Every Single Commanding Officer of Kerry Says He is UNFIT TO LEAD

BTW, it's one of the most comical and sad arguments EVER on this board to try to somehow elevate a privileged boy's effective escape from his patriotic duty, and degrade the outstanding and impressive service record listed above.




I'll add, the disgusting part is that the yellow-belly fortunate son now apparently has no hesitation at putting other folk's sons in harm's way.

 

Good points...really. Only problem is our standards are very low here. W's record is worse.

My vote still goes to Kerry on military record.

next...

 

the wound that dare not speak its name:

http://nationalreview.com/york/york200405041626.asp
--
Kerry Purple Heart Doc Speaks Out
The medical description of his first wound.

By Byron York

Some critics of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have questioned the circumstances surrounding the first of three Purple Hearts Kerry won in Vietnam. Those critics, among them some of Kerry's fellow veterans, have suggested that a wound suffered by Kerry in December 1968 may have made him technically eligible for a Purple Heart but was not severe enough to warrant serious consideration, even for a decoration that was handed out by the thousands. Whatever the case, Kerry was awarded the Purple Heart, and, along with two others he won later, it allowed him to request to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was finished.

Kerry was treated for the wound at a medical facility in Cam Ranh Bay. The doctor who treated Kerry, Louis Letson, is today a retired general practitioner in Alabama. Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year, as the Democratic campaign began to heat up, he told friends that he remembered treating one of the candidates many years ago. In response to their questions, Letson says, he wrote down his recollections of the time. (Letson says he has had no contacts with anyone from the Bush campaign or the Republican party.) What follows is Letson's memory, as he wrote it.

"I have a very clear memory of an incident which occurred while I was the Medical Officer at Naval Support Facility, Cam Ranh Bay.

John Kerry was a (jg), the OinC or skipper of a Swift boat, newly arrived in Vietnam. On the night of December 2, he was on patrol north of Cam Ranh, up near Nha Trang area. The next day he came to sick bay, the medical facility, for treatment of a wound that had occurred that night.

The story he told was different from what his crewmen had to say about that night. According to Kerry, they had been engaged in a fire fight, receiving small arms fire from on shore. He said that his injury resulted from this enemy action.

Some of his crew confided that they did not receive any fire from shore, but that Kerry had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks.

That seemed to fit the injury which I treated.

What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.

I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.

The wound was covered with a bandaid.

Not [sic] other injuries were reported and I do not recall that there was any reported damage to the boat."

 

We have seen all performance reviews. They are there in black in white. It's liberating to be able to dispositively refute you and the Milhouse Nixonites and impeach their credibility with a the mere click of a mouse:

http://www.johnkerry.com/about/Fitness_Reports.pdf

As outlined to you in ownage inducing fashion in another thread; by statute, the US government does not distinguish the severity of war wounds when awarding purple heart citations.

While we are looking up old war stories, shouldn't we demand full disclosure of the record of "Milhouse Nixonites for Truth" founder Roy Hoffman? He has been the subject of serious war crimes allegations including the massacre at Thanh Phong in which Bob Kerrey took part.

 

from swiftvets.com mission statement, emphasis theirs:

"We believe it is incumbent on ALL presidential candidates to be totally honest and forthcoming regarding personal background and policy information that would help the voting public make an informed decision when choosing the next president of the United States."

 

obsure comment of the day award goes to .... _

Good job at spinning the comment to suit yourself. Lets see, Kerry defended the country. W used privilage to avoid combat.

 

Actually, from my perspective, Kerry DOES talk about the issues you mention. It is the GOP that is focusing on his war record (oh, irony) and his service, disparaging him at every turn.

It is obvious to me that you have never seen or heard Kerry speak and that you are getting all of your information from the National Review, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly.

Listen to Kerry speak and get back to me.

 

I really hope that TJ and Basso are representative of Republican campaign strategy. The more they talk about Kerry's military record, the more it is compared to Bush's record, and the worse Bush looks.

I did hear that Bush suffered a severe paper cut while he was GROUNDED for failing to take his physical TWICE.

Basso do you believe that BOTH candidates should release their FULL military records?

 

Where's their open letter to President Bush?

 

since i never watch rush or o'reilly, and get far more of my "news" from the daily show than NRO, i'd say you don't know what you're talking about.

 

It appears to me that both men have released all of the documents that currently exist.

Do we really want to bring up the national guard documents that were allegedly destroyed before Bush began his run for president?

 

Bush has definitely not released all of his military record. He has released reams of carefully vetted material.

 

If that is the case, then how can you say that it is Kerry that touts his war experience as a central component of his campaign? Kerry speaks about the economy first, jobs second, healthcare third, and Iraq last. He doesn't even bring up the Vietnam stuff until questioned by a reporter.

Looks like you are the one who doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

Thrown out? Exhibit A represents a present sense impression, official business/government records, and any number of other exceptions and exemptions from the hearsay rule, and is admissible on both substantively and to impeach exhibit B:

Once more, for the record: http://www.johnkerry.com/about/Fitness_Reports.pdf (Oh how I love to pasteownage you...so simple.)

Exhibit B (the Nixonite letter) is inadmissible as a matter of law because it is based on opinion rather than fact, is the textbook definition of hearsay, and is otherwise completely speculative.

Motion DENIED.

 

Yeah. I admit to supporting Kerry because he's not Bush, and prefering Clark, but I have to agree. I can't remember Kerry discussing Nam except in self defense.

I think an accurate criticism might be that Kerry has made criticism of Bush the central position of his campaign, but certainly not 'Nam. In what I imagine had to be a pre-emptive move, knowing that an unbiased glimpse at their respective records wouldn't reflect all that wll on 'the War President', it was Bush supporters who kept bringing up Kerry's Nam experience, not Kerry himself. I am sure that Kerry's supporters made mention of his decorations and service when propoting him, but not as a central theme, and as I said, I have yet to see him ever be the one to brign up his service or decorations excpet when either are attacked.

 

1. Kerry left Vietnam on a technicality. Granted.

Fighting a war is scary $h!t. I don't blame him for wanting to leave...esp. given point #2. If you find that a character flaw, I find that hypocritical if you support W since he took measures to avoid combat all together.

2. Kerry protested upon his return.

Character flaw? History is on Kerry's side. Nobody actually beleives that war was justified anymore. Maybe Kerry didn't approach this the right way but at least he stands up for what he beleives in. That counts for something in my book.

3. W took our country into a contraversial war...not unlike the one he dodged years earlier.

Again, Kerry ain't perfect. But match him against W and he stands tall.