Free Republic

BORN FIGHTING: HOW THE SCOTS-IRISH SHAPED AMERICA BY JAMES WEBB 'TIS no doubt folly to ascribe John Kerry's November defeat to anyone cause, but there's also little doubt that the ad campaign mounted late last summer by the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth put some heavy hurt on the Democrat's presidential ambitions. How is that? The Kerry campaign collided with traditions that inform the largest and most pugnaciously principled American ethnic group that you probably never heard much about: the Scots-Irish. After that, the Massachusetts liberal never had a chance. Or so suggests James Webb, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran,...

It was a perfect September day at the Minnesota State Fair and I was pleased to be on stage with Sen. John McCain. I was proud to be an American, active for the first time in our political process. What got me going is the "veteran phenomenon" caused by a rupturing of the wound in the American body politic called "Vietnam." That wound has never fully healed, and it started festering again when Sen. John Kerry saluted and announced to the American people that he was "reporting for duty" at the Democratic Convention in Boston. < . . . snip...

KERRY DOOFUS SALUTE " Duh. This is how I'd look as Commander in Chief." BUSH SALUTE This is how a real Commander in Chief looks.

From his speech today..

For many, John Kerry’s salute and “reporting for duty” remark at the Democrat National Convention was a trite gesture; it was a feeble attempt to suggest he was at the public’s service, rather than eagerly seeking political power on his own initiative. Unconvincing and flaccid, it bespoke of a sheep attempting to don wolves’ clothing, rather like the Democrat Party has been trying to do with its recent embrace of veterans so many of its members once shunned as “baby killers”. The strange Kerry salute reminded others of a more quixotic parallel: for fans of the comedy / sci-fi...