Posted: 2/23/2004 4:39:36 PM EDT
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This guy gets slimier every day. Kerry Identifies the Enemy: The United States By John Podhoretz NY Post | February 23, 2004 John Kerry arrives in New York today. Our city is an old stomping ground of his, of course. He used to hang out at 156 Fifth Avenue - the headquarters of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry was present at those offices in September 1970, when the group decided to write then-Mayor John V. Lindsay and demand that the city refuse to welcome another organization, one dedicated to representing other American servicemen. The group John Kerry and his associates were protesting was The National Guard Association, which had its 1970 convention in New York at the Americana Hotel (now the New York Sheraton) from Sept. 13 to Sept. 17. Kerry's group set up a picket line in front of the Americana, and staged a protest rally against the Guard on Sept. 17, 1970 at 5:30 pm. Why would they do such a thing? Here's the sort of rhetoric Kerry and Co. used to gather anti-war forces in a mimeographed flyer: "The National Guard Uses Your Tax Dollar: "To support the military-industrial complex "To honor war criminals - Westmoreland, Laird, Nixon, etc. "To applaud campus murders by National Guard units "To encourage armed attacks on minority communities" The decision to stage this defamatory protest against the National Guard - which then comprised 409,412 Army Guard and 89,847 Air Guard personnel - was made in John Kerry's presence and with his full knowledge. Executive-committee minutes for Vietnam Veterans Against the War note that among the six "members attending" a meeting to plan the protest was "John Kerry-NE Rep." Now, Kerry and others will tell you that Vietnam Veterans Against the War was a group dedicated to advancing the interests of American servicemen - protecting them, bringing them home, helping them. The group's protest against the National Guard Association demonstrates that this claim is revisionist history with a vengeance. Four months before the National Guard protest in New York, 100 Ohio Guardsmen confronted 1,500 rioting students at Kent State University who pelted them with rocks and bottles. Mistakenly believing that they were coming under gunfire, 30 Guardsmen fired into the crowd, killing 4 and wounding 9. The Kent State killings were horrifying tragedies, and the anti-war movement portrayed them as deliberate acts of murder. They weren't. But even if you think that those 30 Guardsmen in Ohio had been guilty of a terrible crime, the fact remains that they were only 30 Guardsmen out of 500,000 nationwide. Despite that fact, John Kerry and his organization thought that it was acceptable and desirable to tar the reputations of 500,000 American servicemen by assigning collective guilt to the "campus murders" the flyer decries. And what about the flyer's accusation that the National Guard staged "armed attacks on minority communities"? Across the country in 1968, the Guard were called up to protect businesses and individuals from rampaging rioters. The rioters who burned down whole neighborhoods and laid minority communities to waste in Washington, Detroit, Newark and other cities. The only thing that saved those cities from mass anarchy were young National Guardsmen, called up to protect innocent citizens from violent criminals. And yet John Kerry's group thought it was OK to say the entire National Guard perpetrated "armed attacks in minority communities." But then Kerry was throwing around a lot of collective-guilt accusations in those days. He went before the Senate and accused his fellow American soldiers in Vietnam of "crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." He compared American conduct in Vietnam to the behavior of Genghis Khan, and said American forces "generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war." But according to Kerry, these American war criminals weren't the truly responsible parties. Kerry made a speech in April 1971 in front of the New York Stock Exchange in which he referred to William Calley, who was responsible for one of the few documented American atrocities committed during the Vietnam war. "Guilty as Lt. Calley might have been of the actual act of murder," Kerry said, "the verdict does not single out the real criminal. Those of us who have served in Vietnam know that the real guilty party is the United States of America." You see, America had become so evil, in Kerry's eyes, that when it constituted a military force to fight the Vietnam war it "created a monster." This "monster" came "in the forms of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who have returned with a sense of danger." Thus was John Kerry a key midwife in the birthing of one of of the worst myths ever fostered in this country: The myth of the crazed, violent, dangerous Vietnam vet who had come back to America to wreak the same kind of devastation here he had wreaked in Southeast Asia. At the same time John Kerry was trashing 3 million Americans who served in Vietnam and the National Guard, a young man named George W. Bush was piloting F-102 aircraft in the Texas National Guard. By this point in his six-year service, the future president had already spent nearly two years on active duty - not weekend-warrior stuff, but full-time service to his state and his country. True, Bush's service can't compare to John Kerry's. Kerry saved lives, suffered injuries and won medals for his valor in Vietnam. But Kerry's heroics aboard a Mekong Delta patrol boat does not excuse his conduct afterward, when the future senator felt free to engage in shocking acts of libel against his country and against an entire generation of Americans who served their country just as he did. Among those he libeled was Texas Air National Guardsman George W. Bush, against whom John Kerry and his organization protested on that dark day back in September 1970 on Seventh Avenue and 52nd Street. Enjoy your stay in New York, John Kerry. This city is the worse for having hosted you and your smelly little protest 34 years ago. |
