It's true he never qualified his accusations with "most", he instead implied that atrocities were just another day at the jungle for all U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
We learn as children to take the consequences of our actions. Kerry will suffer in Nov for the testimony that he himself characterized as "over the top". He continues that nasty habit in order to win elections as demonstrated below:
Kerry Rolls Out Bid for Veterans' Votes Friday, 04-Jun-2004 Story from AP / NEDRA PICKLER
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Democrat John Kerry formally rolls out his campaign for the traditionally conservative-leaning veterans' vote on Friday, but President Bush's re-election team says their rival's Vietnam War experience won't be enough to win the votes of others who have served their country.
Kerry was to announce volunteer veterans coordinators in all 50 states who will try to recruit current and former soldiers to his campaign.
There are 26.5 million veterans in the United States. Bush got more than half, 54 percent, of the veterans' vote in a CBS News poll released Friday.
The Bush campaign has a band of volunteers to seek out veterans. Retired Lt. Col. Joe Repya said veterans are concerned about Kerry's votes to cut military pay, weapons systems and funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during his nearly 20-year Senate career.
"I think most vets understand this election is not about Vietnam," said Repya, who served 10 years on active duty, including tours in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. "This election is about who can win the war on terror."
Repya, who has organized a Bush rally Friday at the same University of Minnesota campus where Kerry is speaking, said he and most other veterans would say Kerry served honorably despite the anti-war stance he took after returning home from Vietnam. He said veterans are more offended by the "shameful way that Kerry demagogues older veterans by saying that Bush cut their benefits."
The Bush administration has increased benefits, veterans' enrollment in VA health care and spending overall for that department, but also has found places in the system to save money. In one, the government barred new enrollment of higher-income veterans in the VA health care system unless their medical problems were directly related to their military service.
Kerry, although light on specifics, insists he would do better for veterans on their health care, pensions and more.
Regardless of who wins the Nov. 2 election, a 1998 decision to open VA health services to all veterans has left the government struggling to accommodate the demand for VA facilities. |
