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| Home Front: Politix |
| First Puncture: Kerry Hero Balloon |
| 2004-03-06 |
| Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper. Ouch! Halliburton research interns dammit! He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris FRANCE???, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s. J’Accuse! The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry’s carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam. The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy." Samuel Goldhaber, the article’s author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam. "I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written." Sen Kerry’s campaign headquarters in Washington refused an opportunity to deny the report. Despite repeated telephone calls from The Telegraph, a spokesman refused to comment. Another Democrat official said merely: "In Vietnam, John Kerry proved his patriotism beyond question. Everyone knows that." A senior Republican strategist, who asked not to be named, said: "I’ve not heard this before. This undercuts Kerry’s complaints about Bush and it continues to pose questions as to his credibility among ordinary Vietnam veterans." He said it would fuel concerns over the way Sen Kerry made a name for himself by leading anti-war protests in Washington and Boston in the late 1960s and early 1970s after he had completed his service in the US Navy, even while his former comrades continued to fight and die. A newly-published biography of Sen Kerry by Douglas Brinkley, A Tour of Duty, makes no mention of the requested deferment or planned year in Paris. At the time, it was still unclear just how long America would remain in Vietnam, and it might have seemed that a year’s deferral of service could render enlistment unnecessary. According to the Democratic Party’s version of Sen Kerry’s military history, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Harvard through eagerness to do his duty, and sailed with the Navy for combat as soon as he graduated in 1966. Sen Kerry won a gallantry medal for his service as a gunboat captain on the Mekong Delta, and was honorably discharged with three "purple heart" medals after sustaining three wounds. He has consistently presented himself as a leader who argued against the war only after fulfilling his duty in the field. Supporters argue that his war record makes him a more trustworthy leader than President Bush, who served sporadically in the National Guard at home. "This means that Kerry didn’t jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed, and it is a very nice piece of information," said Lucianne Goldberg, a prominent Republican campaigner. Republican strategists for President Bush were already investigating Sen Kerry’s record of three wounds sustained in Vietnam. "We find that he had only one day off sick - with three wounds? What exactly were these wounds?" she asked. Mr Goldhaber recalled that, during a day spent with Sen Kerry and one assistant during his congressional campaign, he had described his involvement, service and decision to oppose the war in great detail. "I am not at all surprised that he wants to be president, because he exuded ambition from the word go," said Dr Goldhaber. "At the time, the idea that he tried to persuade the draft board to let him spend a year in Paris was just a detail." A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign declined to comment. Classy |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #8 Kerry the war hero that threw someone elses medals in an act of bravado - but now they hang proudly on his wall. snicker... Korora - you'd be right if Dem's hadn't been so critical of Bush's decision to join the National Guard to avoid duty. double snicker - what goes around comes around. |
| Posted by: B 2004-3-7 3:03:35 AM |
| #7 If Drudge reported it. Hannity, Rush and Savage now have a topic for Monday's discussion... Bet it sticks better than anthing Kerry's thrown Bush's way recently! |
| Posted by: Jack Deth 2004-3-7 12:12:49 AM |
| #6 "In Vietnam, John Kerry proved his patriotism beyond question. Everyone knows that." "It was after the war and in the Senate that Kerry proved what a worthless piece of crap he really is." |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-3-6 11:09:34 PM |
| #5 Sorry to burst your bubbles, but this means nothing. Even war supporters who are determined to go might want to defer for personal reasons. It does not always have to do with cowardice or objection. M****cript! Crud! Drat! |
| Posted by: Korora 2004-3-6 11:09:05 PM |
| #4 Frank, good catch. Now let's see if any US sources pick it up. SH: the crusher in that article seems to me to be the lack of constitutional authoirty for most fo the programs listed. |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-3-6 11:04:11 PM |
| #3 Frank, I just found a Human Events article called EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Ten Worst Government Programs . It slams most of our favorites. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-6 10:57:05 PM |
| #2 People's perspective and memory change over time. A written interview from 1970 or his personal letters give a look into the character of the man as he was then, but I would love to have an interviewer ask the following question about Vietnam. Senator, all of us are aware of the many statements you made in the early 70's about the Vietnam Was from the perspective of a young Navy O-3. Now that you are a much older Senator and candidate for the presidency has your perspective on the Vietnam War changed at all? If so, in what way have your views changed? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-6 10:54:02 PM |
| #1 I shoulda credited drudge - my fault |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-6 10:27:44 PM |