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The media have parsed through Dubya's National Guard dental records and wondered extensively about whether Kerry threw away ribbons or medals, by why are they all but ignoring the relatively shocking condemnations and soundbites coming from the vast majority of the men who served with Kerry in Vietnam? I recently received this e-mail from one of these veterans, the man that I quoted in my previous post on the matter:

My name is Joe Ponder. I'm writing to commend you for the article you posted on your website (indcjournal.com) on May 26, 2004, regarding me and our group's news conference we held in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2004.
...
All our group ever hoped for or expected from the major news media was a fair
shake, so to speak, regarding the reporting of our news conference. It was
only after arriving back home to Keystone Heights, FL, later that evening of
the day of the news conference did I truly realize the power and influence the
press has over the citizens of our nation! IT'S FRIGHTENING! Even though the
press showed up enforce at our press conference, you wouldn't have known it
because they mostly killed our story and kept the public from knowing the truth
about John Kerry!
...
Nevertheless, we're thankful we can share our message about John Kerry to the American public via Talk Radio, the Internet and other venues that become available to us.
...
Best regards,

Joe Ponder

If you watch the press conferences and read some of this organization's material, this does not appear to be a right-wing political attack group organized around a Republican agenda, rather it's a group consisting of perhaps 85% of the men that served with Kerry in Vietnam, united in their belief that he is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief.

Besides Kerry's infamously inconsistent public stances on political issues and his unwillingness to elucidate an aggressive policy in the war on terror, I find these veterans' unequivocal condemnations of his dishonest and hyperbolic post-war behavior to be the most important character issue of the election. Let's try and get this out into the public domain before the election; spread the word about their web site. If you have a blog, listen to their press conferences and consider lifting a sound bite if you find their position worthy. There's plenty of good material, trust me.

I despise petty political attacks, but I think that the questions that I asked in my original post are highly relevant to Kerry's ability to make tough decisions that may carry personal political risk as president. I'll ask them again:

... how would a man as cynical as the young John Kerry run the United States today? Is he largely the same person? What do his personal ambitions and tactics of 30 years ago say about the value he places on his personal political survival and success today? And how will this impact the decisions that he makes in a time of war?

UPDATE: In contrast, let's see how a major media outlet spins for Kerry.

Posted by Bill at June 16, 2004 09:33 AM | TrackBack (1)