John Kerry: War Hero

[Surfer]

"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." -- John Kerry, War Criminal Scumbag

I have 3 surgeon friends who quit their jobs here shortly after 911 and joined the military. Heroes; not losers.

 

[Camp]

"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." -- John Kerry, War Criminal Scumbag

I have 3 surgeon friends who quit their jobs here shortly after 911 and joined the military. Heroes; not losers.

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

 

[Surfer]

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

Bull. Kerry is a condescending, arrogant @sshole. Everyone knows it. I never said anything about the grunts. I think all Conservative military personnel are heroes. The liberals who b*tch and moan the whole time they're serving, who are only there because it was that or prison, who are just there for the benefits and who give/sell our secrets to our enemies etc are maggots.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." -- John Kerry, War Criminal Scumbag

I have 3 surgeon friends who quit their jobs here shortly after 911 and joined the military. Heroes; not losers.

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

Kerry disparaged the troops. There's no other way to read it.

 

[Camp]

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

Bull. Kerry is a condescending, arrogant @sshole. Everyone knows it. I never said anything about the grunts. I think all Conservative military personnel are heroes. The liberals who b*tch and moan the whole time they're serving, who are only there because it was that or prison, who are just there for the benefits and who give/sell our secrets to our enemies etc are maggots.

Thanks for clearing that up. Folks who agree with you are heroes and those that don't are maggots or at least not worthy of appreciation for their service.

 

[Camp]

I have 3 surgeon friends who quit their jobs here shortly after 911 and joined the military. Heroes; not losers.

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

Kerry disparaged the troops. There's no other way to read it.

Sure there is another way to read it. Just not in your closed and brainwashed hateful mind. Suppose you support Surfer and don't consider his remark to disparage troops.

 

[sambino510]

Kerry is a godless commie like most liberals

There's nothing wrong with being an Atheist or a Communist. It's a personal choice. That being said, liberals have no ties to either one of those denominations.

 

[sambino510]

Whenever someone tries to criticize John Kerry, this is all they can ever come up with. Last I checked, it is not a crime to be be critical of a military operation, especially something like Vietnam. I have not seen the footage of Kerry, and if he actually said that every soldier is a war criminal, then he shouldn't have made such a blanket statement. However, there were certainly various crimes committed by our soldiers in Vietnam. In terms of throwing his medals over the fence, if a man wins a medal and doesn't want it, feels he doesn't deserve it, or whatever, I think it's his choice to do with it as he pleases. Kerry was not the only returning soldier to protest the war; there were thousands.

I don't particularly like the man, but the smear campaign against him and his role in the Vietnam War is, I think, a joke, not to mention irrelevant. Criticize him on his policy and his actions today, not something from forty years ago.

I guess you haven't read my posts on Kerry.

The man met with representatives of the North Vietnamese government and rubber-stamped their terms for a US surrender.

Normal people call that treason.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/262447-john-kerry-unfit-for-service.html

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have a link to your sources that show that John Kerry met with the NVA leaders?

 

[Camp]

Whenever someone tries to criticize John Kerry, this is all they can ever come up with. Last I checked, it is not a crime to be be critical of a military operation, especially something like Vietnam. I have not seen the footage of Kerry, and if he actually said that every soldier is a war criminal, then he shouldn't have made such a blanket statement. However, there were certainly various crimes committed by our soldiers in Vietnam. In terms of throwing his medals over the fence, if a man wins a medal and doesn't want it, feels he doesn't deserve it, or whatever, I think it's his choice to do with it as he pleases. Kerry was not the only returning soldier to protest the war; there were thousands.

I don't particularly like the man, but the smear campaign against him and his role in the Vietnam War is, I think, a joke, not to mention irrelevant. Criticize him on his policy and his actions today, not something from forty years ago.

I guess you haven't read my posts on Kerry.

The man met with representatives of the North Vietnamese government and rubber-stamped their terms for a US surrender.

Normal people call that treason.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/262447-john-kerry-unfit-for-service.html

I'm not saying you're wrong, but do you have a link to your sources that show that John Kerry met with the NVA leaders?

