Between now and the elections, we'll point you to articles which will get you to know John Kerry better and understand who he is.
On the front page (above the fold, yet) of today's L.A. Times is a massive article about Kerry's war record titled Kerry's Own War Over Vietnam. I don't generally urge anyone to register to read anything, but I've been registered to the Times for years and nobody's come to my house to empty my refrigerator. Go. It's worth it, especially if you want to know more about the man and his detractors.
One of the most revealing things in the piece is what the Times found out about the leader of one of the GOP's smear teams, the Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth."
Other Swift boat officers - Republican sympathizers and veterans bitter over Kerry's post-Vietnam peace activism - pose a darker alternate history. Members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry political committee, they are led by retired Rear Adm. Roy F. Hoffmann, a blunt-edged Navy career man who oversaw the hit-and-run river raids Kerry viewed as a costly waste of American lives.Is Kerry's military record unblemished? It sure doesn't look like he did anything out of military procedure. And anyone's military record can be picked at until only the bones remain.
In Vietnam, Hoffmann and other former officers contend, Kerry bucked Navy procedure, staying in country just long enough to prime his political resume. Some question the accuracy of Kerry's recollections and the legitimacy of the first of his three Purple Hearts - a minor wound, they claim, that was not suffered in action.
"He went to Vietnam to build a career," Hoffmann said. "He was a loose cannon while he was there, and he bugged out early."
Yet Hoffmann and Kerry had few direct dealings in Vietnam. A Los Angeles Times examination of Navy archives found that Hoffmann praised Kerry's performance in cabled messages after several river skirmishes. And while the Purple Heart account remains murky, its award was routine. Navy records show Swift boat crews were frequently raked with slight wounds of uncertain origin - injuries that often earned decorations.
"I don't know what conclusions you can draw about someone's ability to lead from their combat experience, but John's service was commendable," said James J. Galvin, a former Swift boat officer who, like Kerry, was honored for three minor wounds and left the coastal combat zone early. "He played by the same rules we all did."
Since George Washington's day, a candidate's wartime service has almost "always been seen as an advantage," said Alan Brinkley, professor of American history at Columbia University.
That presumption has been swept aside this presidential election year. Even as the Massachusetts senator uses his Vietnam days in media ads and speeches to emphasize his firmness on national security, sparring over his four-month tour shows how even a prized military record can be picked apart during an election.
You will know this: Kerry's service record outweighs Bush's, Cheney's, Libby's, Rove's, Rumsfeld's, Wolfowitz's, Limbaugh's, Hannity's, Gingrich's, Coulter's, O'Reilly's, Savage's, and Scarborough's - combined.
Of course the comparison's not fair - all those folks' records add up to zero.
