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Kerry & Vietnam: Game, Set and Match for Media?
By Lisa Sarrach
August 25, 2004

Months before "Swift Vets for Truth" was formally organized and during the democratic primary season, right before a debate in Detroit, I wrote a column about John Kerry and the Winter Soldier hearings that were held in Detroit in 1971.

Researching Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities as he closed in on the nomination I assumed that Mr. Kerry's membership in, Vietnam Vets Against the War, his appearances at the Winter Soldier hearings, his march on Washington where he threw his "ribbons" over the Capitol Hill fence, and his career making Senate hearing appearance would come back to haunt his bid for the presidency.

Instead, six months later, the Swift Boat Vets are out making their case against John Kerry in a book, "Unfit for Command", and television ads and appearances that focuses more on his service in Vietnam, than his activities when he returned. They have predictably been slimed by the Kerry campaign as a bunch of liars, of being in cahoots with the Bush campaign, any number of sins to discredit their message that John Kerry has embellished and or outright lied about some of his Vietnam heroism.

It should be noted that John O'Neill, Kerry's most long standing and vocal critic, and co-author of "Unfit for Command", has been battling Kerry for 30 years. He's the vet who debated Kerry on Dick Cavett in 1971. To say that John O'Neill is a plant and front for the Bush Campaign is ludicrous and disingenuous. Mr. O'Neill's motivations come from long standing anger over Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities and more recently learning "new" facts about Mr. Kerry's assertions of his war record in Doug Brinkley's "Tour of Duty", and Mr. Kerry's own assertions on his campaign website.

Whether or not, John Kerry embellished, lied or otherwise distorted his service in Vietnam, he has Navy records, which tend to back him up, at least as it relates to his many medals. He is, therefore on fairly safe ground in attacking the Swift Boat Vets' veracity as he has done and is doing with a new response ad.

However, it's been reliably proven that he embellished the Cambodia at Christmas recollection, and therefore gives some credence to the other allegations from the Swift Boat Vets. The larger questions concerning John Kerry's anti-war activities have yet to receive the same attention as the allegations over his medals. In my mind, that's where the real story lies.

Many veterans of the Vietnam Era have long harbored resentment towards John Kerry and the other members of "Vietnam Veterans Against the War." The vets who returned to the United States after John Kerry's testimony, were spit on, called baby killers and told not to wear their uniforms or medals in public. These returning vets learned what America thought of them through the testimony of John Kerry on national television. They were all branded war criminals who committed "systematic atrocities" as a matter of course. To add insult to injury, many of these vets started hearing for the first time, of John Kerry's version of his Vietnam exploits with the advent of his campaign for the presidency.

You see, John Kerry had never made much of an issue of his Vietnam heroism until he decided to run for president in a post 9/11 world. Heroism is a much better campaign strategy than anti-war activism and a pacifist voting record in the Senate.

No, in today's world it's a much better message to wrap yourself in the flag, surround yourself with your "Band of Brothers," get on a podium, and declare, "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty."

But the mainstream media is missing the boat again, excuse the pun, and not focusing enough on John Kerry's 1971 testimony, how that belief system shaped his votes in the Senate over 20 years, and statements he made based on his Vietnam experience that he would never commit American troops to war without the approval of the United Nations.

Just this weekend, John Hurley, the head of Veterans for Kerry, stated on Fox News Sunday that John Kerry stands behind his 1971 testimony before the Senate of widespread atrocities. Mr. Kerry has previously stated that he regrets "some of the language I used, that might have offended some people," but not the facts on which the statements were made.

Where is the media? Where are the renewed investigations cited in the book, "Stolen Valor" that wholly discredited the Winter Soldier Vets as imposters and liars? That many of them never set foot in Vietnam and made up many of their accounts from whole cloth.

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for democrats to dodge and deflect the real issues surrounding a controversy. Brings back shades of Clinton doesn't it? Instead of parsing, we get nuance. Clinton goes after Ken Starr, Kerry goes after the Swift Boat Vets. Clinton's larger crimes are missed because of the attention focused on "sex." Kerry's anti-war activities are being missed because too much attention is now being paid on who funded the Swift Boats and who bled more on the battlefield, who deserved what medals.

The Swift Boat Vets make a compelling case that John Kerry may have indeed embellished some of his Vietnam service. Only time will tell if any of them will be proved true and with the assault from the Kerry camp on their "true motives, i.e., Bush operatives," any truth that emerges will likely be diminished by the constant assault on their character. Game.

The media will largely ignore the bigger picture. The events that can be proven such as his anti-war activities, the Senate testimony, and his voting record will be ignored. Set.

Even when the Kerry campaign states on the record that there's no prove of collusion between the Bush campaign and the Swift Boat Vets AND that the Veteran's for Kerry spokesperson states that Kerry stands by everything he said in that 1971 testimony, the mainstream media will ignore it. Match.

The media once held their liberalism close to the vest and attempted to appear unbiased. Clinton's impeachment so outraged them, they were forced out of the closet and every day both in print and on television, their liberal views, biased reporting, and attacks on the president and support for Kerry are there for everyone to see.

The reason the Democrats can lie, distort, and attack the president unchallenged, is that they have a loyal and trusted friend in the mainstream media. The same media that has a large segment of the American public duped into thinking they wouldn't ever lie to them. That they and they alone are the arbiters of truth and justice. And anyone who challenges them has an agenda.

In truth its today's mainstream media that has the agenda. An out of the closet, open and hostile agenda that no longer does its job of reporting the news but increasingly is making and shaping it.

The only way out is for the umpire (the American people) to call a fault and disqualify the mainstream media and the democrats as the arbiters for truth in this country. Do your own research; go beyond the Network News, read other newspapers. We can no longer afford to trust "All the News That's Fit to Print."

Game, set, match to the mainstream media...unless the American public calls a fault, and disqualifies the mainstream media as our orbiter of the truth. In addition, President Bush as President Reagan did in the 80's, needs to lob a ball right over the heads of the mainstream media right on the baseline straight to the American people, to win the match for the American electorate.

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Lisa Sarrach is president of Hollywood-Hero (www.hollywood-hero.us), GOPUSA.COM (www.gopusa.com) national columnist and freelance writer focusing on cultural and domestic policy issues. You can contact her at lsarrach@hollywood-hero.us.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.