The Purple Heart

Sandra: What damage?

Scott - in 1971 I was in Vietnam while Kerry was testifying before congress. He was using unsubstantiated allegations and presenting them as facts basically stating that virtually all of us there were committing atrocities on the Vietnamese people. This fed the fervor and anger of people back in the states, not only against the war, but against those of us fighting it. Upon return, we were called names, threatened, spit upon, had things thrown at us, etc. Granted, Kerry did not do all of it, be he contributed an awful lot to that attitude. It sucks to have to stay away from certain areas or venues because you are in the military.

He pulled some of the same crap with Iraq, accusing our men and women over there of doing not much more than terrorising Iraquis in the night, of being failures in school, making it seem like all of our men and women there were guilty of the same things going on in Abu Gharaib. He, along with many others like Murtha, Reid, etc severely damaged the morale of our military.

I'll be sending my letter.  I'm bookmarking your post so that I will remember to make time to do it tomorrow.  Thanks for the post.  I appreciate knowing I could support this effort.

Sandra, I think our government did a fine job of messing up Nam.  What Kerry had to say was ultimately the truth.  Turning tail and fleeing an occupied country kind of lends credibility to his statements.  But that aside, John Kerry was wounded in battle, and earned his purple hearts, yet people like you don't honor his sacrifice, instead you deride him because he doesnt agree with your political agenda.  You and everyone who dishonor Kerry by your hate talk should be ashamed of yourselves because its pretty obvious that if the recipient does not agree with your political views, they become inconsequential.  How patriotic is THAT?

Terry - almost everytime you write something you show your ignorance. This latest response is no exception. You obviously have no clue what went on in Vietnam, nor here, at least you don't demonstrate it with your response.
I don't give a damn how many medals Kerry has, nor his politics. He dishonored those of us still serving over there, and, he dishonored those serving in Iraq. And, he did this for self agrandisement. And, he has never apologized. You have no room to question anybody's patriotism.

Sandra, I apologize for my role in politicizing this wonderful post of yours, even though it was only in response to two people that cannot stand by without  trying to demonize anyone of the opposite political persuasion. Your post honored those who were injured by enemy action. There attempts to politicize this dishonored my father, my friends and even John Kerry.

Sandra, in protest, as he had every right to do.  But you do not have the right to negate the reason he or anyone else received them.  Many brave men who served in Vietnam threw their medals away as well, disgusted by his experiences in Vietnam.

Mike, why don't you get off your high horse and just leave me alone here?  I can say without a doubt I probably know more about what went on in Nam than you do. 

Mike: I am simply exposing the hypocracy. As I stated above, this is a grat idea and it is good that Sandra is telling AR about the stamp campaign.

To have an American serviceman disparaged and demonized the way John Kerry was in the 2004 campaign was despicable. The way is continues is just petty. Your experiences in Vietnam were your experiences. I am not going to be one of those blythly saying "Thank you for your service. You are a true American hero." See, that kind of lip service, IMHO, is meaningless. Mike, it is an UNDERSTOOD FACT. That is where, to me, the hypocrisy lays. Sandra says one thing...and means another, when she makes negative comments about JK. The woman with the Purple Heart band-aid on the chin is disparaging EVERYONE who has every served this country in war. That woman has, again, IMHO, disparaged you, Mike, for your service. 

And to cap this off with a little "fun" ...remember the biggest disparagers of John Kerry NEVERwore the uniform. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, etc. Easy to make those comments when you were never there.

Scott - you are the one who started the political comments on this and the first to mention Kerry. As for your lipservice, I can give a rat's patootie. You could not be civil enough to keep this merely about purple hearts and the men and women who earned them.

Terry - I am not going to leave mean spirited stupidity alone. And your comment about knowing more about nam is an absolute insult to those of use that were there. You don't know didly about what went on over there. Maybe it appears that I am on a high horse only because of where you are looking at it from.

Sandra: I too have a hard time with folks who say such blatantly stupid and flase things. That is why I make my comments and observations. I you and Mike would like to go back to my very first post, I did indeed commend you for this post. There are many of us on the left who find what was done, the mocking of the Purple Heart, to be quite dispicable. If you and Mike see no offense to that, I certainly can't change your mind. Sandra, please check out snpoes.com and you will read that the entire "swiftboat" thing was a lie. Again, here is a group that, for political reasons, decided to deride and belittle one man's experience in Vietnam. Why would ANYONE attack somebody who served?

Mike: You addressed the way those who returned from Vietnam were treated. That was a horrible thing to do to our troops. While the war in Vietnam was highly unpopular, it was not their fault and did not deserve such treatment.

Sandra: It would appear to me that the conservatives are the ones that are filled with hatred, egged on by the dozen or so radio and tee vee entertainers. Domestic terrorism is the right-wing's domain.

Sandra: You are right that domestic terrorism is in all of our domain's. We on the left are wide awake. We are the one's being attacked.

Sandra, better check out who the swiftboaters really are and who organized them.  The same PR firm that is trying to tank the health care reform.  But lets say those "swift boaters" knew Kerry, how do you know they weren't lying?  What if those same guys had said something about the previous president instead?  Whom would you believe then? We're not against everything republicans do.  We just came down from an 8 year high of what republicans do.  It didn't work out very good now did it?  Time to let the grown ups have their time.

Mike, you don't know me, don't know where I've been, don't know what I've done.  So until you do, please don't make comments alluding to the fact you do!

Terry - perhaps when you write those words you don't know me, don't know where I've been, don't know what I've done. So until you do, please don't make comments alluding to the fact you do! you should look into a mirror, since you seem to know what everybody else really means. Anytime you are ready for a stand up debate on Vietnam, let me know. Until you demonstrate otherwise, my assessment stands.

Sandra: Great idea.