SwiftVets.com

[RickInDallas]

With all the self-congratulatory words Kerry and his cronies are heaping upon themselves for Kerry's "volunteering" to go to VietNam, I wonder why the media (and the commentators on news programs) aren't mentioning (or are aware) of the fact that Kerry first attempted to get a military deferral from the service for a year, requesting permission to study in Paris.

From the UK Telegraph:

"Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty
By Charles Laurence in New York
(Filed: 07/03/2004)

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.

Senator Kerry on the campaign trail in Iowa
He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.

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."

<snip>

"...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."

<snip>

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.

<snip>

"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."

================================

It seems to me that this would be an interesting counterpoint to the often repeated claims of his 'volunteering' to go off to war. No, he tried everything he could to NOT go to war...

[LewWaters]

Thanks, Rick, but this was brought up a while ago.

Not only did he try to get a deferment, but in some little known 1986 book, he was quoted last year, by Michael Kranish for the Boston Globe, the following;

"I didn't have any real feel for what the heck was going on [in the war]," Kerry has recalled.

"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml

Located in Part 2, about 1/4 of the way down the page
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Clark County Conservative

[RickInDallas]

Thanks Lew - I hadn't seen that, and I sure haven't heard any of the folks on 'our side' use that info by way of rebuttal to the "Kerry volunteered, Bush 'only' did the National Guard..

Thanks - interesting reading!

[LewWaters]

Rick, look around and through many old posts. There is a wealth of information here that the leftstream media is ignoring.
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Clark County Conservative

[Stevie]

Brinkly should have made sure Kerry signed a 180 and turned all the docs over to him before agreeing to write his book....

the deferment thing is somewhere else on the forum also.... it one of those papers in his military folder that he doesn't want the public to see, I'm sure.... something printed about it in 'the spectator'? I'm not sure what that is... a newspaper? it also referred to t he Harvard paper...

it sounds like something for Ann Coulter to sniff out...

a lot of people applied for a deferment... but to do it yourself and then use it as a negative against someone else who did (like Cheney) - that's really low.... sounds like Kerry doesn't it?

[SJorgensen]

I just want you guys who think this is about "our side" or "their side" that it isn't like that at all.

I am a Democrat and althought I am told that "Anybody But Bush" will do, I am not convinced that I should be forced to accept Kerry. I don't like Kerry for all the reasons that this site has discussed and more. I just don't know what to do, because I can't stand Bush and what the country has become and done under Bush.

I could accept John Edwards. I think the Democratic party would have a decent chance with Edwards and maybe Howard Dean.

I don't think that the Swift Boat Veterans and this site intend that the opposition to Kerry is based on partisen criteria.

[Polaris]

SJorgenson,

That is a very valid point. Unfortunately given the reality of our two-party system, unless the DNC gets sense and yanks Kerry off the ticket, the only way to be sure that Kerry does not become president is to vote for Bush.

It's a pity, but there it is. No offense intended to the Dem members here. (I am a Libetarian myself and would love to vote Libetarian this year...but I simply can't given the circumstances).
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-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[LewWaters]

[msindependent]

SJorgenson, I'm not a Republican or Democrat. I'm a fiscal conservative, a social moderate (a lot of Republicans would say social liberal), who supports the war on terror and the military. A traitor is not acceptable in the White House, especially right now. I like W's go get them attitude. If you don't, heck vote for Nader then. Vote anyone but a traitor.

[Son Of The Godfather]

I am a Republican.

Knowing what I now know about John Kerry, I can say with 100% honesty and sincerity that if he were running on the Republican ticket, I would not hesitate to cast a Democratic vote. I'd hate it, but I'd do it.

You can be for or against any particular issues, but how could ANYONE be for a self-admitted war criminal with a treasonous past and a proven track record of lies.

There are too many of us who love America too much to see this happen.

SOTG
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"Which candidate would enemies of the United States prefer to see in the White House?"

[phrein]

AMEN SOTG!!!!
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If you have power to run your computer, thank a Nuclear Power Plant Operator.

[mtpNY]

Does anyone have the source (or link) where Kerry says "this isn't what I signed up for" when he was informed the Swift Boats were going to be used differently shortly after he arrived in Vietnam (i.e., in combat)?

[ASPB]

You'll it in both Kerry Biographies and Unfit.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[mtpNY]

[RocketFett]

In kerryese, this subject would be phrased: "I actually avoided my service in Vietnam, BEFORE I volunteered for it". Gotta send this to everyone.