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August 26, 2004

Four Good Pieces on Kerry/SwiftVets

Former Salon reporter Jake Tapper, now working for ABCNews, shocks me by actually reporting -- not grudgingly, either -- that John Kerry has a lot more "links" to a lot more "shadowy 527's" raising a hell of a lot more "unregulated soft money" than George Bush could even dream of.

The NYPost sums up the confrontation in Crawford, noting an interesting irony. (Hint: How many Purple Hearts did Max Cleland receive for losing three limbs? And why?)

More thoughtful, more rewarding, but also more meandering is this Opinion Journal piece from a blogger I linked once and expect to be linking again. He takes a while to get there, but his thesis is that a grudging post-Vietnam domestic truce was declared between the left and the right, in which both sides conceded points to the other in the interests of political peace.

The writer argues that John Kerry is exploiting one half of this truce to his advantage while refusing to honor the other prong-- and is thereby re-opening Vietnam as an issue, and bringing this all on himself.

And then there's this, a reminiscence of a Vietnam combat surgeon who had a lot of experience with troops begging for Purple Hearts in order to get their ticket home. The article contains the following "new information" -- new to me, at least. It seems that it has never been the case that you automatically get a Purple Heart for a wound, even if inflicted by enemy fire:

In the absence of the medical records that Mr. Kerry apparently declines to make public, the only details we have about his second and third Purple Hearts are that he also based them on wounds too minor to require hospitalization. My reason for refusing to verify insignificant wounds as the basis for a Purple Heart was the regulation covering Purple Heart awards. In Part B, Paragraph 2, of the Army Purple Heart Regulation (600-8-22 of 25 February 1995), we find "the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer."

Dr. Louis Letson was entirely correct in turning down Lt. Kerry's first Purple Heart — even if the wound had been the result of enemy action. Can there be any doubt that the tiny metal sliver could have been removed easily, and safely, by a Navy corpsman? It certainly did not "require" treatment by a medical officer (an MD).

Purple Hearts are not supposed to be awarded for self-inflicted wounds, nor for wounds too minor to require treatment by a physician. So where and how did Lt. Kerry eventually obtain a Purple Heart for his first wound? Nobody seems to know. Only his medical records will tell — and the American public needs that information to evaluate candidate Kerry's qualifications and candor.

All three of Kerry's wounds-- even the one most likely to have been inflicted by hostile enemy action -- were of such a trivial nature that none "required" medical treatment by a doctor. Only one arguably did; even if we grant that one, Kerry was still two legitimate Purple Hearts shy of an early ticket stateside.

I should note that I don't think it's necessarily cowardly or even blameworthy to game the system to your advantage; but it's definitely not heroic. We may say that we can hardly blame Vietnam vets for wanting to get home as soon as the system could possibly allow, but we certainly wouldn't call such men "War Heroes" for doing so.

And yet that's precisely what John Forbes Kerry has done, and is doing. He could have simply gotten three bullshitty Purple Hearts and gone home, confident that he had honorably served, while not heroically. Or he could have braved the bullets and bombs and possibly given life or limb for the country, in which case he would have in fact served heroically.

The problem is once again one of trying to have it both ways. After serving in Vietnam for just four months before engineering an escape hatch of his own contrivance, John Forbes Kerry was not content to simply call himself a veteran, but a courageous hero.

A lot of liberal pundits make the case that criticizing John Forbes Kerry's service in 'Nam demeans other veterans.

They fail to comprehend -- or, more likely, refuse to acknowledge -- that awarding John Forbes Kerry the accolades reserved for heroes demeans true heroes. The guys who risked all and died for it. The fewer band of heroes who risked all and actually lived to tell the tale.

John Forbes Kerry risked as little as possible in Vietnam, and yet he wants to wear the wreath and laurel of a modern day Achilles. Every day the media calls him a "war hero," either dishonestly or negligently failing to report that probably two thirds of all Vietnam Vets did as much or more in Nam as John Kerry, but very few of them have medals or were ever called "war hero" -- or got an early ticket home on the basis of two scratches and a sliver in the keister.

An Unrelated Aperitif: I always loved Isaac Asimov's science essays as a kid (detested his fiction-- ucch). The cool thing about Asimov is that you could begin reading an essay convinced you had absolutely no interest whatsoever in the topic and yet be thrilled by the conclusion. And you'd learn something along the way.

Steven den Beste isn't quite up to Asimov's level yet, because den Beste tends to interest me with stuff I'm already interested in. If he can finally sell me on his passion for Japanese Anime, maybe I'll acknowledge him as Asimov's heir.

But you just can't help feeling smarter by the end of this piece on Saddam's nuclear reactor, and its capacity to produce weapons-capable fuel, than you were befoe you started it.

And along the way, he ferociously bitch-slaps a libdweeb jerkoff from Paris Match magazine; so what's not to love?

posted by Ace at 02:36 AM

Comments

I would dispute that gathering up "three shitty Purple Hearts" and boogieing back stateside would constitute honorable service. I would consider that chiseling: exploiting the letter of the rules while eschewing conformance to their spirit.

That sort of conduct is what we've come to expect from John Forbes "It's not my SUV, it's my family's" Kerry.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto on August 26, 2004 07:48 AM

On the Purple Heart issue, fabulous legal babe Ann Althouse asks a question that really should have been obvious to all of us: "If it is so easy to get a Purple Heart, how was the military able to have that rule allowing you to go home early upon winning three?"

Posted by: Paul Zrimsek on August 26, 2004 07:54 AM

This is like the third or fourth time I've noticed that Tapper has played it straight and impressive. (for being an ex-Salon staffer)

Credit where due ...

