Dan Rather, Apologist

[Cal]

Originally posted by TheProudDuck@Sep 24 2004, 04:43 PM
Cal,

Wrong. Steven Gardner served on Kerry's boat. In fact, he spent more time under Kerry's command than any of Kerry's other crewmen.

The rest of the Swift Boat guys, though they didn't serve direcly on Kerry's little boat (which I think had a crew of four or five), slept in the same floating barracks and went out on missions with him, no more than a few dozen yards away from his boat.

Kerry's own campaign has backed off his Paul Dunn/Tom Harkin-style claim to have gone on a secret "Apocalypse Now"-style mission to Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968.

Most of the Swift Boat guys' claims are he-said, she-said, and I don't have enough evidence to decide whether they're true or false. My tentative opinion, based on what I've seen, is that one of Kerry's purple hearts was probably not deserved (he seems to have been hit by a fragment from his own grenade, in an incident where the balance of the evidence suggests no enemy fire was present; Kerry's campaign acknowledges there may not have been enemy fire on that occasion), while the other medals are probably deserved.

I'm still going to have to disagree with you that questioning the propriety of somebody's medals dishonors all medal winners. There's a pretty thorough consensus that Lyndon Johnson's World War II Silver Star wasn't justified. Medals aren't awarded by the Pope, or anyone else infallible. Political considerations, error, and ambition are all present in the mix.

I'll bet all of Bush, Jr's medals were justfied. Opps, did he get any? Easy to disparage what Kerry earned when he George did zip.

Actually, I really don't think the medal issue and who served where is very relevant to Bush's capacity as President. Kerry's camp made a big issue of it, which I think was a mistake. Kerry should have been riding the "horse" of Bush's performance on the economy, and even more his performance regarding the war on terrorism. You all know what I think about that so enough said.

[Snow]

Originally posted by Cal@Sep 24 2004, 05:36 PM

I'll bet all of Bush, Jr's medals were justfied. Opps, did he get any? Easy to disparage what Kerry earned when he George did zip.

Cal,

Who are you really? This can't be the same Cal we used to know with a college education. You rebutt Ducks correction of you that the Swift Boat guys served under or near Kerry and that one of his medals may not have been deserved by sarcastically ridiculing George Bush?

I don't get it. Do you get it?

But bring it on Kerry - it's losing the election for you. Your ego is so huge you have turned your questionable service 30 plus years ago into your primary platform while the rest of America doesn't register it anywhere near the top of anyone's list of issues.

Now here is my rebuttal ala Cal, to your post: