Aiming for John Kerry's Purple Heart

[quaoar]

How low will the Republicans sink to try to smear Kerry? This is Joe Conason in Salon:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/07/16/swift_boat_veterans/index.html

The hunt for John Kerry has now been contracted to a hired gun.

A private detective retained by "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" -- the Texas-based group seeking to discredit John Kerry's military record -- is contacting veterans who may have information about the incidents that led to Kerry's Vietnam decorations. According to a former Kerry crew member, several of the Massachusetts senator's old Navy comrades have refused to talk with the detective, a former FBI agent named Thomas Rupprath -- and some have complained that the detective tried to put damaging words in their mouths.

Rupprath's efforts are clearly intended to discredit Kerry's military record, which should surprise nobody familiar with the "Swift Boat" group. Its leaders are conservative Republicans embittered over Kerry's later antiwar activism and determined that he should never become the nation's commander in chief. Two months ago, their opening salvo against the Democratic presidential nominee fizzled -- in part because it was revealed that several of the same officers now criticizing Kerry had written strongly positive evaluations of him as a young lieutenant decades ago.

Registered as a "527" organization with the Internal Revenue Service, the "Swift Boat Veterans" group can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for campaign activities, but is prohibited from working directly with the Bush campaign or the Republican Party. Its spokesmen have repeatedly denied any GOP sponsorship, although several of the group's leaders have longstanding ties with the Republican Party.

Now Rupprath is pursuing the questions raised by the anti-Kerry veterans -- such as the nature of the wounds that led to the awarding of three Purple Hearts to the young lieutenant, and the circumstances under which he was decorated for valor. In a brief interview with the Dallas Morning News – which broke the news of his investigation on July 12 -- the detective said: "We're not making any accusations until I think we have them truly buttoned up and can be presented in as authentic and credible a manner as possible."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Nasty, bitter, venal...

Old Men. I have more regard for the shit I scrape off the bottom of my shoe.

[lovedems]

2. What a joke.

At least Kerry was IN VIETNAM. I don't think the medals are significant when you compare Bush didn't even go to Vietnam. Bush didn't drive a swift boat, Bush didn't kill for his country, Bush didn't have to worry about schrapnel.

That being said, at least Kerry has medals to what he pleased with them! I don't care how he got his medals. He went to Vietnam, Bush didn't.

[mark11727]

9. But * has CLEAN TEETH

and bloody hands.

[clydefrand]

3. At least John Kerry had medals/ribbons to dispose of

if he indeed did. Unlike the piece of crap occupying the WH, he did serve and he did make a difference. And Bush's records no longer exist? How convenient. The lying SOB is not good enough to shine Kerry's shoes, IMHO.

[rpannier]

4. What I find funny about the whole thing is...

every American serviceman who was in conflict (I'm a veteran of Gulf War I) knows that any injury incurred during fighting gets you a Purple Heart -- ANY Injury.
I have a friend who was awarded a Purple Heart when he accidently walked into the razor wire around our tyke area. He was not shot, he did nothing heroic. It was dark and the unit was fairly close to a fire-fight.
The Nature of the wounds are irrelevant in a combat zone.
Shows how far anti-Kerry groups will stoop to discredit him.
But that's the pukes for you. Afterall ann coulter slandered the former Senator Cleland's war injuries.

[olddem43]

5. Besides that, no one requests medals for themselves.

Commanding officers initiate the paper work, and higher ups approve.

[LuLu550]

16. I was researching this to get a replacement medal for my great uncle

1) you can't ask for a purple heart
2) any wound related to combat the required medical attention is eligible, weather the wound is visible or not
3) the only non-qualifying "wounds" are mental disorders arising from combat
That the Republicans will stoop this low is no surprise. What should happen is vets who are recipients of the purple heart who support Kerry should protest their questioning of it. For if they question Kerry's they question anyone else's that was not the result of serious bodily injury.

[seventhson]

13. I admit I tried like hell during the primares to get some traction on this

issue

there isn't any.

Whether or not Kerry was 100% deserving of all his medals or not, the fact is that he repeatedly displayed courage under fire and rescued men in combat.

The repukes that try to slime kerry with this will only soil themselves

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. It's Stupid And Won't Fly...

Left wing groups tried to discredit Papa Bush's heroics doing World War 2... They claimed he ditched his plane too fast dooming his copilot... I think they even found some guy who "witnessed" the incident....It went nowhere...


Groups also tried to discredit Bob Dole's services...


These attempts boomerang because they highlight your own candidate's weaknesses in these areas...