The idea that some young anti war veteran could influence the Vietnamese, Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon after and during years of negociations involving input from both the Soviets and Chinese is just so warped and bizzar as to fall into the category of delusion.

 

[sambino510]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucY7JOfg6G4]Vietnam War Hearing: John Kerry Testimony - Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971) - YouTube[/ame]

I just watched the complete footage of his congressional testimony for the first time, and I found nothing particularly offensive or disparaging to the troops. John Kerry did not support the war effort as a whole, and thus the troops, by proxy, were not supported by him either. However, it seemed to me like his sentiments arose out of having experienced the war first-hand as a participant, not because he had any particular hatred or disrespect for his fellow troops. All this being said, in this testimony he was acting as a representative of the veterans against Vietnam. Thus, despite his relatively limited experience in the war due to his injuries, his stories or accounts of the war crimes of soldiers do not necessarily come from his own eyes, and I presume come from stories he has heard from other veterans. I see no purpose as to why he or others would lie about crimes committed by their fellow troops.

By any stretch of the imagination, it's not too hard to believe that there were atrocities committed in Vietnam, aside from the infamous My Lai massacre, that were never reported or that there was no evidence for. I don't mean to speculate in such a way, but logically if there was one incident, in a war with thousands of like-minded participants, then I doubt it was an isolated one. John Kerry, to me, simply seemed to be drawing attention to the darker aspects of our role in the region, and the futile attempt to fight Communism and win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people.

At any rate, his congressional testimony seemed to me to be focused primarily on SUPPORT for the veterans, stating that they had been forgotten by their government and their fellow countrymen. He advocated for better health services for returning veterans, and a greater respect for black soldiers who had served; things of that nature. Once again, I saw nothing that was particularly offensive in his statements.

Now, I already know what critics of my comments will say, which is that this footage of his testimony was heavily edited and that it left out some incriminating statement that would change everything. Or perhaps they just simply disagree with me that his statements were not controversial. Whatever it is, I believe John Kerry brought up many good points in his testimony about the Vietnam war, no matter what his personal political motives were. I think it would be very hard to prove that his only motivation for such testimony were to springboard his political career.

Regarding his Purple Hearts, many, many soldiers received Purple Hearts, "against their will" so to speak, for injuries minor to severe. Some deserved it, some did not, but to my knowledge it was not the soldier who decided whether they should receive a Purple Heart. Even if he was undeserving of these awards, or his Silver Star, or anything else, that seems to me to be a moot point compared to his very important testimony before Congress. We could argue for years about one man's awards that he received in Vietnam, but I think the bulk of our focus should be on the mishandling of the Vietnam War, and in particular the mishandling of the young American men of that generation.

 

[Warrior102]

I remember when he was campaigning for the Presidency. His motorcade was scheduled to come directly past our local VFW. And it did
About 30 of us were out there waiting.
As Kerry passed - we flipped him the bird.
An epic moment!!!

 

[Wry Catcher]

Was watching a program where they were showing Kerry testifying before a Senate committee in the '70's where he called American troops war criminals and baby killers. The truth about Kerry was he was a gutless coward. The policy at the time he was in Viet Nam was that if you were awarded 3 Purple Hearts you got sent home. Kerry served a total of 120 days in country on a gunboat. He was awarded 3 Purple Hearts but did not spend 1 day in a field hospital. How is that possible? He was sent home, joined a group of veterans against the war, led protests and threw his medals over the fence at the Whitehouse. That made him enough of a hero to the commies in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts to get him elected to the senate. Now the SOB is the Secretary of State. Great job America!

Please post the salient points from your DD-214 which allows you to judge another member of our armed force's combat experience.

 

[sambino510]

I remember when he was campaigning for the Presidency. His motorcade was scheduled to come directly past our local VFW. And it did
About 30 of us were out there waiting.
As Kerry passed - we flipped him the bird.
An epic moment!!!

An "epic-ly" mature moment no doubt.

 

[Warrior102]

Please post the salient points from your DD-214 which allows you to judge another member of our armed force's combat experience.

