and another Purple Heart for the bad case of Frost Bite that he got from those in attendance
Posted on 09/16/2004 7:27:54 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
Today: September 16, 2004 at 11:04:13 PDT
Kerry seeks to sway veterans in LV speech By Kirsten Searer LAS VEGAS SUN
With polls showing veterans overwhelmingly supporting President Bush, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry today is expected to make a strong pitch for the veteran vote.
Kerry, a former Navy officer, has been increasing his criticism of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq over the last few days and will speak in Las Vegas today to the National Guard Association. He is expected to outline his foreign policy goals and plans for veterans benefits.
He'll speak to a crowd that gave Bush, a former National Guard officer, a warm reception at the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, especially when the president made strong promises to defend the country against terrorism.
Nationally, veterans favor Bush by as many as 20 percentage points in recent polls. But on Wednesday the Kerry campaign brought a group of veterans, headed by several generals, to Las Vegas to argue that Kerry's Vietnam experience makes him the better candidate.
"Let's get somebody else in there that has been one of the boots on the ground, who has been under fire," said Las Vegas resident Michael Selvage, an Air Force veteran.
Retired Lt. General Edward Baca said he has spoken to all 14 of the veterans who served on swift boats with Kerry in Vietnam, and all pledged support for the candidate.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
Note: Kerry had to bring Veteran-supporters to the speech with him. That must have been the applause we heard.
He also had Weasley just to his left.
Does a transcript of the speech exist anywhere yet?
It supposedly contains a phrase that needs wide publicity.
It also appears that if Kerry had competent campaign
advice (and they had some real influence) this speech
would have been cancelled on some excuse.
Kerry got the same reception that Kennedy would have got
had he gone thru with today's aborted plan to have Teddy
speak in Nanticoke, hometown of Mary Jo Kopechne.
Yeah, all 3 of them.......
C-SPAN.org will most likely air it again. I watched it earlier... it was pathetic.
When Kerry addressed the VFW-he also brought in ringers to stand and clap in the audience.
I posted this earlier.
A few Saturdays ago, VP Cheney and Mrs Cheney were guests at the Ranger Ball, in Columbus, Ga.
The visit had very little advance publicity and was closed to the press.
My brother was there and the troops loved Cheney.
Loved him.
Many of those present had served tours in Iraq, including my brother.
Their wives and girlfriends, who had endured the hardships of the long separations-stood and cheered as loudly as the Rangers.
"A crowd of 1,100 Rangers and their guests cheered and gave Vice President Dick Cheney a standing ovation Saturday at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center."
"During a 45-minute visit, Cheney thanked the Rangers for their service and remembered the fallen Rangers from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Cheney was accompanied by his wife, Lynne."
"For me it meant a great deal," Capt. Jay Bartholomees said of the vice president's visit.
"But to have the vice president thank the Rangers leaves a greater impact and inspiration for the future service in support of the global war on terrorism."
The troops understand more clearly than anybody else, that George Bush has their back and that John Kerry will stab them in the back.
...and that, my friends, is the bottom line...
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040917/ids_photos_wl/r3737625026.jpg&e=10&ncid=1617
God Bless George W. Bush and God Bless the United States
The only swaying going on were some older veterans nodding off.
This sounds like the same anti-war John Kerry of the 1970's to me:
John Kerry speech to the Nation Guard today: "He did not tell you that with each passing week, our enemies are getting bolder – that Pentagon officials report that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and extremists. He did not tell you that with each passing month, stability and security seem farther and farther away."
and another Purple Heart for the bad case of Frost Bite that he got from those in attendance
Its on C-Span now kerry will follow. Bush is getting a good welcome, kerry wont!!
Bush is on now
its on cspan now
GWB on CSpan - repeat of Guard speech. RIGHT NOW
Kerry was trying to buy our votes. The 55 Y/O retirement and the Tricare proposals are extremely expensive.
These coupled with his health care plan would be impossible to pay for.
11:41 pm
0:33
Speech
Kerry Campaign Speech
National Guard Assn. of the U.S.
John F. Kerry , D-MA
Navy Contradicts Kerry on Release of Military Records
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
September 16, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Navy released documents Wednesday contradicting claims by Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry that all of his available military records have been released.
