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Kerry’s Swift Boat Vets: Aye, Matey, T’is Mutiny!
OpinionEditorials.com ^ | August 7, 2004 | Bob Newman

Posted on 08/07/2004 1:23:14 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

There’s dissention in the ranks and the smell of mutiny on deck as a parade of Vietnam veterans who served with and/or knew John Kerry in Vietnam come forward to denounce him as a leader, officer and veteran. This situation has helped becalm Kerry’s already some say foundering campaign warship, which got little if any boost from the Democratic National Convention and which also got about the same result from Kerry’s selection of John Edwards as his vice-presidential running mate.

Kerry’s latest headache is followed by frustrating events like Shove-It-Gate, Sandy Berger’s light-fingers episode in the National Archives, and Kerry’s voting to send the United States to war and then voting to not authorize funds earmarked to buy those troops weapons and equipment for that war.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, founded in May 2004, consists of hundreds of Vietnam veterans who served in Swift Boat units there. This group has released an anti-Kerry ad in which a host of vets, some saying they knew Kerry personally and others saying they served with him and saw him in action, call him a liar, a fraud and an all-around untrustworthy officer.

This annoys Kerry because far more of his fellow Swift Boats vets have lined up against him than have signed up for him. It doesn’t help matters when only two of the officers in Kerry’s division, out of twenty-some-odd men, endorse him for president. Nor does it help when the rear admiral who was Kerry’s boss vehemently says Kerry is unfit to be our commander in chief. And when a superior officer of Kerry’s steps up and says one of Kerry’s Purple Hearts was bogus, i.e., it was a miniscule (fixed with a Band-Aid) self-inflicted wound that Kerry got in a “firefight” that involved no enemy fire whatsoever, that isn’t good, either. (According to this officer, Kerry improperly fired a grenade at some Vietnamese he thought were the enemy. The grenade hit too close to Kerry and a tiny piece of shrapnel nicked him. No enemy were involved in the incident. Kerry asked this superior officer to put him in for a Purple Heart, but the officer refused. But Kerry somehow ended up with the medal anyway. Some vets have insinuated Kerry put himself in for the medal, but that is unproven.)

Sen. John McCain, also a Vietnam veteran but who never served with Kerry, is calling the ad “dishonest and dishonorable.” Many vets want to know why McCain thinks this way, as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did serve with Kerry. Why are these vets the bad guys if they served with Kerry and have a different opinion of him?

What do I think of Kerry’s medals? I have not and will not form an opinion, because I was not there. No veteran who did not serve with Kerry should say a damn word about Kerry’s medals. And the Bush campaign is right not to comment on Kerry’s medals. But these other vets who served with Kerry and who now oppose him have the right to voice their opinions, and McCain is wrong to attack and degrade them simply because their opinions differ from his.

###

Bob Newman, a decorated, retired US Marine, is co-host of "Redmond & Newman http://www.khow.com/hosts/redmond_newman.html on 630 KHOW in Denver. His “Global Positioning Statement,” a daily insider’s update on the war on terror, is carried by various Clear Channel radio stations from coast to coast. A ground-combat veteran, “Gunny Bob” is the director of international security & counterterrorism services for The GeoScope Group and is the military & terrorism columnist for The Denver Daily News.

bobnewman@clearchannel.com


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; antiamerican; bronze; cambodia; christmasincambodia; hanghimwitharope; hanoikerry; iaintfondajohn; johnkerry; kerry; ketchup; liar; liarliarliar; lyingliar; medals; military; militaryrecord; purpleheart; sedition; skerrykerry; swiftboat; swiftboatveterans; swiftvetsdotcom; tang; traitor; treason; unamerican; unfit; unfitforcommand; vet; veteran; veterans; veteransforbush; vets; vietnam; wintersoldierdotcom
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To: patj; Cincinatus' Wife
Good to see you back again, CW, and posting. We are going to need you in the next few months. You find such interesting articles.

Absolutely.

