KERRY..., KERRY..., KERRY...!
Open mouth, insert foot...
or
What goes 'round, comes 'round...
"Manifestation of Foot In Mouth Syndrome"
"Manifestation of Foot In Mouth Syndrome"O.k., O.k.; I wish it would just go away, too. But it ain't gonna. So, it seems to me that rather than hunker in the bunker during this round of incoming from the spinmiesters of the Far Right, maybe we ought to tough up and return fire. Identify the source of fire and gain and maintain fire superiority while employing USMC Fireteam tactics of envelopment to turn the attack and neutralize the attackers...pretty basic stuff, but very effective; ask any USMC Grunt who has served in combat.
The incoming fire is coming from the same ol' gang that brought you the successful frontal assaults on the Kerry campaign re his Vietnam service, back during the last Presidential election (?), those cockroaches who seem to always successfully scurry out of sight when the lights come on exposing their scavenger political activities; Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, or as I call them, the Not So Swift Veterans (NSSVs). They have now spread throughout cyber-space in multiple disguises http://vetspeakblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/whos-who-art-of-cyber-camouflage-by.html. They only come out when the light of truth has gone out, in order to politically scavenge for leftovers from politically juicy situations for the Repugs to feed themselves and others on, in their march to fascism.
Once again the target of that hostile fire is John Kerry. Been there, done that. VetSpeak was created as a result of the outright lies of the NSSVs during the Presidential election that was stolen by the Neocons (Neoconservatives). It was born from a group encounter by old VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against The War) types from The Day and the NSSVs while at the 5th Triennial Vietnam Symposium at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas http://star.vietnam.ttu.edu/starweb/center/servlet.starweb?path=center/2005.web&id=2005symposium&pass=&search1=EVNTF%3D5thtriennial&format=format. (Just scroll down, the NSSVs are on at 0845 on Saturday, March 19th, and we follow at 1030. You can view unedited video feed of the event and find our submitted papers there, as well as at http://www.vetspeak.org/.)
We weren't at TTU to support John Kerry's political aspirations, per se; we were there to Speak Truth to Power in a direct rebuttal of the tactics of the Repugs in their use of 527s, especially the NSSVs (left over operatives from the Nixon Shame), and their lies regarding Vietnam Veterans, VVAW, and John Kerry and his testimony before Congress http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082204F.shtml# during VVAW's Operation Dewey Canyon III in Washington D.C. in April of 1971, during aforementioned election run-up.
The NSSVs smear campaign was in response to John Kerry's political aspirations and his then active campaign for the Presidency. We were there at TTU to respond directly to the NSSVs' outrageous rhetoric in the campaign, which was decidedly derogatory with reference to Vietnam Veterans in general, but which was disgusting in it's absence of fact when applied to those who had fought there and now opposed our further participation in that National disaster known as Vietnam, and was filled with outright lies. I should include here that it is a fact that John Kerry was one of my heroes and an inspiration back in The Day, but his hunkering in the bunker during that despicable assault by the NSSVs definitely tarnished my image of him, and most likely was a determining factor in his loss of many otherwise supportive veterans' support in the critical final days of the election. That's a bummer as it was Dewey Canyon III in general along with Kerry's testimony before Congress on live TV, and the somewhat earlier Winter Soldier Investigation that initially inspired my activities with VVAW for the subsequent four years, and my personal support for him in his recent Presidential bid.
Now, for the "Rest of the story...", as it applies to this latest flare-up twixt the NSSVs and their favorite whipping boy Senator John Kerry, and it's impact on the rapidly approaching mid-term elections. Let me say first that Senator Kerry's under fire comments, whether the ones that were spoken in the piece, or the originally scripted ones that were the supposed to be a joke about The Shrub, were both inappropriate for the occasion and, frankly, lame rhetoric. As a result; he is a tarnished political icon now, like so many other living icons of the Democratic Party and activist Left. A creatively unsolicited distraction for those who truly seek to take our country, our quality of life, and our Flag and Constitution back from the Neocons who currently control the Republican party (and the 527s) from with-in the White House (Yikes!...I'm having a Nixonian flashback!).
The NSSVs smear campaign was in response to John Kerry's political aspirations and his then active campaign for the Presidency. We were there at TTU to respond directly to the NSSVs' outrageous rhetoric in the campaign, which was decidedly derogatory with reference to Vietnam Veterans in general, but which was disgusting in it's absence of fact when applied to those who had fought there and now opposed our further participation in that National disaster known as Vietnam, and was filled with outright lies. I should include here that it is a fact that John Kerry was one of my heroes and an inspiration back in The Day, but his hunkering in the bunker during that despicable assault by the NSSVs definitely tarnished my image of him, and most likely was a determining factor in his loss of many otherwise supportive veterans' support in the critical final days of the election. That's a bummer as it was Dewey Canyon III in general along with Kerry's testimony before Congress on live TV, and the somewhat earlier Winter Soldier Investigation that initially inspired my activities with VVAW for the subsequent four years, and my personal support for him in his recent Presidential bid.
