Romney and the religion question…
Toby Harnden, formerly of this Northern Ireland parish has an interesting religious angle on the Primary races in the US just now. Mitt Romney, one of the serious contenders for the Republican candidacy for the presidency is running into serious flak, this time because of his religion. He’s a Mormon: a religion with nearly 13 million members with many of their recent converts coming from the Bible Belt of the southern states. Nominally a secular republic, it is hard to exaggerate the importance of private belief when it comes to candidates for public office in the US. Few atheists dare wear their non believing hearts on their sleeves.
kensei: “Which would be pertinent if he didn’t also have a Bronze Star and Silver Star, which are.”
Not necessarily. A Bronze star with a “V” is for bravery / valor. One can earn a Bronze star, sans “V”, for something other than gallantry.
kensei: “No, they are, because they do not impact in any way, shape or form on the claims about whether not Kerry deserved his medals for bravery”
Ah, but my thesis was that stressing his military service was a bad political move, not that he didn’t deserve the medals, Kensei. In fact, you were the one who introduced the Swifties to the conversation, not I. That I indulged your appetite for conspiracy is mine own fault, however.
The reason that stressing his military career was a bad move is that, regardless of the swifties, he made a thirty year career in politics under-cutting and trying ham-string the military, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was, in fact, one of the few consistant things he did whilst in office.
As for the rest…
“Broad access” is not wholly unfettered access, nor does it answer the question of whether or not the file had been purged. Likewise, he cherry-picked his journalists, choosing three friendly organizations. It is not very persuasive on the facts, seeing as his seperation from the service was well before 1978. While the government works slowly, honorably discharging a man in 1978 who seperated from the service in 1972 seems something of a stretch, even for the Post Office, let alone the US Navy. Given Kerry’s anti-war activism (1970 to 1971) whilst still in the reserves, it is entirely likely that his seperation from the reserves in 1972 was under other than honorable terms (conduct unbecoming an officer being the most likely suspect), subequently reversed in 1978 under a friendlier commander in chief (Carter vs. Nixon) and the file purged of the initial seperation.
Regardless, whether or not the Swifties were 100% accurate, it does not rebut my original thesis — that Kerry made a politically foolish error trying to claim his military service in light of his subsequent anti-military activities.
OK, kensei and Dread Cthulhu et al.
I know this is not my cat-fight. I know all about Count Dracula only coming out at night…
… but why does the Swift Boat turdage only emerge in Election years? [For which see http://www.makethemaccountable.com over recent days.]
Arrggh. I do have to stop.
“Not necessarily. A Bronze star with a “V†is for bravery / valor. One can earn a Bronze star, sans “Vâ€, for something other than gallantry.”
Quite.
“James Rassmann, a Green Beret advisor who was aboard PCF-94, was knocked overboard when, according to witnesses and the documentation of the event, a mine or rocket exploded close to the boat. According to the documentation for the event, Kerry’s arm was injured when he was thrown against a bulkhead during the explosion. PCF 94 returned to the scene and Kerry rescued Rassmann from the water. Kerry received the Bronze Star for his actions during this incident; he also received his third Purple Heart”
What do you think Kerry’s was for? Oh, and there is still the Silver Star, which are only given for bravery in battle AFAIK.
What exactly is the point of the pedantry?
“Ah, but my thesis was that stressing his military service was a bad political move, not that he didn’t deserve the medals, Kensei. In fact, you were the one who introduced the Swifties to the conversation, not I. That I indulged your appetite for conspiracy is mine own fault, however.”
Yes. Because as I said, I thought it was low.
Also conspiracy? WTF? Did I imagine the swifties and it’s really just aliens beaming it to my brain? Otherwise that comment makes fuck all sense. I’m fairly sure the swifties existed and they did a fair bit of damage to John Kerry using some fairly nasty tactics.
Oh, and the links to Republicans are fairly well documented, but I didn’t even make any claims on that.
Malcolm
I am very sorry for derailing the thread, just a throwaway comment that snowballed
I’d guess having the funds to pursue these type of slurs helps a lot in getting them through.
I think maybe we should soon all be awarded Purple Hearts (or the Slugger equivalent) for the wounds inflicted by collateral damage from all the flak flying about from this spat.