Tricky Road

For those of you interested in reviewing Kerry's record in the military, here is one account, admittedly from his own website.

I do want to admit that the Republicans are entering this particular field with a couple of strikes against them. First of all, their guys chose not to serve (and there is Vice President Cheney's famous line that he had "other priorities" during this period.) So they can't really compete directly. Once you, the voter, start comparing their experiences during Vietnam, even discounting any medals Kerry received, Kerry wins without breaking a sweat.

Their only hope is to set Kerry up to defeat himself. It would help if Kerry spent a lot of time saying, "Well as a Silver Star and Purple Heart medal receiver I'm the greatest." But he hasn't. Make me a Commentator's crack research staff is in the middle of reviewing Kerry's speeches and we'll present our findings later in the week, but preliminary research indicates that while he refers to his military service fairly often, he doesn't refer to his medals all that much (and usually in the context of discussing his post war activities with VVAW).

Instead they have to pretend that he's relying on his medals to get into office and then try to knock down those medals. It's not the best strategy, as it relies too much on you, the voter, listening only to them and taking no time to listen to Kerry or to rationally consider what they are arguing. But it's the best strategy they have, unfortunately.