Posted on 10/10/2004 3:01:48 PM PDT by CHARLITE
The Emperor Has No Clothes By: Brian Tracy
John Kerry is neither a “war hero” nor a “patriot.” It is about time that someone pointed out that “the emperor has no clothes” and that Americans are being presented with a false choice.
If you read the newspapers long enough, a series of facts emerge that appear undeniable and irrefutable. But no one seems to want to “connect the dots” for fear of offending the powers that be in the national media, such as CBS.
Here is what we know. First of all, Kerry did not “volunteer” for service in Vietnam. While in college, he applied for deferment from military service four times and got it each time. He was rejected on his fifth try. In desperation, he joined the Naval Reserve, hoping he would never be called up.
George W. Bush joined the Army Reserve during the Vietnam conflict. He spent many hours and took exhaustive training, qualifying to fly fighter jets in combat. He could have been called up for active service at any time.
Kerry’s attempts to avoid military service were in vain. He was sent to Vietnam, where he spent a month behind the lines being trained as a junior officer. He then served for 10 weeks on Swift Boats before he cut and ran for home. This is heroism?
Kerry proudly boasts that he won five medals in 10 weeks of active duty (a record!). He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. But for what?
His Silver Star was awarded when he supposedly ran his boat ashore, jumped out and ran down a Vietcong soldier, killing him and capturing his rocket-propelled grenade.
Later it turned out that another Swift Boat officer had run his boat ashore earlier and had already shot the VC soldier. Kerry arrived after all danger was past, followed the blood trail of the wounded soldier, and then shot him, probably in the back. No one knows for sure, and Kerry has never told anyone what actually happened. He was the only witness. Kerry then wrote up the Action Report, putting himself in for a medal, which he eventually received.
Two of his Purple Hearts were clearly bogus. They were self-inflicted wounds. There was no enemy fire at the time (the minimum requirement for a Purple Heart). Max Cleland, ex-senator from Georgia, lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam, but did not receive a single Purple Heart, because his wounds were not suffered in combat.
Kerry’s first Purple Heart came from a tiny, band aid-sized shrapnel wound that he got when he fired a grenade at the riverbank. He was too close and a fragment of the grenade hit his arm. He immediately put himself in for a Purple Heart and was refused. Somehow, and these records are still classified, he got the medal anyway.
His second Purple Heart was awarded, again at his request, after he had dropped a grenade in a store of rice and failed to get away fast enough. As a result, he got rice fragments in his backside that had to be removed with tweezers. His third Purple Heart was awarded under similar circumstances.
Kerry’s Bronze Star, for pulling a man out of the river, was another bogus award. Here is what happened: Five Swift Boats were moving up the river together. One of them hit a mine. Kerry’s boat took off, fleeing to the far side of the river. The other Swift Boats stayed to help the damaged Swift Boat and its crew. The machine gunners in the boat sprayed the bank to discourage any enemy fire. When their fire was not returned, they stopped shooting. When Kerry saw that there was no enemy fire, no danger, he sped back from where he had fled, and grabbed Rasmussen out of the water. At no time was anyone in any danger.
After this incident, Kerry again wrote up the Action Report and recommended himself for a Bronze Star, even though there was no enemy fire at any time, according to all the crews of all the other Swift Boats, except for Kerry’s, which had fled the area when the mine exploded.
As soon as Kerry was given his third Purple Heart, he immediately applied to be discharged from service in Vietnam, and was promptly sent home. He bailed out on his “band of brothers” without hesitation, leaving them to serve out their full year in combat.
If you doubt this version of events, there is a simple way to refute the statements made above. Just have John Kerry authorize the release of the approximately 94 pages of documents in his file at the Navy Department. These papers will clarify everything. But John Kerry must authorize their release. This is something he adamantly refuses to do. I wonder why?
When Colonel Oliver North was offered his third Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat in Vietnam, he refused to accept it. He preferred rather to stay with his men until the end of their tour of combat together.
As soon as Kerry got back to the US, he immediately turned on his “band of brothers,” accusing them of war crimes and atrocities they had never committed, and which he had never seen.
