[Hildy]

I truly contend that Kerry believes he is a war hero. He has played the part for so long I think he's blurred the line of reality.

[skeptoid]

I think you're right. How could someone of his stature lie through his teeth so consistently for so long?

He's got to be pathologically self-delusional.

Perhaps this fits:

>paranoia (pàr´e-noi´e), term denoting persistent and logically reasoned false beliefs, or delusions, often of persecution or grandeur (e.g., the belief that one has an important mission).

The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1995 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.<

[TomGuy]

I truly contend that Kerry believes he is a war hero. He has played the part for so long I think he's blurred the line of reality.

Funny, but probably true. I said months ago, he was delusional and had told so many fabrications of stories that he came to believe them---just like his 50-some retellings of his Christmas 1968 in Cambodia---which apparently was an outright lie.

[flaglady47]

"I truly contend that Kerry believes he is a war hero. He has played the part for so long I think he's blurred the line of reality."

I have a slightly different take on this. You're right, he convinces himself he is a war hero. But he really knows he isn't. He knows what he did and didn't do. Like Lori Hacking's husband (he offed his wife after she discovered he had built a persona based on lies), Kerry has functioned since Viet Nam within his house of deceit. I think he's racked with guilt because of it (maybe that's why he supposedly has bad nightmares) and therefore has to attack those who know the truth in a frantic attempt to keep the truth from coming out. I suspect he absolutely hates John O'Neill, because O'Neill has truth on his side, and hates the fact that almost all of those that served with him (the 254 SwiftVets) also all know the truth, and turned on him like he turned on them. Deep down inside, I believe Kerry despises himself for what he did, and it's a case of a superiority complex hiding an inferiority complex. This man has no core, and I believe knows he will never measure up to John O'Neill, so much a better man than Kerry. I think Kerry is incredibly envious of all the support O'Neill et al have gotten, and therefore will try to kill (not literally) O'Neill off. Kerry is fixated on Viet Nam, and has been for all these many years since the war. He can't get off the subject. When his campaign staffers tried to get him to change the subject to domestic affairs, especially toward the end of the campaign, he couldn't do it. He was still fixated on war, both in Iraq and his bete noir, Viet Nam. The man, really, is sick. Thank goodness he lost.

[knuthom]

I truly contend that Kerry believes he is a war hero. He has played the part for so long I think he's blurred the line of reality.

He is a legend in his own mind.