The Navy, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, also referred interested parties to Kerry's campaign web site for government military documents.
Navy Personnel Command FOIA Officer Dave German wrote in an e-mail to Judicial Watch that the Navy "withheld thirty-one pages of documents from the responsive military personnel service records as we were not provided a release authorization."
A "release authorization" would have to come from Kerry filling out and signing a Standard Form 180, something he has yet to do. A Standard Form 180 would authorize the complete release of all his military records. Judicial Watch filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in August to obtain Kerry's military records.
The official U.S. Navy response was received by Judicial Watch on Wednesday, the same day that Kerry told syndicated radio and MSNBC TV host Don Imus that "We've posted my military records that they sent to me, or were posted on my website. You can go to my website, and all my -- you know, the documents are there."
When Imus pressed Kerry as to whether all of his documents were in fact included on the campaign website, Kerry responded, "To the best of my knowledge. I think some of the medical stuff may still be out there. We're trying to get it.
"We released everything that they (the Navy) initially sent me," he added.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the Navy's correspondence confirms that Kerry has not been forthright in releasing his military files.
"It's written confirmation from the U.S. Navy that there are additional documents from Kerry's service record that have yet to be made publicly available," Fitton told CNSNews.com.
Fitton called the Kerry campaign's contention that all of the candidate's military files have been released, "wrong."
"They (the Kerry campaign) are either ignorant or misleading us. The simple solution is to authorize the release of all records related to his service," Fitton said.
German in a letter dated September 15, also referred Judicial Watch to Kerry's campaign website for more information on Kerry's military records.
"Numerous responsive U.S. Navy service record documents, as well as service record documents not subject to disclosure requirements under the FOIA, may be accessed at" the Kerry campaign's website applying to his military records, wrote German.
"Right now we are in the 'Alice in Wonderland' situation, where the U.S. Navy is telling us to go to a campaign Internet site to get government FOIA documents," Fitton said.
"I am not aware of any other instance where [a government agency] told us to go to a political website for documents," he added. "It's not a reliable repository of government documents."
In additional correspondence with Judicial Watch dated Sept. 15, the Navy stated that it did not have a copy of Kerry's Discharge Certificate (DD Form 256N), adding that the Navy did not keep files of the certificate in its records.
German wrote in a letter dated Sept. 15, "A copy of an honorable discharge certificate (DD256N) is not placed in the U.S. Navy Service record when issued."
Jerome Corsi, co-author of the best-selling book "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," told CNSNews.com the he was "surprised" the Navy did not have a copy of Kerry's discharge file.
"That means [Kerry's] got it," Corsi said. "It goes against his contention that he has released everything that is in his possession, because certainly that form is in his possession."
Corsi believes that the Navy's official response proves that "it's Kerry who is blocking the release of the [military] documents and nobody else."
"What's Senator Kerry got to hide?" Corsi asked. "By not releasing these files, he is creating the impression that there is something there he doesn't want anybody to see. What is it?"
Judicial Watch is also awaiting the U.S. Navy's response to its inquiry regarding Kerry's "Silver Star with combat V." The citation appears in Kerry's DD214 military form on his website, but according to military officials, no such medal exists.
"Kerry's record is incorrect. The Navy has never issued a 'combat V' to anyone for a Silver Star," said a Naval official to reporter Thomas Lipscomb in an article for the August 27th Chicago Sun Times.
According to the Sun Times article, "Naval regulations do not allow for the use of a 'combat V' for the Silver Star, the third-highest decoration the Navy awards. None of the other services has ever granted a Silver Star 'combat V,' either."
See Related Articles:
Kerry Blamed for Viet Vets Being Dubbed 'Atrocity Committing Monsters' POW Say (Sept. 10, 2004)
Kerry, in 1971, Admitted Writing Combat Reports (Aug. 26, 2004)
FBI Files Show Kerry Met With Communists More Than Once (June 4, 2004)
Kerry's Meeting With Communists Violated US Law, Says Author (May 20, 2004)
Kerry Lying About Anti-War Past, Supporter Alleges (March 18, 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.
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