Kerry’s 180

Kerry came home from Vietnam a “decorated sailor”, only to immediately turn around and be a war protester. Realizing that the radicalization of politics of the Democratic party would not support anything but an antiwar stance, he seized that position for political bounty.

He allied with Jane Fonda, “Hanoi Jane”, future wife of ’60’s radical activist Tom Hayden; with radical former attorney general Ramsey Clark, and with a group of disgruntled veterans and imposters denouncing not only the war, but those still fighting it.

His testimony was used by the North Vietnamese enemy as a propaganda tool and as a weapon with which to beat American prisoners of war.

In what can only be characterized as treason, Kerry met in Paris with the Communist enemy our military was fighting against-representatives of the North Vietnamese government and a Communist group from South Vietnam-just months after leaving the Navy and well before the eventual signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. In May of 1970, Kerry traveled to Paris with his wife, Julia Thorne. There, according to his own testimony in 1971, “I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional REvolutionary Government and all eight of Madam Binh’s points.” Kerry was dabbling at a low-level verson of “independent diplomacy” which Americans have grown accustomed to seeing from Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson and other Democrats eager to give a sympathetic ear to the enemies of the United States.

For liberals, all of the Vietnam themes still come into play; America is evil, her enemies are good. Democrats who don’t buy that line have, over time, woken up and left the party. In 1980, Ronald Reagan (a former Democrat) attracted many conservative Democrats, the so-called “Reagan Democrats” to the Republican party. These were mostly blue-collar working-class Catholics and Southerners for whom patriotism, religion and traditional values (especially opposition to abortion) were important. They supported a strong-anti-Communist foreign policy, cracking down on crime, and social conservatism. This was the voice of Middle America, the Middle America from which the armed services draws their recruits–and the Middle America from which the Democratic party has been divorcing itself.

Today, the Democratic party is even weaker on terrorism than it was on Communism. The party’s socialist tendencies, the party’s appeal to the self-indulgent and irresponsible (the MTV/Hollywood Left); and the party’s claim, in defense of Bill Clinton, that character doesn’t matter, it was “only sex” runs directly counter to the fiber of the American military.

Today’s Democratic party is socially liberal to the point of social decadence. The principles and values that this country was founded on-morality, integrity, honesty and courage-have no home in the Democratic party that defended sex in the Oval Office, lying under oath, witness tampering, suborning perjury, and sending soldiers into harm’s way with no concern for their safety, the effectiveness of their mission, or its necessity to the nation’s security. For liberals, character doesn’t matter; the end justifies the means, and using the military as a wag-the-dog scenarios or to enforce socially liberal experiments is not only okay, it’s the preferred tactic.

None of this is ok to the men and women in our armed services; to them, character most certainly does matter.

“Duty, Honor, Country” is the motto of the US MIlitary Academy at West Point, New York.

“Integrity First, Service before self, Excellence in all we do” are the core values of the air Force.

None sibi sed patriae “not for self but country” is engraved over the doors to the chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Semper Paratus “always ready” is the standard for the Coast Guard.

These are hallowed words, the core beliefs, ingrained in all who wear the uniforms of the United States of America. To our men and women in the armed forces, they are sacred. Much more than just concepts, these creeds are the words upon which our troops hang their heavy mantles of service.

Conservatives and military men and women know that self-sacrifice, personal responsibility, and unshakable moral character are necessities. For conservatives, they are the foundation of strong families and a just and decent society, and for the military they are absolutely essential to bond the trust that the uniform requires.

That trust cannot exist with John Kerry. Former naval lieutenant Kerry called his military brothers ‘war criminals’ and played peacenik footsie with Jane Fonda.

This is why Kerry must follow through and release his records like he promised to the American people over 100 days ago. There are many, many people who will not let this go. He is an elected public servant and as such, he should make good on his promise to release his records in total.

He has called for John Roberts’ records. He has called for John O’Neill’s records. He has called for the Swiftboats Veterans for Truth records. He has called for everyone else’s records while not providing his own.

It’s time that he pony up. It’s been over 100 days. What he did was not full disclosure and there are still many questions that need to be answered.

Michael Dobbs from the Wapo points out that although Kerry spokesmen insist that he has released his full military records, the Post was only able to get six pages of records under its Freedom of Information Act request out of the “at least a hundred pages” a Naval Personnel Office spokesman called the “full file.”

This is the same complaint made after the Boston Globe released juicy items like his 4 “d”s during his Freshman year at Yale.

What could that more than 100 pages contain? Questions have been raised about President Bush’s drill attendance in the reserves, but Bush received his honorable discharge on schedule. Kerry, who should have been discharged from the Navy about the same time — July 1, 1972 — wasn’t given the discharge he has on his campaign Web site until July 13, 1978. What delayed the discharge for six years? This raises serious questions about Kerry’s performance while in the reserves that are far more potentially damaging than those raised against Bush.

John O’Neill says:

We called for Kerry to execute a form which would permit anyone to examine his full and unexpulgated [sic] military records at the Navy Department and the National Personnel Records Center. Instead he executed a form permitting his hometown paper to obtain the records currently at the Navy Department. The Navy Department previously indicated its records did not include various materials. This is hardly what we called for. If he did execute a complete release of all records we could then answer questions such as

(1)Did he ever receive orders to Cambodia or file any report of such a mission (whether at Christmas or otherwise);

(2) What was his discharge status between 1970 and 1978 (when he received a discharge) and was it affected by his meetings in 1970 and 1971 with the North Vietnamese?

(3)why did he receive much later citations for medals purportedly signed by Secretary Lehman who said he did not know of them;

(4) Are there Hostile Fire and Personnel Injured by Hostile Fire Reports for Kerry’s Dec. 1968 Purple Heart (when the officer in charge of the boat Admiral Schacte, the treating Surgeon Louis Letson, and Kerry’s Division Commander deny there was hostile fire causing a scratch) awarded three months later under unknown circumstances.

Only the full records will answer these questions. Kerry, release your records to clear up the “record”. Otherwise you’re looking more and more foolish, more of a fake, more of a liar than ever before. Just add this to the long litany of lies to which Kerry has unapologetically thrown forth into the public’s consciousness.

Being that the American public has a short attention span, it’s our job to keep this issue before the American people until you s@#^% or get off the pot.

Senator Kerry, free your 180!

Image: LindaSog.com

Join the blogbursts to help FREE Kerry’s 180 every Tuesday!

We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Free Kerry’s 180, click here to email me, include the url for your blog. The blogburst is every Tuesday, so don’t forget to blog about it. All you have to do is encourage Kerry to set his 180 FREE, I’ll send you the code for the blogroll.

The more people we have, the merrier!

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