We already went over the Swiftliars enough during the election. I am not going to waste more time on it at this point. Enough to say they were a pack of liars and were being paid by a shady form of “campaign fund”, courtesy of one of Bush’s friends in Texas. These are also the same scumbags who had previously smeared McCain. Go look for the video and the transcripts yourself.
We all understood the bit about King Arthur and the brave Sir Robin. No sense trying to back pedal now. While you are doing your own homework, check out the “heroes” - Bush was bravely fighting in the Air National Guard, Cheney had “other priorities”, Rove (or was it Wolfy) was teaching some course that must have been real critical to the war effort (?) etc. The ones behind all the smears were the real cowards. While McCain was being tortured and Kerry was being shot at, they were hiding.
I think that the only military service experience that could possibly be seen by the US voters as a bonus in a Presidential election is service in the US military. Add that to the fact that US loyalties in the Falklands War were somewhat divided between “special relationship” sypathy for the UK and “hemispherical alliance” desires not to alienate Latin America (and the ever-growing number of Hispanic voters in the US), and I think that it’s very unlikely that your hypothetical dual-citizen candidate would be able to use Falklands experience as a plus in a run for POTUS.
Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is currently constitutionally ineligible to run for POTUS since he is not a natural-born US citizen. Some people would like to amend the Constitution to allow him to run, since he’s been in the US since age 21 and (despite his accent) is viewed as being “culturally American” as he appears to espouse so many of the ideals that his supporters cherish. However, even though he’s lived in the US almost his entire adult life, questions have been raised about possible conflict of interest if he could ever run for the Presidency.
I think the US voting public would consider potential conflict of interest to be a much greater handicap for a candidate who had actually served in another country’s armed forces in a conflict where US interests were not cut-and-dried.
Well, being Director of the CIA didn’t stop George H. W. Bush from becoming President, but of course he had previous honorable military service in WWII.
Not really. Once you’re in the armed forces you pretty much do what they tell you to do. I thought that was common knowledge.
And again, I have absolutely no complaint about Kerry’s failure as a soldier. I have a friend who was within 150 yards of the WTC when the first one fell. There was such terror that he ran as fast as he could and literally stepped on a woman who had fallen and kept running. I have no contempt for him and I have no contempt for Kerry (as a soldier). But I do have a problem with people who try to make him into a hero.
And BTW calling the Swifties liars doesn’t make them liars any more than calling Kerry a hero makes him a hero. I read what the Swifties had to say and I read what their critics had to say at the time.
I thought all this was common knowledge, but that’s what I get. The references to shrapnel are in his medical records. Despite your comments about reading the Swifties “critics” you’re using their crap about rice. So I don’t think common knowledge applies here. I thought it was common knowledge that you can volunteer for things in the Navy, just like he volunteered to be IN the Navy, but maybe it’s not. I’ll post a little more from Wikipedia. For the sake of honesty I’ll include that last bit, which I’m guessing you’re going to focus on.
You can make him a coward you don’t have a problem with for that, and I suspect you will. Ultimately, even if he expected the job to be less dangerous than it was, he was decorated multiple times for the way he did it. A little more about the medical records.
I have a problem with the uninformed stuff you’re posting! You’re wrong about the rice, and you’re wrong about him running away from combat. I think you ought to admit it instead of trying to shade your position. I don’t care if you intended it as a criticism or not, the point is that you’re incorrect.
It is not courageous to allow your service and family to be smeared by Bush’s thugs and not call him on it. It’s also not courageous to campaign for him during the next election. McCain is a political coward. If anyone tried to assassinate my character and spread rumors about my family the way Bush’s people did, there is no way I would take it sitting down.
Please. John Kerry is a hero. He risked his life for his country. As many have mentioned in more detail than I care to get into, the accounts of people like the Swift boat veterans is dubious at best.
If combat wasn’t his thing, he could have easily done what Bush or Clinton did. He actually went to Vietnam. I didn’t say his actions were on par with McCain. It’s not a contest for world’s greatest war hero.