Kerry is a son of privilege, never having worked a day in his life. He is fabulously wealthy as a result of money from his parents and his two wives. He has at least four homes, multiple vehicles, a private jet and a life of luxury that few can imagine.
Regarding his so-called “patriotism,” this is bogus as well. A patriot is someone who loves and believes in the goodness of his country. From Kerry’s first anti-war statements, throughout his 18-year career in the Senate, he has voted against every American weapons system, against the first Gulf War, against the funding of the current Iraq war, and against the funding of our intelligence agencies. He opposed the Stealth Bomber and the Abrams M-1 Tank. He opposed funding for Kevlar Vests for our soldiers. He has supported every tax increase and regulation on business that has ever been proposed. He has expressed continual disdain for America and American values of self-reliance, self-responsibility, and military strength in a dangerous world. Call it whatever you like, this is not patriotism.
His running mate, John Edwards is an embarrassment to every honest American. He is supposedly worth $70 million dollars today, most of it coming from bogus lawsuits that have ruined the careers of doctors, bankrupted hospitals and clinics, and driven malpractice insurance costs so high that doctors have quit or moved away.
Edwards pursued these fraudulent lawsuits with full knowledge that they were based on false claims. Every bit of independent medical research proves that there is no relationship between cerebral palsy in children and the reluctance of doctors to perform Caesarian deliveries that he claimed would have saved the children from the cerebral palsy that they later developed. It turns out that cerebral palsy is a genetic problem that is inherent in the child from shortly after conception in the womb.
These two men are the chief exponents today of the “something for nothing” virus that is corrupting American society. Kerry is attempting to be a “hero for nothing,” never having been in harm’s way, and never having stayed overnight in a hospital for his wounds. Edwards is fabulously wealthy, never having done anything worthwhile for others, except to extort money by exploiting a tort system that is out of control.
Their political platform is a series of “something for nothing” proposals. They want “Peace for Nothing,” “Medicare Benefits for Nothing,” “Increased expenditures and government give-aways for all” — for nothing.
Giving these people power would be like giving teenage boys car keys and whiskey.
America is a great country, the best in all of history. The United States is still “The shining city on the hill” for people all over the world who want to come here. The American dream is still alive and well, and available to us and our children, if we will work for it, and fight for it.
On November 2nd we must once again exercise our right to vote to choose American values, American strength and American leadership as our guiding light for the years ahead.
Unfortunately, Kerry and Edwards would lead us not toward the lights of freedom and prosperity, but back toward the darkness of class warfare, American weakness and national irresolution in the great challenges that we must face, and face down, in the years to come.
Brian Tracy
CEO
Brian Tracy International
462 Stevens Avenue, Suite 202
Solana Beach, CA 92075
858-481-2977
Big-time bump for a great article! I especially liked the line about giving Kerry/Edwards the presidency being like giving car keys and whiskey to teenagers!
It is ironic that the dems want to have President Bush release all his records, and Kerry won't, although he has supposedly said that he has.
Also Kerry is insultingly dismissive of our allies.
LOL!! Good for Brian. He's a great motivational speaker, and is now active in Republican Party politics, it appears.
Yet good people will vote for Kerry while those in the know pick Bush.
Sorry, factually incorrect -- he joined the Texas Air National Guard, a totally different Reserve Component of the US military. This is part of the reason blogs should be carefully vetted before posting. This totally erases any other good points made by the author, IMO. Easy enough info to confirm -- get it right or get gone, bloggers. Stop giving the MSM ammo...
Hmm, shrapnel from his own grenade? That is heroic. I mean, more heroic than acne or head lice.
By the standards of the Democrats, this man is a hero!
Brian Tracy is a great thinker, consultant and analyst -- this article demonstrates that.
Tracey's "Psychology of Achievement" is a great series on helping people find the best in themselves -- John F'n Kerry should have purchased the series and worked on it, long ago. Instead, F'n violates pretty much all of the principles that Tracey lays out: taking responsibility; honoring integrity; speaking the truth. Wow, what a departure from John F'n Kerry!
