Posted on 09/19/2004 7:40:33 PM PDT by The Doctor
John Kerry is not a hero. He built this facade with unabashed personal promotion, aided and abetted by a supportive liberal media ready and willing to repeat in print his gross exaggerations, distortions of fact, and outright lies about his abbreviated four-month, 12-day tour of duty in Vietnam.
Until the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth spoke up in press conferences, television ads, and with the now best-selling book, Unfit for Command, no one - not even the conservative media - seriously or effectively challenged the veracity of John Kerry's self-aggrandizement. Only now is his war-hero facade beginning to peel away.
Kerry arrived in Vietnam on November 17, 1968, with a strong anti-war bias and a self-serving determination to build a foundation for a future political career. Even a most casual review of his biography, Tour of Duty by Douglas Brinkley, will reveal that Kerry entered the Naval Reserve as a "vain intellectual" with contempt for military authority.
Stooped to Achieve Goal
In hindsight, his obvious objective was to emulate his idol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, serve as short a time as possible, and escape Vietnam unscathed but with sufficient credentials and decorations to portray himself in heroic terms. To achieve his goal, Kerry stooped to scamming an after-combat reporting system that was based on trust, promoting himself for a handful of medals regardless of their dubious merits, so he could "bug out" of the war zone early.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
and now he will sell the entire country down the river... His own words 200 billion is too much to protect the US from Terror... He constantly complains about the money...I don't know about you John, but my children are priceless.
Yeah, but George W. Bush was fifteen minutes late for a National Guard meeting. Take that, you wascally wepubwicans!
His propensity for gross exaggeration and lying was legend to those who knew him, even early on at Cam Rahn Bay, his first duty station in Vietnam. In Tour of Duty, Kerry recounts the story of the seas being so rough during the monsoon season that sailors came in "pissing red and that several people have broken bones" - a ridiculous story that was totally unsubstantiated.
With few exceptions, the dems have a completely different idea about "truth."
If we don't keep these points in the forefront of the issues, the dems will keep "smokescreening" with unending accusations, denials, and blather. The fact that the guard memos weren't completely discredited in less than 24 hours demonstrates how the media "noise" can obscure the truth.
ping
Haven't you heard? "Truth Is That Which Serves The Party"...
(I need to get an attribution for that... it may have been Lenin.)
FYI It's about an hour talk by these two men
Unfit for Command and Reckless Disregard
John O'Neill and Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson
http://www.booktv.org/feature/index.asp?segid=4941&schedID=298
Description: John O'Neill, co-author of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," and Col. Robert Patterson, author of "Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undercut Our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our Security," talk about their books at the Commonwealth Club of California. Following their remarks, the authors take questions from the audience.
Author Bio: John O'Neill is a practicing lawyer in Houston, Texas. On the Dick Cavett Show in 1971, Mr. O'Neill debated John Kerry on the issue of American war crimes during the Vietnam War. Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, USAF (ret.), is the author of "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security."
I see no difference in voting for kerry or Jane Fonda.
Damn the dirty, filthy, lying Swift Boat Vets. I am a war hero and I've got the medals to prove it !!!
I am JOhnKERry and I approve this message !!!
How can you tell a war hero?
He does NOT brag about it. Men who have lived through combat, in my experience, do not brag because they are humbled by the memory of the men who did not come back.
I have heard of funerals for older vets where the men he fought with will come and talk about lives saved, acts of heroism and his grandkids are thinking "I did not even know he was in a war."
Well said.
POSTED EARLIER TODAY by Boundless
Kerry the war hero, Readers Digest edition:
2004-09-19 11:23
Kerry used the deferment system until finally denied.
He then enlisted in the USNR, because "I didn't really want to get involved in the war, ..."
He transferred to PCFs when they were relatively safe open-water "PT-109"-like "Market Time" operations. "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."
When did he find out about the switch to vastly more dangerous "SEALORD" ops, and why was he 17 days late reporting as ordered to Vietnam?
He did at least usually follow orders, and usually did not flee the field under fire. We can give him that.
The Christmas in Cambodia story is now revealed as a total fiction, so we have to wonder about any other claimed Kerry exploits.
He gamed the medal system and scammed 3 Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star w/V and a Silver Star.
His own journal says that on a date after the 1st PH action, "... we hadn't been shot at yet ...". This quote, at least, looks honest.
He has 2 citations for the BS, and 3 for the SS. The final citation for the SS is entirely disclaimed by the SecNAV who supposedly authored it. What is going on here?
Kerry bingoed out on the 3PHs. Most heros didn't, unless actually disabled.
He was still a USNR officer while he:
gave false hearsay testimony to Congress
negotiated with the enemy
helped the US lose a war
abetted in the deaths of millions
created a hostile environment for all servicemen
He gamed the Reserve system to skip out on 2 years of drills (yes, the same JFK questioning GWB's ANG service)
He waited until a dim-witted Democrat was President before requesting a Discharge, why?
He sabotaged the POW recovery effort to benefit a family business.
He claims to have released all his records, but the U.S.Navy says "not so". Will Kerry sign the SF-180? It could clear all this up.
Kerry continues his treacherous legacy by criticizing Bush's handling of the War on Terror, but failing to lay out any kind of credible alternative plan. This is providing encouragement to the enemy (again) and causing them to launch attacks intended in part to affect the election. Kerry is getting people needlessly killed.
Some war hero.
Bump!
My dad was a WWII vet - naval aviator. I never heard any war stories from him...only one story actually and it had to do with a salvage situation. But that was the only time... and when I did refer to his duties , he would get very quiet.
BUMP!!!
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