Apparently, John Kerry was the only guy in Vietnam. His Audie Murphy-like performance in his few weeks in combat notwithstanding, Kerry's self-centered ownership of a conflict that he so reviled is startling in its absurdity. In March of this year, he told Carl Cameron, "I was there, and it was mine, and it was a war and I fought in it." In other words, its John Kerry's war and you can't have it. He can have his "band of brothers," the straggling few, but the overwhelming majority of those who also served, including Kerry's Vietnam chain of command, an overwhelming majority of his fellow officers and over 250 fellow sailors are not entitled to same.
It's not pretty when veterans go after each other. In fact, it's a sad testimony when it reaches this point. But this is not another sinister Bush plot cooked up over brisket in Crawford (see secret Saudi deals, clandestine support for Haliburton shareholders, the Kyoto Treaty, or Laci Peterson's murder). These are veterans, then and now, who are passionately opposed to the election of a charlatan to the highest office in the land.
Kerry and his campaign shouted "bring it on." They have made Vietnam the central issue. His coronation in Boston was a glitzy display of his "reporting for duty," riding in to Boston Harbor on a simulated Swift Boat, opening remarks from Jim Rassman, the vet plucked from the waters, and a phalanx of vets behind the podium as Kerry spoke.
But when fellow vets, such as John O'Neill and his Swift Boat comrades came forward to challenge Kerry's resume and in fact "bring it on," Kerry's camp screams "foul." Little Johnny wants to take his ball and go home.
Kerry filed a protest with the Federal Election Commission to stop the very effective Swift Boat ads. His campaign continues to demand President Bush denounce the ads. Talking (sometimes screaming) heads Carville, Begala, Davis and the other usual suspects shout over the Swifties and use invective such as "liars," "frauds," and "Republican-financed." They didn't have a problem when Michael Moore, the author of the biggest political smear commercial in American history, was doing his thing. In fact, they invited him to sit in the presidential box in Boston and celebrated him. But when a group of angry fellow vets pony up a couple hundred thousand in donations to produce commercials that's not okay - that's way out of bounds.
Kerry wants it both ways. Vietnam was his. He was both the war hero and then the noble anti-war young man with a cause. What could be more poignant? He wants us to believe everything he and his few are saying and stifle the voices of hundreds who served with him and were tortured as a result of his congressional testimony in the Hanoi Hilton.
He won't release his full and complete military and medical records. He won't address the specific charges of his fellow Swifties. He won't apologize for painting with one very broad brush an entire generation of Vietnam veterans as being war criminals, rapists, and murderers. He won't explain his testimony under oath before congress in 1971 that many observers consider perjury. He started this fight and now doesn't have the will or ability to finish it. Johnny has taken his ball and gone home.