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Quoted: Quoted: 34 years ago. There is the only thing there that matters. 34 years ago, the national guarg was a questuionable org. People dodged Vietnam by joining the NG. That has changed dramatically since then. Live in the present.... What a load. Were you even born then? |
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Quoted: Quoted: What a load. Were you even born then? Sure was. Open your eyes. The fact is that it happened. Our President is a great example. Maybe you were 2. I was in the active military then and I didn't then or don't now have a problem with someone serving in the guard. You sound like a fucking Demonrat. |
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Quoted: Sure was. Open your eyes. The fact is that it happened. Our President is a great example. Maybe you were 2. I was in the active military then and I didn't then or don't now have a problem with someone serving in the guard. You sound like a fucking Demonrat. Blow me Larry. I never said that it wasn't a legal option. I would have done the same thing given the circumstance. That doesn't change the fact that it was used to dodge the Vietnam war. My father joined the army during Korea because he knew that the draftee would go to the shit, He stayed his entire stint stateside. Smart people do these things. Bush did what he had to do to survive, but the guard was just a dodge. [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27178-2004Feb9.html[/url] |
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Quoted: Quoted: Sure was. Open your eyes. The fact is that it happened. Our President is a great example. Maybe you were 2. I was in the active military then and I didn't then or don't now have a problem with someone serving in the guard. You sound like a fucking Demonrat. Blow me Larry. I never said that it wasn't a legal option. I would have done the same thing given the circumstance. That doesn't change the fact that it was used to dodge the Vietnam war. My father joined the army during Korea because he knew that the draftee would go to the shit, He stayed his entire stint stateside. Smart people do these things. Bush did what he had to do to survive, but the guard was just a dodge. [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27178-2004Feb9.html[/url] Real intelligent comeback.....blow me........sound more like a Demonflap every minute. The link requires registration, no thanks. |
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Here ya go.... From Guardsman . . . By Richard Cohen Tuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A23 During the Vietnam War, I was what filmmaker Michael Moore would call a "deserter." Along with President Bush and countless other young men, I joined the National Guard, did my six months of active duty (basic training, etc.) and then returned to my home unit, where I eventually dropped from sight. In the end, just like President Bush, I got an honorable discharge. But unlike President Bush, I have just told the truth about my service. He hasn't. At least I don't think so. Nothing about Bush during that period -- not his drinking, not his partying -- suggests that he was a consistently conscientious member of the Texas or Alabama Air National Guard. As it happens, there are no records to show that Bush reported for duty during the summer and fall of 1972. Nonetheless, Bush insists he was where he was supposed to be -- "Otherwise I wouldn't have been honorably discharged," Bush told Tim Russert. Please, sir, don't make me laugh. It is sort of amazing that every four or eight years, Vietnam -- that long-ago war -- rears up from seemingly nowhere and comes to figure in the national political debate. In 1988 Dan Quayle had to answer for his National Guard service. In 1992 Bill Clinton had to grapple with the question of how he avoided the Vietnam-era draft. Now George Bush, who faced this question the last time out, has to face it again. The reason is that this time he is likely to compete against a genuine war hero. John Kerry did not duck the war. But George Bush did. He did so by joining the National Guard. Bush now wants to drape the Vietnam-era Guard with the bloodied flag of today's Iraq-serving Guard -- "I wouldn't denigrate service to the Guard," Bush warned during his interview with Russert -- but the fact remained that back then the Guard was where you went if you did not want to fight. That was the case with me. I opposed the war in Vietnam and had no desire to fight it. Bush, on the other hand, says he supported the war -- as long, it seems, as someone else fought it. It hardly matters what Bush did or did not do back in 1972. He is not the man now he was then -- that by his own admission. In the same way, it did not matter that Clinton ducked the draft, because, really, just about everyone I knew at the time was doing something similar. All that really matters is how one accounts for what one did. Do you tell the truth (which Clinton did not)? Or do you do what I think Bush has been doing, which is making his National Guard service into something it was not? In his case, it was a rich kid's way around the draft. In my case, it was something similar -- although (darn!) I was not rich. I was, though, lucky enough to get into a National Guard unit in the nick of time, about a day before I was drafted. I did my basic and advanced training (combat engineer) and returned to my unit. I was supposed to attend weekly drills and summer camp, but I found them inconvenient. I "moved" to California and then "moved" back to New York, establishing a confusing paper trail that led, really, nowhere. For two years or so, I played a perfectly legal form of hooky. To show you what a mess the Guard was at the time, I even got paid for all the meetings I missed. In the end, I wound up in the Army