Pat Peale, a delegate from Texas, sporting an
adhesive bandage with a Purple Heart on Monday.
Posted on 09/01/2004 6:04:13 AM PDT by OESY
When speakers at the Republican convention discuss Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam, they use words like "respect," as Rudolph W. Giuliani did on Monday, giving nary a hint of the unsubstantiated charges by a veteran's group that Mr. Kerry lied to get his war medals, which dominated the campaign for two weeks before the convention began.
But the charges are coursing through the convention like an undertow, a key topic of conversation at parties, hotels and on the convention floor. Party elders and campaign officials are not above delving into some of the criticisms raised by the veterans group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Even leading Republicans said yesterday that things went a little too far when they had to publicly repudiate the actions of a delegate who was handing out adhesive bandages marked with Purple Hearts to mock Mr. Kerry's war wounds.
The bandages, distributed by Morton Blackwell of Arlington, Va., included a message that read, "It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it." Mr. Blackwell said he was only trying to have fun, but the Military Order of The Purple Heart, an organization that says it represents wounded veterans, was not amused.
The group's national commander, Robert N. Lichtenberger, said his 38,000 members were "outraged that an award that has been earned by them for shedding blood on the battlefields of the world would be so denigrated by using it for the purpose of political advantage."
A group spokesman said Mr. Lichtenberg would send letters of protest to Ed Gillespie, the Republican National Committee chairman, who personally persuaded Mr. Blackwell to stop handing out the bandages.
The Bush campaign and the party said they had nothing to do with the bandages and did not approve.
But even as they sought to distance themselves from the bandages, leading Republicans reprised a central accusation from the Swift boat group, which has said Mr. Kerry's testimony before the Senate in 1971 hurt American troops.
"It was inappropriate," Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist, said of the bandages on CNN. But, he added, "I understand why some people who were in Vietnam feel very strongly about what Senator Kerry did and said when he came back."
When Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, was asked about the bandages on CNN yesterday he also said they were inappropriate but said, "I have more controversy and questions about what he said after he came back because of the very issue of how it's seen by veterans at that point in time."
Delegates carrying copies of the group's book, "Unfit for Command," are a regular sight in the convention hall. At a breakfast meeting at the Hilton in New York yesterday where Mr. Rove was the featured speaker, Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania held up the book as recommended reading.
The Bush campaign has sought to distance itself from the Swift boat group, which got initial funding from prominent Bush supporters and legal advice from a former top outside counsel to the Bush campaign. And Bush aides said they were sticking by their refusal to question Mr. Kerry's service.
"When Mayor Giuliani commended Mr. Kerry's service from the floor of the convention, he was greeted with applause," said Steve Schmidt, a campaign spokesman.
But, he added, "A great many veterans have said that John Kerry's Senate testimony in 1971 was extremely hurtful and troubling and they have earned their right to participate in the political process."
Democrats accuse the Bush campaign of trying to have its cake and eat it too, by saying it has nothing to do with the group, while at the same time trying to keep the attacks on the Democratic nominee's military record alive.
"They say that they're not engaging in attack politics," said Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kerry, "and then someone close to them launches their attack."
As evidence, Democrats pointed to remarks by Mr. Bush last week that he did not believe that Mr. Kerry lied about his war record, the central thrust of the Swift boat group's charges. Those were followed this week by comments by Laura Bush that she did not believe the group's advertisements were "unfair," and by Mr. Bush's father that the group's claims were "rather compelling."
One Republican strategist at the convention, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the comments by Mr. Bush's father and the first lady were not planned. They were simply responding to questions and were speaking their minds, he said.
"You're talking about the dad and the wife of somebody who's had the hell beaten out of him," he said, referring to advertisements from Democratic groups against Mr. Bush. "For once in history a little beating goes the other way."
The strategist acknowledged that the campaign did not seem to mind the attacks. "Of course they want it out there, and it's been effective," he said. "The ideal situation is the president can be against, it but those who love him can be for it, it helps."
Democrats, however, went on the offensive, trying to stoke voter anger over the bandages, which they said raised unfair questions about all Purple Heart winners. They provided reporters with statements from veterans denouncing the bandages as insults to all who served.
The Democratic National Committee also highlighted statements by Mr. Blackwell that he had known Mr. Rove for decades.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Blackwell said he had helped train Mr. Rove as a Republican organizer when Mr. Rove was still in high school. Mr. Rove said on CNN that Mr. Blackwell had in fact been a political opponent at one point.
While some delegates said they disapproved of the bandages, they echoed the notion that Mr. Kerry's antiwar comments were fair game.
Leona Johnston, an alternate from Fountain Hills, Ariz., said "I think it's unfortunate that these men who have made the ads about John Kerry have had their reputations impugned by John Kerry."
The controversy is not likely to go away. The Swift boat group yesterday released a new advertisement, this one criticizing Mr. Kerry for taking part in a ceremony in 1971 at which antiwar veterans threw away combat medals.
Pat Peale, a delegate from Texas, sporting an
adhesive bandage with a Purple Heart on Monday.
News flash: I am a Vietnam veteran and think this is really funny. We did not have our senses of humor removed when we served there; in fact, being able to laugh at yourself is a hallmark of maturity and combat experience. Where did Kerry dig up these girlie-men?
The democrats have officially re-defined "hypcorisy".
Every article referring to Swift Boat Vets makes a point to bring up their funding. Yet, they conveniently ignore Moveon.org and George Soros. How strange. /sarcasm
Kerry needs to get as far away from VietNam as he can. By responding to the bandaids (snicker) they are just keeping is "Reporting for Duty" (another snicker) in the forefront..
Mountain, meet mole hill...
Then Lichtenberger must be REALLY ticked off at Kerry.
Kerry's been using his purple hearts for political advantage the entire campaign. And IMO nothing denigrates a Purple Heart like awarding it for a few self-inflicted grains of rice in the tuckus.
Same here. I earned a purple heart in Vietnam. I'm not offended in the least, I'm intelligent enough to figure out what the message they conveying. I suppose when you have the IQ of a liberal it is really hard to understand. Maybe 60 Minutes should do a special explaining it to them.
I'm not angry. He skated out of 2/3 of his tour by getting a fake "backdated" purple heart for a time before he had even been under fire. He admitted that. Never mind the two other "bandaid" wounds. He faked one of them completely in order to game the system. And bully for him, it worked, he got to come home early.
He's not a hero, he's a phony. And he has brought this all on himself.
And now we get to watch the Democrats kick themselves for the next 2 months for nominating this phony hero.
Just look at what the New York Times has resorted to in order to try (and failing miserably) and paint the Republican Convention in a negative light.
The reporter best scamper off and get some denunciations from Kamp Kerry of the protesters in the streets of New York. Maybe then he can redeem a shred of respectability.
I won't hold my breath.
I'm guessing this was an above-the-fold Page One NYT story.
The 'band-aid' story is the only negative story the MSM have on the convention and its getting as much traction as balloon tires do in the dunes.
Candidate Kerry can solve that problem with one quick press conference
That will happen right after Katie Couric takes up Micheal Moore offer of a date!!!
I'll be frank. I understand the humor behind it, but I think the bandaids offensive. My kneejerk reaction was that it was demeaning the award itself, even though I know it is supposed to be a slap at Kerry's doubtful awards.
Just my opinion. The PH should not be used as a object of ridicule. There are plenty of other things to ridicule Kerry over.
I didn't find a single expression of "outrage" in this article. Meaning the NYT couldn't find any light-loafered vets to whine and moan about a silly political joke.
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