This Guy Just Makes Me Ill; Thanks Again Swiftees

A column by David Mittell in today’s Providence Journal caught my eye. It was devoted to enumerating John Kerry’s many deceits over the years -designed to advance his personal interest. As one who protested the Vietnam War long before it was fashionable (I wrote a scathing, open letter to President Johnson about the Haiphong bombings), I feel some authority to talk about the copperhead from Massachusetts and to gloat a little when I read a column like Mittell’s.

Of course, I first must go on to say that I was wrong. Conventional wisdom from those who are essentially ignorant of history may be that Vietnam was a mistake, but it really turned out to be a useful battle in the war against the expansion of Soviet domination that helped to turn the strategic situation our way. It can be compared to the Battle of the Coral Sea against the Japanese in 1942. That battle was considered to be a costly draw, in that we could not afford at that time to trade losses with the enemy, but when the Japanese invasion fleet destined for the conquest of Australia turned back, a major turning point had been reached in our favor. Today’s Iraq War protestors should learn a little WWII history.

Getting back to Kerry, I can’t tell you how ashamed I was in 1971 when I watched him change sides and attack the sacrifice and character of his former comrades, when he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to ride his medals to political victory as had his prototype, President Kennedy. I was ashamed to have ever been a war protestor, and somewhat in the same company as this charlatan, with his fake Kennedy accent.

As Mittell further points out, Kerry’s recent speech demanding an immediate pullout from Iraq while the President is in Baghdad, and the Iraqi cabinet has just been formed makes for a familiar pattern of role reversals over the years – designed to advance personal ambition at whatever the cost. Thank you, again, Swift Boat Veterans.