Stuff about Kerry that I doubt is true...can someone verify?

[UnapologeticLiberal]

I was talking to someone from Massachusetts the other day, and he was telling me all this dirt about Kerry. He said that he thinks Kerry's Vietnam record may have either been completely staged or he may have hired a photographer to follow him around Vietnam, because he has so many pictures of him in uniform in Vietnam. I said that I could not imagine that was true, and that if it were, it would have been exposed by now. But does anyone here have any idea how the pics were taken or anything that might help dispell this sort of thing? I don't want crap like this going around about any of our candidates if it is not true, and I thought maybe if there is anyone who is involved with the Kerry campaign, you should run it by the PR team so they can have a response prepared if anyone asks how he has so many professional looking pictures from Vietnam.

[Changenow]

1. This is only the beginning.

By the time the Republican slander machine is finished with whomever the nominee is they will be unrecognizable to their true self.

What else do they have but lies? Their candidate went AWOL, the most important thing to them will be to put our candidates on the defensive so that that truth doesn’t become known.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

4. This guy from Massachusetts was a Democrat

He stopped me as I was going into my dorm (he was there moving his daughter in) because I had a Dean button on. He is undecided but says so far Dean is the only one who has excited him...but he is not active with the campaign at all and is not yet officially on board, so I don't think that he would make up stuff about Kerry just to help Dean. I asked him why he was supporting Dean and not his hometown favorite son, and he launched into this tirade about how he thinks Kerry is a phony...it was weird, because I am a Dean supporter but I found myself arguing with this guy.

[vi5]

2. I've heard the thing about the photographer being debunked...

I believe he did have a photographer with him but it was for the filming of a documentary or some such thing. Apparently if you watch all the footage, Kerry's role in it is so minimal as to put the theory to rest.

I'm not doing this justice but I'm pretty sure I've seen this rumor squashed on more than one occassion.

Of course that doesn't mean it won't get reported and/or seep into the consciousness of American psyches.

[KaraokeKarlton]

3. I've heard some very unfavorable things as well.

Most of it has come from people within the vets against vietnam group he was involved with when he returned from Vietnam. Apparently some in the group (and I honestly don't know how many) feel that he's betrayed them in a number of ways. A lot of this has to do with Kerry pushing for US troops to leave Vietnam without our POWs. On top of that, Kerry's cousin profited a great deal as a real estate mogul in Vietnam once relations improved. There are also reports that at least one of his "heroic" acts were overblown. This is sort of a tacky criticism, but it is out there and could stick. It seems that there is some argument about whether or not he shot and killed an already wounded enemy soldier as he was trying to get away. This would be tit for tat to some people, but others wouldn't like it. I had also read where some of Kerry's past supporters and fellow anti-war activists needed his support and they felt he wasn't there for them because it was politically inconvenient. I had also read not too long ago that some of his fellow vets were rather put off with him when he showed up at a reunion with the press in two for photo ops and didn't hang around once the press got the pictures. These things are why I think it's a huge mistake for people to embrace his candidacy just because he served in Vietnam. I tend to think it's going to blow up in his face quite badly at some point.

[molly]

5. This was probably started by the same person that

said there was no holocaust! Did you laugh?

Wait until September 3rd! Here's the article

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/clips/news_2003_0818d.html

snip....

During the Sept. 2 stop in Charleston, Kerry is expected to be joined by David Alston of Columbia, a member of his boat crew during the Vietnam War. Later that day in Iowa, another crew member, Gene Thorsen of Ames, is expected to be beside Kerry, and aides hinted there might be additional crew members at each location.

The senator frequently speaks about the workings of the crew, a racially diverse group from around the country, as a metaphor for how he hopes to renew the commitment of Americans to one another.

[blm]

6. It's the Skull and Bones charge.

They say Kerry faked his service and faked being shot three times, too.

Kerry's crew and the men whose lives he saved tell a different story.

It will all be told, and historian Douglas Brinkley's biography of Kerry will be out soon.

Don't sweat the BS. It will all be dissected publicly, ad nauseum.

You can start by checking out the Joe Klein profile in the Dec. issue of the New Yorker. He debunks the specific charge.

[DrFunkenstein]

7. Kerry Took 8mm "Home Movies"

Which was very common thing to do. Since he was usually holding the camera, he is rarely in front of it. As for being photographed alot, Vietnam was the most photographed war in history. Kerry's photos are unexceptional. Most of them are posed photographs like a basketball team would take.

As for Kerry's record being staged, it's complete bullshit. Pardon my French. The stories about his combat experiences and the many friends he lost are truly disquieting.

Read an excerpt from hs diaries.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/journal_day2.shtml

[ilpostino]

8. Second that motion

The Boston Globe has done an excellent job on Kerry--all archived for your convenience. But the quick answer to anyone who says the war record was jimmmied up---just remind them that this was during the Nixon years...and Nixon was on record even back then as fearing Kerry as a political power. Think the old master of the enemies list would've sat back while...who? Mel Laird doctored Kerry's war record?