Reply #24: I am in awe of Kerry in regards to the AWOL thing [View All]

[chookie]

Can't remember when he said this, but it was in the last day or so.

When asked about the AWOl controversy, this great man said (I am not a great man, and paraphrasing here as best as I can!): "It was a complex time. There were a lot of choices that people could make. Some chose to fight. Some chose to go to Canada. Some chose to oppose the war and pay the penalties. Some chose to enter the National Guard. I don't have a problem with any of these choices, because I remember what it was like."

Now -- that's a good answer. That's a DAMN good answer. That's the best answer. That's the answer Abraham Lincoln would have made. My respect for Kerry skyrocketed at that moment.

First of all -- it is the utter truth. But what it leaves unsaid is that we all need to answer for the choice we made then. We have all had to live with the choice we made then. And the hypocrites have to live with the choice that they made.

In making a general statement, and one as profound as this, and without making any accusations or casting a judgement -- John Kerry blew the chickenhawks out of the water.

Furthermore -- the AWOL thing bugs some of us more than others. It was just yet another mountain of dirt and sleaze we had on Bush years ago. But we were not in a bloody war 3 years ago, with kids dying on a daily basis. Therefore, I say -- you bet your butt that the choices people made back in the 60s matters now.

The Ghost of Viet Nam. The way Bush intended to use it was to declare to the American people: There will never be another Viet Nam! Because we will never pull out of any conflict!" That sure sent alarm bells off all over in my head -- because what he means is that no matter how badly he messes up in Iraq, we're just going to let the meaningless slaughter go on, no matter how much blood and treasure we sacrifice.

John Kerry has also seized on The Ghost of Viet Nam -- and he is going to use it honorably to defeat the war-profiteers who lied us into this bloody conflict, the way they did back then. War as a last resort -- not as a opportunity for profit and political opportunism!

And I hope and pray that in doing so, President Kerry finally exorcizes the Ghost of Viet Nam, and that all of our veterans of that awful war -- which tore our country apart -- find the peace that they deserve-- not the polarization and exploitation and the screwing that His Chimperial Highness has given them.