Now, for the "Rest of the story...", as it applies to this latest flare-up twixt the NSSVs and their favorite whipping boy Senator John Kerry, and it's impact on the rapidly approaching mid-term elections. Let me say first that Senator Kerry's under fire comments, whether the ones that were spoken in the piece, or the originally scripted ones that were the supposed to be a joke about The Shrub, were both inappropriate for the occasion and, frankly, lame rhetoric. As a result; he is a tarnished political icon now, like so many other living icons of the Democratic Party and activist Left. A creatively unsolicited distraction for those who truly seek to take our country, our quality of life, and our Flag and Constitution back from the Neocons who currently control the Republican party (and the 527s) from with-in the White House (Yikes!...I'm having a Nixonian flashback!).
Oddly enough, and unfortunately, I think that it is because of his lack of education and judgement on the current facts and issues, and not the troops' lack of good study habits that could possibly keep them stuck in Iraq for at least another two years. Especially if the Democrats don't succeed in taking the House or the Senate this go 'round. It is true that during the Vietnam era, if you were a student and you didn't do well; your ass was headed for the Nam...that went on for ten years. That was a result of the draft, and it's favoritism towards the sons of the rich, well educated, well placed, elected or appointed officials. Remember, "I ain't no Senators son", a ballad from The Day, by John Fogarty? A good report card was the only way out for a guy who didn't fit any of the above categories. In the world of the "All Volunteer Army", which incidentally was brought about as a result of VVAW's, the student anti-war movement's, and the millions of others' protests against the draft for Vietnam; this dynamic of under-educated troops is not a reality. Talk about irony!
In Vietnam most draftees were high school drop-outs, and if you were over 20 years old in Vietnam you were usually referred to as Old Man or Pappy. Today's Armed services are the most highly educated of all time, and while I can't find a statistical reference as to the median age in the armed forces today, it is not unusual for troops to be in their late twenties or early thirties. I can't believe that Kerry could subliminally "Botch a joke" with that knowledge comfortably stashed in his VVAW leader/Senatorial rhetorical grab-bag. Presidential type guys should know the facts about what war they are referring to when they speak out against it, one would think. If it's truly Baby Bush's (Shrub's) education he was referring to, as he says; Shrub, like Clinton and other Presidents, went to Yale. That doesn't make him smart by any stretch, but I gotta say; it makes him "educated" by American standards. So, if it was a joke on Bush (who in himself is a joke); I, for one, didn't, and still don't, get it. Neither I suspect did "middle America", the largest pool of undecided voters. Neither, apparently, do those troops up there in the header picture of this article, regardless of the explanations and subsequent apology.
Sadly, his efforts at explanation, and then it's exploitation by the Repug 527s, led by the NSSVs, has energized the Right and has undermined what was fast becoming a Democratic blitzkrieg on the House of Representatives and the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections on November 7th. Bush isn't even running, why focus on him with a denigrating joke (as much as he deserves it, considering his I don't have a clue persona)? It's his failed policies, and those who champion them, that should be the focus at this crucial time leading up to the mid-terms. Kind of hard to get the support of the troops when they think that they've been insulted (see picture above) as the result of a "botched joke". This, as a result of the efforts of the NSSVs and other Repug 527s in spinning what was, I believe to be, a badly timed slip of judgement and tongue on Kerry's part, into the message to the American people that Kerry was dissing the troops in order to trash the Democrats regarding their anti-Iraq War message. By playing into the spin with his "explanation". He opened the door for the spinmiesters to take everyone's eye off the ball just before the mid-terms.
His published "full text" of the joke didn't help out, either...with no written reference to Bush; the joke, it turns out, was on Kerry. As I listened for the past few days, I was in pain for Kerry as his convoluted efforts to explain the faux pas away became more and more pathetic. I was reminded over and over of watching Rosemary Woods' testimony before Congress with reference to the erased 18 minutes of the Nixon White House tapes. She just couldn't get her leg up high enough to reach over the desk and "accidentally" hit and hold the "record" button for 18 minutes thereby causing the erasure, in the manner that she claimed before the Congress. Now, that was a joke. Kerry's joke and his explanation of it was like he was shooting himself in the foot with an automatic pistol with a 14 round clip.
More bad judgement, more damage to the Democrats' efforts to focus on the war in Iraq and the reasons for rethinking our commitment to that failed Bush policy. More ammo for his political enemies. When John Kerry should have spoke up against these attacks by the NSSVs during the Presidential election; he remained silent and distanced himself from those who were willing to stand with him. Now, it seems, when discretion is the better part of valor; he can't keep quiet and just stand on his record. Both are a reflection on his judgement, in my opinion. Moral of the story, as so eloquently stated by Lou Dobbs; when you know you are already in a hole, stop digging. And, that's no joke.
