Kerry's Campaign
 

Is it just me, or is Kerry running the worst campaign since Bob Dole? All I hear about in his ads is how George Bush says things are good and actually things suck. Might be true, John, but that's NOT going to win you an election. You CAN tap into that sort of negative feeling -- Clinton did, against Bush I -- but not by simply stoking it.

Riiiiight. And GWB doesn't use a similar tactic? It's all negativity, all the time!

I recently read the infamous Al Franken book, "Lies..."---now. Can anybody defend the republicans? Lookout?? And, you know, I love ya, baby!

Other things that don't help: "2 tours in Vietnam". ( A tour was 12-13 months) Silver star with "V" device (non existant). 3 Purple hearts with no hospital time (Extremely unlikely). Not to mention defaming every Vietnam Vet that ever served. If he would put forth at least one solution to just one of Bush's mistakes I might even listen to him for a change.

The politics of fear
 

russotto,

Well your right, things aren't good, but GW has 9/11 to counter any critisim. The politics of fear, it's as simple as that. His father wasn't able to mask a slumping economy with a international war on "terror", as long as this persists, there will be glaring inequities that will be swept under the carpet. If this was Dick Nixon, he would have been in jail by now.

- Walrus

defend the republicans? not likely, they are politicians too. i generally hold some common ideals with the republican party, but that doesn't mean i agree with all of their policies or their tactics in achieving goals.

i simply stand by my statement that i believe GWB, while not ideal, is a better choice than John Kerry for the next 4 years. so unless someone comes up with a better option, that is the way i have to vote.

I don't know about the vietnam stuff, the medals are questionable but hell, maybe he did defame the veterans but they fucking deserved it, that war makes abu ghraib look like a kids playground, what was done in the name of 'freedom and democracy' was disgusting and good on him for having the balls to say so.

He is however, running a shithouse campaign and Karl Rove is kicking his ass. Bush, Kerry, I don't think it'll make much difference either way.

As we get closer to the election, I get more and more bummed out. This has to be the worst choice offered to the voters in the history of the country.

He started out in the Navy, then requested assignment in-country.He didn't claim it - it was in his records. A typo, presumably. And no, he didn't write his own records.It's more likely than a well-off person with several avenues available to avoid service volunteering for service instead. And yet, both are true.That's silly. He attended a conference of vets, and related their stories to Congress. No serious person denies that Vietnam was fought dirty (there were a number of convictions), but Kerry put the blame squarely on the people who put the soldiers into the situation. Look here, on the left hand menubar, under "Plan for America". There are several headings, for various issues.

said the individual who wasn't born yet and is unlikely to ever hold a weapon on another person. come jag, you are too smart for that BS to stick in your head. no person who wears the uniform honorably deserved to hear Kerry and others drag them through the mud. atrocities happened, fine. but not everyone was involved and they didn't all deserve the posturing that kerry and others subjected them too.

sadly enough, you are probably right.

I've spent enough time in Vietnam not know what it would have been like and spent enough time looking at what came out of it to know that anyone that went there should feel a deep sense of guilt to what they inflicted on the poor souls that lived there. Maybe not everyone was involved but clearly it was systematic and common to say the least. Mai Lai was one of hundreds of similar incidents, not to mention things like Agent Orange (ever seen a kid with his chin fused to his breastbone? look him in the eye and tell him they served honorably) and the entire Phoenix operation.

Kerry's campaign is struggling, because he has yet to clearly articulate differences between him and Bush. I think the upcoming debates will help him. If he performs the same way he did against Paul O'Neil, he'll probably get a boost.

Kerry didn't say everyone was involved. He said it was widespread, and related a number of firsthand accounts to Congress.

i will tell anyone who wore the uniform, picked up their weapon and did their job without deilberately harming innocents that they served honorably. it is the job of young men (and now women) to fight and die for what they are told. to besmirch their good name because of a calling you couldn't possibly hope to understand is wrong.

Precisely. That's why Kerry was so pissed off at the US government, and not the soldiers.

For all of the Vietnam Veterans and especially myself, YOU DON"T KNOW SHIT! Systematic and common? You, sir, are out of your Socialist mind.
Please name and document at least a few of "the other hundreds" of incidents besides the Mai Lai abberation.
Oh, And Agent Orange did not discriminate on newborns, just ask a few of my buddies who are still alive and passed their genes on to thier kids.
And when the Wahabist Muslims start terrorizing all of Europe, don't call on our troops to bail your sorry asses out again.