My husband was serving with the Mobile Riverine Force, Mekong Delta at the same time that Lt. John Kerry was screwing up as a Swift Boater. In fact, my husband’s job was to head up the Tiger Team that rescued the shot up Swift Boats and brought them back to safety for repairs. What I don’t understand is why his tour was 14 months and Kerry’s was only 4 months. His required Naval commitment was 4 years, Kerry’s seems to have been 9 months. My husband failed to shoot himself in the foot or get a piece of rice embedded in his ass, so he was not awarded multiple purple hearts, although he did get the Navy Achievement medal, which spoke to his competence and bravery under extreme conditions and his small Tiger team was awarded no less than 4 Unit Commendations for bravery under extreme conditions. Granted my husband didn’t come into the Navy after getting near failing grades at Yale, he came in as a high school graduate and earned his B.A. while he was in the service and he was named Sailor of the Year, the year after he returned from his 2nd 12 month tour in Vietnam. Is he any less a “decorated combat Vet” because he doesn’t have at least 2 bogus purple hearts? Does John Kerry have more right to a voice than he, or the many thousands like him?
And like George Bush who trained as a “cold war” fighter pilot and was never called to VietNam, 2 of my husband’s brothers, both Army draftees, in 1969 and 1971 respectively, never served in VietNam. They were both sent to Germany to man mountain top listening posts and served their entire enlistments there as part of our “cold war” troops. My other brother-in-law was not so lucky. He was a college graduate at the time he was called to serve in VietNam. He did not come home. His body did not come home either. You see, he is listed on The Wall as MIA. He was a helicopter pilot, shot down, seen alive on the ground, and then never seen again.
But, John Kerry’s questionable service aside, it is what he did when he
came home that is the cause for the hatred my generation feels toward
him. His “Winter Soldier” testimony,
his anti-war demonstrations with
the great unwashed, his accusations against men like my husband and
brothers-in-law that they were baby killers and guilty of unspeakable
atrocities. It was cohorts of Kerry’s ilk who dumped a trash can full
of raw sewage and human waste on my husband the day he returned from
his 14 month combat tour in VietNam. They did it in front of his small
son. A humiliation that isn’t forgotten quickly. It was our 7 year old
son who was told by his teacher that “God doesn’t listen to prayers for
baby killers” referring to his Dad. These are things that aren’t
forgotten.
You put them aside and move on with your life. You buy your first house, you move, you coach Little League or Pop Warner, or become a Boy Scout Leader, or cheer the high school football team or cry when your first grandchild is born. And then, the man you hold nearly 100% responsible for years of maligning, years of humiliation, years of being treated as a 2nd class citizen because of your military service, all come back to punch you square in the face, when the symbol of cowardice stands up on national TV and says, “reporting for duty.” And then you feel it all over again. Suddenly, you aren’t closing in on sixty, you are back to being a twenty-something and all those hurts and humiliations are like yesterday. You hear John Kerry say, “they break into homes in the middle of the night and terrorize women and children,” and you think, “oh my God, he’s doing it again.”
So, this latest is just another page in a long history of John Kerry maligning the troops. His disgust for the military and those who join is legendary. No one who has lived through it will ever be convinced it was “just a joke gone bad.”
Crossposted as a comment at BMEWS
RELATED:
This photo sent to Hot Air is hilarious. Checking on whether or not it is a Photoshop, but so far, readers at Hot Air say it checks as real. According to a report on Fox, this picture first appeared in the Army Times.
Update (Ian): Major (Retired) Michael E. Bistrica emails Hot Air:
The picture is real. The troops are from 1-34th BTB which is part of the 34th Infantry Division. This is a National Guard outfit from units in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Kansas. They were deployed to Iraq in March 2006.
Base in Iraq is Camp Al Asad.
SEE: HOT AIR for details.
The Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation files suit.
There was nothing honorable about John Kerry then, there is nothing honorable about John Kerry today.
I have reached my limit on the number of times I will let others diminish my service, or the service of those now risking their lives for our freedoms. John Kerry is a pompous, elitist, affluent, snobbish ass. And it is going to get awful lonely out there on the campaign trail when 99.9999% of the population comes to the inevitable conclusion, that they have nothing in common with a self-centered, hugely egotistical, spoiled, east-coast elitist, who views the rest of use in serfdom as ants in support of his affluent and cushy lifestyle.
11/01 11:08 AM Some of my NRO colleagues seem sympathetic to John Kerry's explanation that he was attacking President Bush not the troops in Iraq with his "botched" joke. They may think that, but they are unconvincing. The fact is that Kerry has a record of outrageous smears against our armed forces going back to 1971 when he lied before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee ; or last year when he ripped the character of our troops in Iraq on Face the Nation . His slur against these same soldiers two days ago is consistent with three decades of contempt for our soldiers. This is Kerry's pattern because these are Kerry's beliefs.
...
The fact is that Kerry is a methodical (albeit not particularly bright) individual. Everything is calculated, from his support for the war when he thought it would help him gain the nomination in 2004, to his current opposition to the war, which he believes will help him win the nomination in 2008. Indeed, his denunciation of the military today, as his denunciation of the military 35 years ago, is aimed at a left-wing audience that has significant influence in the Democrat party — particularly in the nomination process. But it is damaging to several Democrat candidates in close races in the general election where the party has attempted to cultivate a tougher image. So, while Kerry meant to say what he said, as he is trying to outflank others on the far Left, it has caused a firestorm where Democrat candidates running close elections in traditionally red districts could pay the price. Hence, Kerry’s rhetorical smoke-and-mirrors in which he is attempting to divert the focus to Bush and away from the original target of his smear.
John Forbes Kerry - Still an Asshat (And Using the French Playbook) - Day 2
RE: John Forbes Kerry - Still An Asshat
RE: John Forbes Kerry - Yes, I Just Checked, He's Still An AsshatI'm still waiting for the half-hearted, "If I offended any troops, I'm sorry" bull!@#% apology. I don't really want one. This is beyond fixing. Just look at the history of John Kerry disparaging the honor of our soldiers.
But wait! In his rebuttal, he wrote this:
...These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.
Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men...
Well, Senator, I know of a few veterans that were planning on showing up at your appearances today, but, sacre bleu!, where are you?:
Just in case you have not heard, John Kerry cancelled all public appearances today. Also, many who had intended to have him come campaign for them in the last week have asked him to stay away.
UPDATE I: Heh, John at Stop the ACLU with a video of Imus, of Imus in the Morning telling John Kerry to “Just stop talking”. Meanwhile in the write up on their site, MSNBC continues the damage control by trying to tell us that Kerry “apologized” for “botching a joke”. No Senator Kerry, YOU are the joke, you always have been.
Our sentiments exactly, Mac.
And this does not suprise me at all: Retired General calls for Kerry to resign. (via Riehl World View)
Sorry, I mean no disrespect to women, or women in the military. That said, it is ironic that a man who married his money leads off his defense by citing a female General. But the real kicker is in his defense his offical blog cited Markos "Screw 'em" Moulitsas of Daily Kos. Kerry just figured out how to make things worse. I'm making a screen cap in case it comes down. I'll post it if need be.
What was he thinking?
Over at Daily Kos, Markos, who noted that “…I haven't been shy to pile on Kerry when warranted,” called what the Republicans were doing “a load of bullshit.” According to Markos, “Kerry responded the right way. Not by bowing to the full blast of the right wing noise machine, but by standing up to it on behalf of our troops, our nation, and the truth.”
Update: Katy Couric thinks it's all a joke and gone by tomorrow - catch the audio.
Okay what's left? The BBC and Andrew Sullivan? Oh, The New Republic - yeah, Kerry has lost them, too. Kerry is effectively done as a candidate for higher office.
It looks as thought all appearances he had scheduled for today are cancelled. Some candidates he was prepared to stump for have asked him not to appear, while Kerry has cancelled others himself.
Actually, I truly hope this does not derail his plan to run for the presidency. I would have loved a rerun of John and Teresa maybe even more than a classic episode of the Three Stooges. Here are the various takes on the suddenly rather toxic John Kerry:
Kerry cancels Mankato appearance
Iowa candidate asks Kerry to cancel campaign visit
Kerry's blog, in an effort to show the support he's receiving, is reduced to listing three odd or Usual Suspects. In a post titled, "Hit 'Em Back Harder, Harder" (the Dem Anger Management issue manifest) the Kerry campaign notes a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant, DailyKos (of course) and Talking Points Memo.
Having DailyKos on your side is like being excited that someone brought cyanide to the party. The last place anyone who has any interest in being seen as normal is on the "I support John Kerry" list. You will notice with the brevity of that list, I am not the only one who thinks that.
More Kerry "Jokes" and "Nutjob Attacks"
Here's a real laugher that will be totally missed by the MSM.
Kerry in his attack yesterday on the rightwing nutjobs, claimed he "lived and breathed the concerns of our troops."
But, the truth about Kerry's concern for the troops took all of five minutes to nail down...
John Kerry's democratic military voting record tells a different story:
* voted to gut intelligence spending by a cumulative $6 billion.
* voted to cut defense spending 38 times.
* voted to cut pay for military families 12 times.
* voted against the death penalty for terrorists.
* voted for the biggest tax increase in US history.
* voted against family-oriented tax relief like eliminating the death Tax
* voted against the Marriage Penalty Tax.