If the media spent any time analyzing what Kerry said in Friday's debate, they would have to confront the fact that he basically lied or distorted on every answer (at least to anything other than a 'puff ball' question). He's not a liberal? He's not going to raise everyone's taxes? He's strong on defense? He's only had one position on Iraq?
Unfortunately, even the pundits on Fox accept this as "standard fare" and not worth bringing up -- the media (according to Mark Halerpin of ABC News) won't and shouldn't hold John F'n accountable. So let him get away with the woppers: "I personally don't support abortion"... "I'm a fiscal conservative"... "I went against my party to impose spending constraints"...
What a pile of BS.
I was wondering if this was the same Brian Tracy--I have one of his Nightingale-Conant programmes. Very good column.
Where is the evidence of the five attempts at deferments?
-T
Snowboarding, bicycling, wind surfing, AND 3 PURPLE HEARTS!!!
The deferments he took are the most interesting thing. The only difference between he and Cheney is that Kerry's fifth deferment wasn't going to wash.
Cheney was older and in a far different situation with kids.
It takes a special kind of hypocrite to run on Vietnam with his record of service.
Great find!!! This article should be in the headlines of EVERY paper in the country (in my dreams, right)!! But Mr. Tracy said it all.
It's hard to believe that this info. is so little known to the American people.
I'm surprised to see such a speaker potentially alienating much of his market. Here's to values, character, and honor.
Kerry in context ping
I'm surprised too. I have several of his books and they're top notch. BT is the very example of the american success story.
Maybe this will hurt him, but I wonder how many of his target audience are liberals. None of his books tell you to blame 'the man' for keeping you down. They're all about picking yourself up.
Think I'll have to pick up some more of his books soon.
Is this supposed to be constructive crticism? If so, this is not the way to do it. How 'bout you correct the record and recomend the change, rather than throwing the whole thing into the circular file. Most of us have a real job and could be we need help with all the exact facts. Supply the evidence with the facts to back it up in order to make the article factually accurate.
You will have to admit this is a pretty small discrepancy. His heart and general portrayal of the facts is accurate. When we have an outstanding article such as this, we need to pull together and, if need be, fine tune it to surpass the obvious scrutiny the MSM will reqest of the blogosphere.
This is not the time to be negative of each other. We are combatting major media! Our resources are each other. We do not have billions of dollars to promote our point of view or the actual facts. The best we can hope for is to get our point of view spread as far as possible without the help of the MSM. An almost impossible task
If you have something constructive to add or to improve the article, by all means voice your opinion. By degrading the article because the author is not familiar with all the branches and nuances of the military structure during the 60's and early 70's is not helping. Correct him or her and help forward the cause we all believe in.
I am not trying to start anything, just making an observation to further our cause. Please do not take offense. We need to help each other.
Did that in my first sentence...
Supply the evidence with the facts to back it up in order to make the article factually accurate.
I would contend that those who desire to present a cogent case for their opinion bear the burden, not the reader. I use and recommend Google and the FR search feature. The whole recent CBS forged documents dust-up between the MSM and the bloggers has servers stock full with this data.
His heart and general portrayal of the facts is accurate
Agreed and that is why I point out that when the blogosphere intends to call the MSM to the bar of fairness and accuracy, the blogger must be doubly careful to maintain that same standard. I believe you and I are saying the same thing, generally. I am just trying to place the responsibility on those who want to share with us via their blog.
It is also not my desire to start anything or to have the last word. It is my contention that FReepers should not just blindly post from blogs, no matter how much we agree with the posted opinion. Facts matter and a little discretion will help us to keep the MSM humble in their quest to minimize what we both know to be the great effect the Internet is having on the election cycle.
A pleasant Sunday evening to you. Thanks for the opportunity to interact.
I agree completely with this point of view but, I beleive you stated it was the Texas Air National Guard as compared to the Army Air Guard. I doubt a laymen unfamiliar with the various ways to avoid the draft back in 1968 could see any difference with this at all. Better we see it and correct it than discourage and excellent poin of view.
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