Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty

[bearfartinthewoods]

who owns this paper?? is this a murdoch thing?

Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.


Senator Kerry on the campaign trail in Iowa
He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.

The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam.

The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F03%2F07%2Fwkerr07.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=8589

[WyLoochka]

1. Yes - it is a "murdoch" thing

and you know it, Bear - so why repeat it here? We went over it and over it the night before last.

[bearfartinthewoods]

8. excuse me but i did not know it

i have asked ad nauseam for a list of suspect sources and no one is ever willing to provide same. some of us don't make a hobby of memorizing this crap.

and i wasn't here the night before last or at least i did not see the discussion. got a link or care to fill me in?

[maddezmom]

9. here is a helpful link

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

[bearfartinthewoods]

20. thank you!

[WiseMen]

13. Read the whole article. It is obviously Repub propaganda. Can smell it.

[bearfartinthewoods]

21. i did read it and what i didn't see was a refutation

only no comment. like someone else said, volunteering for the navy was a way to get out of being drafted into the army....no secret and afaic, no shame. it just has to be dealt with, up front and openly.

if we have learned anything about this shit it should be to watch how letting the tang story fester has hurt bush. what te hell happened to rapid response anyway????

[JI7]

2. Kerry was never drafted

he volunteered himself for military service in the navy. the right wing is trying to use this to make it seem as if kerry was drafted and tried to get out of it, but he was never drated when he asked if he could study in paris. his service in the military was voluntarily. they might have drafted him later but he enlisted before.

[bearfartinthewoods]

11. has he ever released his lottery number?

that would/could put an end to this approach.

[OKNancy]

15. He didn't have a lottery number

The lottery didn't start until 1969. By then he had already served his tour...with distinction, I will add.

[libertad]

3. I don't think anyone in their right mind was really anxious to go.

I don't think anyone would be swayed by this ridiculous article.

[rogerashton]

4. Not smart, though.

It just calls attention to the fact that John DID go, and * did not.

[sangh0]

17. I hope the Repukes talk about this every day

it will just keep reminding people of how Bush* went AWOL

[displacedtexan]

5. The draft board wasn't as kind to JK as it was to Cheney, Bush*...

and every other CHICKENHAWK in those days!

[mikehiggins]

6. Even if true Kerry didn't use family influence to spend the war in

a cushy state-side position. Faced with the draft, he opted to enlist for a lengthier tour in the Navy. Maybe he was trying to avoid getting shot at, maybe not, but when push came to shove he was out there putting his ass on the line.

He did the honorable thing and got medals for it, as well as scars.

And then, of course, we have the case of George (my daddy's in Congress) Bush...

[Jai4WKC08]

22. If Kerry was "trying to avoid getting shot at"

He did a lousy job of it.

Kerry had a relatively safe assignment aboard a guided missile frigate. He volunteered for the swift boats. Brown water navy. Very dangerous assignment.

He could have finished his Navy tour, "punched his ticket" to support his eventual political career, and gone home. He chose to do more. It's one of the things I admire most about him.

The way I read the story, Kerry saw the new swift boats and they reminded him of the PT boat that John F Kennedy served on in WWII. Was he enamoured with following in the footsteps of a boyhood hero? Probably, but that's what real leadership is about (Kennedy's)--inspiring people to give more, accomplish more, sometimes even after the leader is gone. If John Kerry understands this, it's something else to admire him for. Too bad more Americans don't. Especially politicans who would tell us what great leaders they think they are.

[maddezmom]

7. it's a Hollinger paper

do a search on Conrad Black...all the details will unfold.

[bearfartinthewoods]

12. so it isn't a murdoch paper?

see, this is what i'm talking about. unless someone spends more time than i have (or interest) in reseaching the ownership of every paper ever referenced, you get slammed. i'm sick and tired of it.


i'd rather spend time understanding the merits of the article than fussing about the motives of the publisher. if shit like this is out there, i want to know about it and have substantive counter info ready. that is what i thought this place was all about. at least it used to be. now it seems there is more and more tendancy to stick heads in sand and dismiss anything that isn't golden for our side.

i live in pubbie hell and i promise you, the line 'that's a murdoch rag' will not win points here.

sorry this isn't aimed at you. just venting.

[Monte Carlo]

14. It's known as the Tory-graph in the UK.

That doesn't automatically dismiss what they say against Kerry, but it does make it HIGHLY suspect about the article's evidence of claims and how it interprets that evidence.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. So before Kerry enlisted, he thought about not enlisting.

so what?

[liberalitch]

10. Isn't it funny.....

how kerry asked for an easy out and was refused... so he VOLUNRAILY went navy..... he served was a hero and still that is not good enough.

..... but "W" can say.... "we talked to the miliatry and I was allowed to get out a year early to go to harvard"
so not only was he not there when he was supposed to be but he then got an easy out


BTW: I don't hold it against ANYONE who tried to get out of that war..... I would have doen the same!

[Hav]

16. .

I am not sure that Kerry wanted to get out because he was just asking for one more year to study in Paris.
After all he enlisted voluntarily (as far as I know).

[Hav]

18. .

"This means that Kerry didn't jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed, and it is a very nice piece of information," said Lucianne Goldberg, a prominent Republican campaigner.

:puke:
Yeah Lucianne Goldberg, everybody is very thankful for your service.

[malletgirl02]

23. This article doesn't help Bush

I think it will just magnify the whole AWOL issue. As to Kerry I don't see how this trying to defer for a year after enlisting would make him look bad, he tried to get a deferment, he was unsuccessful, so he went and did his duty distinguishing himself. Whoever wrote this article thinking that it would make bush look better is really stupid. I know Kerry wasn't drafted, but in regards to draftees wouldn't they be angry at this article?