SwiftVets.com

[agorante]

Thomas a Beckett was a fascinating character. He raised the philosophical question - Can you choose to be a martyr?

John Kerry seems to be the new Beckett. It looks very much as if he deliberately set out to be a war hero. First came the haircut. In emulating John F. Kennedy he first adopted the Kennedy haircut (he still make reference to his haircut). Next he notes that Kennedy benefitted greatly from his service on a small combat vessel (PT 109). He volunteers to serve on the "moral equivalent" of a PT boat - the Swift Boat.

His identification with Kennedy is strong. He has the same initials. He is aimed at a political career. His peers and subordinates acknowledge his political ambitions.

He campaigns hard for all the decorations he can get. He simultaneously campaigns for three purple hearts that will get him out of harms way.

It all works. In a system that expects men of courage to eschew recognition his single minded focus on his own vain glory yields him extrordinary success. The system expects men of valor to resist being singled out. The system has no defense against a man with a plan to milk it for every honor conceivable.

The US Navy wasn't ready for John Kerry. They hadn't conceived of someone who could identify the decorations vulnerabilities as he did. Kerry set out to get as many decorations as possible, as quickly as possible. He achieved his goal spectacularly. The Navy implicitly relied on personal honor to limit the application of decorations. It never conceived of a man who would "work the system" for his own ends.
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New Jersey Marijuana Dispensary

[Son Of The Godfather]

Well stated.

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