Posted on 10/01/2004 5:26:53 PM PDT by freespirited
WASHINGTON - Almost overnight, it has become an article of faith among members of the mainstream media that the charges leveled against Sen. John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been proven to be untrue. David Broder, the dean of Washington columnists, got into the act this week with a column that appeared in the Herald in which he dismissed the Swift Vets as a group peddling a scurrilous and largely inaccurate attack on the Vietnam service of John Kerry.
How can the media discount Kerry's betrayal of all U.S. forces fighting in Vietnam, when he testified before the U.S. Congress in 1971, that all U.S. armed forces including his own shipmates committed unspeakable atrocities on a "day to day basis with the participation of all levels of command?" That is simply a lie. Not one alleged atrocity or even a specific accusation has been documented by John Kerry or anyone else to our knowledge.
Now that the memos that called into question President Bush's fulfillment of his National Guard obligations have been discredited, reporters and columnists have seemingly made a tacit bargain to treat the stories as two sides of a single coin. Its a tidy story, one summed up by Kerry's official biographer, Douglas Brinkley, "Every American now knows that there's something really screwy about George Bush and the National Guard, and they know that John Kerry was not the war hero we thought he was."
The only problem is that it's not that simple. Consider the facts.
John Kerry claimed on numerous occasions, including during a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, to have spent Christmas Eve of 1968 in Cambodia: "I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared - seared - in me." When the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth challenged Kerry on this story, he was forced to backpedal. His spokespersons now claim, without proof, that Kerry crossed the border on one occasion, but they have conceded that he was not there on Christmas as he claimed.
And yet, in the looking glass world of today's media, Kerry, who lied, is being unfairly attacked, while the Swift Boat Vets, who told the truth, are dishonest.
The Swift Boat Vets have also called attention to the first of Kerry's three Purple Hearts. As an officer-in-training, Kerry took part in a patrol mission that resulted in a brief firefight between Kerry's boat and suspected Viet Cong forces on shore. The problems for Kerry's account of that mission, of course, are that there was no report of any hostile fire that day (as would be required), nor do the records at Cam Ranh Bay reveal any such hostile fire. There is also no casualty report, as would have been required had there actually been a casualty. In addition, no one else on the mission, including Kerry, claim the presence of enemy fire.
This is why Kerry initially was refused the Purple Heart by his commanding officer. It was only after he re-filed three months later, after the individuals involved had all moved on to other duty stations, that his request for a Purple Heart was granted.
In fact, Kerry's injury that day was consistent with shrapnel from an M-79 grenade launcher that he fired at the shoreline too close to his own boat not enemy fire. Kerry's campaign now has even admitted that it is possible this first Purple Heart was awarded for a self-inflicted wound.
So once again, Kerry was forced to change his story in response to questions raised by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But Kerrys self-aggrandizing, medal-hunting behavior is somehow beyond reproach while the Swift Vets are blasted by media critics.
Whats most striking is that these are not isolated incidents. As stories like whether or not Kerry actually threw his (or someone elses) medals (or ribbons) over the White House fence make clear, this is a man not, strictly speaking, wedded to a single truth.
Hang in there Swiftees. You guys are great.
down load the audio clips to hear their stories or this"
Quote:
"This is why Kerry initially was refused the Purple Heart by his commanding officer. It was only after he re-filed three months later, after the individuals involved had all moved on to other duty stations, that his request for a Purple Heart was granted."
Question: Is it common for soldiers to REQUEST ap Purple Heart? I've never heard of anyone doing that. Its something you unwillingly earn, which can never make up for the pain and impairment of a combat wound.
I just can't imagine someone REQUESTING one, even if their wound was "overlooked"....
bmp
Dear Working Families E-Activist:
Today we want to share an inside view from a very special person--Jim Wasser of Joliet, Ill., a member of IBEW since 1970 and a Navy radarman who served with Sen. John Kerry in Vietnam.
Here's what Jim has to say:
******************************************************************************
Dear Friends,
John Kerry is a true commander-in-chief and that was clear to me last night during the debate.
I'm Jim Wasser and I was second in command to John Kerry in Vietnam on Swift Boat 44. The John Kerry I knew then is the same John Kerry I saw last night debating on the tough issues surrounding Iraq.
As a union veteran, I really love this country. Let's face it, whoever becomes the next president has a bad situation on his hands in Iraq. But last night it was clear to me why John Kerry is the man to lead us out of this war and these troubled times.
Here's what I saw last night:
* John Kerry has a plan to get us out of this deadly, costly mess in Iraq AND achieve our goals there.
