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[kmudd]

Can John Kerry make people like him?


The New Republic; 6/3/2002; Michael Crowley




The New Republic

06-03-2002

The Makeover





One of the lessons that I learned in Vietnam--a war they did not have to endure--and one of the basic vows of commitment that I made to myself, was that if I ever reached a position of responsibility, I would never stop asking questions that make a democracy strong." When I asked Kerry whether he worries that Republicans might find a way to use that old footage of Michael Dukakis riding absurdly in a tank against him, he grew defiant. "If they want to put up an image of Mike Dukakis in a tank," Kerry replied, his eyes narrowing, "I'll put up an image of me on a boat in Vietnam."

And Vietnam isn't only an answer to Kerry's ideological vulnerabilities; it's an answer to his characterological ones as well: Out-of-touch, selfish rich kids didn't risk their lives in the jungles of Vietnam. Speaking before the South Carolina Democratic faithful in a dreary ballroom last month, Kerry introduced his former boatmate David Alston:

He sat up in a turret above my head in the pilot house--firing twin fifty-calibers to suppress enemy fire from ambushes. We were extremely exposed--always shot at first.... On one occasion in an ambush his turret was riddled with almost one hundred bullets penetrating the aluminum skin. This gunman kept firing even though he was wounded--one bullet going through his helmet, grazing his head and another hitting his arm....

Apart from McCain, no other possible presidential candidate can tell a story like that. Nor will they be able to air campaign ads like the rough Kerry biography video I saw, which shows vivid footage of PT boats speeding through Vietnamese jungle rivers, as a narrator recounts tales of Kerry's heroism. The words "courage and character," which sound like a slogan we'll be hearing more of, were repeated several times. As South Carolina Senator Fritz Hollings put it, in a glowing introduction at the state party convention, "John Kerry volunteered for combat, while George W. got an `in' to the National Guard and got lost down in Alabama for over a year."

[ASPB]

You should write to the author and tell him that at the very most Alston was on 2 patrols with Kerry between 6 Mar 69 and 13 Mar 69. Please see Byron York's article from the National review last week with direct quotes from Fred Short and David Alston. One of those missions was the "No man left behind" mission on 13 Mar 69. Kerry's last mission.

BTW, on the mission Alston is referring to ....Ted Peck was the OinC...not Kerry and that's a proven fact and it subsequently has been so acknowledged by the Kerry campaign. That's why you no longer see Alston in the band of brothers.

You should know that this topic...Alston...is to be avoided here. If you'd like to discuss it in more detail please go to: http://idexer.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1
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[kmudd]

Thanks for the info. I posted that becuase even two years ago Kerry was planning to run as a war hero.

[ASPB]

That's all right! Alston was still telling the same lie at the DNC last month!

No Mas de Alston aqui!
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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