* However, Kerry actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.
John Kerry's Gaffe/Freudian Slip/ The way he is
My name is John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty. Apparently, that's the line we should have bought into in '04. And of course now Kerry says if you don't go to college and you don't try hard you'll be sent to Iraq by none other than the man...you know his name, it rhymes with Push. We're honestly supposed to believe in the patriotic spirit of a person who can't be honest about his own beliefs. Truly, folks are trying to defend John Kerry's gaffe by playing up his veteran status in saying that he has the same place in the history of the military as say; a John McCain. It was all a big joke and we should have known that, come on it's obvious from his very well timed delivery. These people forget John Kerry said the following things he heard others say about what happened in the Vietnam war:
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
Given his words and the truth of history, Vietnam was a bloody war that truly wasn't won, and no one will deny that atrocities happen in warfare, but let's put Kerry's word's into context. He wasn't there to see these alleged atrocities, and yet society takes what was testified to by him to be gospel. We're left to believe this unsubstantiated testimony to be 'the way it was' across the board because John Kerry told us it was so. He left the impression that troops consistently went a-raping, pillaging, and murdering; as this was the US policy at the time. Of course, Kerry was seen as a hero by the anti-war folks of the day and everything in the world was fine because we left Vietnam. Then George Bush took office.
Now, fast forward to more recent times when foreign policy has changed and world politics aren't even close to the 60's, 70's, or even the 80's. We saw a new era where we as Americans were presented with different enemies than before. We realized that the cold war is over, and we won so we moved forward. The US took a hit that striked at the heart of our military infrastructure and our economy. Naturally, we struck back and all was well until we actually had to fight a ground war that is more than real for so many, except the likes of John Kerry and company. For them we're not at war, we're propagating a bloodbath. For so many the American soldier has turned from hero to storm-trooper and when you look at the history of rhetoric of JK&CO, they probably always perceived soldiers as such. Now, once again, John Kerry disparages the frontline grunts in the military as he said to Bob Schieffer:
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, break sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs.”
Fast-forward to today, and what are we to believe of this botched joke? Was it truly an 'I hate Bush and you do too' funny or a Freudian slip that's part of a consistent pattern of anti-military rhetororic by the likes of the Republicans favorite senator. Or as they prefer to call him 'The gift that keeps on giving'.
Posted by: Marc | 02 November 2006 at 01:52 AM
John Kerry's Gaffe/Freudian Slip/ The way he is
My name is John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty. Apparently, that's the line we should have bought into in '04. And of course now Kerry says if you don't go to college and you don't try hard you'll be sent to Iraq by none other than the man...you know his name, it rhymes with Push. We're honestly supposed to believe in the patriotic spirit of a person who can't be honest about his own beliefs. Truly, folks are trying to defend John Kerry's gaffe by playing up his veteran status in saying that he has the same place in the history of the military as say; a John McCain. It was all a big joke and we should have known that, come on it's obvious from his very well timed delivery. These people forget John Kerry said the following things he heard others say about what happened in the Vietnam war:
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
Given his words and the truth of history, Vietnam was a bloody war that truly wasn't won, and no one will deny that atrocities happen in warfare, but let's put Kerry's word's into context. He wasn't there to see these alleged atrocities, and yet society takes what was testified to by him to be gospel. We're left to believe this unsubstantiated testimony to be 'the way it was' across the board because John Kerry told us it was so. He left the impression that troops consistently went a-raping, pillaging, and murdering; as this was the US policy at the time. Of course, Kerry was seen as a hero by the anti-war folks of the day and everything in the world was fine because we left Vietnam. Then George Bush took office.
Now, fast forward to more recent times when foreign policy has changed and world politics aren't even close to the 60's, 70's, or even the 80's. We saw a new era where we as Americans were presented with different enemies than before. We realized that the cold war is over, and we won so we moved forward. The US took a hit that striked at the heart of our military infrastructure and our economy. Naturally, we struck back and all was well until we actually had to fight a ground war that is more than real for so many, except the likes of John Kerry and company. For them we're not at war, we're propagating a bloodbath. For so many the American soldier has turned from hero to storm-trooper and when you look at the history of rhetoric of JK&CO, they probably always perceived soldiers as such. Now, once again, John Kerry disparages the frontline grunts in the military as he said to Bob Schieffer:
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, break sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs.”
Fast-forward to today, and what are we to believe of this botched joke? Was it truly an 'I hate Bush and you do too' funny or a Freudian slip that's part of a consistent pattern of anti-military rhetororic by the likes of the Republicans favorite senator. Or as they prefer to call him 'The gift that keeps on giving'.
Posted by: Marc | 02 November 2006 at 01:54 AM