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unlike any conservative i know, i actually *read through the kerry testimony in
the 1970s. much to your disappointment, i'm sure, a great deal of kerry's
prepared testimony is about how vietnam vets aren't treated with enough respect
and help in the u.s, how they are in pain and have been forgotten. For
example, "I understand 57 percent of all those entering the VA hospitals talk
about suicide. Some 27 percent have tried, and they try because they come back
to this country and they have to face what they did in Vietnam, and then they
come back and find the indifference of a country that doesn't really care, that
doesn't really care."
while he is certainly critical of the war and the role of soliders in vietnam (and for a good reason!), he blames the chain of command and the leadership for the problems in vietnam ... not the soldiers. when he talks about soldiers as rapists and so on, he is telling what has been told to him by soldiers -- it is not an accusation. "They [the soliders giving testimony to Kerry's organization] relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."
his concluding comments are: "... and so when, in 30 years from now, our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able to say "Vietnam" and not mean a desert, not a filthy obscene memory but mean instead the place where America finally turned and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning."
he was thanked numerous times by the committee for his testimony, which he only had one night to prepare. an example from Senator Javits: "I couldnt [sic] think of anybody whose testimony I would rather have and act on from the point of view of what this is doing to our young men we are sending over there, how they feel about it, what the impact is on the conscience of a country, what the impact is on even the future of the military services from the point of view of the men who served, than your own. Thank you very much."
while contentious, this was a graciously accepted and given statement from a man whose "... sitting here is really symbolic.. [sic] I am not here as John Kerry. I am here as one member of the group of 1,000, which is a small representation of a very much larger group of veterans in this country, and were it possible for all of them to sit at this table they would be here and have the same kind of testimony."
So after one reads the testimony, one finds that when Kerry salutes those who served in Vietnam today, he is not "flip flopping"... he is continuing a major theme of his testimony, of his foundational political message. The theme of the testimony is the following: vietnam is terrible and must be stopped (although kerry explicitly leaves the details of the stoppage congress), but the soliders are not to blame. they should be supported for their service and hopefully one day they'll be able to look back and say 'i went through hell for my country, and i helped make it a better place.'
conversely, cnn recently posted this article about bush's "missing" war records: www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/06/bush.records.ap/index.html
and in february of this year, a probable explanation was published: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/12/elec04.prez.bush.texas.records/ index.html
on top of that, the speaker of the texas house in the 1970s (who is a democrat, for what that's worth) admitted that he got bush into the national guard when he shouldn't have. he said "I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people." In 1995 "...Barnes' lawyer issued a statement saying Barnes had been contacted by the now-deceased Sidney Adger, a Houston oilman and friend of Mr. Bush's father, who was then a congressman. Adger asked Barnes to recommend Mr. Bush for a pilot position with the Air National Guard and he did..." www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/09/politics/main628437.shtml
as for drug use: "Gov. George W. Bush, dogged by criticism for refusing to say whether he has used illegal drugs, answered part of the question Wednesday and said he had not done so in the last seven years. Mr. Bush's statement came in response to a question from The Dallas Morning News about whether, as president, he would insist that his appointees answer drug-use questions contained in the standard FBI background check. 'As I understand it, the current form asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is 'No,' Mr. Bush told The News....The Questionnaire for National Security Decisions, part of the background check, asks about illegal drug use going back seven years. Applicants also are asked if they have ever used illegal drugs while employed as a law officer, prosecutor or court official....FBI applicants can have used so-called hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin five times in their lives, but not during the 10 years immediately before their applications, (according to FBI Agent Rene Salinas). Applicants take lie-detector tests to verify their answers to drug- use questions....'You are required to answer the questions fully and truthfully, the questionnaire says.... Mr. Bush, the GOP presidential front- runner, would not elaborate about drug use beyond seven years ago." Dallas Morning News, 8/19/99 this type of strategy was pursued over and over, with him only going back as far as the question required. there are multiple sources claiming that bush used and was even arrested for cocaine possession, not to mention drunk driving.
as for his flip flopping, he's for stricter drug laws and even prison for first time offenses. talk about flip flopping on issues central to his life!!!
while he is certainly critical of the war and the role of soliders in vietnam (and for a good reason!), he blames the chain of command and the leadership for the problems in vietnam ... not the soldiers. when he talks about soldiers as rapists and so on, he is telling what has been told to him by soldiers -- it is not an accusation. "They [the soliders giving testimony to Kerry's organization] relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."
his concluding comments are: "... and so when, in 30 years from now, our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able to say "Vietnam" and not mean a desert, not a filthy obscene memory but mean instead the place where America finally turned and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning."
he was thanked numerous times by the committee for his testimony, which he only had one night to prepare. an example from Senator Javits: "I couldnt [sic] think of anybody whose testimony I would rather have and act on from the point of view of what this is doing to our young men we are sending over there, how they feel about it, what the impact is on the conscience of a country, what the impact is on even the future of the military services from the point of view of the men who served, than your own. Thank you very much."
while contentious, this was a graciously accepted and given statement from a man whose "... sitting here is really symbolic.. [sic] I am not here as John Kerry. I am here as one member of the group of 1,000, which is a small representation of a very much larger group of veterans in this country, and were it possible for all of them to sit at this table they would be here and have the same kind of testimony."
So after one reads the testimony, one finds that when Kerry salutes those who served in Vietnam today, he is not "flip flopping"... he is continuing a major theme of his testimony, of his foundational political message. The theme of the testimony is the following: vietnam is terrible and must be stopped (although kerry explicitly leaves the details of the stoppage congress), but the soliders are not to blame. they should be supported for their service and hopefully one day they'll be able to look back and say 'i went through hell for my country, and i helped make it a better place.'
conversely, cnn recently posted this article about bush's "missing" war records: www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/06/bush.records.ap/index.html
and in february of this year, a probable explanation was published: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/12/elec04.prez.bush.texas.records/ index.html
on top of that, the speaker of the texas house in the 1970s (who is a democrat, for what that's worth) admitted that he got bush into the national guard when he shouldn't have. he said "I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people." In 1995 "...Barnes' lawyer issued a statement saying Barnes had been contacted by the now-deceased Sidney Adger, a Houston oilman and friend of Mr. Bush's father, who was then a congressman. Adger asked Barnes to recommend Mr. Bush for a pilot position with the Air National Guard and he did..." www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/09/politics/main628437.shtml
as for drug use: "Gov. George W. Bush, dogged by criticism for refusing to say whether he has used illegal drugs, answered part of the question Wednesday and said he had not done so in the last seven years. Mr. Bush's statement came in response to a question from The Dallas Morning News about whether, as president, he would insist that his appointees answer drug-use questions contained in the standard FBI background check. 'As I understand it, the current form asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is 'No,' Mr. Bush told The News....The Questionnaire for National Security Decisions, part of the background check, asks about illegal drug use going back seven years. Applicants also are asked if they have ever used illegal drugs while employed as a law officer, prosecutor or court official....FBI applicants can have used so-called hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin five times in their lives, but not during the 10 years immediately before their applications, (according to FBI Agent Rene Salinas). Applicants take lie-detector tests to verify their answers to drug- use questions....'You are required to answer the questions fully and truthfully, the questionnaire says.... Mr. Bush, the GOP presidential front- runner, would not elaborate about drug use beyond seven years ago." Dallas Morning News, 8/19/99 this type of strategy was pursued over and over, with him only going back as far as the question required. there are multiple sources claiming that bush used and was even arrested for cocaine possession, not to mention drunk driving.
as for his flip flopping, he's for stricter drug laws and even prison for first time offenses. talk about flip flopping on issues central to his life!!!