DES MOINES, Iowa - Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record) pushed the name-calling in the presidential race to a new level, calling Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) a coward for not serving in Vietnam and cowardly for his criticism of John Kerry (news - web sites)
Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, recently said that if elected he would pursue a more effective and “more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history.”
Cheney, in campaign speeches, has been mocking that reference to sensitivity.
Harkin, D-Iowa and a former Navy fighter pilot, said Monday, “It just outrages me that someone who got five deferments during Vietnam and said he had ‘other priorities’ at that time would say that.”
He said President Bush (news - web sites) and Cheney are “running scared because John Kerry has a war record and they don’t.” He said of Cheney, “What he is doing and what he is saying is cowardly. The actions are cowardly.”
“When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil,” said Harkin. “He’ll be tough, but he’ll be tough with someone else’s kid’s blood.”
So Kerry is a big hero because he served in Vietnam for four months? I guess that is better than nothing but just about if you get my drift. I know that Al Gore was busy as a “reporter” during the war, but hey, I guess anything is better than nothing. I do however agree that high political figures no matter what stripe should have had to go as well and not cop out. I believe that this is the case for Bush and Cheney but it does not make a difference in who I want leading our nation and defending it. What I am saying is that Bush and Cheney for whatever reason did not serve and I believe that it had to do with their “connections” and I don’t think that is fair.
My great-uncle had his leg blasted to pieces at St. Lo on D+3 during World War II. Three days of battle, followed immediately by 18 months of surgeries, followed by a lifetime limp. I consider him and everybody else who showed up to be heroes whether they survived, were wounded or died.
Good. We can agree that Kerry is better than the chickenhawks attacking him.
Don’t quite catch what you’re saying. You would seem to be arguing that a person’s heroic stature is measured purely by their length of service. Kerry did one tour offshore Vietnam and then volunteered to go in for a second tour in the middle of the face-to-face fighting, and you call that nothing? He didn’t have to do that – Kerry could have done what most people do and simply rotated home with the rest.
I know Cheney was busy as a draft-deferring “coward” during the war, as were most of the Republican leadership. Interesting how all these chickenhawks all had different priorities back then. Where were Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, George Will, Newt Gingrich, and all the other of the biggest loudmouths when America needed them?? Hiding at home.
Of course you can make that decision. It would be a poorly considered one in this particular case, given that Bush has exercised terrible judgment before and during his presidency… but perhaps when he goes into the “ex presidents club” he can make some good decisions about what golf course he’s going to play at.
It’s not fair. Good that you recognize it. Keep in mind that there were people, like Kerry, who put themselves in harm’s way in place of guys who cowered at home. You can’t have it both ways – “moral clarity” means owning up when Republicans are scumbags.
I’d like to know how many of America’s congressmen have dressed up in flight suits and gone prancing about on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a big party banner in the background.
Sen. Barry Goldwater – not the Post – checked with the Defense Department and soon [color=red]Harkin was forced to admit he had never been in combat in Vietnam, but was based in Japan during the war, ferrying damaged planes from the Saigon airport to Japan for repairs[/color].Oops![/quote]
Note: The above is excerpted from an Ann Coulter article. I have never cited her previously. But, I am assuming that this is accurate.
Unlike Cheney, Edwards hasn’t been irresponsible with the lives of U.S. troops, sending them off to attack the wrong country on cooked-up intelligence. I bet as vice president, Edwards wouldn’t try to perpetuate misinformation about “links” between Saddam and Osama. Unlike Cheney, Edwards probably wouldn’t receive massive paychecks from Halliburton while serving as vice president – and then lie about whether or not he’d vetted the no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton.
Cheney’s a cowardly scumbag for a variety of reasons. When Cheney attacks Kerry for Kerry’s statement about a more sensitive war, he’s missing Kerry’s point. Kerry’s been in combat and knows that our military needs to be lethal – Kerry wants to fight smart, not waste lives and resources on battles that have no relationship to U.S. security.
