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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (32300)	2/29/2004 5:00:21 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 793682

"Did he SAY they were his?" The whole idea was for the protesters to throw "their" medals away. Kerry, who was a leader of the movement, didn't even attempt to correct the many press reports about Kerry throwing away his medals until a reporter who knew about the incident saw Kerry's medals hanging in his office some 13 years later. ...."Kerry, who understood well the importance that the media placed on imagery, put an exclamation mark on [a 1971 anti-Vietnam protest] by lining up with veterans to return their medals to the military on April 23. Kerry said he suggested that veterans place their medals and ribbons on a table and return them. But he said other members of the antiwar veterans group wanted to throw the medals and ribbons over a fence in front of the Capitol, and Kerry went along with the idea. … Some press reports say that Kerry 'threw his medals.'.... __________________________________ ....It appears that Kerry was also something of an impostor. During a massive rally in front of the U.S. Capitol, a number of veterans threw their medals over a high-wire fence. One was Kerry. The section "Busted by the historians" contains an excerpt from "Stolen Valor" by B.G. Burkett, Glenna Whitley: "But years later, after his election to the Senate, Kerry's medals turned up on the wall of his Capitol Hill office. When a reporter noticed them, Kerry admitted that the medals he had thrown that day were not his.".... ________________________________ ....A number of sources offer varying reports of John Kerry's role in the Vietnam Viets Against the War (VVAW) movement, what he did or did not do with his military medals and ribbons, and whether he allowed misinformation regarding this to go on for years. What actually did happen? In terms of the ribbons & medals, there is no dispute that JFK made a gesture of returning ribbons and medals to the government, as an act of protest. The predominant story is that JK "returned" HIS ribbons, but the medals of OTHERS who could not attend the event and asked him to return (toss?) theirs. <font size=4>When a reporter visited his office over a dozen years later, he was surprised to see the medals displayed, since JK had achieved considerable fame (in certain circles) for tossing them in his role as a leader of the peace movement.<font size=3> JK explained that he elected to return only his ribbons and keep his medals, making the public gesture using the medals of others. Some felt he should have made that clear from the outset, and allowed the misconception that he'd returned his medals go on for over a decade. It was as if he wanted to have it both ways. Have his cake and toss it too, so to speak..... ....Even a fellow attendee of the APR 71 protest and continued dove, one Brian Wilson, chastised Kerry: <font size=4> The first hint of a bit of disconnect in your style was when during your first Senate campaign you denied returning your war medals, with a thousand other veterans, in protest of the war during Dewey Canyon III. That was a bit of a shock, since for most veterans who returned their medals in that emotional ceremony on Friday, April 23, 1971, it was a very proud and healing moment. Your 1984 campaign response: You had returned the medals of a WWII acquaintance at his direction. All those 13 years everyone thought you had had the courage and leadership to return medals that to veterans who returned them represented medals of dishonor drenched in the blood of innocent Vietnamese who did not deserve to die for a lie, any more than our fellow US Americans. I guess you knew then that you were to be running for office.<font size=3> slate.msn.com sunherald.com airbornecombatengineer.typepad.com