[rkc3]

11. Sorry, if it didn't fly, it still wouldn't get passed around like this.

Unless they're still trying to make it stick. I know several righties who question Kerry over his war record - my guess is that it's flown pretty well.

[aden_nak]

7. Can't blame Bush, though. He won HIS 3 Purple Hearts. . . oh. Nevermind.

Though to be fair, I was equally dismayed when Democrats tried to scoff at Bush Sr. and Dole's military records. Particularly Dole's.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. see above

nt

[Ganja Ninja]

10. These low life scumbags are at it again.

No doubt whatever lie they come up with will be picked up by the liburl media and focused on for the next 3 months. And if Kerry's elected it will become a multi-million dollar FBI investigation that will never end.

Amazing! Kerry goes to war and is wounded 3 times and the RW and their media toadies try to make it into a crime. Meanwhile the Chimp has his desertion records covertly deleted and the media has no interest.

[Hoping4Change]

12. It's not about medals, it's about mettle. Kerry has it, dimwit doesn't!

[Democat]

14. The left should hire an investigator to connect this group to Bush

They would be breaking the law if they are coordinating with Bush and a good investigator with a lot of money might be able to make that connection. Is it really likely they are working on their own?

Where are Tom DeLay and Karl Rove in all of this?

For every investigator they hire, our side should hire two and turn their evil back on them.

Make Bush pay for trying to attack an American war veteran.

[quaoar]

18. OK

So send in a contribution.
If you've already sent one in, send in another.

This is war. Sacrifices must be made.

[deminflorida]

15. From a Retired Navy Vet here.....

Kerry has more time on a Navy shitter than Bush did anywhere near a combat zone.

That's all that matters.

[Pepperbelly]

20. Shoot ... even I have more time in the chow line than Bush did in ...

TANG.

[zulchzulu]

17. My Flash animation to the issue about his Purple Heart

http://www.kerrysupport.com/ads/purpleheart.html

[divineorder]

19. What gets me...

Is that they don't realize how this much really backfires on
them. Those in the know know that it is only the luck of the
draw that makes one injury less of danger than another in a
war zone. A better shot, or a worse mishap, and we would be
looking at someone else as a nominee. And at least Kerry took
on that risk instead of cheating and staying home. And people
have died on the way to war,let alone actually in the war
zone, so that's not relevant either.

The rest know that he's a war hero. Which is one of the
reasons that the anti-war movement embraced him. He walked the
walk at great risk, so when he spoke from the heart, people
knew that he knew what he was talking about and understood
what was really going on.

People respect that, and resent others trying to dis honorable
service. They know that this is purely partisan. If Shrub's
record was like Kerry's they would have built a monument or
erected a statue by now.

[zulchzulu]

22. Welcome to DU!

And like you said...it will backfire on them.

[frankly_fedup2]

21. I don't give a rat's ass how he got them or whether it was a scratch or

two. All I care about is that he went to Vietnam, was wounded, and returned back to duty after 3 injuries.

As for Rush (I have a pilonidal cyst) Limbaugh laughing on his show about how Kerry got one of his Purple Hearts, if I could have gotten through the electrical wiring to this man I would have.

Limbaugh, Bush, Cheney, everyone in the Bush Administration, Sean Hannity, or Michael (thank God Reagan adopted me or I'd be working a real job) Reagan, have absolutely no right to open their mouths about anything Kerry did in Vietnam.

At least when he was called upon to serve, he went. Those sorry asses listed above did not even have the balls to go to basic training. However, they are all for their Iraqi War.

The talking heads could not wait until we went into Iraq. Now, they don't really talk about it anymore. They try to trash Edwards and Kerry. All of Kerry's commercials I have seen here in Virginia are about the things Kerry and Edwards have done . . . nothing against Bush. However, Bush/Cheney, Inc. commercials are all about Kerry and Edwards wrong doings and very critical. Why doesn't Bush/Cheney, Inc., have commercials on their accomplishments? Could it be that none of their accomplishments were good for this country but great for corporations?

I think Dubya has finally found something he might be good at. Killing people everyday, and not having a second thought about it. Such a Christian.

[fdr_hst_fan]

23. It seems to me that I read

some years ago that, in his heyday, MCCARTHY had a FORMER FBI agent doing HIS investigating, also. Doesn't that strike you as interesting?
:puke:

[tom22]

24. This was investigated by a guy

named Alan Brinkley, the historian. He wrote a whole damn book. The investigator should read the damn book.