The Heroism of John Kerry

[fintstone]

The Unsubstantiated Heroism of Hanoi John
September 1, 2004

The New York Times has a new typewriter key for the Swift Boat Veterans story that reads: "the unsubstantiated charges of the Swift Boat Veterans."

Unsubstantiated? It was Kerry – not the Swift Boat Veterans – who told The Washington Post: "I wish they had a delete button on LexisNexis." The Swift Boat Veterans haven't been forced to retract any of their story. Meanwhile, John Kerry has been issuing about a retraction a day since the Swift Boat Veterans started talking.

Most recently, Kerry has had to backpedal on the circumstances surrounding his first Purple Heart. Kerry has described the action on Dec. 2, 1968, for which he received a Purple Heart as his "first intense combat." The Swift Boat veterans say Kerry came under no enemy fire that day and that his injury, such as it was, resulted from the ricochet of a grenade fired by Kerry himself. (This rules out the Purple Heart but does qualify him for another "Boy, is my face red" citation, with clusters.)

Among the eyewitnesses who say Kerry came under no enemy fire on Dec. 2, 1968, is John Kerry himself. According to Douglas Brinkley's book, "Tour of Duty," Kerry wrote in his diary nine days later, on Dec. 11, 1968: "We hadn't been shot at yet." His campaign is still trying to figure out how to claim that Kerry couldn't have known this because he wasn't even on his own swiftboat at the time.

A Kerry campaign official first explained the discrepancy by essentially explaining that it depends on what the meaning of "we" is. Kerry, the official said, apparently had a nontraditional understanding of the word "we" to mean: "others not including me." "We": another two-letter word successfully parsed by a Democrat!

Another Kerry campaign official, John Hurley, has since admitted that it is "possible" that Kerry's first Purple Heart came from a self-inflicted wound.

The Kerry campaign has refused to release Kerry's personal Vietnam archive, including his journals and letters, saying that the senator was contractually bound to grant Kerry hagiographer Doug Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But then Brinkley said the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control. Still, no records.

On the bright side, the Kerry campaign is considering releasing the director's cut of Kerry's own filmed re-enactments of his war "heroics" – which, by the way, makes Kerry the first person ever to form a war re-enactment club during the actual war.

Kerry had long maintained that he did not attend the 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Kansas City, Mo., where the assassination of U.S. senators was discussed. Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade said, "Kerry was not at the Kansas City meeting." Later, FBI files showed Kerry was at the meeting. Now Kerry admits he was there.

So I think that means John Kerry attended as many V.V.A.W. meetings at which the assassination of U.S. senators was discussed as he did meetings of the Senate Intelligence Committee on which he later sat.

And let's not forget that Kerry was caught telling a big, dirty, stinky lie about being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968. What kind of adult tells a lie like that? (Answer: The kind who carries a home-movie camera to war in order to re-enact combat scenes and tape fake interviews with himself.)

One of the principal witnesses for Kerry's version of his heroics in Vietnam is Jim Rassman, who says Kerry "saved his life" after a Viet Cong mine knocked Rassman off his boat. Though Kerry would have us believe that – in addition to being baby killers – his fellow servicemen were planning on leaving Rassman to die, several eyewitnesses say another boat was about 20 yards behind Kerry's boat in getting to Rassman. (Kerry's boat was positioned slightly closer to Rassman because the moment the mine exploded, Kerry's boat fled the scene and returned only when Kerry was certain there was no enemy fire.)

It is indisputable that other men were being pulled out of the water right and left after a Viet Cong mine blew one of the swiftboats four feet in the air. How come none of those guys got Bronze Stars? Did they pull men out of the water in a less heroic way?

The way Kerry and Rassman tell it, you would think Kerry saved Rassman's life by staging a daring, high-speed commando raid on a prisoner of war camp. I was pulled from churning surfs a dozen times before I was 10 years old, each time exclaiming, "YOU SAVED MY LIFE!" but I'm not seeking out the people who fished me out of the water and demanding that they run for president.

