Posted on 08/10/2004 10:02:13 AM PDT by Bob J
One never knows who is trolling FR for tidbits, sound bites and suggestions. Please use this thread to offer your own talking points and sound bites for the Swifties and media.
John Kerry needs help getting ALL of his military records.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1188078/posts
I believe the january reports were for combat that Kerry was not involved in, they got called on it...there is a fr thread on it..
August 10, 2004
Fisking Rassman's WSJ op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal
From his op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, Vietnam veteran Jim Rassman, who spoke eloquently for Sen. Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, now argues passionately against the SwiftVets who believe Sen. Kerry is unfit to be Commander in Chief:
This smear campaign has been launched by people without decency, people who don't understand the bond of those who serve in combat.
I see. None of the 250+ SwiftVets understand that bond. You and the small handful of other vets who travel from campaign appearance to campaign appearance with Sen. Kerry do, however — exclusively. Those 250+ guys were just kind of standing around in Vietnam, and didn't really form any bonds, care about their wounded, care about their fellows who died. They don't understand. You and the veterans who do support Sen. Kerry have a monopoly on decency. Right.
Their new charges are false; their stories are fabricated, made up by people who did not serve with Kerry in Vietnam.
Again, I see. Your own quality time spent with John Kerry in Vietnam should instead be persuasive to us. And you tell us how much time that was, quite candidly:
I was not part of John Kerry's command. I was a Special Forces officer who happened to be on his boat at that time.
In fairness, you also say that you "worked with him on many operations and saw firsthand his leadership, courage and decision-making ability under fire." But you suggest that we should discount to zero, however, the views of the gunner from Kerry's own boat; everyone else on the boat "served with Kerry," as, apparently, did you, Mr. Rassmunn. But not that guy!
And we should likewise ignore the views of John Kerry's fellow officers-in-charge of the swift boats that accompanied him on the same day you say he earned his Bronze Star. Precisely one out of twenty-three of the OICs in Coastal Division 11 who served fought worked ummm, did whatever they did at the same time Kerry was in Coastal Division 11 — the officers who actually lived with him, who trained and briefed with him, and whose boats accompanied Kerry's own on the other missions he undertook during his four-month in-country tour (which they, and most of us, might consider "serving with" him) — now supports Sen. Kerry. However, you, Mr. Rassman — who abhor "smears" — apparently value their service, their word, and their opinions, at zero. They, you say, "should hang their heads in shame."
For his actions that day, I recommended John for the Silver Star, our country's third highest award for bravery under fire. I learned only this past January that the Navy awarded John the Bronze Star with Combat V for his valor.
Ah! Okay, from these two sentences, we learn precisely how well you knew John Kerry in Vietnam, and how strongly indebted you felt to him at the time, and how closely you've followed his career ever after. You neither knew of his medal when it was awarded, nor followed up what had happened with your own medal recommendation, nor paid sufficient attention to any of Kerry's multiple election campaigns over the last 30+ years (including the entirety of his presidential campaign before January 2004) to hear of his Bronze Star. John Kerry made national headlines for throwing his/someone's medals/ribbons over a Capitol fence, but it never occurred to you to wonder if one of those medals/ribbons came from saving your life. You couldn't be bothered — we can only presume because of your "passion for orchids." Yes, sir, clearly you are the man to whom America should turn now for a comprehensive assessment of John Kerry's military career!
Mr. Rassman, in the unlikely event that you're reading this: I do honor your service, just as I do John Kerry's (however much or little it was). I don't doubt that you're genuinely grateful to him — as no doubt was Licorice the Unlucky Hamster, whom he also saved from a watery death many years later. (All snark aside, Mr. Rassman, I don't seriously mean to compare you to a hampster. Snark is as intrinsic to fisking as bullets are to combat, but no one would suggest that snark be taken as seriously as bullets or combat, least of all me.)
But those of us who are trying to sort out the differences between your version of events and those of the SwiftVets who were also there on-scene at the time, like Larry Thurlow, are still wondering about the answer to the very specific question that Mr. Thurlow put to you — for which you offered no answer — during your and his recent joint interview on CNN:
A caller to Neal Boortz today said that there was a video that the North Vietnamese used to show to their forces, containing Kerry spouting his anti-US rhetoric and Jane Fonda doing her usual schtick. Neal didn't know about it, and I don't know if this is true either, but perhaps somebody could find out.
interesting Rassman didn't know about Kerry's medals but apparently he wrote him a letter in 1984 that went unanswered:
Except for a letter that went unanswered in 1984, just after Kerry was elected to the U.S. Senate, Rassman made no further attempt to contact Kerry.
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=84021
The report that Kerry's boat hit a mine seems ridiculous on its face. The #3 boat was severely damaged by the mine it hit. There is no report of any damage to PCF-94 at all. In fact it was one of the boats that towed #3 to safety.
Sorry, it wouldn't have been a "video" at that time, but a film. It's hard to remember the days before VCR's...
If these men can't evaluate Kerry because they weren't on the exace same boat, how can John McCain evaluate their claims? He was on an aircraft carrier and then in a POW camp. Nowhere near these events. Somehow his word is supposed to be dispositive though.
Kerry says that he spent Christmas 1968 on a Swift Boat "five miles inside Cambodia listening to Presiden Nixon telling the Nation we weren't there" or something like that BUT ---- Nixon wasn't president until Jan 20, 1969!
Lyndon Johnson was president that Christmas. Probably Nixon hatred was a big formative factor in Kerry's anti-US dogma. If he is not smart enough to check the facts when constructing his past, why should we trust him to get it right when constructing our (and our children's) future?
1. Senator Kerry could clear up alot of confusion by releasing his full military records--as the DNC asked the President to do--not just the parts that make him look good.
2. John Kerry told congress that the memory of Christmas Day 1968 in Cambodia was "seared" in his brain. Why is the all-important moment left out of the Brinkley hagiography.
3. The Boston Globe bio of Kerry seems to describe him shooting a teenage VC in the back.
My emphasis was mainly on his tratorous behavior following his early departure from 'Nam. I figure there are many people who will embrace his claims of being a hero because they don't give the Swifties any credibility, but nobody can deny his public actions following his return.
Not to take away from his service in Vietnam, but what has he done since then? He suddenly reappears when Kerry announces his run for the presidency, and he's been traveling with the campaign ever since.
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=84021
it looks to me like rassman who should be about 56 years old retired early from Los Angeles Sheriff's department if he retired a decade ago...
Now that it is clear that Kerry lied about his Christmas in Cambodia, it's clear that he is not to be trusted.
Is this his current band of brothers? Just before kerry's early departure with his medals. As stated; "Worried that his crew members would be killed, Kerry "arranged for them to receive a safer assignment". Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 6/16/2003 Candidate in the making.[Part Two] Also has been posted that; On the day Kerry received the Silver Star. He put his crew in for medals also. 2 Bronze Stars w/combat V and 3 Navy Commendation medals w/combat V were awarded based on Kerry's lies in addition to his Silver Star.
I would like to thank you for your service to our country. I could only imagine how hurtful it must be to see the actions of John Kerry and how his role in that war has tarnished the image of the Band of Brothers he claims now to be a strong member of?
interesting from this article rassman was a news junkie and followed Kerry's career...almost like a sleeper he comes out of the woodwork to boost Kerry's nomination...
James Rassman had retired to Oregon and devoted himself to growing orchids. A news junkie, he followed Kerry's Senate career and the launch of his drive for the White House. He was unaware that journalists and historians were eager to talk to him, that he, Rassman, was a missing piece of the biographical puzzle of a man who wants to be president.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/18/veterans_bond_is_boost_for_kerry/
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