Kerry calls on Bush to settle questions on military record

[Sarge]

Kerry calls on Bush to settle questions on military record

By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff, 2/3/2004

TUCSON -- Democratic presidential front-runner John F. Kerry, who has turned his decorated Vietnam War service into a theme of his campaign, said yesterday that President Bush and the US military should settle questions -- raised recently by Kerry allies -- about whether Bush completed his military service requirement in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s.

Before attending a campaign rally here that drew 2,000 people, on the eve of today's presidential primary in Arizona and six other states, the Massachusetts senator said that the matter of Bush's military service record was ''a question that I think remains open.'' Kerry added that he lacked ''the facts'' to make a judgment about accusations that Bush ended his military commitment prematurely.

''It's not up to me to talk about them or to question them at this point,'' Kerry said of the accusations. ''I don't even know what the facts are. But I think it's up to the president and the military to answer those questions.''

Kerry also said he was not sure if he would exploit Bush's military record as an issue in the fall general election if he were to become the Democratic nominee. ''I don't know yet, I haven't made up my mind,'' Kerry told reporters on the tarmac of the Tucson airport.

Yet two prominent Democrats with ties to Kerry -- Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and former senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland -- have ratcheted up their attacks on Bush's military record, with McAuliffe saying on television Sunday that Bush had been ''AWOL'' at times during his guard service. Cleland, speaking at a veterans' rally with Kerry on Friday, said the nation should not have a president ''who didn't even complete his tour stateside in the guard.'' Kerry said yesterday he did not ask allies to attack Bush on his military record.

At a rally yesterday morning in New Mexico -- which also votes today -- Kerry received the endorsement of Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York and a well-regarded opponent of white-collar crime, who flew west to endorse Kerry at a time when the candidate has been under attack for receiving more than $600,000 in individual donations from lobbyists over the last 15 years.

Patrick Healy can be reached by e-mail at phealy@globe.com.


This story ran on page A17 of the Boston Globe on 2/3/2004.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/034/nation/Kerry_calls_on_Bush_to_settle_questions_on_military_recordP.shtml

[FORD]

Judas is wasting his time here. Junior the deserter shitbag ran against 2 Vietnam veterans (one of them a POW) in 2000. If it didn't work then, it won't work now.

[John Ashcroft]

Holy shit Batman! Ford's making a bit of sense (aside from the "deserter-shitbag" part that is).

There have been several groups struggling to make this story stick for the better part of 4 years now, none successful (because it didn't happen, he made up his time and got an honorable discharge. Can't get that if you're a deserter).

But on a side note, ever notice how utterly devoid of ideas the Dems are? They have no plan for America, only mudslinging, hatred, and "gotchas". Some platform, huh?

[lucky wilbury]

speaking of war records i wonder how the lefties who complain about bush "killing" civilains by going after iraq are going to explain their votes for kerry who has admitted to commiting crimes againest humainty,war crimes, and killing civilians himself are going to explain their votes for him. it shall be interesting.

[FORD]

Originally posted by lucky wilbury
speaking of war records i wonder how the lefties who complain about bush "killing" civilains by going after iraq are going to explain their votes for kerry who has admitted to commiting crimes againest humainty,war crimes, and killing civilians himself are going to explain their votes for him. it shall be interesting.

I'm no defender of Judas, but I believe you're confusing him with Bob Kerrey who admitted to being involved in the slaughter of an entire village in Vietnam.

[Sarge]

Originally posted by John Ashcroft

But on a side note, ever notice how utterly devoid of ideas the Dems are? They have no plan for America, only mudslinging, hatred, and "gotchas". Some platform, huh?

It would be the same way if the tables were turned

[John Ashcroft]

I really don't believe so Sarge. It's true I've been very upset with the platform of the current majority party in our Government, but you do have to admit that Republicans still have to sell their way into office with ideas. Look at the Contract with America. It really doesn't matter if anyone here agreed with it or not. The fact is, the Republicans offered a comprehensive plan for America and the public accepted it. The Dems have no such plan. The only plan they have is to replace George Bush, and that's not gonna be enough for the public to switch majorities.

[lucky wilbury]

Originally posted by FORD
I'm no defender of Judas, but I believe you're confusing him with Bob Kerrey who admitted to being involved in the slaughter of an entire village in Vietnam.

no i mean john kerry. his own words:

(Audiotape, April 18, 1971)

MR. CROSBY NOYES (Washington Evening Star): Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?

KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used .50-caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals. (End audiotape)

-------------------------------------------

there is a lot more where that came from.

[Cathedral]

At the risk of sounding like a Liberal....."Gotcha!"

Everyone, get your voting hand ready, it's gonna be a wild ride again.

[John Ashcroft]

So the Boston Globe (I.E. Kerry) is calling Dubya out huh? Read this:

White House Defends Bush's Guard Service During War

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House swung into campaign mode on Tuesday to defend President Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard far from the battlefields of Vietnam after Democrats accused him of going "AWOL."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied Democratic charges that Bush shirked his military duties in the early 1970s unlike Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran.

McClellan called the accusations "shameful" and the "worst of election-year politics." Bush "fulfilled his duties" in the National Guard and was honorably discharged. "The president was proud of his service," McClellan added.

The counter-attack came as voters voted in seven states on the biggest day yet of a Democratic presidential race so far dominated by Kerry.

Analysts said the unusually blunt response underscored White House concerns that military service could become a campaign issue.

Bush stayed out of combat in Vietnam while serving as a pilot in the Air National Guard.

Democrats have long challenged Bush's record of attendance in the guard in 1972 when he transferred temporarily to an Alabama unit to work on a political campaign.

According to a copy of the National Guard document granting him an "honorable" discharge on Oct. 1, 1973, Bush completed five years and four months of service -- less than the obligatory six years -- before entering Harvard Business School.

CENTER STAGE

On Sunday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe thrust the issue to center stage, telling ABC's "This Week" television program that he welcomed a debate on military service if Kerry won the party's presidential nomination.

"I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard," McAuliffe said. "George Bush never served in our military in our country. He didn't show up when he should have showed up."

The accusation that Bush was AWOL, or "absent without leave," stems from charges that he missed required drills in Alabama.

The leading Democratic candidates have yet to directly criticize the president's Air National Guard service, although Kerry routinely contrasts Bush's made-for-television landing last year on an aircraft carrier with his own real-life experiences in combat.

Asked whether he considered Bush "AWOL" during his service in the National Guard, Kerry told CNN, "It is a question that's been raised and that ought to be answered."

But he added: "I spoke out against the use of the word deserters, which I thought was inappropriate ... and over the top."

Vice President Dick Cheney obtained deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War.

Democratic candidate Howard Dean also missed service in Vietnam -- owing to a bad back, though that did not keep him off the ski slopes.

'NO PLACE IN POLITICS'

Without naming McAuliffe, McClellan said "these kinds of attacks have no place in politics and everyone should condemn them."

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot attacked Kerry directly. "To suggest, as Sen. Kerry has, that the military should 'answer questions' about President Bush's honorable discharge is an outrage," he said.

Besides his Vietnam combat record, Kerry also has almost two decades of foreign policy experience in the Senate, and Bush's allies concede this could make him a formidable challenger on national security issues.

A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll had Kerry defeating Bush 53 percent to 46 percent, a lead outside the poll's margin of error. Sort of like Dukakis showing way ahead of Bush 1, and Mondale showing ahead of Reagan... How'd those elections turn out again?

Link: here

I wonder if the Boston Globe will accept this response and drop it?

[FORD]

Originally posted by lucky wilbury
no i mean john kerry. his own words:

(Audiotape, April 18, 1971)

MR. CROSBY NOYES (Washington Evening Star): Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?

KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used .50-caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals. (End audiotape)

-------------------------------------------

there is a lot more where that came from.

Thanks. I stand corrected. Never saw this quote before. And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one. Maybe this quote needs to be widely circulated?

[Cathedral]

Ouch, i felt that jab, lol...

I liked the part about Dean having a bad back and then heading for the ski slopes. that made me chuckle like a chucklehead, lmmfao.

I admire Kerry for taking that stand against what he thought was wrong. it shows that he had integrity.
But in his protests following it he seemed to do a flip flop and tried successfully to have it both ways.
May have looked good then, but it is going to bite him in the ass now.

[John Ashcroft]

His association with Jane Fonda is too much for me to stomach. I think it went beyond simply protesting the Vietnam War, to aiding the enemy. This, if anything, will be the downfall of Kerry's bid for the White House.

[Cathedral]

Ditto, it's easy not to see this coming right now because Bush hasn't even begun to fight.
I think there should be Conservative opposition throughout this whole process.
Same goes for when there is a sitting Liberal President.

They get to much airplay and i think it confuses people because once someone has formed an opinion it is an uphill battle to change that opinion.