* George Bush is misleading America about this war--he just can't seem to own up to his failed record. Deadly insurgency is growing in Iraq and could result in all-out civil war, according to the administration's own top intelligence analysts.
* George Bush has been totally distracted from the real war on terror. That's not the way to make America safer. He's wasted our money on millionaire tax cuts--but he's cutting grants to first-responder programs and trying to cut funding for firefighters by 33 percent. He's frozen hiring for border protection officers, cut funding for the community police program by 90 percent and he's ignoring vulnerabilities in our transportation system, from rail to ports to air travel.
* George Bush just can't acknowledge his mistakes in the Iraq war and the war on terrorism--just like he refuses to acknowledge that here at home he's devastated working families who need good jobs, health care and overtime pay.
No way can this president solve America's problems when he's too stubborn to acknowledge reality. John Kerry will make us safer than we are today. He will fund our first responders and make sure our ports and borders, planes, trains and infrastructure become secure.
Last night John Kerry met Bush head-on and laid out his plan for a new course in Iraq and his plan for winning the war on terror. It's the right plan--it's what we need. John Kerry will make America stronger and safer at home and respected in the world.
I served beside John Kerry and I know he has been in tough combat situations, putting his life on the line for America and for his men. That's what we need in a leader today--someone who really understands what our sons and daughters are facing under fire in Iraq and what we could face here at home if we don't get serious about the war on terror.
George Bush has not leveled with the American people about Iraq. No matter how many no-bid contracts go to his friends, no matter how many soldiers and civilians die, no matter how many kidnappings and beheadings, he tells us he's done the right things. But let me tell you--his go-it-alone strategy is the WRONG course. When you're in combat, you don't want to "go it alone." You want your buddies right there with you like John Kerry was with me in Vietnam.
After the debate, I heard some of President Bush's supporters talking about "trust and confidence." Let's face it--John Kerry is the one you would trust next to you in a foxhole or covering your back on a swift boat. He's the one you want protecting the lives and freedoms of working families in America.
I trusted John with my life. After watching him debate last night, I trust him even more now with our future.
In solidarity,
Jim Wasser
Oct. 1, 2004
P.S. Are you a union veteran, too? Please join me in the Union Veterans network--sign up now at
AFL-CIO
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This e-mail message was paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education - Political Contributions Committee, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Which when you click on the URL, here is what I found, believe the docs, or as I think, maybe not real?
Can anyone else tell if these have been touched, or modified, not actual documents? I am just wondering since in several of them, the print is way much darker than other parts of some docs.
God Bless you, Admiral Hoffman and all those that honorably served with you and continue to serve with honor.
I'm reading "Unfit for Command" right now, and as fast a reader as I am when engaged in a book, I am finding myself having to put it down often because it is making me so, so very angry.
kerry should be pounding rocks at Leavenworth, not serving in the United States Senate, let alone runing for President of the United States of America.........and that is only if less than half of what the Swifties say is true..........if it's more (and I believe them more than kerry) there is other available punishment for traitors to our great nation.
As I have often said here, W is leading the fight against the terrorists, the democrats and the MSM and he is beating them all. It's a shame that the man has to put up with this bunch of traitors here at home while we are engaged in a war against what has got to be the most evil enemy we have ever faced.
It doesn't matter why Wasser is wrong. It remains that he is dead wrong, and the many more other Swift Boat veterans who say that Kerry is unreliable and untrustworthy are right, as am I from my experiences with Kerry, two years prior.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "And the Debate Winner is -- Lemony Snicket"
If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.
Check out the John F. Kerry Timeline.
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Boy, do I agree with this statement.
Our local is non worker help, but is sure in bed with the demorats, and such, not so much as real employees rights. Whereas, I come from the old school, you learn and earn as you go, and gain upwards. None of this upper management, and "yes" person!!! And the attitudes of the newbies, "it's not fair!"
Kerry, is full of horse puckey!
I'd be interested in a longer version of your "experience" of Hanoi John Effing Kerry, if you'd care to share it with us.
Congressman Billybob
(CLICK THIS 3D ANIM OF GUMBY AND KERRY)
FLIP-FLOPPER PAINT BALLED - RED FACED
She was to paint-ball his ass the bright orange that would make him the king of all his Swift Boat followers ... or should it be the "bad'est red-ass" of them all ??
She could not tell, from his flip-flops, the difference from his face and his ... democrapic donky!
John Kerry received his purple heart and red lips and face and What an ass !
bump
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