SwiftVets.com

[JK]

Gov. Perry Questions Kerry Record
NewsMax Wires
Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004 AUSTIN - Republican Gov. Rick Perry, an Air Force veteran, said Monday that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry should make all his military records public to answer any questions about his service.

"I'm all about everybody laying their records out, and I think President Bush has done that. Mr. Kerry needs to do that. You lay your records out and then people can run all the ads they want," Perry said.

Story Continues Below

Perry, who will lead the Texas delegation at next week's Republican National Convention, made his remarks shortly after Bush criticized a commercial that accused Kerry of inflating his own Vietnam War record.

Kerry has been fighting allegations made by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about the senator's wartime service in Vietnam for which he received five medals. The ad says Kerry didn't deserve his Purple Hearts, lied to get his Bronze Star and Silver Star and unfairly branded all veterans with his 1971 congressional testimony about atrocities in Vietnam.

However, supporters of Kerry, including some Navy swift boat officers who served with him, dispute the attacks and have said Kerry acted honorably and bravely.

Perry, who served in the Air Force in the 1970s but not in Vietnam, said there are questions Kerry should answer about his wounds.

"I think that there's a lot of questions. When a person like Bob Dole asks the question ... lay your records out. It's pretty hard to argue that about Bob Dole's Purple Heart," Perry said.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, a World War II veteran and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, who has a disabled right arm from war wounds, said Kerry received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds." He called on the nominee to release all of his Vietnam service records.

Perry said Kerry started the debate over his military record by citing it as a credential for being president.

Among the major donors to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who is no relation to the governor but has been a big donor to his campaigns, according to the group Texans for Public Justice.

© 2004 Associated Press.

[Polaris]

Everyone,

Gov. Perry is quite popular and has a lot of credibility and clout in Texas. Where I live (Austin), this will carry a lot of weight.

At the least he is a Governor of a major state, and that will make it newsworthy even to the MSM.
_________________
-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[mascari]

Naw...its just another Texas republican liar.


_________________
===============
www.BestSynthetic.com

[Chuck54]

[Beldar]

Speaking as another evil Texan and confessed Republican:

Gov. Perry was comfortably re-elected in 2002 and may be again in 2006, but he's developed some pretty "high negatives" -- much higher than Dubya had when he was the Texas gov. The Dems in Texas hate him almost as much as they now do Dubya, Tom DeLay, and Karl Rove. He's not a Navy vet or a Vietnam vet; to his credit he hasn't made his service a big deal in his campaigns.

With due respect to Polaris' opinion, I don't think Gov. Perry weighing in has nearly the same kind of clout as Bob Dole's doing so, and I'm not eager in general to see Republican politicians as such (as opposed, say, to people who are famous as veterans who may also happen to be politicians from either party) speaking out. This really isn't Republicans versus Democrats, it's John Kerry versus the Truth -- even though it may have collateral benefits for Republicans simply because Kerry is the Democratic Party's nominee.