Originally posted by BP:
it's annoying how far people will go to try and discredit kerry's service or belittle the fact that he actually fought in a war.


What's more annoying is how Kerry thinks his service in Vietnam alone qualifies him to be president.

Originally posted by BP:
i find it more interesting why none of bush's reserve buddies have come out to vouch for him performing his reserve duties in the 3 months or so of his service that seem to be lost in time...


Why should they have to? Just because McAuffile made some loony statements doesn't mean they should be responded to.

Originally posted by BP:
in addition i don't think it's fair for people to point to kerry's voting record as a senator as indicative of his expected service as our eventual president. there are so many other battles being fought in the senate that you can't take someone's voting record at face value imo.


BS If that's true, then we can't take Bush's record as president as any indication of decisions he would make, because "there are so many other battles being fought".

Originally posted by BP:
however, we do know that kerry's current qualifications to be president are more than what bush had at the time he was elected.


And what qualifications would those be? His record in the Senate? You just said we can't take them as any indication of what he would do as president. His service in Vietnam? We can't consider the things his fellow soldiers have said. Try for a second to not be so contradictory!

I don't really care what Kerry did when he was in Vietnam. If he killed innocent civilians, then so be it. I've always said what happens on the battlefield stays on the battlefield, because no one who wasn't there can imagine the psychological conditions of warfare.

The significance of these accusations, however, is that Kerry is using his Vietnam service as a backbone of his campaign. If he talks himself up to be some great hero whose fellows soldiers adored him, then evidence to the contrary should be considered. He's the one that has brought his Vietnam service into the campaign, so he should accept the positive and the negative of doing so.