Military Records

From where I sit, all the military records stuff is bullshit. And I don't just mean the Swifties smear and lie campaign--the Bush AWOL charges are also silly. Based on documentary evidence, it's pretty clear Bush skipped out on his duties and while I agree that this does have a direct bearing on his fitness to be a "war president", not to mention it raises questions of honesty and integrity, I think it's really a non-issue.

As for the cries on each side for the other candidate to "release all his records", they're also hogwash. Kerry's documents have been on his website forever, and Bush's can be found on a McPaper webpage. They've both publicly released everything, with the exception of medical records that they allowed the press to examine briefly. So let's stop that nonsense right now.

A lot of the charges coming from the various camps involve arcane minutiae about events that took place over 30 years ago. Quite frankly, we have a lot more important things to debate than whether Bush was grounded because he couldn't pass a drug test or whether Kerry was precisely in Cambodia at 11:59PM on X-mas Eve. Folks might have noticed that we're involved in a couple of wars, our economy sucks, people need healthcare, and our country faces lots of other issues upon which Vietnam has no bearing.

Now, it's true that Kerry includes his Vietnam service as an element in his multi-faceted campaign. Really, can you blame him? It was a pretty formative part of his life, in no small part because his combat experiences drove him to fight against the war when he got home. His two tours in Vietnam also helped hone his ability to think and take decisive action in a crisis. And of course, this all had a lot to do with the launch of Kerry's political career.

So to complain about Kerry's bringing up his service is ridiculous. It's especially so when you consider that the GOP already assails him as having no credibility on national security matters. One part of Kerry's response to that silliness is to note that he has seen war firsthand. Seems pretty important if you want to be Commander-in-Chief.

It's also fascinating to read winger complaints about the investigations into Bush's being AWOL from the National Guard. While they parse words from a Senate floor speech Kerry gave in 1986, they decry the Left's pondering of large gaps in Bush's service record. When asked why Bush's service isn't fair game if they're attacking Kerry's, their usual riposte is "Bush hasn't made his service the centerpiece of his campaign."

Really, WTF does that mean? I mean, it's no wonder Bush doesn't want to remind people that he didn't complete his service, but if a candidate doesn't mention something we can't look into it? Puhleeze. I'll note that not going to Vietnam obviously doesn't disqualify somebody from seeking (or winning) the Presidency--Clinton did, of course--but we have every right to compare candidates based on whatever documentation is available and to assess the meaning and import of that comparison. In my world, Vietnam service ranks really low in my priority list, but it's still something to consider.

Anyway, this will probably be the last post from me on these issues, though I'll likely still argue with trolls at other sites. For me the whole service issues boils down to a few really simple differences between Kerry and Bush:

• John Kerry
• Volunteered for Vietnam: I request duty in Vietnam. My billet preference is "Swift" boats with a second choice of Patrol Officer in a PBR squadron...I consider the opportunity to serve in Vietnam an extremely important part of being in the armed forces and believe my request is in the best interests of the Navy.
• Tours in Vietnam: 2
• Medals: 3 Purple Hearts, 1 Bronze Star, and 1 Silver Star
• George Bush
• Did not volunteer for Vietnam: Tim Russert: But you didn't volunteer or enlist to go. President Bush: No, I didn't. You're right.
• Tours in Vietnam: 0
• Medals: none

So I'm done with this, but if the Republicans really want to keep bringing up Kerry's service, they can be my guest.

ntodd