Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Kerry vs Kerry
The Instapendent highlights some Democratic hypocracy on the issue of Vietnam.
Senator Tom Harkin:
Harkin, D-Iowa and a former Navy fighter pilot, said Monday, "It just outrages me that someone who got five deferments during Vietnam and said he had 'other priorities' at that time would say that."Honorably, John Kerry immediately reprimanded Harkin for "dividing" the country and "reopening" old wounds:
He said President Bush and Cheney are "running scared because John Kerry has a war record and they don't." He said of Cheney, "What he is doing and what he is saying is cowardly. The actions are cowardly."
"When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," said Harkin. "He'll be tough, but he'll be tough with someone else's kid's blood."
I am saddened by the fact that Vietnam has yet again been inserted into the campaign, and that it has been inserted in what I feel to be the worst possible way. By that I mean that yesterday, during this presidential campaign, and even throughout recent times, Vietnam has been discussed and written about without an adequate statement of its full meaning....Oh, wait a minute, that was the old John Kerry -- he said that in 1992 in defense of presidential candidate Bill Clinton. But at least John Kerry said he won't join in questioning Bush's service.
The race for the White House should be about leadership, and leadership requires that one help heal the wounds of Vietnam, not reopen them; that one help identify the positive things that we learned about ourselves and about our nation, not play to the divisions and differences of that crucible of our generation.
We do not need to divide America over who served and how. I have personally always believed that many served in many different ways. Someone who was deeply against the war in 1969 or 1970 may well have served their country with equal passion and patriotism by opposing the war as by fighting in it. Are we now, 20 years or 30 years later, to forget the difficulties of that time, of families that were literally torn apart, of brothers who ceased to talk to brothers, of fathers who disowned their sons, of people who felt compelled to leave the country and forget their own future and turn against the will of their own aspirations?...
But while those who served are owed special recognition, that recognition should not come at the expense of others; nor does it require that others be victimized or criticized or said to have settled for a lesser standard. To divide our party or our country over this issue today, in 1992, simply does not do justice to what all of us went through during that tragic and turbulent time....
We do not need more division. We certainly do not need something as complex and emotional as Vietnam reduced to simple campaign rhetoric. What has been said has been said, Mr. President, but I hope and pray we will put it behind us and go forward in a constructive spirit for the good of our party and the good of our country.
Later, Kerry questioned Bush's service:
Senator John F. Kerry extended his attack on President Bush's military service record and heaped scorn on Vice President Dick Cheney for avoiding the Vietnam War yesterday as the Kerry campaign continued to portray the nation's wartime leaders as once fearing war themselves....
Earlier in the day in comments to the Dayton Daily News, Kerry said of Bush and Cheney: "I think a lot of veterans are going to be very angry at a president who can't account for his own service in the National Guard, and a vice president who got every deferment in the world and decided he had better things to do, criticizing somebody who fought for their country and served.
I am sure John Kerry is "saddened by the fact that Vietnam has yet again been inserted into the campaign."
