Note to GOP: Be Careful What You Ask For

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Kerry’s Military Records Show a Highly Praised Officer

With Republicans questioning his service in Vietnam, the Democratic candidate for president posted more than 120 pages of military records on his campaign Web site. Several describe him as a gutsy commander undertaking a dangerous assignment in Vietnam and detail some of the actions that won three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

Nothing about dental records though…I hope the GOP keeps up the pressure until he releases them.

48 thoughts on “Note to GOP: Be Careful What You Ask For”

  1. Did the Kerry campaign release all his military records or just selections? I couldn’t tell from this article.

  4. when Kerry was wounded three times and sent back to the United States.
    Damn Eddie, you figure the AP (as well as the NYT) would get it right, the first time. Kerry wasn’t sent home by the military, he requested that he be relieved of his command and sent home because of the three Purple Hearts he received.
    When Kerry releases all of his records, we will have a full account.

  5. The NYT yesterday said everything was being released (not some of the non-military medical records I think). I’m not that impressed with the article though – I suspect Kerry was heroic in Vietnam but probably not as heroic as the average soldier with his set of medals. But it’s unseemly in my book for Bush supporters to push the latter.

  6. For the record just another observation of what has been released so far.
    On Kerry, nothing in the record which doesn’t support that he heroicly served his country in Nam. What I would like to highlight is his 1971 anti-war antics while Americans continued to heroicly serve in Nam and over 4,000 servicemen gave their lives in the cause of their country. He also needs to answer for his war-crime comments.

  7. When Kerry releases all of his records, we will have a full account.
    And he’ll still stand head and shoulders above Bush on this one Timmy.

  8. Er, Timmy, there were war crimes committed.
    People have won Pulitzer for writing about it.
    Just because you enjoy burying your head in the sand doesn’t mean we should all join you.
    Tends to get in the old ears, you know.

  9. And he’ll still stand head and shoulders above Bush on this one Timmy
    Hardly Eddie, not after his 1971 antics are fully debunked.

  13. I suspect Timmy’s this much right: probably everyone who cares is already aware of Bush’s Vietnam history, but there are probably some people who’ve only heard the “good stuff” on Kerry at this point.
    I also suspect that this whole issue has close to zero impact on voters who haven’t already made up their minds. Sure makes for some good pointless bickering, tho.

  14. Kerry was responsible for 4,000 servicemen deaths???
    That’s awful???
    Why isn’t something being done about this???
    …I mean, how dare he go over there, fight for his country, get wounded, and then have the nerve to come back here and do …what exactly?….how is he responsible for those deaths?

  22. Republicans have had 8 years of being able to use Vietnam as a stick to beat the Democrats with, because Clinton didn’t support the Vietnam War and used academic deferments to avoid fighting in it.
    It’s fascinating to see how they behave when the boot is on the other foot: the President and the Vice-President both publicly supported the Vietnam war but “had other priorities” than actually fighting in it, and the Democratic candidate has an excellent military record: they don’t just ignore the tarnish on their own candidates (or even try to claim it isn’t there) – which is perfectly reasonable as far as it goes: they try to tarnish a good soldier’s military record, because 23 years afterwards he has the temerity to run as a Democratic candidate against a pair of Republican chickenhawks. It’s all party politics, but it’s not exactly the nicest side of it, is it? Can’t make Bush and Cheney look good on this point, so try to make Kerry look worse.
    You don’t have to wonder what they’d be saying about Wesley Clark’s military record if he had won the candidacy, do you? Not only does he have a better record than all of Bush & Co put together, he had the temerity to be completely right about Iraq when Bush & Co were completely wrong. They’d have to be slinging some very sticky mud indeed.

  23. You know, Jes, I was for this war and I’ve never served in the military, which makes me a ‘chickenhawk’, too. I take that slur personally; I’m going to politely ask that you never use it again on this site.

  26. I’d like to say this entire “pour over everyone’s military record to find anything we can interpret as being negative” reeks of the foulest horse sh*t.
    I don’t give a damn that George Bush ducked out of Vietnam or ducked out of his Guard service. I’m sure if I was alive and up for the draft back then I’d do everything in my power to stay out of a war I didn’t believe in (and nothing about GW’s early history convinces me he had any genuine beliefs, political or otherwise, back then). I don’t give a damn about how Kerry served his country during Vietnam and I certainly don’t care if he tried to get out of there after being wounded three times. It’s great he was a war hero and all, but it’s a lot more important to me what he did when he came back from war – he spoke out against it, and for that he’s got my respect.
    It’s true that the Republicans opened this can of worms with their endless tirades about Bill Clinton Draft-Dodger and their attempts to brandish patriotism as a blunt instrument. But I don’t have to listen to them or mouth their talking points when they jabber about what actions define a proper American, any more than I have to listen to or spout off what the Dems say when they use the same tactics. I have a brain. I’m not a mindless, partisan hack. When I start baying for Bush’s teeth to prove that he was scared of dying, or screaming for Kerry’s medical records because he might not’ve gotten hit with enough shrapnel to really impress me, then I’ve forfeited my claim to being something other than an appendage of politico-media machine.

