Kerry & the draft an interesting story..

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Kerry & the draft an interesting story..
34
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 11:42pm
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."

Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.

"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/07/wkerr07.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/07/ixnewstop.html




Edited 8/26/2004 11:45 pm ET ET by truemobile

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 2:00pm
"nor can we allow someone who games the system to create a misleading record or who lies about his record to run our military. "

Well, gosh, we let a convicted drunk driver run it now.....


From Molly Ivins.....

"Do you love it?

The Swift Boat Liars are of interest only as a perfect case for those in media studies to see exactly how this stuff spreads, although it does dig up yet again the issue of how George W. Bush spent the Vietnam War. Here's a review of the state of play on that story. USA Today recently rehashed the remaining questions:

Why did Bush, described by some of his fellow officers as a talented and enthusiastic pilot, stop flying fighter jets in the spring of 1972 and fail to take the annual physical exam required by all pilots?

What explains the gap in the president's Guard service in 1972-73, a period when commanders in Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for duty and records show no pay to Bush when he was supposed to be on duty in Alabama?

A third question from USAT – did Bush receive preferential treatment in getting into the Guard and getting a coveted pilot slot – is a non-question. Of course he did. It was the peak of the Vietnam War, and there was waiting list of over 100,000 men to get into the Air National Guard. A friend of Daddy Bush named Sid Adger called the then-lieutenant governor of Texas, Ben Barnes, and asked him to get Rep. Bush's son George into the section of the Texas Guard known as the "champagne unit."

Adger was a prominent Houston businessman who belonged to the same clubs as Poppy, sent his kids to the same schools and had sons in the champagne unit. The son of former Texas Gov. John Connally had joined, the son of Sen. Lloyd Bentsen joined, as did some players for the Dallas Cowboys.

Barnes called Brig. Gen. James Rose of the Guard and recommended Bush for a pilot position. Bush got a direct commission and was assigned one of the last two pilot slots in the state after scoring the absolute numerical minimum (25) on the qualifying test. For years, Bush claimed a friend whose name he didn't remember had told him of an opening in the Guard, that he applied through regular channels and was accepted.

The 72-73 gap in Bush's Guard record might have been explained by old Pentagon records but – gosh darn it, those very records turn out to have been destroyed by mistake. Don't you know Bush was upset that the records that could have proven his story turned out to be gone? Several newspapers have put in freedom-of-information requests for still other records, but nothing has been forthcoming so far. "



dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 3:02pm
This is for his second tour of duty.

I thought that I read that Kerry had ticked off the box on his application saying that he would go to Vietnam. I was just wondering if you saw that in his original application?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 3:35pm
Hmm... so far, I have not been able to find anything saying he volunteered the first time around when he received orders to serve on the Gridley, but I will keep looking.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 6:09pm
And are you imagining that Bush supporters always answer our questions? LOL.


< Why is it when Kerry supporters can't answer something they pass the buck? >

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 7:06pm
Thank you...I see we are from the same state, what's the liklihood we can convince the rest of our state to see it our way?
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2003
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 7:43pm
Does anyone know what Kerry's views are and his agenda if he is to win the presidency. Also, we've heard soooo much about Kerry's 4 months in Vietnam but I have yet to hear him or his collegues say very much, nothing really, about his 20 plus years in the US Senate. I would never hire someone based soley on what they did twenty years ago. He has been working with/for the American political system for a long time and wants to be highly promoted but he isnt running on his record.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 7:54pm
And what would Kerry do to reduce the combat deaths? Huh?

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 8:21pm
That dog won't hunt. Bush's unit had several positions open for pilots when he signed up. There was a waiting list for the non-flying positions, but to be an ANG pilot, you had to spend the first year on full time active duty. The ANG had a hard time filling the pilot positions because of the time committment it required.

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 9:09pm
Hi ariedog! Welcome to the board!

Renee ~~~

Renee ~~~

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Sat, 08-28-2004 - 12:50am
"Bush's unit had several positions open for pilots when he signed up. There was a waiting list for the non-flying positions, but to be an ANG pilot, you had to spend the first year on full time active duty. The ANG had a hard time filling the pilot positions because of the time committment it required."

Got a a source for that?

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.