May 5, 2004
Kerry's commanders speak out against him (Michael Kranish, May 5, 2004, Boston Globe)
A group of former officers who commanded John F. Kerry in Vietnam more than three decades ago declared yesterday that they oppose his candidacy for president, challenged him to release more of his military and medical records, and said Kerry should be denied the White House because of his 1971 allegations that some superiors had committed ''war crimes."Kerry has since said his accusation about war crimes and atrocities was too harsh, but many of his former commanders contended yesterday that they believed the allegations were aimed at them.
''I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief," said retired Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann, who helped organize the news conference and oversaw all of the swift boats in Vietnam at the time Kerry commanded one of those crafts. ''This is not a political issue; it is a matter of his judgment, truthfulness, reliability, loyalty, and trust -- all absolute tenets of command."
The Kerry campaign, seeking to control the political damage on a day when a new batch of biographical ads touting Kerry's military service was hitting the airwaves, arranged for two of Kerry's crewmates to appear at a later news conference and declare that Kerry was a consummate leader who braved bullets and aggressively took on the enemy. The Kerry campaign also handed out documents it said showed that the news conference was handled by a public relations firm with ties to the Republican Party and President Bush.
One of Kerry's fellow patrol boat skippers, Wade Sanders, defended Kerry and compared the statements of Kerry's commanders to the investigations of suspected communists by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, saying the commanders should be asked, ''Have you no decency?"
Speaking of which, isn't his fitness for command of a boat forty years ago less important than his unrelenting support for communist dictatorships since? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 5, 2004 11:03 AM
Kerry in March: "If President Bush wants to talk about my service record from when I served in Vietnam, I say bring it on! Hey, did I mention that I served in Vietnam? You know, Vietnam, small southeast Asian country, lost of jungles, that sort of thing. Ever watch Platoon? Tour of Duty? China Beach? I was there, you know . . . ."
Kerry in May: "My Vietnam service is not relevant to the issues in this election. Call off the Republican attack dogs!"
Posted by: Mike Morley at May 5, 2004 11:57 AMIt is when Kerry-who-by-the-way-Served-In-Vietnam makes it the centerpiece of his image. They say you always have a soft spot for the music of your 20s; I think Kerry-who-Served-In-Vietnam got "stuck" at that point in his youth and never outgrew it -- arrested development on the Michael Jackson level, though not as visible.
Posted by: Ken at May 5, 2004 12:20 PMGood of the Globe and the Post and many others to point out the associations of these honorable gentlemen. You know, just as they did with the September 11 widows complaining about Bush's ad, the 52 British diplomats, etc.
Posted by: jsmith at May 5, 2004 11:15 PMTurns out the Globe and the Post were wrong.
Posted by: genecis at May 6, 2004 7:55 PM