SwiftVets.com

[mj_brutus]

Sen Bob Kerrey of Nebraska is, I am sure we can all agree, a remarkably brave and honorable man who served our nation heroically. I am curious to hear the opinons of others with regard to the proposition that the villanous John Kerry may have benefitted from the superior reputation of Bob Kerrey. I don't recall any media attention devoted to clearing up confusion which might have arisen naturally from the similarity of these names.

Any thoughts?

[LewWaters]

The only thing I recall needing clarification, was when Kerry's staffer posted on his site that John "F"in Kerry was co-chair, or something, of the Senate Intelligence Committee (or one of those committees), when in fact, it was Bob Kerrey.
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Clark County Conservative

[JackMcC]

I worked for Senator Kerrey's unsuccessful Presidential campaign in 1992. When Bill Clinton beat a man like Senator Kerrey, I really wondered what was wrong with the citizenry.

Other than the case cited above - on JFK's own website - I cannot think of an instance where Kerry was confused for Kerrey.

[1991932]

Weren't they both highly-decorated Viet Nam vets?


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Former "War Criminal"

[Beatrice1000]

Kerrey supported kerry - here's an article he wrote:

8/14/04 - “Why Kerry is Fit to be President” by Bob Kerrey

[Guest]

Well, out the window goes the "Honor" of Senator Bob Kerrey.

[happyday]

From a Nebraskan:

Bob Kerrey was governor of Nebraska, then became a U.S. Senator with a distinguished record. He is also a Vietnam Vet, and has a prosthesis which replaces one leg.

He resigned from the Senate to become a faculty member of some capacity at Colombia University, if I'm not mistaken.

Nebraskans barely recognize the man that Bob Kerrey has become. Notably in the 80's he's the one who went before Congress and told them to keep their doggone highway money, we were raising our speed limits to sometime reasonable for our area. (Congress had a hissy fit, then decided it was a great idea, just to keep from losing control over the highways of our state.)

He did support John Kerry for President. As I mentioned, the Nebraskans who elected the well spoken, thoughtful, articulate man so many years ago (myself included) do not recognize him today, because he has changed so drastically. It's like he went from being a person to being a partizan.

If you understand the amount of character, charisma and common sense a Democrate would have to have to become governor of mostly Republican Nebraska, you see he had to be remarkable at that time. Unfortunately, I beleive that has changed, and not for the better.

Thank you for your indulgance.
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God Bless America, and God Bless the Swiftees!

[ccwebb]

The highlight of Senator Kerrey's senate record was when he called then President Clinton "an unusually good liar."


Charlie

[mj_brutus]

HD,

Thank you for the informative reply. I had the chance to see Sen Kerrey on a weekend talking heads show. I agree that it is certainly not to his credit that he should support a man like Flipper, but much of that has to come with the territory. In his interview, he expressed criticism of some of Flipper's ideas, as well as Bush's (alhtough mostly Bush, of course).

I'm reminded of other men who I respect who also "sold their souls," to a greater or lesser degree in the name of party loyalty. Harold Ford comes to mind, along with Joe Biden. Anyway, while interesting, I was glad to hear that few people think that the highly honorable Sen Kerrey was not confused with Flipper.

[Al_Hawaii]

I've read the citation for the Medal Of Honor that Sen Bob Kerrey was awarded, and I believe he deserved it.

He took a lot of flak when it was revealed that his SEAL team may have fired on a bunch of civilians, mainly women and children. It was at night and they took fire in an area that was know to be hostile.

Over the years he may have come to regret what had happened. That may be why he has started to have doubts about what happened.

I have written earlier that back when this election campaign started that some people I knew confused the two, Kerry and Kerrey.

I believe that Bob Kerrey is still an honorable man and that there is much confusion about the two.

