Posted on 07/30/2004 11:56:49 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
BOSTON - John Kerry skipped past his role in the Vietnam protest movement that brought him to prominence when he talked of his younger days fighting for his country and ignored that conflict when praising the American tradition of going to war only "because we have to."
Kerry once famously called the Vietnam War "the biggest nothing in history," and says he is still proud of his anti-war activism when he came back. But in the text of his televised speech at the Democratic National Convention, he emphasized his war record and offered mere clues to his protesting past.
A video introduction shown at the convention before the broadcast networks began carrying his speech included a clip of the young Kerry, in military garb, testifying to Congress against the war in 1971.
And his speech made passing reference to his generation's marches for "civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women, and for peace."
Kerry short-handed a few telling policy details in other parts of his speech.
He declared, for example, that "we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans" and called that care "a right for all Americans."
But his plan, while aimed at expanding coverage and reducing premiums, does not ensure coverage for all. His campaign says the plan would extend coverage to an additional 27 million people, which would leave more than 10 million without health insurance.
He rhetorically asked, "What does it mean when 25 percent of the children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution? America can do better. And help is on the way."
A study by Harlem Hospital Center last year found 25 percent of the children in a 24-block area of Harlem had the disease. But blaming all of that on air pollution as part of a case against the Bush administration is not supported by the study.
Apart from genetic factors, the study found that the asthmatic children were about 50 percent more likely to live with a smoker. Pollen, dust, animal dander, cockroaches and cold air were thought to be among the contributing causes, along with urban air pollution.
On equipping the military, he said, "You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service." He's had a long-running dustup with Republicans who criticize him for voting against an $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan that included money for thousands of extra sets of body armor.
His campaign said he voted against the bill, among other reasons, because it included no-bid contracts for companies.
Kerry emphasized throughout his speech his credentials as a Vietnam veteran. "I defended this country as a young man," he said. "We fought for this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra."
There was no telling from his remarks that Kerry became a leading anti-war protester after his return from Vietnam.
Testifying to Congress on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, he detailed atrocities he said were committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam, including rapes, beheadings and random killings of civilians, only to acknowledge later he had not witnessed these acts.
He tossed away the ribbons he had received with his war medals, threw away the medals of other veterans who weren't able to attend a protest and told the 1971 Senate hearing: "The country doesn't know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history."
Despite his judgment then that Vietnam was about "nothing" - and despite other wars and invasions of arguable necessity - Kerry suggested Iraq was a departure from a long-held practice of last-resort wars.
"As president, "I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence," he said. "I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics.
"And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."
I can only shake my head at Kerry. And what does he mean by only going to war because "we have to"? He voted for the war, end of story.
OPEN LETTER TO KERRY FROM 204 YEARS AGO:
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two-hundred years. These nations have progressed throught this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage.”
—Alexander Fraser Tyler, 1700
Yup...and speaking to the "Kerry leaves out protest role"...
The RNC better not leave it out.
My cousin came home wounded, and to this day walks with a cane. A much bigger single wound than hanoi john's 3 baby boo, boos. He never talked about Nam.
Hmm..seems to me that there is a study out that cock roaches are a prime cause of asthma. I would suggest some strong fumigation of these slum apartments.
Real heroes don't talk about what they did in Nam.
Tells stunned nation in brief radio address, "Been there, done that, got the super 8 footage - I'm outta here!"
Washington, DC - May 20, 2005
Just four months and twelve days into his term of office, President John F. Kerry has handed his resignation to Secretary of State Ben Affleck, and left the capital to return to his family home in Boston. New President John Edwards was sworn in during a hasty ceremony in the White House today, and pledged to "finish the job John Kerry has so bravely begun."
Thus ended one of the briefest Presidential reigns in the nation's history, so plagued by mishaps - a fall from his snowboard, a twisted ankle in a Rose Garden touch football game - that the President quipped he should get "three more Purple Hearts"...
et cetera
...Kerry testified that, as president, he had personally raped interns, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephone to John Edwards' genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside...
