Fall '59: Cheney entered Yale.

6/14/62: Cheney withdrew from Yale.

1/63: Cheney entered Casper Community College.

8/7/64: Congress approved Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

5/19/65: Cheney received his B.A. after six years of study at three colleges, Cheney received 1-A draft classification -- meaning he was "available for military service."

7/28/65: President Johnson announced draft calls would be doubled.

10/26/65: Selective Service lifted ban against drafting childless married men.

1/19/66: Cheney applied for 3-A status; Lynne was roughly 10 weeks pregnant.

7/28/66: Cheney's daughter Elizabeth was born -- nine months and two days after the ban on drafting childless married men was lifted. (Washington Post, 4/3/91)

Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. Web: http://www.johnkerry.com

http://www.usnewswire.com/

[dennisw]

The older Mr Kerrey gets the more vituperative and leftist he goes. ......


He looks like a bitter old queen.

[kcvl]

bttt

[dennisw]

Wow, if it was that dangerous, maybe an ambitious political type who got into Swift boats thinking it was mere coastal patrol-- not brown water-- might scheme to get out as soon as possible.

Right> Kerry volunteered for the Swift Boats when their assignment was not very dangerous. The mission became brown water and dangerous after Kerry signed up.

[rocksblues]

What an idiot!

What really get's my goat is this Democrat a "Medal of Honor" winner is so pissed off about losing a leg fighting in Vietnam and he was one of the Veterans Kerry labled as a baby killer. Yet he still supports the Dems/Leftist agenda.

This plus his attitude during the 9/11 hearings toward Condeleza Rice. This is the face of Democrat's.

Their quest for returning to power know's no bound's!

[Grampa Dave]

This is not the first time this war criminal has lost his cool with someone. He lost it when on camera during a freep with two of our great Freepers.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1176487/posts

Kerrey: 'So Am I, (Expletive)' (New video of freep of Sen. Bob Kerrey.)


Posted on 07/22/2004 11:25:49 AM PDT by McGruff


Former Sen. Bob Kerrey confronts two protesters who were heckling him over his work on the Sept. 11 commission.

This is a differnet video. Higher quality.

[John Lenin]

I just put myself in Kerrys place and wonder how he thought he was going to get away with his speech at the Winter Soldier hearings. The MSM is propping up a lot of politicians I think this is just the beginning of the end of a lot of political careers.