Reply #22: I'm blown AWAY by John Kerry's responses!!!

[mainer]

What an impressive, impressive young man he was! I have already sent in my $2000 contribution to his campaign, but it was with a resigned "okay, he's the candidate" feeling. Now I can honestly say that this old, old show of Cavett's has opened my eyes to just how impressive and thoughtful the young Kerry was.

A few observations:

First, Cavett was very good about letting the two men talk for themselves, with very few editorial responses. Why can't journalists today do more of that?

Second, it's interesting hearing, through the retrospective wisdom, how WRONG O'Neill and his pro-Vietnam war people were. He's talking on the show about how well Vietnamization is going, and we can sit here now and sneer at what an idiot he was. Kerry saw it all coming, and O'Neill looks stupid in comparison.

Third, the eerie echoes of Iraq kept coming back to me as I listened to Kerry talk about the failure of Vietnamization, about how men are still dying, about how the only way to keep Americans from getting killed is to get them OUTTA there.

I was a little apprehensive about watching this program, thinking that Kerry would come off as a an anti-war lefty. Far from it. I have come away thinking that Kerry is a far, far wiser man than I ever realized.