[Cerek the Barbaric]

Thanks for the information, Felix. I didn't have any concrete facts or figures, just a general guesstimate based on the knowledge of how my uncle's feel and the comments of the retired general (that matched your figures very closely).

As I said, I'm not casting any assertions of doubt on Kerry's service record. As far as I'm concerned, he does deserve certain degree of respect for actually serving in Vietnam instead of staying stateside or leaving the country altogether (as the two previous candidates did). Also, as far as I'm concerned, the fact that he did serve in Vietnam means he earned the right to complain and speak out against the actions that were taken there.

I found another article on CNN regarding the ads and the controversial incident mentioned in them. This article apparantly justifies Kerry's action of beaching his boat (which is supposed to be against military strategy) by saying he and the other officers had discussed exactly how they would handle ambushes ahead of time and all 3 agreed on this tactic.

It also says that Kerry received the Silver Star and 3 Purple Hearts in addition to his Bronze Star. So I do feel he deserves a measure of respect for that also (my grandfather received the Purple Heart in WWII and was a POW of the Nazi's for several months).

Here is the link to the CNN story --> Bush Advisor quits after appearing in Swift Boat ad

I will also give the Bush Campaign credit for saying the volunteer could no longer serve on their committee due to his appearance in the ads. If nothing else, they are at least trying to publicly maintain their distance from the Swift Boat group.

As for them "coordinating" with the Bush Campaign, I seriously doubt. As Felix said, the large majority of Vietnam Veterans DO NOT LIKE OR TRUST KERRY!!! I know it may be really hard to believe a group of people could actually dislike Kerry without George W. Bush telling them to do so, but a lot of veterans do not like Kerry and they are JUST as determined to see that he doesn't win the election as others are to see that Bush doesn't win. They don't have to coordinate their efforts with the Bush Campaign - they do just fine on their own.

And I will be the first to criticize Bush for not denouncing the ads.....JUST as soon as Kerry does the same thing for any "negative" ads that appear about Bush that are not sponsored by HIS Election Campaign (and of course, we know that they wouldn't THINK of doing anything like that to begin with. ).

{sigh} Like Timber says in his signature - "It's Spin Season. Hold on Tight"

[ 08-22-2004, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]