Yellow Dog Blog says nice things about Kerry's 1971 SFRC testimony

[rox63]

Monday, November 28, 2005

Kerry's 1971 Words: How Sadly They Apply to Iraq

No matter how one feels about John Kerry as the Democratic party's presidential candidate in 2004, it was an impressive sight to see the old footage of the 27-year-old, Vietnam-Veteran Kerry testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971.

Kerry, then one of the leaders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gave riveting and erudite testimony that left even critics astounded at the intellectual weight brought to bear by such a young man. And, of course, some of Kerry's honest descriptions of combat in Vietnam were dug up again by the Republican party to use against him in the presidential campaign and to smear his patriotism with words three decades old.

What is both amazing and profoundly sad is to read back through Kerry's entire narrative, as I did over the weekend, and see the startling parallels between what Kerry said almost 35 years ago and what is happening today with the Iraq war.

Read more here: http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2005/11/kerrys-1971-words-how-sadly-they-apply.html

[ProSense]

1. That's awesome! Thanks for posting. n/t

[whometense]

2. Wow, Rox.

Thanks for posting this link. This guy really gets it. So does Randi Rhodes, also a veteran, who was replaying Kerry's 1971 testimony on her show last week.

It's sickening that not only are his compelling words from so long ago considered ok to use against him by republicans, but that they are also used against him by democrats who purport to know better "Where is the John Kerry of 1971?" I'll tell you where he is. We are fortunate to have him still with us, only wiser and more experienced in the ways of the world than he was in 1971. Thank god.

I've been reading much much less online the past few weeks, and as I read less I see things differently. The further away I get from the lefty freepers the more hopeful I get that the people of this country will welcome another Kerry run in 2008. That they will welcome a leader who has already proved his prescience more than once, who is steady and calm and genuinely cares about this country. People are so tired of being lied to. Except for the tinfoil hattists among us, most don't relish second-guessing their leadership. It's exhausting. THey have other things they need to be thinking about.

[ginnyinWI]

3. I like that site!

I guess I'm a yellow-dog Dem too. I've voted for too many Republicans (in my unenlightened years) for anybody's good.

[sandnsea]

5. Maybe I misunderstand

A yellow dog Dem is Dem 'til the end. They'd vote for a yellow dog as long as it's a Democrat. So you're a yellow dog now? Is that what you mean?

Cuz a yellow dog never ever ever voted for a Republican. :+

[TayTay]

6. Oh, without the converts we would have no hope.

And I have voted for some real bad Dems in my life. (Yeesh. Thankfully Senator has not been among them, but yeesh.)

Ginny: Welcome to the side of the Angels. All is forgiven. We all have some skeletons in the closet. (Like Sandy would say LOL! and :silly: )

[ginnyinWI]

7. that's what I meant--I'm a convert

I voted Republican until Clinton in 92.

[sandnsea]

8. oh joy oh joy

I just didn't want you goin' around sayin' "I'm a yelladawg Dem, I've voted Republican a time or two" That just wouldn't do for a Kerrycrat! :)

[Island Blue]

10. I'm a convert too Ginny.

I converted after the first Gulf War started. Hey, when I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid. I've been a proud Yeller Dawg now for more than a decade and a half.

[ginnyinWI]

11. life experience did it

:pals: When I was young I was naive, but when I knew better, I did better! ;)

[Noisy Democrat]

9. Yay, I'm a yellow dog Democrat

Thanks for explaining that. I've never voted for a Republican in my life. Unless you count voting for McCain in the Republican primary in Michigan in 2000 (Dems can vote in Repub primaries in MI), but that was a vote to try to stop Bush. I've never voted for a Republican on any ticket that had a Democrat on it.

I feel so clean now. Shiny, even. :)

[jenndar]

4. That's great!

Too many people focus on really insignificant crap in their criticisms of JK. It's nice when people acknowledge how great he is when it comes to stuff that matters :)

[MH1]

12. Thanks for posting this. Everyone who has not read the full testimony,

you need to do that.

http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp

(Probably everyone who posts in this forum already has, so lurkers, that's for you.)

This is a very emotional connection for me. When the swift liars came out with their allegations I thought, "if this is true, then I can't support this guy" (of course I didn't know they were liars, then). I decided that I had to read this testimony to see what Kerry really said, because I didn't like the snippets his accusers trotted out.

For me it was a simple matter to find the testimony, and once I read it (twice to be sure), there was no going back. The swifites had clearly taken words out of context to totally mischaracterize their meaning and intent.

I detest the swifties probably as much as anyone can, because I almost fell for their shit. Well, not really, because I never would have made my mind up until reading the actual document. But close enough that I am really, really pissed at those yahoos.

Also I know that I'm a little more skilled at finding things on the internet than the average person (I'm trained in it, after all) so it really concerns me that many people would not have known how to find the document, or maybe not even realized that it would be available, and so just took the swifties at face value. With our so-called news media permanently out to lunch, how would an average person track down what Kerry really said that day?

And that REALLY pisses me off.