A friend dropped off the book today.
Reading this book is one of the most eye opening experiences I have had in the power of media. They let Kerry perpetuate his lies without challenge.
I knew the media was powerful. Powerful enough to get a president elected and let him stay in office. But I had no idea they could mis-portray an entire war and our soldiers in quite the way that they permitted Kerry to do. (That isn't a grammatical sentence but between being sick and outraged...)
I am not sure I felt this much anger, even in the aftermath of 9/11. That may sound overly dramatic to some people, but I can almost accept the fact that there are fanatical people on this planet who hate us enough to try and destroy the country.
What I can't accept is that our OWN people darned near destroyed the country in the 60's and 70's and completely demolished our country's will to fight a war and let millions and millions of Southern Vietnamese get killed because of our untimely withdrawal.
I cannot accept that our OWN people ruined the reputations of our fine, brave soldiers. I could absolutely sob. It is a tragic story. Tragic.
" Reading this book is one of the most eye opening experiences I have had in the power of media. They let Kerry perpetuate his lies without challenge. "
Many who do not have the book, might assume that it just focuses on the 3 Purple Hearts and the 2 medals.
I was surprised and revolted to read the accounts of swift boat veteran after veteran-names that are not yet as well known as John O'Neill and Van Odell and Jim Rassmann-who give their first hand accounts of what it was like to serve alongside Kerry.
Kerry fled when the going got tough and abandoned the other swift boats when they were under fire ,
he disobeyed orders,
he and his crew went off on their own,
Kerry had no fire discipline and routinely opened up on innocent civilian Vietnamese and on and on and on.
And almost to a man, they say " Kerry imagined this, it never happened "
" Kerry made this up,"
" Kerry lied "
"Kerry fantasized this "
" Kerry wrote a fraudulent report."
The sheer number of times one reads comments like that, about incident after incident, adds to the inescapable truth about Kerry- he is either a lifelong pathological liar or mentally ill.
Welcome aboard.
They are attempting to do it again today in Iraq.
To defeat them today, the American people have to understand the past. I have felt from the beginning G.W. became our President at this precise moment in history for special reason. I have the same sense that Kerry was nominated as the DNC candidate for a reason. I do feel the Lord's hand in events of our Day.
In order to defend this country from threats abroad, we need to defeat the enemy within. My prayer isn't only that these brave men that served our country in that war and during the era have their reputations restored, but that our country rids itself of the ideology that has made America vulnerable to attack.
I'll never forget the young man who came to our high school to get his diploma after serving in the Marines. He had been in Vietnam and he lent a certain maturity and seriousness to our lives but he was a great guy. I was a stupid, boy-crazy 15 year old and he was at the house with my brother. He had his Marine annual and let my sister and I look at it. We were impressed at all the good-looking guys and were laughing and giggling but we both chose the same guy as being a dreamboat. We took the annual to Skip and asked him if he knew Michael Box. When we said his name he just broke down and bawled and said that Michael was his best friend and that he had died saving him. I've rarely felt so bad in my life as I did at that moment and have often wondered how or why we chose that particular guy to ask about. Life is funny. This was before Skerry did his protesting but I know it had to wound these ex-soldiers who had fought honorably and families who lost friends and sons and brothers.
I think this controversy might be a Godsend. Not just to point out Skerry's disgraceful behavior but a chance to recognize the heroes we have in our midst who never got their duly earned respect.