Reserve. I was assigned to units for which I had no training -- tank repairman, for instance. In some units, we sat around with nothing to do and in one we took turns delivering antiwar lectures. The National Guard and the Reserves were something of a joke. Everyone knew it. Books have been written about it. Maybe things changed dramatically by 1972, two years after I got my discharge, but I kind of doubt it. I have no shame about my service, but I know it for what it was -- hardly the Charge of the Light Brigade. When Bush attempts to drape the flag of today's Guard over the one he was in so long ago, when he warns his critics to remember that "there are a lot of really fine people who have served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq," then he is doing now what he was doing then: hiding behind the ones who were really doing the fighting. It's about time he grew up. [email protected] |
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Quoted: Quoted: 34 years ago. There is the only thing there that matters. 34 years ago, the national guarg was a questuionable org. People dodged Vietnam by joining the NG. That has changed dramatically since then. Live in the present.... I can live any damn where I want. I can quote Washington and you wouldn't say that was irrelevant,......live in the present. Just because you believe the guard was questionable doesn't excuse the arrogance and gross lies of Kerry and his comrades. You may have noticed the Democrats still demean the National Guard so I think that makes it a current enough item. The author could have made his point without putting Bush in the story, so the Kool-Aid idea is moot IMHO. The story runs to character and I think Kerry is showing he sure as hell lives in the past and off the past as well as off his rich wives. |
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Quoted: Blow me Larry. I never said that it wasn't a legal option. [red]I would have done the same thing given the circumstance.[/red] That doesn't change the fact that it was used to dodge the Vietnam war. [red]My father joined the army during Korea because he knew that the draftee would go to the shit, He stayed his entire stint stateside.[/red] [blue]Smart people do these things. Bush did what he had to do to survive[/blue], but the guard was just a dodge. So, let me understand this correctly... Your Dad was a shit dodger. You would've been a shit dodger, but - Smart people dodge shit. Bush dodged shit, but that's not OK with you because it was the National Guard and not another branch of the Service? Shit. [;D] I was born in 1956, so I didn't have to dodge shit. The shit was over by then. I still have my Selective Service card in my wallet, though. Kerry is the Manchurian Candidate. I don't care what he did IN the Service. It's what he's done OUT of it that confirms I won't vote for him. And that's NO shit. [;)] |
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I swear, I'd vote for Hillary before I'd vote for Kerry, and until I learned about Kerry, Hillary would be the absolute bottom dead last person on this planet that I'd vote for, ever. There is no rant, no string of insults, no curse long enough, strong enough, and intense enough to describe how much I despise that asshole. If he died and left me his dog, I'd shoot the dog just because it's been contaminated with unwashable filth. I'd rather suck a septic tank dry with a straw than shake hands with that bastard. I'd rather eat liquifying putrescent decaying garbage from an abortion clinic's dumpster than vote for him. I'd rather commit suicide with a small hand-cranked meat grinder than vote for him. I just don't like him, not at all! CJ |
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Quoted: Quoted: 34 years ago. There is the only thing there that matters. 34 years ago, the national guarg was a questuionable org. People dodged Vietnam by joining the NG. That has changed dramatically since then. Live in the present.... run along troll [rolleyes] |
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Quoted: Blow me Larry. I never said that it wasn't a legal option. I would have done the same thing given the circumstance. That doesn't change the fact that it was used to dodge the Vietnam war. My father joined the army during Korea because he knew that the draftee would go to the shit, He stayed his entire stint stateside. Smart people do these things. Bush did what he had to do to survive, but the guard was just a dodge. [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27178-2004Feb9.html[/url] and a 2nd.... run along little [:K]. Peddle you lies back where you come from ->www.democratunderground.com -no body buying it here. - LS |
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Quoted: Just about every active duty Marine or soldier has mocked the National Guard at some point. Hell, I'll bet the Coast Guard Reserve mocks the national guard... Some truth there but as we know it is still happening and the NG is in Iraq and the Coast Guard ain't. |
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the whole issue with Bush is bullshit. i don't care what happened. he served his time. what's important to me is that he didn't turn his back on his fellow soldiers and country and bash them. i can't get over the hypocritical stance of the democrats..their hero went to anti war parades in russia and was a draft dodger and they have the gall to blast someone for their service record?!?!?!?! john kerry served his country but then disgraced it by turning his back on 58,000 men who died for it. whatever bush did could not possibly add up to the same level of disgrace. |
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Quoted: Just about every active duty Marine or soldier has mocked the National Guard at some point. Hell, I'll bet the Coast Guard Reserve mocks the national guard... The Coast Guard? The Coast Guard doesn't mock anybody. The Coast Guard steps aside when the Girl Scouts walk down the street. |