Let the character assassination begin..
Posted : August 12, 2004 at 10:21 am [America/Los_Angeles]
[via Eschaton: Four Months Newspaper Edition]
AJC, 8/11:
Vietnam
communists are advising the Islamic terrorists on how to handle John
Kerry: Wound him slightly and often and he’ll leave the Middle East in
four months.Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kevin O’Brien, 8/11
Are
they truly hoping that Americans will focus so cooperatively on John
Kerry’s four months of doing the right thing in Vietnam that they’ll
forget that he’s spent the rest of his adult life doing the wrong thing
with nearly perfect consistency?LTTE, St. Petersburg Times, 8/11:
For instance, why did he leave his crew in Vietnam after serving just over four months?LTTE, LA Times, 08/10:
- As far as I can tell the reasons Kerry offers for people to vote for
him are that he served in Vietnam for four months on a Swift boat 35
years ago;Marsha Mercer, Tampa Tribune, 08/09:
Kerry received three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during his four months in Vietnam.Boston Herald, op-Ed, 08/07:
By making his four months of service in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign for the presidency, Sen.John Kerry himself invites further scrutiny of that service.
LTTE, Newsday, 08/06:
- He
avoided hot topics like abortion, gay marriage and gun control and
spent most of his time peddling stories of four months in Vietnam 35
years ago.AJC, the Vent, 08/05:
- John Kerry spent four months fighting communism and then spent the next 30 years fighting capitalism.
Linda Chavez, 08/05/2004:
But
Mr. Kerry’s insistence on making his four-month tour of duty in Vietnam
the centerpiece of his campaign could backfire as Americans learn more
about what he did in that country and, more important, what he did when
he returned home.David Brooks, 07/31:
For
though convention viewers may not be aware of it, Kerry has actually
had a career since his four months in Vietnam — mostly in the Senate.Cal Thomas, 08/03:
- Kerry repeatedly brings up his four-month service in Vietnam.
Adam Nagourney, NYT, 08/01, reporting Republican spin without correction:
Entering
a four week run-up to the unusually late Republican convention, Mr.
Bush’s aides said they had laid out a week-by-week in plan in which Mr.
Bush would talk about his accomplishments and his second-term agenda.
But they said they would also try to blunt what Democrats and
Republicans said was a successful four-day Democratic convention
focused on Mr. Kerry’s veteran credentials by turning attention from
what they described as his brief four-month tour in Vietnam to his 20
years in Washington.LTTE, San Diego Tribune, 8/3
He
did spend four months in Vietnam. Since his return, the only consistent
factors of his life have been undermining our national defense, and
promoting himself.WashingtonPost - OpEd, 8/12
Mr. Kerry’s four-plus months in Vietnam made for an unusually short tour.
To all these folks, I have a very simple question:
Why don’t you try enlisting yourself or your son/daughter/brother/sister for a tour of duty in Iraq for a period of four months? Really, only four months!!!
The more I read this type of stuff, the more I start beleiving in what Clinton said the other day on ‘Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ about the Republican strategy in this (and almost any) election:
Just demonize (or trivialize) your opponent’s character. Once you’ve done that, rest of his/her credentials does not matter.
Oh, and in case you were wondering how long Kerry did serve, check this out. However, I still feel that’s really not the point.
I fervently hope that folks/voters of this great country see through this political chicanery and stay focussed on what the real issues are in this Election.
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004