A really interesting segment on the NewsHour last night about John Kerry's decorations:
"JIM LEHRER: More now on the charges and counter-charges over John Kerry's war record. John O'Neill is co-founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that sponsored the ad against Kerry. He also wrote 'Unfit for Command,' a book critical of John Kerry's service in Vietnam. And we're also joined by Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant, who has covered and written extensively about John Kerry. Mr. O'Neill, are you doing President Bush's dirty work for him?"
Lehrer is a former Marine, and does a good job with military issues. Certainly, it is unseemly for supporters of a President and Vice-President who avoided military service, who have no medals of their own, to make an issue of John Kerry's medals. While it is legitimate for them to make an issue of his throwing his decorations away as a protest against the Vietnam war, his casting aspersions on Vietnam veterans as war criminals, his subsequent efforts to have it both ways, or whatever else is a matter of principle.
Likewise, Kerry might want to come up with something he has done since fighting in Vietnam--which was some 30 years ago, after all. Lots of people won medals, and are not qualified to be President. It takes something extra, and Kerry hasn't shown it, yet.
After all, Bob Dole was a war hero, Bill Clinton wasn't, and the American people elected Clinton.
On the other hand, the Kerry critics have some juicy tidbits to bait him with...
You can watch the whole Lehrer segment here.