Posted by: Bill from INDC on August 26, 2004 08:18 AM

About the purple hearts, c'mon, isn't it obvious? Kerry was GIVEN the questionable purple hearts because his superiors wanted to get rid of him.

Posted by: Ben Lange on August 26, 2004 08:27 AM

Through the fog of the Purple Heart Haze, I suddenly remember a Bill Cosby routine about a man (himself?) finding himself enlisted as a medic in the Army, and awarding Purple Hearts for band-aid wounds. It was some funny schtick. Am I mis-remembering this? Anyone? Beuller?

It was a common joke back in the late 60s, and it's a bitter joke now.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! on August 26, 2004 08:43 AM

Have you seen this?

http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/04_08_22_corner-archive.asp#038467

How much press will this get, do you think?

Posted by: Longshanks on August 26, 2004 08:47 AM

What's the story about why Kerry "still has shrapnel in his thigh?" I'm no Kerry fan, but if true, can't we agree that *that* wound is worth a purple heart?

Also, why didn't everyone try to get out via the "3 purple hearts rule" - at least all the draftees? It sounds pretty easy.

Posted by: J Mann on August 26, 2004 09:37 AM

I would not argue the theory that draftees may have tried to game the system in order to get an early out but I would venture to say that this was very rare in regard to Officers. All competent Officers feel a responsiblity to their men and would never abandon them if at all possible.

Posted by: Dman on August 26, 2004 09:49 AM

I agree with Ben Lange. Apropos of that letter Ace posted off Steyn's site from the vet who knew Kerry from VVAW, I'm more willing than ever to believe that Kerry's superiors wanted his ass out of their command.

Posted by: kelly on August 26, 2004 11:07 AM

Here's my two cents, and I say this not as a vet myself (I'm half civilian on my mother's side), but as the son of a 3-tour Viet Nam vet. SO take it for what it's worth.

There was another tacit truce going on for the past 30 years. That where the guys who did their duty and stuck it out didn't call the guys who got out of service cowards, and the guys who got out didn't shoot off their mouths about being heroes. I know how painful it was for the swiftvets to dredge all of this up. I've seen my Dad try and talk about some of these things.

Kerry broke that truce in his 71 testimony. He has broken it many times by bragging about things that he didn't really do. And worst of all, he is pissing on everyone who really served by claiming the mantle of honorable service when everyone who was there knows that he bugged out. He made this bed and he is going to have to lie in it and I can't think of a more poetic end to the political career of one of the lefts most insidious enemies of America. Hoisted on his own petard indeed!

Posted by: Dacotti on August 26, 2004 11:11 AM

ABC has a picture of Kerry celebrating the poverty number. The picture is actually from an unrelated event from the other day but why use it with that article?

Posted by: James on August 26, 2004 11:52 AM

Lots of loose shit here,
Trying to have it both ways,
always. Damn Kerry.

poor haiku, but show mercy for my first attempt.

Posted by: hobgoblin on August 26, 2004 12:41 PM

Unfunny Cho update...
here

[link edited by ace]

Posted by: Jersey Matt on August 26, 2004 12:53 PM

John Kerry may have shrapnel in his brain, which would explain many of his actions over the years. Yes, give the man another purple heart. Maybe the fourth purple heart will qualify him to quit the campaign, like he quit Viet nam.

Posted by: Helen on August 26, 2004 01:49 PM

I think there was a MASH episode in which Frank Burns attempts to get a Purple Heart for a bit of eggshell in his eye.

Cho has done an album on health and nutrition? Well, not being funny hasn't stopped her from a stand-up career so I gues her lack of competence won't stop her from being a nutritionist either.

She says Republicans work overtime to make gays miserable. Nonsense. They do it to themselves. They love leading soap opera lives. This is how you get a culture that worships Judy Garland, a woman who had everything and utterly self-destructed.

Posted by: Eric Pobirs on August 26, 2004 02:16 PM

Hey, that part about Kerry enlisting only after being refused a draft deferment is news. I've never seen that mentioned before. It shhots down the 'he volunteered even though didn't have to' meme the liberals have been touting.

Posted by: Eric Pobirs on August 26, 2004 02:24 PM

Eric, interesting post. How you wandered through Frank Burns and Judy Garland and Cho and gays.

Masterful. I'm a gonna give it a whirl.

"...her lack of competence won't stop her from being a nutritionist either."

Hey, have you seen the prescription medicine commercial featuring Della Reese? In the beginning of the commercial she says, "I eat right, exercise, and take..." How can she say that with a straight face?
I'm like, Della, you are FOUR HUNDRED FUCKING POUNDS. What is she exercising except for her esophagus? I bet them esophagus muscles are toned up and rippling.

All I know is, only gay men and dark ethnic men look OK in flip-flop thong sandals.

All other men should never, ever wear them.
How'd I do?

Posted by: lauraw on August 26, 2004 02:51 PM

Hey, that part about Kerry enlisting only after being refused a draft deferment is news.

Its been around for a while.

Of course, it also corrects the 'Send Me' DNC remarks made by Clinton who it seems is still making shit up after all these years.

Even without the deferment, Kerry joined the swiftboats thinking it was safe, and after he joined they got new orders which were more dangerous (by his own admission). Coincidence that he then quickly racked up 3 purple hearts under suspicious circumstances and got out of vietnam?

I can't blame people for not wanting to go to war, nor could I blame them for joining up so they could pick a relatively safe assignment.
I'll grant any human being that right whether it be Bush, Kerry or Clinton.
However, don't come out with self-aggrandizing speeches on the issue which belie your recorded stances and feelings on the matter.

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Posted by: Ralph on November 5, 2004 09:09 PM