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July 30, 2004
Shameless
In case you weren't sure whether John Kerry served in the military, the Democratic convention made crystal clear that the presidential contender served in combat in Vietnam. He went so far as to use some of his fellow swift boat comrades as stage props, to introduce him last night before his big speech. He even motored around Boston Harbor with them, pretending like they were still on a swift boat or something. He says that he is "reporting for duty."
I would actually consider his service a plus if he didn't so shamelessly exploit it. I suspect that many others are beginning to feel the same way.
We could actually be happy that the Democrats have come to the realization that military service counts for something, if it weren't so shamelessly exploited for blatantly political ends.
Must we take a little trip down memory lane? Oh why not, as it can be so instructive.
Bob Dole and George H W Bush both served in World War II, and both were in the thick of combat. Neither of them discussed their service. Few people knew that the reason Bob Dole had to shake hands with his left arm was that his right was rendered useless by wartime injuries. Even fewer knew that he'd lost most of the feeling in two fingers on his good hand. That George H W Bush served as a torpedo bomber pilot and was shot down was poo hooed by the Democrats. We were instructed that he was rich and threrefore out of touch with the common person.
Bill Clinton...well, he protested against the war while overseas. Somehow military service didn't matter much to the Democrats then. Funny how that works.
The next time you meet a Kerry supporter just ask them who they voted for in 1992 and 1996. Chances are, of course, they'll have voted for Clinton. Funny how combat experience didn't matter so much then.
For years the only thing I knew about George McGovern was that he was the leftward most candidate ever to run for the presidency. I therefore held him in low regard. Then one day I found out that he had been a B-25 bomber pilot during World War II. Not only that, but during one mission he saved the lives of his entire crew by coaxing their wounded bomber back to base, and executing a brilliant crash-landing. He could have used this during the 1972 campaign to mitigate charges that he was weak on defense, but didn't. Although I am still glad he was never elected, I have gained a newfound respect for him.
Ah but not John Kerry. During the primary he reportedly spent the first 20 minutes of his standard stump speech talking about his Vietnam record.
There are reports that he has exaggerated his service record. But to me this isn't the issue. I wouldn't care whether all of his purple hearts were justified if he didn't so shamelessly exploit them. What is truly unbelievable is that in response to these reports, Kerry will claim that "his partiotism is being questioned." John, you opened the door to this. You made it an issue.
I'm preparing a post on whether military service correlates to performance as president, and hope to have it up early next week. I've posted on this issue before, but this time I'm going through each war and who was president.
Stay tuned.
Posted by Tom at July 30, 2004 11:48 AM
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