  27. Moe, the term in question doesn’t apply to you anyway since you didn’t make any effort to avoid the draft. I do respect your right to consider a particular word inflammatory – on the other hand, that opinion can probably be held about any number of negative expressions, some of which may be useful. $0.02.

  28. because 23 years afterwards he has the temerity to run as a Democratic candidate against a pair of Republican chickenhawks
    33 years afterward. Time for coffee.
    Iron, great points – which I agree with. I’m just amused by the dancing some Republicans are doing around Bush’s “war record” versus Kerry’s war record. It’s not particularly nice amusement, but a story like the radical feminist mice doesn’t come along every day, so I take my fun where I can get it. And as usual, Kevin Drum says it better.

  29. Kerry’s war record is what it is it. I’m more concerned that before the election all are aware of his anti-war record.

  31. You know, Jes, I was for this war and I’ve never served in the military, which makes me a ‘chickenhawk’, too. I take that slur personally; I’m going to politely ask that you never use it again on this site.
    Damn Moe, Sensitive ain’t you. Feeling a touch of guilt?
    Did you miss the chance to serve like our good friend Cheney by obtaining one deferrment after another?
    Just asking 🙂
    Having serve four delightful years in the USMC in time of peace (missed a delightfull little trip to Lebanon by a few month), I have no sympathy for people who have’nt served, but can’t wait to send other people’s kids to be wounded, mained or killed so that they feel more macho.
    PS. this little rant seems to describe this administration to the tee.

  32. DQ, the military is under civilian authority so it makes no sense to demand that only veterans can start (or even advocate) wars. I think it’s fair to criticize those who avoided service during the draft era, but you’re going way beyond that.
    For example, I was mostly in favor of the Gulf War, in favor of the Kosovo action, and strongly in favor of the invasion of Afghanistan, though I’m not a veteran – is that ok by you?

  33. I have no sympathy for people who have’nt served, but can’t wait to send other people’s kids to be wounded, mained or killed so that they feel more macho.
    I wouldn’t put it quite that way (I have sympathy for anyone who has to make decisions like that…it can’t be easy), but I do wish people who didn’t serve were forced to read something like this every day leading up such a decision

  34. “Damn Moe, Sensitive ain’t you. Feeling a touch of guilt?”
    That, coupled with the ‘macho’ sneer, has just earned you your one warning under the Posting Rules. Please read them before commenting on this blog further, Don Quijote.
    Thank you in advance for your compliance.
    Moe

  35. Rilkefan,
    Fine by me, you are entitled to your opinions, as is every one else.

    Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
    The following is an excerpt from a 1933 speech by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. General Butler was TWICE awarded the Medal of Honor (1914, 1917).
    “War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people.
    Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
    I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
    I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

  37. Of course as we all know General Butler, Father Coughlin and Charles Augustus Lindbergh were all eventually embarassed by the events which occurred in both Europe and the Pacific.

  39. Don Quijote – I have never served in the military, United States or otherwise. I never will serve in the military, either.
    You see, I suffer from asthma. If I went to any recruitment center for any branch of the military, I would be rejected upon completing a basic physical. I know this because I have asked, at recruiting centers – in several cities – for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines.
    Let me repeat myself: I have never served, and I will never serve, because I cannot ever serve.
    Please remember that for some of us, even without the draft, the choice between serving and not serving isn’t a choice.

  40. Slartibartfast,
    Beats the hell out of:
    I have never served a day in my life but I can’t wait to send other peoples children to war.

  41. Timmy,
    Not as much as Prescott Bush, the Ford family and many others who helped finance the Nazi regime should have been.

  43. Slartibartfast,
    unless you are a truly exeptional individual, you are someone’s child and so is everyone else!!!

  45. There’s a rumor (note, _rumor_) at Yale that Jenna (the Republican twin) is going into the navy this summer. Not exactly Iraq, but I’d respect that.

  47. Don Quijote, first, there are way too many exclamation marks at the end of that sentence.
    Second, it seems disingenuous to use the construction “other people’s children”. Do you really not care about these people but for how they reflect on their parents? You’ll get a more sympathetic response if you use “other people” or “other human beings” in its place, the latter being preferred for maximum rhetorical effect.

  48. Yes, quite. Appeal to emotion doesn’t play well here, although that doesn’t prevent some from assaying it from time to time.
    On the other hand, if Don Q is feeling rather childish, that could explain a lot.

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