In determining whose memory is more accurate, it's worth mentioning that Kerry and Rassman can't even get their stories straight about whose boat Rassman was on. Among the many accounts out there are these:

In his own Aug. 10, 2004, Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rassman says he was on Kerry's boat: "The second blast blew me off John's swiftboat, PCF-94 ..."

But according to the Kerry campaign press release: "On March 13, 1969, Rassman, a Green Beret, was traveling down the Bay Hap river in a boat behind Kerry's when both were ambushed by exploding land mines and enemy fire coming from the shore."

On Page 106 of the book "John F. Kerry, The Official Biography by the Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best," Rassman is on a boat behind Kerry's.

In his Kerry campaign pamphlet, "Tour of Duty," hagiographer Brinkley resolves the conflicting accounts by having Rassman fall off both the boat that hit the mine (PCF-3) and Kerry's boat. (What would we do without historians?)

Another account has Rassman on the S.S. Minnow stubbornly insisting that Kerry's service in Vietnam consisted of just a three-hour tour ... a three-hour tour ...

Perhaps like the many and various meanings of the word "we," liberals use the word "unsubstantiated" to mean "tested repeatedly and proved true."

Anne Coulter

[Moses]

Originally posted by fintstone
Kerry had long maintained that he did not attend the 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Kansas City, Mo., where the assassination of U.S. senators was discussed. Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade said, "Kerry was not at the Kansas City meeting." Later, FBI files showed Kerry was at the meeting. Now Kerry admits he was there.

If this is true and becomes widely known, I suspect his campaign will be over. America has developed a dim view of terrorists and those who associate with them.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by fintstone
Anne Coulter

Anne Coulter is insane; everything she writes is an unsupported lie. What she writes is not ever news it's opinion and lies, it's her claim to fame (or flame). She is not a journalist, she is not a reporter, and she is a scumbag that spews nothing but hate.

She's a pundit you say? She is insane I say.

In the past she has promoted genocide, forced religious conversions, public mutilation, cruel and unusual punishment, forced sterilization, open discrimination and the suspension of the bill of rights.

Know your source.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by kach22i
Anne Coulter is insane; everything she writes is an unsupported lie. What she writes is not ever news it's opinion and lies, it's her claim to fame (or flame). She is not a journalist, she is not a reporter, and she is a scumbag that spews nothing but hate.

That's a pretty pathetic remark, coming for someone who supports that POS Michael Moore the way you do. The fact that you see his POS film "F911" as "informative" and "a great film" shows that you really could care less about the TRUTH.

Randy

[kach22i]

Originally posted by rcecale
That's a pretty pathetic remark..........

Really pathetic?

Here's pathetic, when Bush called invading Iraq a "crusade" and freaked out of the world, Ann C. wrote an article saying he was right. She then went on to espouse the virtues of going through mid-east country after mid-east country forcing conversion (to Christianity of course) or death upon the local populace.

Ann is nuts!

You want to change the topic to Moore? Gee I wonder why? At least M.M. is sane and knows how to expose the truth through a documentary.

[Rot 911]

I'm feeling the love here today!

[rcecale]

The only subject changing here is exposing how pathetic you can be.

You blast one person (whose opinion you happen disagree with) for being nothing but a liar and that she "is not a journalist, she is not a reporter, and she is a scumbag that spews nothing but hate."

And stand behind someone like Moore, who is not a journalist, he is not a reporter, and he is a scumbag that spews nothing but hate.

Randy

[kach22i]

Must be that tough love I have heard so much about.

[Mule]

"Anne Coulter is insane; everything she writes is an unsupported lie. What she writes is not ever news it's opinion and lies, it's her claim to fame (or flame). She is not a journalist, she is not a reporter, and she is a scumbag that spews nothing but hate. "

When did Ann become a Democrat?

[Moses]

Back to the question!

Did John Kerry attend meetings where U.S. Senate assassinations were discussed?

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Moses
Back to the question!

