Despicable. Absolutely Despicable

[x-g.o.p.er]

First off, hello again. I have not posted in a long time, but I am back.

As an active duty officer, I am appalled at the Swiftboat ad, and the only word that comes to mind is despicable.

The first thinh Bush needs to do is to apologize to John Kerry, and then he needs to apologize to all who served in Vietnam, because he has slapped every Vietnam veteran in the face by allowing this ad to air. Make no mistake; this ad would not hit the airwaves without his approval.

I guess if you are a Democrat, no matter what you do for your country, you're a traitor or a coward. Even if you received a Silver Star, you're not worthy and you're un-American. But if you're a Republican, you can drink away the war in Texas and Alabama and call your service honorable.

[A_Possum]

1. Thanks

You said it well. And thanks for serving this country, too.

[Hamlette]

2. nice to hear from you again!

I've been wondering all day how vets would respond to these ads. Thanks for letting us know!

[bigwillq]

3. This is exactly what I thought of the ad

Shrub needs to be impeached for this.

I feel it's worse than what the Big Dog did and the repukes tried to impeach him for that.

[wicket]

4. Welcome back!

You were missed! :hi:

[CatWoman]

5. so very good to see you again

:hi:

great post

:hi:

[x-g.o.p.er]

15. Thanks,

Good to "see" you, too.

[Jacobin]

6. Don't hold your breath

They would not condemn the ads.

McCain got mad and condemned them, but is still campaigning for BunnyPants

[Rebellious Republican]

7. Welcome Home x-g.o.p.er

[Raven]

8. I guess no soldier is safe from these folks if

they don't happen to agree with you. I apologize to you for them. They are not America. They have no appreciation for what you do and for what you sacrifice doing it. They have no respect for this country or the truth.

[Cha]

9. Good to have you back! And thanks for your

service.

Several on du are saying that they think this "swiftboat" ad will backfire..it sounds like it should to me, too. What do you think?

[x-g.o.p.er]

14. I honestly don't know...

At work, my fellow service members like it and talked about it at length. I kept my mouth shut and I fumed all day about it in silence. When I had enough, I tried to make a point. All of us got some sort of hardware for either Afghanistan or Iraq, and I asked one guy:

"How would you feel if 30 years from now someone called your medals bogus, and that you didn't deserve them? and on top of that, tried to turn what you did into some act of cowardice or recklessness?"

Absolute silence....

I made my point, but they'll still vote for Bush.

Bastards, lol.

[Cha]

21. Thanks for making the point! And why they would vote for

bush is really sad because it involves brainwashing and not capable of critical thought.

Maybe one or two will have an experience between now and election day that will make them think more than twice about voting for *.

[Curious Dave]

22. Its sort of sad to say this

But in a way everyone's medals are sort of bogus because no one other than the person being decorated and the immediate witnesses to the act really knows if they were BS or not. For example...

A couple of days after the ground war in Desert Storm had wrapped itself up, myself and my co-workers at the Bde TOC received a visit from our counterparts at the Division TOC. We gabbed about this and that and their NCOIC mentioned they (the D-Main guys) were all going to be put it for Bronze Stars (V). A few days later the Division CG announced a decorations policy that included a hostile fire requirement for Bronze Star (V) recommendations. A week later I got a chance to read the OIC's writeup for these folks' Bronze Stars. It described how they came under hostile fire and returned fire on the trip they made out to visit us a few days earlier. Funny they never mentioned that they had been in a fire fight on their way to our location that day; you'd think they would have said something.

I started asking questions. One of the guys that actually came out and visited that day told me it was all bullshit and that he was embarrassed by it. I ran this by the OIC and was told to mind my own business. I ran it by his boss and was told it was their word against mine. I took it all the way to the first 0-6 in our chain back in Riyadh (we're were attached Air Force people so our chain of command didn't flow through the division).

To make a long story short, our brave heroes received their Bronze Stars for Valor. In fact the 0-6 back in Riyadh managed to get himself a Silver Star for something or other and he never came within 300 miles of enemy fire! And what did I learn? I learned to have a very jaundiced view regarding decorations.

To make all this pertinent I'll say this. Is John Kerry a war hero? Yes I think he is. Now, if we could really take medals at face value I wouldn't say "I think he is", I would say "I know he is!".

At any rate none of this is exactly relevant to anything. I'll just tell myself that it was done in the name of educating our non-veteran DU'ers a little bit about how the military sometimes works :)

thanks for serving!

[wurzel]

10. This ad is really sedition.

It undermines the credibility of the military during time of war. It is certainly the standard which this Administration has fostered.

[Cha]

12. You are so right..I'm just so use to their tactics that

I didn't even stop to think how treasonous it is. I fervently hope that the higher ups in the miliary(repug and Dem) share our view!

[wurzel]

16. These are the guy's we are told "support our troops".

It doesn't seem like it to me!

[x-g.o.p.er]

18. He supports war

The troops are the instruments of that support.

[luaneryder]

11. Thank you for your service

As a vet I am appalled by these ads. The current white house resident is displaying his cowardice yet again by refusing to condemn them. He hasn't an honorable bone in his body!

[blm]

13. You got that right.

Double standards - R - Us

The mantra of the Republican party.

[physioex]

17. That's small potatos....

What is even more surprising is the way they portrayed Max Cleland a traitor to this country.. Imagine a paraplegic from Vietnam no less??

[Leilani]

19. Thank you for your service!

I think these ads may backfire...

the rabid chickenhawks were voting for Bush anyway.

Indies do not like dirty politics, & this is dirty.

I think it will hurt Bush among undecideds.

[moondust]

20. Another disgrace to all who have served.

From the "Party of Patriotism". Ha!

[Sugarbleus]

23. Welcome back to DU and thank you for your service

Hubby was a VN vet. He tells me what Kerry says is true (about the war in general). Many things went wrong. Mostly it was because of the top brass/CO's not knowing their ass from a hole in the ground.

People forget that MANY vets came back and renouced the premise on which we based going into VN in the first place.

The ads against Kerry are just a denial of the truth about VN...sour grapes. A ploy...yes, despicable. I think it will backfire.