Josh Chafetz says very well over at Oxblog what I’ve been thinking for some days, now regards John Kerry:
He’s trying to claim that, because he’s a veteran, any discussion of his views on national security is off-limits, even discussions about the way he has voted during his years in the Senate:
In a letter to Bush, Kerry wrote: “As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation’s history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain. But, that is what you have chosen to do.”
Kerry was reacting to criticism earlier in the day from a leading Georgia Republican who, speaking for Bush’s re-election campaign, predicted trouble for Kerry in the state’s primary.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss said during a conference call arranged by the Bush campaign that Kerry has a “32-year history of voting to cut defense programs and cut defense systems.”
When Kerry responded later, at his side was Max Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran who lost his Senate seat to Chambliss in 2002 after being portrayed as soft on homeland security.
He said the president “decided once again to take the low road of American politics.”
Look, no one is attacking Kerry’s record in Vietnam. He served honorably, and he, like every veteran, deserves thanks and praise from every American for what he did there. But that doesn’t insulate him from criticism based on what he’s done since — his anti-war activities when he returned are fair game; his votes in the Senate are fair game; his statements on Iraq are fair game. Note that Chambliss’ comment talked about a 32-year history — 32 years ago was 1972 — after Kerry got back from Vietnam. Again, no one here is questioning his Vietnam service — they’re questioning his political activity since he returned. And it’s Kerry’s attempts to foreclose these policy discussions that are taking “the low road of American politics.”
However, I’ll take it one step farther than Josh does, here.
Kerry spent a total of four months in country. Four months.
During that time, he suffered three flesh wounds, two of them minor. When he got purple hearts for said injuries, they were given based on recommendations Kerry himself wrote.
Once he got his third Purple heart, he asked to be sent back. stateside. Even Adml Elmo Zumwalt stated flatly that he’d have problems in his political carrier based on his experiences in ‘nam.
Once he came back form ‘nam, he then proceeded to sit down before Congress and outright lie about a number of atrocities, committed he said, by American servicemen there. Yet, he never witnessed them In short Mr Kerry LIED, and slandered his fellow servicemen.
But, as Josh suggests above… The real issue is what he did since getting into office. This, it seems was very consistent with his anti-Americanism since coming back form ‘nam… Kerry is on record as having voted against every single Pentagon weapons program during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Every single one.
This kind of wekaness at best, and in truth, anti-Americanism, is something I want nowhere near the reins of power.
Tags: BitsBlog