If any one wants to read the citation, let me know, I will get it and post it. I'm going on leave tomorrow, I still work for the government, so it will be a week or so before I can post it.
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Aloha,
Al

Viet Nam 71/72
Persian Gulf 90/91

[RiflemanDD730]

The following article by Greg Vistica documents that Bob Kerrey was responsible for a false after action report that claimed 21 VC killed when 13 civilians were. This was the basis for his Bronze Star, which he later admitted was "inappropriately awarded" after the story broke in the NYT and 60 Minutes in April of 2001.

If Bob Kerrey gets a pass for a false after action report and an undeserved medal then how can John Kerry be criticized?

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/25/magazine/25KERREY.html?

[Anker-Klanker]

Ah! The plot thickens. I had forgotten that. So because Kerrey was "forgiven," he was neutralized from criticizing Kerry, and because of the above revelation might even have felt compelled to defend him.

[USMCWayne]

Early on in the campaign, John Kerry called one of the higher ups in his Vietnam chain of command, asking for an endorsement for President. The Admiral mistakenly thought it was Bob Kerrey speaking and granted his unconditional support.

Later on, when he found out exactly who had called, he took back his endorsement.

Bob Kerrey's Medal of Honor was upgraded from a Silver Star nomination which, as far as I know, is unheard of. Kerrey did not want to receive the higher decoration, saying it was undeserved, but finally accepted it on behalf of those who did deserve the MOH, but had gone unrecognized.

At that time of the war, Nixon needed a hero and someone to help deflect criticism of the war, and Bob Kerrey was it.

His Bronze Star was for a fog of war action in the middle of the night, in a free fire, Viet Cong dominated, area. Kerrey has never mentioned the Bronze Star in any of his biographical information, and only discussed the incident in depth, after one of the members of his Seal unit brought it out.

The Bronze Star action, and the comments from a number of other Vietnam vets, including John Kerry, was covered in depth in an exceptional Newsweek article about three (?) years ago.

It also seems to me that, at one time, Kerrey either was or was considering running for President. He refused to let his advisors use Vietnam and his MOH in any campaign ads or literature.

You may disagre with the main politically and for the stands he takes, but no one can doubt his honor, sacrifice, and the nightmares he has to endure.

BTW, his tour of duty in Vietnam was also a short one (four or five months?) but he got out the hard way, by having part of his leg amputated from the MOH action.

[I B Squidly]

MJ:

Notice it was our good old reliable buddies at NYT and CBS that smeared Bob Kerrey. To avoid the confusion you suggest the DNC didn't want Kerrey anywhere near this campaign and snuffed him early.

[RiflemanDD730]

To USMCWayne

Greg Vistica wrote the original article about the Bob Kerrey Bronze Star incident for Newsweek. The Newsweek editors killed the story when Kerrey agreed to bow out of the 2000 presidential primary. Vistica then sold the story to the NYT, which published it in April 2001.

There is a conflict between Bob Kerrey and Gerhard Klann about the shooting. Kerrey claims the nighttime "fog of war" accident description. Klann says the civilians were rounded up and killed on Kerrey's order. The Army investigation found the dead civilians in a small circle. Vistica suggests this tends to support Klann's version.

To me these are all details that distract from the main point. A false after action report was filed that claimed enemy soldiers were killed when civilians were. That report was the basis for a medal. That medal was accepted. The person that accepted that medal supported John Kerry for president and defended the legitimacy of John Kerry's medals.

John O'Neill and Steve Gardner appear in a documentary "The Sampan Incident" claiming that John Kerry filed a false after action report that stated enemy soldiers were killed when civilians were. They suggest that John Kerry is a liar and should not be trusted because of this behavior. There is no independent verification of either claim as there is with the Army investigation in the Bob Kerrey incident.

Bob Kerrey was responsible for a false report and accepted a fraudulent Bronze Star. He apparently felt that his Medal of Honor was awarded more to cover Nixon's Cambodia escalation than his own action yet he accepted it. In spite of this he enjoys wide support.

We should not be surprised then that John Kerry also enjoys wide support in spite of his record. John Kerry's supporters will forgive any of the "little details" about reports and motives just as Bob Kerrey's supporters do.