They just don't get it.

The first remark of too many voters, after watching the political advertisements crafted by the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth -- which detail John Kerry's secret treachery in the spring of 1970, is "I wasn't even born then!"

Others, ignoring the skills of makeup artists, ask, "Is he really that old?"

Some, mostly older folks, ask, "Was he really one of those awful hippies?"

Ironically, sometimes among the sound bites and entertainment provided by soaps, game shows and sporting events, there is an opportunity to learn some history and hard facts. Facts that demonstrate that Kerry did, indeed, have secret meetings with our enemies, the Viet Cong, while their comrades in Asia were killing our troops.

Kerry and his new wife, Julia Thorne, had a beautiful May for their honeymoon in Paris. However, Kerry, always the opportunist, used the visit to meet with the foreign minister of Vietnam's Provisional Revolutionary Government, Nguyen Thi Binh, best known as the Viet Cong's Dragon Lady.

Kerry was busy as a beaver, also meeting, according to French intelligence sources, with Le Duc Tho of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the personal representative of another old monster, Ho Chi Minh.

These were heady times for a U.S. Navy lieutenant.

The Dellinger nexus

Remember when he says that he met with delegations from "both sides" that he seeks to give the impression that one side was non-Communist. It's a typical Kerry cute-ism.

Madame Binh was an important communist and a stickler for protocol. The meeting with her, according to some members of the War Resisters League, was arranged by an old American lefty, David Dellinger. His claims to infamy were his role in the Chicago riots of 1968, his actions as a facilitator for the Viet Cong in releasing American prisoners-of-war, and of course, being, like Kerry, a product of Yale.

Democrats who support Kerry become hysterical when questions are asked about "secret" meetings, claiming that, since their hero told the Fulbright Committee, 11 months later, about his meetings, and waited until a July 1971 press conference to demand that the U.S. withdraw from Vietnam and pay reparations (the Dragon Lady's own terms), there was no secret.

Well, it was only in March 2004, that the Kerry campaign admitted he had met with Binh, and no one is asking about Le Duc Tho. We do know that on his return to the United States, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on talk shows and at rallies, Kerry carried the communist message with him, consistently making the point that America was the only unreasonable party at the peace talks. For him, we were fighting an immoral war and should accept the position of the enemy, the North Vietnamese.

What Kerry did in 1970 and 1971 was to collaborate with enemy combatants, giving them aid and comfort. Today, Kerry maintains that no one must ever confuse the Vietnam War with "the warriors" who fought it.

But times have really changed.

On Feb. 18, 2004, there was an Associated Press story about Army Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 27, a National Guardsman stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash. Television news said that the charges being made "could" lead to the death penalty, but this was dropped as the court martial began.

Anderson had been caught in an al-Qaida probe, and the military court that last month sentenced him to a life term heard how he had tried to supply details of the armor deployed in Iraq to terrorists. He used chat rooms on the Internet. Anderson communicated by "oral, written and electronic communication" to terrorists, saying "I wish to meet with you. I share your cause. I wish to continue contact through conversations and personal meetings."

The normal military appeal process is under way.

Look back just 30 years. By every definition the Viet Cong were a terrorist organization, engaged in killing Americans, torturing their prisoners who they classed as war criminals, and attempting to get money from the United States as reparations.

John Kerry sought them out, traveled clandestinely to Paris and accepted instruction from the Dragon Lady as to how to advance the communist cause and hasten America's surrender.

Kerry is just lucky that his actions occurred three decades ago and that he was not assigned to Fort Lewis in 2004. Specialist Anderson never met up with any terrorists. Kerry did. He shared their cause, and continued contact with them through conversations and meetings. Trouble is, our enemies today don't have a single human face, or a single voice, with a clear outcome to their agenda.

If John Kerry wins, whose instructions will guide him?

This article was published by PittsburghLive.com.