Do you question any of what Kerry says about his medals and stories of Vietnam?  Is it right to question him?  Would you be troubled to know that he was exaggerating the truth?  Do you want to know what really happened or are you content to believe that he's a hero because he says he is? 

Let me just start by telling you something about Kerry that my fellow New Englander Peter, and maybe even Dale, could back me up on. Kerry might have a reputation as a guy that will go on and on about issues but he does not have a reputation for being a braggart. His explanations of things may be long and drawn out but about himself he's always been more about understatement. For all the crap that floats around in the media about him he is not a jerk. Anyone you talk to about him or anything you read about him indicates that about Viet Nam he's always been more introspective than anything else. Sure now he's being told to play it up and talk about it but that's because it is a rather large difference between him and Bush.

Second thing is Kerry didn't award those medals to himself. It was his actions and what others said about him at the time, including Mr. Elliot, that got him those medals. What Kerry had to say had nothing to do with why he received those medals. You don't award yourself the Silver Star or the Bronze Star. Your commanding officers don't put you in for these because you come back from the jungle and tell them "Hey chief, I'm a hero!"

It's damn stupid to try and say Kerry "exaggerated" to get his medals. I thought you were in the military and understood how that works Kevin. Other people put you up for medals, you don't do it yourself. Get real will you. You seem so bent on trying to find a flaw with Kerry you could care less if you have to take part in a lie to do it.

Face it Kevin, Kerry is a Hero with a capital "H" and Bush is a rich kid that got daddy to get him out of having to go. The reason they are attacking this aspect of John Kerry's life is not because Kerry talks about it so much, as right wing media ranters want you to think, it's because it makes Bush look like an ass and a coward. It's a major sore spot! Can you please wake up! It's no contest in the character department between these two guys...Kerry makes Bush look bad. That's it, bottom line.

You are right that they should talk about his career in the Senate instead. The thing is they already tryed to cover that and when they attack something what they do is try to simplify it. So they try to come up with something short and sweet that you'll remember. It doesn't have to be true it just has to be easy to remember because they know most people won't check to see if they are distorting things or lying. So they summed up 20 years in the Senate with "flip-flopper" which is funny if you look at it honestly. Anyone that's been around that long has been on different sides of different issues.

Look at Bush in his time in office...

First he was against Homeland Security...then he was for it.

First he was against nation building...then he was for it.

First he was against an aggressive foreign policy...then he was for it.  

First he was for Gay marriage being a states rights issue then he was against it.

First he was against an independent 9/11 commission...then he was for it.

First he was for steel tariffs then he was against them.

First he was for banning assault weapons then he was against it.

First he was for limiting CO2 emissions then he was against it.

First Bush opposed the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill...then he was for it.  

First Bush was for a UN resolution before we went into Iraq ("No matter what...we're calling for the vote" GWB 3/6/03) then he was against waiting for a resolution (resolution pulled off table before vote 3/18/03)

It goes on and on...Bush is a flip-flopper. See you can distort anyone's record. What you need to do is look beyond just the simple first he was for then he was against stuff and look at the why. See we can't trust the RNC or the DNC to give us the why...so we have to look for it ourselves. Cheney was on the same side of many of the votes they are now mocking Kerry for. It's stupid. I suppose we'll never have a good honest election but we...you and me and all the rest of us can try to find the facts and look at things closer. We can try to use our heads when we are confronted with this stuff. That's all I ask of you Kevin. Don't support Kerry but use your head...please.

Well, this will be my last post for a couple of weeks, I'm off to New York tommorrow morning.

                                                                     Reg