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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (224)	8/15/2004 7:54:37 AM
From: Andrew N. Cothran	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27181

Remember what I said in an earlier post about CHARACTER. Speaking on the Senate floor in 1986 and in interviews through the years, Kerry reiterated how compelling his Cambodia experience was, how it illuminated his vision and guided his insight on foreign policy. "I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia," he told his fellow senators. "I have that memory which is seared - seared - in me." Well, as it turns out, Kerry wasn't in Cambodia (at least not then), and the president wasn't lying (at least not then)/ Depending on whom you believe, Kerry was in a boat either five miles away or 50. In Douglas Brinkley's biography, "Tour of Duty," based in part on Kerry's diary, Kerry was at Sa Dec, 58 miles from Cambodia. A few days ago, Kerry campaign adviser Jeh Johnson tried to clarify for Fox News, "... I believe he (Kerry) has corrected the record to say it was some place near Cambodia. He is not certain whether it was in Cambodia, but he is certain there was some point subsequent to that that he was in Cambodia." If Kerry didn't fabricate, he exaggerated. Or misspoke. Or got confused. Or something. But whatever the differences among versions, the story is part of a larger narrative that may matter more than the details. It is a story of naked ambition and grandiosity, the narrative of a self-absorbed man who always needed to be best and first, whether captain of the boat in Vietnam or winner of the debate in school. Who, when accidentally knocked off his snowboard as an adult fumed, "I don't fall down." He's the sort of man who thinks to take a movie camera to war to document himself for uses now known to be political; who willingly exploits his heroism in ways real heroes never do; who builds a career on disgust toward a war he later characterizes as the crowning achievement in a life that seems more résumé than real. While it may be extreme to say that Kerry "lied," as some of his comrades claim, he has created a story and an image of himself that surely are too good to be true. townhall.com.

To: JDN who wrote (224)	8/15/2004 12:42:37 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27181

Chris Matthews Exposes Liar O'Neill John O'Neill, co-founder of the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and co-author (with Jerome R. Corsi) of the Regnery book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, followed up numerous cable TV appearances in recent days with an August 12 appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, during which he repeated lies from his prior appearances and introduced new ones. O'Neill reissued his false attacks against Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Hearts (which Media Matters for America has refuted), but also presented new falsehoods about the length of Kerry's Vietnam duty, O'Neill's own deep Republican ties, and the courage Kerry displayed in combat. O'Neill asserted Kerry did not serve two tours of duty in Vietnam When John Hurley, national director of Veterans for Kerry, said that Kerry "had two tours in Vietnam, one on the USS Gridley and one on the swift boat, two swift boats in the Delta," and Matthews asked O'Neill if he concurred, O'Neill replied, "[n]ot at all. The USS Gridley was not a tour in Vietnam. It was a ship way off the coast of Vietnam." While Matthews was able to get O'Neill to concede that Kerry's service of the USS Gridley was "recorded as combat theater duty" and that during that service Kerry was "given credit by the Navy for serving in Vietnam," O'Neill falsely maintained "it would never have been considered a tour in Vietnam by the Navy or anybody else...It was not a one-year tour of Vietnam." Although much of his service in this first tour of duty was not in Vietnam, Kerry did serve more than a year on the USS Gridley, with the ship involved "in operations in support of the Vietnam War" from February 9 to May 27, 1968. O'Neill lied about his Republican ties past and present When Matthews accused O'Neill of being "a Republican from Texas," O'Neill said "I'm not a Republican from Texas. That's just not true." Matthews persisted, asking O'Neill "[h]ave you voted Democrat recently for president?" O'Neill replied, "Absolutely. I haven't voted for a Republican since 1988." He claimed to have "voted for Gore" in 2000. While O'Neill's Presidential election voting records are not publicly available, Media Matters for America has noted that O'Neill contributed $1,000 to George H.W. Bush in 1992 when he was running for reelection against Bill Clinton, and that he has made a total of nearly $15,000 in contributions to federal races -- all Republican -- spread over all but one federal election cycle since 1990. MMFA also has reported that, according to the April 21 Houston Chronicle, O'Neill voted in the 1998 Republican state primary. Also, as Matthews said to O'Neill (and as MMFA has extensively documented), "you go back to the Nixon era, when [former President Richard] Nixon was looking for someone. [Chuck] Colson and those guys were looking for somebody to debunk the Kerry record, because all the records show they were scared to death of this guy. And you played that role." In response, O'Neill said: "That's just not true." O'Neill said Kerry acted only with an "ordinary degree of courage," despite risking his life and being shot at Pushed by Matthews, O'Neill admitted that "Kerry, in being shot at, showed courage," but O'Neill emphasized that Kerry only exhibited an "ordinary degree of courage." O'Neill then claimed that, despite his courage, Kerry is "millions of steps behind ... everybody," appearing to include President George W. Bush. From the August 12 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews: MATTHEWS: [I]f a man shows any courage in the battlefield, he's done more than most people do in this country. He's gone out and fought for his country and risked his life for his country and shot one of the enemy for his country. That puts him a step above most people, doesn't it? O'NEILL: I think he is millions of steps behind, because he went over ... MATTHEWS: Behind whom? O'NEILL: Behind everybody. MATTHEWS: Behind Bush? President Bush? O'NEILL: Yes. I'm not going to speak to President Bush. After listening to all of O'Neill's claims, Matthews concluded the program by stating: "Well, I've already heard enough that he's [Kerry] done more than I ever did for my country and a lot more than anybody else ... and more than the president." — A.S.