So now Kerry is trying to make an issue that Cheney got a deferrment for going to Vietnam? Are they seriously? Wasn't the last Democratic President an outright draft dodger? Since when is Vietnam war fighting experience a big deal to Democrats?
Me too. It's this kind of garbage that makes me really dislike Kerry. Vietnam this and Vietnam that. Many people in the world dislike Bush, and I'm positive that it isn't because of anything involving Vietnam. Why doesn't Kerry focus on that instead of Vietnam?
Here's some advice to Kerry and his supporters. Divert your attention from Vietnam and from the Swift Boat Veterans. I don't want Kerry to win, but if he does win, I'd much rather have him win for something he offered that Bush didn't than being in another country decades ago.
do you have even a clue to what kerry testified before the senate committee? or why? you might want to look into it before you embarass yourself again. woodstock, moonlanding indeed.
first of all, this belongs on another thread. i really didnt anticipate anyone posting even the abridged version of kerry's testimony here (you do realize that is only a portion of the hearing transcript?) secondly, when was the last time a senate hearing published treasonable or even potentially damaging statements? if the information was truly unknown to anyone and everyone involved in the conflict (on either side) dont you think it might have been classified?
if you read this with anything close to some objectivity, you might understand that kerry was telling the committee about the failures of the administration and the defense department in prosecuting the war in vietnam and the damage those failures were doing to the troops engaged in combat. the excesses there--just as those recently exposed in abu gharib--were the results of flawed policy for which he blamed the president, his advisers and the way those policies were executed by top level of command. his motivation was sympathy for the ordinary combat soldiers who were not only having to fight a determined enemy but at the same time deal with ranking officers who frequently were so caught up in racking up body counts to advance their own careers, they needlessly and frequently puttheir troops' lives in danger. the violations of geneva accords he refers to were not committed by rogue soldiers (things like freefire zones, use of inappropriate weapons in areas proximate to civilian noncombatants, etc) they were part and parcel of officially authorized (and therefore 'orders') rules of engagement. his ultimate intent was to provide the senators with a non-whitewashed view of what was happening in vietnam--as opposed to the pie-in-the-sky coverups they received from the command--in hopes of getting them to bring the war to an end and the troops home and out of harms way.
you were there?
It is interesting that the very same Democrats who complained so loudly about the Swift boat ads -- even though Bush and Cheney had nothing to do with them and have publicly stated that they believe Kerry was a war hero -- are now pathetically trying to dig up about deferrments. Talk about a losing strategy. Yea, Dick Cheney and tens of millions of other Americans got deferrments too. Not that that matters because the last Democratic president was an outright draft dodger.
Kingbee: You want to talk about blinded by partisanship, look in the mirror. There is a big difference between Bush/Cheney questioning the POLICIES of John Kerry, which are a matter of record and questioning his patriotism. On the other hand, Kerry has now sunk into the Swift boat mud and is personally doing what he had just condemned the swift boat people from doing.
And now we have this "Texans for truth" stuff. Tell me, is Kerry going to publicly condemn that ad just as he demanded Bush do for the Swift Boat ads (and as a reminder, Bush has condemned all the 527 ads including the swift boat ads).
BTW, I'm not complaining about Kerry sinking into the mud. This is going to kill his campaign. Mark my words. People don't like blatant hypocricy. And you can argue that the Swift boat ads were unfair all day long but now we're talking Kerry himself, after MUCH bellyaching doing the same kind of stuff. That's not going to fly with people.