August 9, 2004
SISTER, MOTHER, SISTER, MOTHER....
Kerry's war record (Robert Novak, August 9, 2004, Townhall)
The television ad that aroused the wrath of John McCain and journalist supporters of John Kerry just begins deconstruction of the Democratic presidential candidate's war record. "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," a 214-page critique of his performance in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, is off the presses ahead of schedule.
I have read the book and found it is neither the political propaganda nor the urban legend that its detractors claim. It is a passionate but meticulously researched account of how Kerry went to war, what he did in the war and how he conducted himself after the war. The very serious charges by former comrades deserve answers but so far have produced only ad hominem counterattacks.Why should details of what Kerry did more than 30 years ago be part of this election campaign? Only because the senator has made them integral to his strategy. Kerry as war hero received more attention at the Democratic National Convention than plans for the future. Thus, what he did in his shortened four months of combat becomes a valid campaign issue.
The problem for the Senator is that while he can probably provide satisfactory answers to many of the questions surrounding his Vietnam service the questions then move to his anti-war activism when he returned home and there are no satisfactory answers on that topic--it's just divisive. Even worse, after spending these weeks explaining why he's proud of what he did in Vietnam he then has to shift and explain why he's ashamed of Vietnam. It's asking alot of voters who don't know him at all--or like him much--to follow such a schizophrenic narrative. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2004 8:14 AM
Kerry's Cambodian story seems to be the biggest potential minefield in this issue. On the others, he can just drag out his own swift boat bunch and pit them against those involved in the publication of the book, and the press will be inclined to just put its publication down to Republican dirty trick politics. But the Cambodian story has a time line that not only doesn't jibe with reality, it assumes an action that, if true, would implicate the Johnson administration in heretofore undisclosed covert operation.
In addition, thanks to Kerry's so brief tour as a swift boat captain, he can't just say he misremembered the month it happened, since he was only on the boat for a month. And it doesn't really matter if he mentioned Nixon's name on the floor of the Senate during his 1986 speech -- if Kerry ever set foot in Cambodia as a swift boat captain, it would change the history of the U.S. involvement in IndoChina and the conduct of the war by the outgoing Democratic administration. Hard to see how the senator gets away with this one, even if all his swift boat vets back up his story.
Posted by: John at August 9, 2004 8:41 AM
Personally I don't see any way he can provide satisfactory answers to most of the allegations. Anything he says to the party faithful will be eaten up as the honest truth. His 8 band of brothers are so tied up in this now they'll say anything to justify all the great publicity they're getting. I wonder where they stand on Kerry's anti-war allegations? At this point they have no other choices.
Posted by: genecis at August 9, 2004 10:36 AM>Personally I don't see any way he can provide
>satisfactory answers to most of the allegations.
He doesn't need to.
A God does not need to answer to mortals, and the Media is doing it for him:
"DOUBLEPLUSUNGOOD TRAITORS!"
"DOUBLEPLUSUNGOOD THOUGHT-CRIMINALS!"
"DOUBLEPLUSUNGOOD GOLDSTEINIST-REPUBLICAN STOOGES!"
war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
oceania has never been at war with eurasia
the chocolate ration of twenty grams has been increased to ten grams
2 + 2 = 5
bush is goldstein
jfk2 4 prez...
We can all bet that Kerry will stay a hundred yards away from any reporter who is going to ask him a straight question about Cambodia. But what about a voter?
And if he doesn't address it, watch out in the debates - it will come up, although the press will likely pose it in such a way as to get Bush involved somehow.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 9, 2004 12:15 PMWhy doesn't just admit that his service in Vietnam was so much like "Apocalypse Now" that he sometimes gets the two confused?