How can John Kerry be an American war hero and a communist North Vietnamese war hero at the same time?
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Don't the arguments the Dems use now to defend and elevate John Kerry sound eerily similar to the denial-of-reality rhetoric we heard from them during Clinton's impeachment? Today's example:
Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) intelligence committee member -
"The president has had a lot to do with the division [in American public opinion.] These swift boat ads I think are really scurrilous. And it's interesting because the president's approval ratings have not gone up." OOPS
"Well, I think that there's obfuscation. As long as these horrible ads are run, with the approval of the President, the White House, his entire team." OOPS
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Why did John Kerry volunteer to serve in an "unjust and immoral war" in the first place?
“I’m surprised he went in the first place.If I’d have been in his position,I’d have refused,” said Simon Glynn, 56, a professor of philosophy at Florida Atlantic University in West Palm Beach. “In 1967, we were demonstrating at the university,” said Mr. Glynn, who visited the museum along with his teenage son, who was clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of Ho Chi Minh.
Did it require four months 'in country' for America's smartest man to figure out where he stood on the issue of communism vs. liberty? Or did he go there despite his misgivings for nefarious and disingenuous purposes?
Posted by JohnGalt at August 31, 2004 12:07 PMUnbelievable. A 1993 photo of Sen. Kerry in Vietnam as part of a congressional commission to address the POW-MIA issue is now to be used brand him a traitor? The Vietnamese can put whatever spin they want on it in their museum and it doesn't make it true. Tar and feather the guy for his protests, congressional testimony, and medal tossing in 1971 if that offends you, but this is such a ridiculous stretch. I wonder what other traitorous congressmen went to Vietnam on the POW-MIA issue? Geez, the lows just keep getting lower. But, as you said, it works. Just ask John McCain.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at August 31, 2004 01:13 PMI'll tell you who else went: Senator McCain. Somehow his photo does not qualify for the wall of fame. (Perhaps his eyes were closed in the picture, or the negatives were scratched...)
I supported normalization and retrieval of POWs in '93 and will admit that that photo does not inculpate Senator Kerry. Yet he does seem to belong to the exhibit in a way that Senator McCain does not.
"Just ask John McCain?" I think we heard from him last night. Loud and Clear.
Your incredulity is baseless, Silence. The curator(s) of the "Vietnamese Communist War Remnants Museum," formerly known as the "American War Crimes Museum" portray Kerry as a hero in their war with America for "support[ing] Vietnam in its resistance." You can't be serious that Vietnamese recognition of the man in their "American protester's section" of the museum amounts to 'Vietnamese spin.' Who are you to tell them who their heroes are? Or aren't?
Posted by: johngalt at August 31, 2004 03:49 PMYeah, McCain spoke last night, as opposed to Thursday night like if he had won in 2000, not necessarily entirely the fault of slimy ads, but who knows?
The Vietnamese can pick who ever they want as their heroes, I just don't have to agree. With how may other things do you agree with the Vietnamese? I am sure they would like to thank each and every American who did not go to fight in their country, all those on student deferments, medical deferments, even our heroic National Guardsmen.
You're reaching on this one guys.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at August 31, 2004 04:40 PMLook Silence, I don't agree with the Vietnamese communists on this or anything else. The point is that THEY say he is THEIR war hero, and that Al Jazeera (and more importantly, JFK himself) say he is an AMERICAN war hero in the SAME WAR. A war in which the two nations were on OPPOSITE SIDES.
If you don't see the irony in that there's no amount of explanation that will help.
Posted by: johngalt at August 31, 2004 04:55 PMHe's twice the hero!
Posted by: Silence Dogood at August 31, 2004 05:03 PMWell, it was labeled "Random Musings" I don't know that it has gotta stand up in court.
Speaking of reaching...Some of the attacks (push polling I think, not ads) against Senator McCain in 2000 were unfortunate but it is revisionism to think they kept him out of the White House. The Senator from Arizona is beloved for his service but is not trusted by the base of the Republican Party.
The National Review credits him today on his EXCELLENT speech but closes with the comment: maybe he'll hang around with Republicans at the convention -- he might find that he likes them.
Posted by: jk at August 31, 2004 05:28 PMIt took me a while to see it Silence, but I think you've got a point with your "twice the hero" observation. I'm sure the communists in North Vietnam who view him as a hero see him doubly so since he went on from his support of them to become a US Senator. Communists and their sympathizers in this country and around the world probably see him as a hero for both sides as well. A sort of - 'hero of peace' - they might say.
The non-communists, both in South AND North Vietnam, and those paying attention in the rest of the world, just as likely hold the opposite view.
Those who consider him an American war hero have to be consciously omitting his postwar activities from consideration. 'Two different issues' they might say. Personally, I can't be so charitable.
Posted by: johngalt at September 1, 2004 07:47 AM