A search at the Vietnam memorial website shows...
| year | number of deaths of Navy men from MA |
| 1960 | -----0 |
| 1961 | -----0 |
| 1962 | -----0 |
| 1963 | -----0 |
| 1964 | -----0 |
| 1965 | -----2 |
| 1966 | -1 before Kerry enlistment, -1 after Kerry enlistment |
| 1967 | ----20 |
| 1968 | ----23 |
| 1969 | ----13 |
| 1970 | -----5 |
| 1971 | -----2 |
| 1972 | -----8 |
| 1973 | -----0 |
Did he get to another thing he claims to be proud of, how he and Pile-O-Dung Harkin went to Nicaragua in 1985 and publicly bolstered the Sandinistas against what he calls "Reagan's Illegal War in Central America?" I mean, those were courageous stands for a US politician, raising as they do the question of whether he ever met a commie SOB he didn't like or an anti-communist he did.
Did he get to his votes against so many of the defense budgets since 1985 and such line items as the Tomahawk Cruise Missile and the F-15? He claims to be proud of his voting record ...
I'm always surprised to see anything in the media outside of Fox or the WSJ that touches one of these obvious hypocrisies of John Kerry. Or is this guy's job now in jeopardy?
Kerry likes to point out Bush's lack of combat experience, however, let us not forget that this combat experience he repeatedly refers to only lasted 3 months and 27 days. Also, he was injured thrice in this short time, which earned him a trip home.
Forget about politics, forget about the issues and focus on this for a moment. Kerry fought along side other soldiers, many of whom died for this country. He stood side-by-side with these men, these heroes, they looked out for him and he for them. Soldiers in combat form a type of brotherhood that can only be understood in a combat situation. This brotherhood is what led soldiers who were hurt to heal and get back on the line so as to not leave their brothers fighting alone. This brotherhood is what each man and woman who has fought and died for this country had so that you and I have the ability enjoy freedom.
John Kerry left his brothers on the line, returned to the US, then protested against the war along side those who gathered to jeer, spit on, and call our returning soldiers baby-killers. He admitted to taking part in what he later called "war crimes", yet he stood with others to mock our soldiers. When he left Viet Nam, his boots were no doubt covered in the blood of his brothers, the blood of the men who would have gone back on the line so that he would not fight alone.
As I said before, soldiers have a sense of honor, where is Kerry's honor? By turning his back on his fellow soldiers, he has dishonored himself, the men who fought with him and the memories those who died fighting for this country.
Although the DNC would have you remember the 3 months Kerry fought for our country, they would have you forget what he did next. His atrocious actions must be remembered by all.
For those of you who have Democratic friends toting Kerry's combat experience, have them go here and look up his pay records while he was in Nam. 3 months and 27 days.
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/docs.html
God Bless.
John F*ckin' tried to be a fake Republican. This was one of the phoniest, self-serving addresses I've ever seen. And that snappy salute, pretend to be Reagan. Oh puhleeaze. The Gipper made politics look natural and Kerry, you're no Reagan.
This rings so true. It is substantiated by this quote from Kerry's 4-year roommate.
"John was just a guy who was very impatient," Barbiero said. "
He didn't like lines -- he had so much energy,
[Kerry] had no patience to queue up."
Is the air there that much different from tony uptown Manhattan? Are the asthma rates the same. I am so sick of bombastic statemates using ZERO logic.
Kerry's speech was a giant lie...honor the Constitution my arse...
Meanwhile the bride of frankenstein...was busy telling the sodomite community that they will have a friend in the WH....the most 'gay' friendly govt in the history of America...
Teh Ray Zah told the sodomites....that they would have a 'mother' in the White House
(dont know if she meant herself or John Kerry)
She said Kerry would be dedicated to helping them to achieve all their goals....
Kerry's complete bogus speech painting himself as a moderate...when his actions prove exactly what he is...a complete left winged radical ...even worse than the Clintlers...
But Im preachin to the choir...
IMO
Only at reunions and with those they trust...if they are smart...
Though the guys on the HBO series 'Band of Brothers' certainly talked to outsiders
...and we are greatfull and honored that they did...
imo
REAL HEROS may talk about what they and their bros did in combat
THEY JUST DONT BRAG...
and THEY SURE AS HECK DONT LIE ABOUT IT....
IMO
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