This pretty much sums it up for me. Kerry hurt a lot of people to get where he is and now they're trying to make him answer for it. It doesn't get any simpler than that.
Is it personal? You betcha:
War veterans Jere Hill, middle, from Warham, Mass., and Robert Gibson, right, from Lexington, Ky., stand with their backs turned during Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's speech at the 105th Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004.
So why are the Swift Vets after Kerry? Is it really because they - having served in his vicinity during combat in Vietnam - believe he's unfit for command, as a recent book penned by one of them suggests?
Hardly. They're out to get Kerry not because of his war record, but because of his post-war performance.
Kerry came home from Vietnam and testified before Congress that his American brothers in arms - not a few, but many of them - were war criminals. Painting with a broad brush, he said U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in Vietnam routinely committed atrocities against civilians. And many Vietnam vets will never forgive him.
Some of that testimony recently has been called into question. For instance, Kerry recounted spending Christmas of 1968 serving illegally inside Cambodia, but records show he wasn't within 50 miles of that country, an inconsistency his opponents say supports their case against Kerry's official records and his medals.
So it's tough to feel too sorry for Kerry today as the Swift Boat Vets launch their full-frontal assault on his candidacy. Kerry's 1970s testimony before Congress - in which he accused his fellow Americans of randomly shooting civilians and beheading Vietnamese, among other horrors - endeared him to the political left in the tumultuous early 1970s. It served him well as he became a liberal Northeastern politician. It paved the way to what he is today, Democratic candidate for president.
And now, it might be the biggest obstacle he must clear on his way to winning that office.
For many Americans, especially veterans, it seems John Kerry has a lot of explaining to do.
Posted by floridacracker at August 22, 2004 01:57 PM