Did John Kerry attend meetings where U.S. Senate assassinations were discussed?

I don't know, but were Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfelt part of a group that said we need a new Pearl Harbor to put the neo-con agenda into action?

[Moses]

Originally posted by kach22i
... were Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfelt part of a group that said we need a new Pearl Harbor to put the neo-con agenda into action?

What group? When? Are you suggesting a Cheney/Rumsfelt domestic terrorism link? Source?

[rcecale]

Kach, you really have Moore's routine down pat, don't you. Just pull $hit out of your a$$ and throw it up as "fact". Pathetic, just pathetic!

Randy

People shold NOT go off their meds without Dr supervision.

[mikester]

http://www.m-w.com

2 entries found for documentary.
To select an entry, click on it.

Main Entry: 1doc·u·men·ta·ry
Pronunciation: "dä-ky&-'men-t&-rE, -'men-trE
Function: adjective
1 : being or consisting of documents : contained or certified in writing
2 : of, relating to, or employing documentation in literature or art; broadly : FACTUAL, OBJECTIVE
- doc·u·men·tar·i·ly /-m&n-'ter-&-lE, -"men-/ adverb

Plain and simply MM doesn't make documentaries since his films are not FACTUAL and OBJECTIVE by definition. Now, I've seen bowling and f9/11 and I enjoyed both but I do not consider them a reliable source of information on those subjects. They are thought provoking; they are entertaining but documentaries they are not.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Moses
What group? When? Are you suggesting a Cheney/Rumsfelt domestic terrorism link? Source?

It's been officialy confirmed, you do live in a hole in the ground.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

PS: The truth will not stay burried, and don't blame the messenger, M.M. is our friend.

[Superman]

I was only into the third or fourth paragraph of the article above when I developed the opinion that the article must be some kind of joke. Certainly not written with anything close to objectivity, and probably just a joke. Nope, No joke. Ann Coulter.

Anyway, I'm kinda stupid so some of you guys are going to have to catch me up. Here is my basic understanding of the situation:

Dubya got accepted into the Texas Air National Guard or something like that. He normally would not have qualified, but his name got mysteriously moved to the top of the list. At the time, Dubya was drinking, snorting cocaine, etc. Something about failing a physical exam that is required for flying, and his wings were clipped. There is about a 2-year period when he was supposed to be in the Guard but he is thought to have been absent from those duties. Apparently, there is no reliable evidence that he performed those duties during that period.

by contract, John Kerry went o Viet Nam and served on swift boats. Leutenant Kerry was decorated as a hero.

Does that about sum it up? Do the Dubya supporters hope to raise additional awareness of the differences between the military records of these two men?

[ubiquity0]

“Meanwhile, John Kerry has been issuing about a retraction a day since the Swift Boat Veterans started talking.”

The swift boat vets formed in May, June? That means 90-120 retractions issued by Kerry regarding his Vietnam service. Does someone have the list? I guess the liberal media has suppressed all but a handful? Did he only issue these retractions to Anne Coulter?

[Rick Lee]

Superman, I think you're skipping a few things in Kerry's timeline. Now I wasn't there, but I read in the WSJ that Kerry was denied a student deferment and so enlisted in the Naval Reserve before he could be drafted into the Army. It just so happened that his unit was activated. If this is really what happened, I don't see how it's any different from Bush getting into thw Air Nat. Guard. Kerry's dad was no nobody either and I wouldn't be surprised if a father did all he could to keep his kid out of combat, regardless of what his kid wanted to do, or even if someone in a position of power in the military acted on his own and kept a VIP's kid out of combat.

[cmccuist]

You should always vote for the war hero vs. the draft dodger.

Signed Bob Dole and Bush '41.


About Ann Coulter - her quote was "We should invade their contries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." The first two parts of her quote are official US policy when dealing with terrorist sponsored governments. The third part of the quote is just a good idea.

She's about as insane as Frank Rich, EJ Dionne, Maureen Dowd and the rest of the NY Times editorial staff.