…and it’s this kind of shorthand thinking that makes me want to strangle at least half of my fellow countrymen. Kerry>Mass.>Dukakis>tank>goofy. How about Bush>No WMD’s>Patriot Act>Seeya, Dubya!
Sorry, st. pauler, I was directing my comment at the quoted paragraph, not you…I just wish people would do more thinking about this stuff…if it’s someone’s CONSIDERED opinion to be a Bushie, eh, so be it.
No worries 
Yes, but it was his 2nd tour of duty. He was in the Navy and spent the first tour on a ship, the Gridley.
Depends on how a person got into the National Guard, and what they did (or didn’t do) once they were in.
“questionable injuries”? He didn’t have much choice as to whether his wounds were minor or fatal. It also wasn’t his call to give himself Purple Hearts.
Considering that many young men did everything they could to avoid going to Vietnam at all, it’s, as you say, hardly surprising that one man, who had already served a four tour and was wounded 3 times already, didn’t want to tempt fate and go for a 4th.
As far as Kerry’s record, it’s all out there in public view, and there’s a lot to be proud of. The media isn’t going to tell people about it, it’s not like they want him elected. Kerry’s not been silent, he’s been silenced.
I just started learning about Kerry myself. He was a non-entity before the Democratic Convention, but I was VERY impressed by his speech, which made me feel better about the whole thing. I was astonished when watching some of the media pundits go on about how the speech was “rushed” (it wasn’t), and focused on his Vietnam experience (it wasn’t), and didn’t focus on issues (it did, big time), and any number of other things, all of which were false. If I hadn’t seen the speech myself, I might have believed what I was told. If I was wary of the media before, that really set the alarm bells ringing.
My favorite parts of the Kerry biography are his stint as a District Attorney, his getting the ball rolling on the Iran/Contra investigations (it’s no wonder Oliver North and Bush Sr. hate him), and the BCCI investigation, which blew my mind when I first heard about it. It alone should get him all the respect he deserves!
Here are several links regarding his background and positions. I myself haven’t read through all of these.
http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/John_Kerry.htm
http://wjm.homelinux.com/archives/000089.html#more
http://www.orlandoreport.com/profiles/john_kerry_voting_record.htm
One interesting tidbit-and I see someone mentioned it already, but I’ll still say it-he was one of the whistleblowers on Iran-Contra.