John Kerry’s newly-released full military records show that the Swift Boat Liars are liars (Bugmenot may be needed). The full records entirely back up Mr Kerry’s story from the campaign, while lending absolutely no credence to John O’Neill’s bullshit.
It’s just a shame that Mr Kerry was too much of an honourable man being slurred by scum, and not enough of a low-down and dirty political operator, to get these released during the campaign… Oh well. On the plus side, the Dem ’08 candidate is sure to be as low-down and dirty as a freak can be.
It’s a pity Kerry was a feeble, feckless, dishonourable, vaccilating numpty with all the political nous of an outgrowth on a rotting entrail.
The man committed electoral suicide by refusing even the implication, even the suggestion that he had the slightest amount of principled objection to any of Bush’s policies.
Fuck ‘im.
The original draft of this post was more along those lines, but ultimately my visceral hatred for the Swifties outweighed my mild contempt for Kerry’s political ineptitude.
Hang on.
"For example, Kerry received his first Purple Heart for action on Dec. 2, 1968. Kerry told historian Douglas Brinkley that ”I never saw where the piece of shrapnel had come from.” Kerry’s critics have questioned whether the wound came from enemy fire, and his former commanding officer said the wound resembled a ”scratch.” The file includes a previously reported reference to Kerry being treated for the wound and that he was awarded the Purple Heart, but it does not address the details of the combat that night. No after-action report for the incident has been found."
So, now he’s released the documents, the argument is still a matter of his word against theirs and various points of disagreement are still every bit as unsettled as they were before. So how exactly do you arrive at the conclusion that he’s been proven right?
> The man committed electoral suicide by refusing even the implication, even the suggestion that he had the slightest amount of principled objection to any of Bush’s policies.
No, he committed electoral suicide by being a twonk. He goes to a Wendy’s to order a burger, thus showing he’s a man of the people. He hardly touches the food, then retires to his campaign bus to which is delivered a sumptuous haute-cuisine banquet for him and his entire entourage. Not only does he do this, but he allows the information to escape, so that you and I and the US electorate know about it. The question isn’t one of taste in food. It’s a matter of being able to manage an incredibly simple task — eating a burger for publicity purposes — without making a total pigs ear of it.
And his speechifying was pretty bad.
1) The main thing the Swifties had that they claimed went beyond "he said/he said" was the records issue – they suggested, plausibly, that Kerry’s full records contained assorted smoking guns. They didn’t.
2) You’re broadly right about the electoral suicide by twonkery thing. However, had he even tried to make the current administration’s monumental strategic and tactical incompetence into a campaign issue, there’s a small chance that would have oughtweighed his personal twonkery.
(remember, people over here generally thought Bush would lose – not, emphatically, that Kerry would win, but that Bush would lose – because the administration’s myriad failings have received so much more media play in Europe than in the ‘liberal’ US media…)
John Kerry did not release his entire file, only the Navy records. The National Archive files was not released as would be typical with a Form 180. So any change in his discharge status from other-than-honourable to honourable, such as would happen when Carter foolishly pardon all the draft-dodgers and such, would not appear. He may not be very smart, but he’s clever in his own clumsy sort of way. Now that he’s a loser, no one really cares one way or the other ‘cept the ones he let down.