I'm just glad it's not a primary and that we're all on the same side; she finds some devastating stuff......LOL.

61 posted on 08/07/2004 9:46:31 AM PDT by Howlin (Saving Private Hamster)
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

BTTT!!!!!!!


62 posted on 08/07/2004 10:10:24 AM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
these other vets who served with Kerry and who now oppose him have the right to voice their opinions, and McCain is wrong to attack and degrade them simply because their opinions differ from his.

What is it one vet said about Kerry:

"He preys on the fears of a war-weary nation." ? Seems things haven't changed much.

63 posted on 08/07/2004 10:39:46 AM PDT by GVnana
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

bump


64 posted on 08/07/2004 10:41:05 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (I write the songs of sorrow.)
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

My thanks to Traumer, Arrowhead1952 and Conspiracy Guy for the concept of this pic


65 posted on 08/07/2004 10:46:03 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
i lied about that, BEFORE i lied about this...
66 posted on 08/07/2004 10:47:17 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: All

Take a look at Kerry.com video "Brothers in Arms" and they show two boats, the second one where they are describing going through small rivers and canals and a "sitting duck' target...it appears to me the boat passing by the trees and filmed from shore is not a PCF Swift Boat (no pilothouse) but possibly a PBR Riverine riverboat (usually had 4 bluejackets no officers)....if Kerry wants to be so honest, why the difference in the boats in the video? Can someone copy it before it disappears, I am computer illiterate....


http://www.johnkerry.com/video/player.php?media=WindowsMedia&speed=High&video=112603_brothersinarms&action=save&x=58&y=15

http://www.pbr-fva.org/boats/pbrmk2.html

http://swiftboats.net/


67 posted on 08/07/2004 11:03:53 AM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

John F'n Kerry is a lying traitor ~ Bump!


68 posted on 08/07/2004 11:34:23 AM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: OKSooner

PCS= Permanent Change of Station- Military speak for transfered to a new post

ZI= Zone of the Interior- Military speak for the good ole USA


69 posted on 08/07/2004 11:54:56 AM PDT by ex 98C MI Dude (Proud Member of the Reagan Republicans)
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To: ex 98C MI Dude

Thanks.


70 posted on 08/07/2004 12:38:42 PM PDT by OKSooner
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To: syriacus

Perhaps McCain is worried that his action and possible responsibility in the carrier fire will be scrutinized?


71 posted on 08/07/2004 1:19:21 PM PDT by NoClones
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
You forgot to add that 21+ living Medal of Honor holders signed a letter saying the Kerry is UNFIT. Since most MOH recipients get it posthumously that says a lot.

Add to that every true Vet knows that you can't tell "Now this ain't no S***,. " stories without the vets you impose on knowing that it's all Steer Droppings. What does that say about Ketchup boy or after reading some of chapters of Unfit for Command as I now like to call him "Ole Yellow Stain."
72 posted on 08/07/2004 1:34:01 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

any vet in his or her right mind IS for Bush already--look at the Senate record of the votes Kerry has taken part in--no a DAMN thing for any serviceman por woman all of his Senatorial lifespan---of course, we always have a few fools around, even in the services


73 posted on 08/07/2004 1:56:38 PM PDT by cmotormac44
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

Bump!


74 posted on 08/07/2004 2:21:08 PM PDT by windchime (Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01))
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; All
Just thought you'd like to know that even in LIBERAL Tucson the ads are the talk of the town in the Arizona Daily Star (we often call it the RED STAR).

Ads debate Kerry's military record

Anti-Kerry ad attacks war story

Kolbe: Anti-Kerry ads appropriate

The sweet parts are all three stories have links to the Swifties ad itself and there is only one story from the Kerry camp in the paper trying weakly to rebut them.

75 posted on 08/07/2004 3:05:52 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
The sweet parts are all three stories have links to the Swifties ad itself and there is only one story from the Kerry camp in the paper trying weakly to rebut them.

Bump!!

76 posted on 08/07/2004 3:14:53 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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