Reply #23: But why would you believe Kerry was less likely to pony up?

[gottaB]

Kerry explicitly made an issue out of armour, body armour and armoured vehicles.

And if you looked into Kerry's position on withdrawing, you'd see that it was different from Bush on stuff like permanent military bases. It seems with Bush, you know what you're getting, and it's hardly in your interests. With Kerry, you had some uncertainties, but you could be certain that it wouldn't be Bush. Would it be rational for a soldier to believe that a Kerry Presidency would be worse than the status quo?

Kerry's positions were distorted and he was personally attacked for the purpose of generating irrational fears in the minds of voters so they could be persuaded to vote against their own best interests. Simple as that.