Letters to the Editor

If Kerry were GOP, he’d still need to be slammed

Tue, 04/04/2006 - 4:23pm
By: The Citizen

While I did get Mr Robinson’s age wrong, I still cannot quite understand why a two-war veteran would so vehemently defend John Kerry and believe that it is the messengers of Kerry’s acts who are mean-spirited.
Believe me, if a Republican had done the same things that Kerry did — spout outright lies about his fellow servicemen to a Senate committee and willingly participate in the Winter Soldiers convention where total impostors told stories designed to disparage our troops, not to mention his trip to Paris to talk with the North Vietnamese — I would be just as vocal in my opposition to that person.
I would also question the validity of that Republican’s medals as well had they been earned under identical circumstances. Your fellow service members are a good gauge of a medal’s real merits.
Maybe Mr Robinson should check out which side really uses mean-spirited smear tactics in the press —does the fabricated letter from an Air National Guard unit ring a bell?
James V. Kelso III
Peachtree City, Ga.

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Mr. Kelso, did you READ Sen. Kerry's remarks?
birdman's picture
Submitted by birdman on Wed, 04/05/2006 - 11:29pm.

With all due respect to your prior military service, and recognizing that I, too, am retired military, I believe your remarks: "spout outright lies about his fellow servicemen to a Senate committee..." indicates you have not read any of Mr. Kerry's remarks in 1972. One of the major problems we have in this country is the failure to research for ourselves that with which we so vehemently disagree. I suggest that you have made this error. It appears that you have done the one thing so many conservatives hate, learned from the media. Therefore I invite you to read Sen. Kerry's remarks on the National Review website. The National review is a decidedly conservative publication so it should meet your requirements regarding a vehicle of information. The web address is :

http://www.nationalreview.com/document/kerry200404231047.asp

After reading Sen. Kerry's remarks, I would be interested in what you are so offended about? I know you remember those times (I certainly do) and it seems to me that his remarks were a judgement about the poor leadership in this country, the futility of the war, and the terrible toll it took on our generation. Certainly they weren't "outright lies about his fellow servicemen."

Mr. Kelso, you may have personal knowledge regarding the awarding of medals to Lt. Kerry, I certainly do not. I do, however, believe that the military is and was capable of making that decision. I would suggest if we are going to continue this assault on the military, we consider your medals, my medals, and by all means, Pres. Bushes medals as well as all the senior administration.
Mr. Kelso in 2000 Candidate Bush, when asked about his drug use as a college student refused to answer stateing "what I did 30 years ago has no bearing on who I am now." Unfortunately you do not give the same consideration to a Democrat. I can only wonder why you so easily accept the behavior of young G.W. Bush when he shirked his Guard duty, but assault the service of John Kerry. Certainly John Kerry earned the right to speak out against a war in 1972 in which he fought.
I hope you will read his testimony. There are some frightening parallels to how the Vietnam war was prosecuted and how the Iraqi war is being prosecuted. Maybe if the administration had actually gone to Vietnam they would have been more reluctant to commit our young men and women in Iraq, and more knowledgeable about what to expect.


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Kerry served Bush ducked out
Submitted by Islewood on Wed, 04/05/2006 - 11:28am.

You wrote, “if a Republican had done the same things that Kerry did — spout outright lies about his fellow servicemen...” With George W. Bush it has to do with what he DID NOT do. The guy did not even show up for TANG. And he tells more reasons for sending young men into harms way in Iraq than he has explanations for not serving where he now sends them, combat.

John Kerry served his country and was not the only decorated vet to realize the mistake that they had been sent into. You can spread the lies you like, it does not make any difference—Kerry served his natiion as a vet who was there and performed heroically. Bush and Cheney decided to sit it out—how about you, you also going to sit it out?

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Kerry served himself
ArmyMAJretired's picture
Submitted by ArmyMAJretired on Sun, 04/09/2006 - 10:32pm.

Yeah, a whole 4 months and 3 band aid Purple hearts for wounds that friends of mine did not report because they wanted to stay with their men!

Bush never made his service an issue. He wore a uniform and no matter how badly you don't want to belive it, received enough service credit to complete a tour honorably! Or is Kerry the only one allowed to get an early release (which he did)?

Kerry opened himself to scrutiny with his show boating "reporting for duty/band of brothers nonsense! Nice "reinactment" home movies that Spielberg edited. He sure wasn't proud of his service during Winter Soldier was he?


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Maror Astired--in the same boat?
Submitted by Islewood on Wed, 04/12/2006 - 11:03am.

Oh so sorry, I did not know that you had been right there in the boat with Kerry. You seem to have seen thing differently than the Ranger that Kerry pulled out of the water when they were under fire. Oh, you didn’t see any fire? I wonder how the brave Ranger did and also the guys in the other boat that came back to see what the hell Kerry was sailing into harms way for. Did you get hit too? I bet Kerry put a band-aid on it for you.

Or maybe you were off duty in TANG with Bush. I bet the two of you can really tell some war stories. Funny, when I got out of the old army GIs were not much into telling folks what heroes we had been. GIs tended to be like that back them when medals were going to guys who had got drafted and went because they had been called. And ulike Bush, it was a tiome to even show up.

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Idle woody, get help
ArmyMAJretired's picture
Submitted by ArmyMAJretired on Wed, 04/12/2006 - 11:21am.

The election was in November 2004, it is time to move on.

Everyone knew Kerry's record and everyone saw cBS try to forge documents in order to influence the election.

Your guy LOST!

HA,ha, ha, ha,ha!

Savagely attacking a Commander in Chief in time of war does NOT help this country, or the brave men and women of todays Armed Forces. You more than anyone must remember the anguish of being in a war that the media and eventually the public did not back.

You are helping our enemies every time you spew garbage.

I disagree with several of the President's positions particularly Pork Barrel spending (that is mostly congress), failure to secure our border, and inability to get Social Security reform passed before old geezers (no offense) bleed the system dry.

So your childish whining just makes you look bad. I choose to ignore partisan attacks. You will never convince me that Kerry is Audie Murphy reicarnated and I will never convince you that George Bush received enough training credits to qualify for an honorable discharge.


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Bush in the movies
Submitted by Islewood on Wed, 04/12/2006 - 11:32am.

Oh me, oh my! Did CBS do a program on Bush's and Cheney’s brave service. Bush was suppose to be in TANG and Cheney had better things to do up in Madison, WI.

I can just picture the great ending to the program: A small child, flag in hand, asks, “And what did you do in the war President Bush?”

And Bush would look off in the distance, with a tear in his eye, and say gravely, “Ah, ah ah … I don’t like to talk about it, but ah … I got discharged.”

Now Audie Murphy was me man, a fellow Irishman who could fight and drink. I think Kerry was more into tea, the strong green kind. As for helping our enemies, hey Bush has done enough of that with his misdirected sending of brave troops into Iraq. And, with no more forethought than to one-up his dad.

By the way, his dad performed heroically as a very, very young man.

But now this Bush says another president will have to figure out how to get our troops out. It will be tough, at this point we cannot just cut and run. We need to find a way to leave a stable situation behind us.

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