Posted on 08/07/2004 10:18:24 AM PDT by Jenya
Kerry defends his '70s anti-war activities
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] expressed pride in his 1970s antiwar activism yesterday as controversy continued to swirl over a TV ad accusing him of betraying his fellow veterans when he protested the Vietnam war.
``I stood up against the war in the 1970s,'' Kerry said. ``Some people still don't like that, and they're still trying to fight that. That's 35 years old. But I'm proud of what I did to stand up. And I learned a lot.''
A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth launched a TV spot accusing Kerry of dishonoring his country and ``lying'' in Senate testimony about atrocities committed during the war.
The ad also claims Kerry did not deserve his combat medals. But the controversy grew deeper yesterday as one key member of the group first seemed to back off his criticism - then stood by his original charges.
George Elliott, one of Kerry's war commanders, told the Boston Globe he should not have signed an affidatit suggesting Kerry didn't deserve his Silver Star.
``It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble here,'' the Globe quoted Elliott as saying.
Later yesterday, Elliott issued another affidavit saying the Globe had misquoted him and that he believed Kerry has ``not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.''
Next week, the group will release a book called ``Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry [related, bio].''
But Jim Rassmann, who credits Kerry with saving his life in Vietnam, said, ``What these people have said is not true, and a lot of it is grossly inaccurate. These gentlemen appear to be making this up as they go along, and they are not keeping their stories straight.''
White House spokesman Scott McClellan yesterday repeated a call for ``an end to all the ads and activity by these shadowy groups that are funded by unregulated soft money.''
hanoi john spent 132 days in Vienam being a soldier. He spent 730 days trashing our sons, husbands, brothers, uncles and cousins as baby killers and rapists, along with his best bud hanoi jane.
Ho Chi Min? (?sp)
www.newsmax.com ^ | Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 10:25 PM EST
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 10:25 PM EST Gen. Giap: Kerry's Group Helped Hanoi Defeat U.S.
The North Vietnamese general in charge of the military campaign that finally drove the U.S. out of South Vietnam in 1975 credited a group led by Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry with helping him achieve victory.
In his 1985 memoir about the war, General Vo Nguyen Giap wrote that if it weren't for organizations like Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Hanoi would have surrendered to the U.S. - according to Fox News Channel war historian Oliver North.
That's why, he predicted on Tuesday, the Vietnam war issue "is going to blow up in Kerry's face."
"People are going to remember Gen. Giap saying if it weren't for these guys, [Kerry's group], we would have lost," North told radio host Sean Hannity.
"The Vietnam Veterans Against the War encouraged people to desert, encouraged people to mutiny - some used what they wrote to justify fragging officers," noted the former Marine Lieutenant Colonel, who earned two purple hearts in Vietnam.
"John Kerry has blood of American soldiers on his hands," North said.
When will someone ask him if he'll pull the plug on another group who believes in us just as he helped to do to the South Vietnamese?
I wouldn't be surprised if these damn journalists aren't getting their stories right. I want the transcript of the interview GWB gave when he said that because I don't think he would say that. The media is in full-fledge anti-Bush mode, even FOX.
After what these people are doing to these swift vets, I'm pissed and don't believe any of them anymore.
He wanted to talk about Viet Nam before he didn't want to talk about Viet Nam ??????
He.....is......such....a....DORK!
We have a local conservative talk show host who watched the entire Convention and now calls him "Lieutenant Kerry". His justficiation is that if someone from another planet had watched the Democratic Convention that's the conclusion he would have come to. Not "Senator Kerry", not Lieutenant Governor Kerry", but "Navy Lieutenant Kerry". So....he spent 4 months in Vietnam, came home, did some other stuff, and now he's running for President, right?
If this is true, he must be pretty confident he will be elected and is trying to prevent the Dems from complaining about it.
I'm 42 years old, and I barely remember the Vietnam War. All I do remember is the freaks in long hair, smelly and stoned. To my 4 children, it is like talking about the Civil War. John Fing Kerry, should talk about his record now. He is a flaming liberal. He should be proud of it. He won't win any of the flyover states, but so what? At least his Hollywierd friends will love him.
Probably that would be considered not 'focusing on the issues'. Where does it say that you win when let your opponent define the argument all the time? Okay, Rove and company have their game plan, and this Swiftboat vet ad isn't what they haf in mind for week two or three, but life is messy. Think on your feet and deal with it. Who can play attack dog and reference the N.Viet General's memoirs? Dick Cheney, that's who.
``I stood up against the war in the 1970s,'' Kerry said. ``Some people still don't like that, and they're still trying to fight that. That's 35 years old. But I'm proud of what I did to stand up. And I learned a lot.''
So, if it happened 35 years old, its not important? Just like his 4 months in Vietnam, right? Oh wait, thats relevant because it speaks to his character. On the other hand, accusing the rest of your "band of brothers" of atrocities is just a youthful indiscretion that should be ignored. He is also strong on defense despite his 20 years of voting against the military in the Senate. What BS! I jsut hope that a majority of Americans see through this hypocracy before the election.
That's their story I think. Also that Kerry reached him just before another boat did. Once Rassman was back on board, Kerry bugged out. I think it will be in their book.
Who is it that isn't keeping their stories straight?
So, Mr. Kerry, just where did you spend Christmas 1968?
Was it in Cambodia as you claimed in a Senate speech? And just who sent you there? You claimed that it was President Nixon despite the fact that he wasn't inaugurated until the following month, right?
Or did you spend Christmas at at base near Cambodia as you claimed in your hagiography?
Kerry didn't take a stand AGAINST THE WAR. He took a stand in support of North Viet Nam.
It is still IN-YOUR-FACE -BABYKILLER VETERANS.
He had his say 35 years ago. Let the veterans have theirs. As a nation, we owe them that much. They were welcomed home with spit and the lable baby-killers.
Can anyone imagine coming home from fighting a war and being advised NOT to wear your uniform?
We never dealt with it. It was like the open family secret everyone knew, but no one talked about.
Let the vets' voices be heard with respect. Believe them or not, they deserve to be heard.
....what they had in mind for week two...' (Sorry.)
IMO it's like putting the Fox over the hen house. We will need monitors to monitor the monitors.
The reason you remember so easily "the freaks in long hair, smelly and stoned" is that they are still around.
No one else heard this? Maybe I misunderstood. I don't think so though.
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