The guy doesn't need a DD-214 (like I have/you don't), nutsack, to express his views on the traitor and national disgrace John Kerry.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Kerry simply pointed out that the educated have more options about their future. He didn't call those who had less options and chose the military losers. You did. It's called projection. Your surgeon friends are heroes, but the grunts are loosers?

Kerry disparaged the troops. There's no other way to read it.

Sure there is another way to read it. Just not in your closed and brainwashed hateful mind. Suppose you support Surfer and don't consider his remark to disparage troops.

When you have to "Read it another way" it's you who are "Closed-minded and brainwashed"

 

[sambino510]

Kerry disparaged the troops. There's no other way to read it.

Sure there is another way to read it. Just not in your closed and brainwashed hateful mind. Suppose you support Surfer and don't consider his remark to disparage troops.

When you have to "Read it another way" it's you who are "Closed-minded and brainwashed"

I don't see how that makes any sense. "Reading another way" means that one acknowledges the fact that there are different ways of interpreting the same information. That goes for both the people who support Kerry and those who disparage him. It is the opposite of accepting your own position as absolute fact, and certainly the opposite of being "close-minded".

 

[whitehall]

It's alleged that Kerry met with V.C. representatives during the Vietnam conflict while on vacation in Paris while he was still in the Navy reserves. Is it treason?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Sure there is another way to read it. Just not in your closed and brainwashed hateful mind. Suppose you support Surfer and don't consider his remark to disparage troops.

When you have to "Read it another way" it's you who are "Closed-minded and brainwashed"

I don't see how that makes any sense. "Reading another way" means that one acknowledges the fact that there are different ways of interpreting the same information. That goes for both the people who support Kerry and those who disparage him. It is the opposite of accepting your own position as absolute fact, and certainly the opposite of being "close-minded".

No, hon. Words have meaning and sometime people can use a double entendre or twist a phrase, but when someone says, "You didn't build that" or says get educated or get stuck in Iraq, it's fairly clear what he means. Now when you have a population of zombies who parrot back what they're instructed, that's when you get these fake interpertations

 

[Camp]

When you have to "Read it another way" it's you who are "Closed-minded and brainwashed"

I don't see how that makes any sense. "Reading another way" means that one acknowledges the fact that there are different ways of interpreting the same information. That goes for both the people who support Kerry and those who disparage him. It is the opposite of accepting your own position as absolute fact, and certainly the opposite of being "close-minded".

No, hon. Words have meaning and sometime people can use a double entendre or twist a phrase, but when someone says, "You didn't build that" or says get educated or get stuck in Iraq, it's fairly clear what he means. Now when you have a population of zombies who parrot back what they're instructed, that's when you get these fake interpertations

Back peddle and bs all you want, you don't get to determine how a person reads a statement and determines what it means. But that was only part of my response to your post. I suggested that you supported the comments made by Surfer that liberals serving in the military were maggots because they were liberals and conservatives were the only heroes. Answer that without all the bs. You are so worried about comments made by a returning vet made over 40 years ago, but got nothing to say about insults made to active duty military just a few hours ago. In fact, you seem to want to support him. So why should anyone give a crap about your opinion on Kerry? It's not based on reality or fact, it's based of your present day political views. Certainly not based on concern for vet's and active duty military.

 

[sambino510]

When you have to "Read it another way" it's you who are "Closed-minded and brainwashed"

I don't see how that makes any sense. "Reading another way" means that one acknowledges the fact that there are different ways of interpreting the same information. That goes for both the people who support Kerry and those who disparage him. It is the opposite of accepting your own position as absolute fact, and certainly the opposite of being "close-minded".

No, hon. Words have meaning and sometime people can use a double entendre or twist a phrase, but when someone says, "You didn't build that" or says get educated or get stuck in Iraq, it's fairly clear what he means. Now when you have a population of zombies who parrot back what they're instructed, that's when you get these fake interpertations

I don't know what you were trying to prove with that statement, but yes, indeed, people can twist a phrase. That is my point about the critics of John Kerry and his statements in 1971, or his statements about "get stuck in Iraq", is that people can indeed twist those phrases to mean whatever they like. That goes for BOTH sides. The only one that can accurately portray his opinions and clarify his position is John Kerry; we can only judge it from the outside looking in.