August 06, 2004

The LA Times is just flat wrong
Posted by McQ

The LA Times has an editorial today called "Its Not All Fair Game" which rehashes the dust-up about Kerry's Vietnam service and the Swift Boat Vets for Truth's attack upon it. Per the LA Times, there are some things which just can't be attacked and concludes:

Sure, Kerry evokes his Vietnam service with metronomic regularity and skates over his later opposition to the war. His denunciation of the Vietnam War in 1971 Senate testimony and his antiwar activities are fair game for his opponents. So are his dovish Senate foreign policy stands. But his war record is not.

This is just flat wrong. Its BS on a stick. His war record is as much fair game as any other part of his record, especially when he goes to the extremes he's gone to trying to showcase it as a prime reason to elect him.

Let's get a few things straight here. No one disputes he went to Vietnam. No one disputes he did his duty in a combat zone. What is being disputed is his version of how his duty was done. Those who witnessed and participated in those events have as much right to give their version of those events as he has to give his.

Secondly, while he loves to put forth his "heroic" duty in Vietnam, he seems to want to gloss over his activities when he returned home. This is also something which bears on his fitness to be president and should be examined as well. That's the other focus of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and will be examined in detail in "Unfit for Command".

The LA Times wants to put forth the idea that "war records" are sacrosanct. Well they're not. One only has to read B. G Burkett's "Stolen Valor" to understand that war records of many have been exagerated or completely faked in the past. In fact Burkett and other groups have spent years "outing" phony SEALS, fake Vietnam vets and charlatan medal winners to include fake Medal of Honor winners.

Take a look at the chapter I've posted here from the soon to be released "Unfit for Command". As I mention in my lead, the information about the medal isn't anything new, but the apparent fabrication of the "Christmas in Cambodia" story is very damning. It points to a veteran who has no problem exaggerating, or in this case, apparently fabricating out of whole cloth, an event. If he'll do it in that case, then why in the world should we believe he won't do it with his awards or his record? Why shouldn't we look at his version of events in Vietnam with a jaundiced eye?

If he'd do something as dishonorable as make up these sorts of events for whatever reason, why in the world would I want him as President of the United States?

The LA Times is wrong .... his war record absolutely deserves review and it deserves review because he brought it up as a qualification for the job he desires. We have every right in the world to examine that qualification in minute detail. And we further have every right in the world to demand the record be true.

It would be nice, since he puts so much credence in his military record,
if he would release all of it. To this point, he hasn't done that. Since we have no evidence available in his record that confirms his version in the face of 200 others who disagree with his version, why should we accept his version as true?

Fair game? You bet it is and the LA Times should know that better than anyone.

TrackBack

Comments

The Democrats are desperate on this one, Gang. I'm telling you; Something big is just behind the curtain.

Posted by: Bithead at August 6, 2004 03:02 PM

No one is desperate yet. If Kerry was actually behind in the polls, I might agree.

Posted by: sean at August 6, 2004 03:23 PM

The damage from this wouldn't have hit the polls yet.
But it will.



Posted by: Bithead at August 6, 2004 03:42 PM

Fair game? You bet it is and the LA Times should know that better than anyone

They DO know it. That's why they're trying to stop it from happening

Posted by: shark at August 6, 2004 03:45 PM

BTW- Rasmussen has Bush 53% job approval rating

Couple that with a good convention showing, and Bush should start seeing movement in the polls, take him out of this virtual tie with Kerry and get a few points ahead.

Posted by: shark at August 6, 2004 03:47 PM

This book will help bring some extreme light on him now. It won't do as much damage as releasing his senate voting record will, let's say, in September. When the people see just how liberal he really is and the liberal media can't hide it anymore, he'll be squashed. The only thing that can keep him a float is the fact that there are so many liberal people that are simply anybody-but-bush people.

Posted by: Isaiah at August 6, 2004 04:17 PM

Since Kerry refuses to release his military records which could effectively squash the Swifties, one has to think there is more than meets the eye. Of course it could be his own version of rope-a-dope.

Posted by: EddieP at August 6, 2004 05:36 PM

AP Poll: Kerry Narrows Security Issue Gap (AP)
AP - Democrat John Kerry, whose nominating convention highlighted his war service and focused on national security, has narrowed the gap on President Bush's strong suit of protecting the country, according to an Associated Press poll that shows the race remains tight.

All I can say about this is that America is going to honestly deserve what it is going to get if Kerry is elected....

Posted by: Trump at August 6, 2004 11:22 PM

Considering how gullible some voters are, you could tell them you were the Second Coming and they had better vote for you...as long as you did it with a smile and had two buddies who say "oh, he's not lying!". Its so frustrating to watch Kerry promise everything short of hiring someone to wipe every American's ass, and see every other voter eat it up without ever thinking to digest what he proposes. Its absolutely ludicrous to listen to someone with a straight face promise 65 new services, and only 4 or 5 incentives to pay for them. Are we supposed to believe repealing the tax cuts of the 200k plus club is going to pay for the hundreds of billions in spending Kerry proposes?

Posted by: Chris at August 7, 2004 03:30 AM

You fellas won't have anything to argue over very soon. The Secretay of The United States Navy has ordered a formal inquiry into John Forbes Kerry's military decorations. It's not up to Kerry to release his records anymore, the Navy is going to out him. By the way, his website lists a decoration, the Siver Star with a "v device."
No such award has ever been issued. Stay tuned...

Posted by: Eric Ewing at September 7, 2004 03:12 PM

You fellas won't have anything to argue over very soon. The Secretay of The United States Navy has ordered a formal inquiry into John Forbes Kerry's military decorations. It's not up to Kerry to release his records anymore, the Navy is going to out him. By the way, his website lists a decoration, the Siver Star with a "v device."
No such award has ever been issued. Stay tuned...

Posted by: Eric Ewing at September 7, 2004 03:16 PM