Better late than never?
Johnny, oh Johnny ... why?
Former Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry, decided to release all of his military records ... about eight months too late.
Surprise, surprise ... nothing is out of the ordinary. From the Boston Globe story:
The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.
The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions. An earlier release of the full record might have helped his campaign because it contains a number of reports lauding his service. Indeed, one of the first actions of the group that came to be known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was to call on Kerry to sign a privacy waiver and release all of his military and medical records.
But Kerry refused, even though it turned out that the records included commendations from some of the same veterans who were criticizing him.
So, as we already knew, the Swift Boat Liars were full of it. And, lo and behold, they actually recommended him for several of the medals he received. Apparently that whole thing really was partisan.
Like Kos I ask ... why, oh why did he wait so long? If he had simply released the full records, then it would have shown that they were nothing but liars and put that issue to rest. Kerry claims that he didn't want to stoop to their level, but he eventually responded to their allegations anyway ... so why not release the records?
And considering the latest ABC News poll shows President Bush's numbers at an all-time low, with nearly 60 percent of the country thinking the president doesn't care about their problems, instead focusing on insignificant issues and partisan bickering ... it's frustrating to wonder what might have been.
But alas, I have given up on Sen. Kerry. I wish him continued success as the junior senator from Massachusetts, but my lot for the 2008 election - barring a Hillary run - is firmly with either John Edwards or Wesley Clark (as of now, I lean toward Edwards though I think Clark has come a long way in his political seasoning and I like his ideas on national security).
Former Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry, decided to release all of his military records ... about eight months too late.
Surprise, surprise ... nothing is out of the ordinary. From the Boston Globe story:
The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.
The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions. An earlier release of the full record might have helped his campaign because it contains a number of reports lauding his service. Indeed, one of the first actions of the group that came to be known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was to call on Kerry to sign a privacy waiver and release all of his military and medical records.
But Kerry refused, even though it turned out that the records included commendations from some of the same veterans who were criticizing him.
So, as we already knew, the Swift Boat Liars were full of it. And, lo and behold, they actually recommended him for several of the medals he received. Apparently that whole thing really was partisan.
Like Kos I ask ... why, oh why did he wait so long? If he had simply released the full records, then it would have shown that they were nothing but liars and put that issue to rest. Kerry claims that he didn't want to stoop to their level, but he eventually responded to their allegations anyway ... so why not release the records?
And considering the latest ABC News poll shows President Bush's numbers at an all-time low, with nearly 60 percent of the country thinking the president doesn't care about their problems, instead focusing on insignificant issues and partisan bickering ... it's frustrating to wonder what might have been.
But alas, I have given up on Sen. Kerry. I wish him continued success as the junior senator from Massachusetts, but my lot for the 2008 election - barring a Hillary run - is firmly with either John Edwards or Wesley Clark (as of now, I lean toward Edwards though I think Clark has come a long way in his political seasoning and I like his ideas on national security).
posted by Jmac at 4:26 PM
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