If you can give me a contact where I can reach any of them I'll be happy to interview them. So far only Del Sandusky seems availabing for interviews and I'm not sure how to contact him.
I did email Michael Kranish and the Boston Globe's ombudsman to see if they had a response.
Thanks urtshu for pointing out the NY Sun article. Veddy interesting. Could this be the Kerry dirt-bomb so widely hinted at in the past week or so??? Give a man enough rope..... (at least if the speculation has any truth to it...)
For those that aren't Academy grads (and all other officers, hope I don't slight anyone), I can't impress upon you the offense of being accused of being a liar. Especially, when you've decided to stand by your statements (not hedging, but speaking quickly you may make a statement that could be either misinterpreted or you could actually misspeak).
People calling Capt. Elliot a liar might have well called him a rapist or child molester. I am not exagerating; they're challenging his honor directly! It's an outrage.
Urthshu: I'm not sure how much I trust the Sun as a source. I'd like to see more.
JFH: Well yes, and that's what they're doing to Kerry, yes? This is why having so many of them willing to do it is so disturbing, and should be worthy of attention and not mere dismissal.
This doesn't mean that voters should not vote for Kerry anyway. But it's grated on me from day one that people are so quick to dismiss these guys merely as liars and political stooges. That is not right.
Honestly, I continue to maintain that if Kerry had responded differently, basically by acknowledging these guys and saying he was sorry for having offended them and admitting to maybe shooting his mouth off when he was younger, this issue would have been GONE. Instead, the way he handled it was just so bloody negative... and stupid.
It really rankled me, probably because I've got people in my life very important to me who were there in Viet Nam.
(and just HOW can somebody follow a Mother's deserved praise???)
Yes, Outstanding.
Did you see my post about Kerry's Lie?
http://tomgrey.motime.com/1093629194#330293
I think there are 3 things:
1) Kerry IS unfit
2) The Press is too biased, covering for Kerry too much (the point I hope the SwiftVets coverage makes; too bad Sinclair has been intimidated into not airing their program)
3) We are in a Moral Superiority War -- where Peace (and unspoken genocide) is considered more moral than fighting evil.
I logged in and posted a comment here a few days ago. Checked a few hours later to see
any responses. None. Came back the next day and my comment was gone.
Tried to log in, but can't, get message> "Error: This account is currently disabled."
Is this just a glitch or censorship?
RE: DW: "Were you aware of what Kerry said about war crimes in his testimony before Congress in the early 1970s?"
Why did Dean provide a link to the swifties propaganda instead of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations transcript of Kerry's speech?
The link Dean provides leaves out the first 6 words of Kerry's testimony.
Also 2 paragraphs before need to be looked at to put things into proper
prospective.
The link below will get you to Kerry's testimony on 04/22/71
Kerry Testimony It's long but worth the effort if you don't want spin.
If Elliott and Odell read the whole transcript they would see that Kerry
never accused them of anything. If Dean had read the transcript he
should have called them on it.
Dean, Elliot and Odell have an agenda.
Remember My Lai !!!!!!
Follow the link below for a personal account of atrocities
during the war.
atrocities
It is neither. It's my blog and you follow my rules or you get the fuck out.
In your initial posting you were both rude and inflammatory. If you want to ask questions, or point me to data you think I haven't seen, feel free. If you're going to act like an asshole, then you're out the door. Capice?
As to your accusation that Elliot and Odell have "an agenda" -- so far you have provided me with no evidence of what that agenda is.
Regarding My Lai: it was an isolated incident so far as any credible source I've ever seen has ever said, and it was nothing Kerry or the his fellow Swift Vets had anything to do with. It was a war crime. Those happen in every war. Those guilty of that were prosecuted and imprisoned, and rightly so, after being turned in by their fellow soldiers.
If you would like to highlight the portions of Kerry's testimony that you feel relevant, feel free. All you need do is quote the relevant sections. I am not going to be baited by someone who makes handwaving generalizations. My purpose in the interview was to ask the common questions that are hurled at these guys, and that's what I did.
If you have questions you would like me to forward to Elliott or Odell, feel free. But if you're just going to hurl snide accusations, get lost.
Oh, er, by the way: I've read the entire Kerry statement. It is quite apparent to me why Odell, Elliott, and every single Viet Nam veteran I knows feels that Kerry accused them of war crimes, besmirched their honor, and relayed a lot of Communist propaganda created in many cases by people he should have known never even served in Viet Nam.
Nothing in that testimony changes that, or would have changed my questions for Elliott or O'Neill. If you feel something in it should have, feel free to point it out. Without, of course, snide insinuations or accusations.
The sad part to me about this whole thing is that I've long felt that Kerry could have dealt with the fact that the vast majority of vets who served with him are still angry with him with a tact and grace that would have made the issue go away, by simply apologizing for any misunderstandings, admitting that his rhetoric was over the top and that he relayed some false allegations that day, and let it go at that. Instead he's got the vast majority of Viet Nam vets in the country mad as Hell at him still, and he chose to call honorable decorated Veterans who served with him liars. This speaks very poorly of him in my view, and in the view of many others who have family members and loved ones who served in Viet Nam. Including at least one friend of mine who knew Kerry personally as a fellow member of Vietnam Vets Against the War.
I did email Michael Kranish and the Boston Globe's ombudsman to see if they had a response.
Did you try contacting the Kerry campaign in Washington DC? I would have started there.
Once again, an outstanding interview.
Excellent. Makes me look back on my own military service with some pride. Thank You
Another great interview! Thanks!
Ditto on all the compliments you've gotten...
All,
For those that aren't Academy grads (and all other officers, hope I don't slight anyone), I can't impress upon you the offense of being accused of being a liar. Especially, when you've decided to stand by your statements (not hedging, but speaking quickly you may make a statement that could be either misinterpreted or you could actually misspeak).
People calling Capt. Elliot a liar might have well called him a rapist or child molester. I am not exagerating; they're challenging his honor directly! It's an outrage.
JFH: Well yes, and that's what they're doing to Kerry, yes? This is why having so many of them willing to do it is so disturbing, and should be worthy of attention and not mere dismissal.
This doesn't mean that voters should not vote for Kerry anyway. But it's grated on me from day one that people are so quick to dismiss these guys merely as liars and political stooges. That is not right.
Honestly, I continue to maintain that if Kerry had responded differently, basically by acknowledging these guys and saying he was sorry for having offended them and admitting to maybe shooting his mouth off when he was younger, this issue would have been GONE. Instead, the way he handled it was just so bloody negative... and stupid.
It really rankled me, probably because I've got people in my life very important to me who were there in Viet Nam.
Good interview, and a principled stand to boot.
Yours,
Wince
Your grandpa's genes sure fit you well.
Love, Mary Janelle...your Mother
Yes, Outstanding.
Did you see my post about Kerry's Lie?
http://tomgrey.motime.com/1093629194#330293
I think there are 3 things:
1) Kerry IS unfit
2) The Press is too biased, covering for Kerry too much (the point I hope the SwiftVets coverage makes; too bad Sinclair has been intimidated into not airing their program)
3) We are in a Moral Superiority War -- where Peace (and unspoken genocide) is considered more moral than fighting evil.
any responses. None. Came back the next day and my comment was gone.
Tried to log in, but can't, get message> "Error: This account is currently disabled."
Is this just a glitch or censorship?
RE: DW: "Were you aware of what Kerry said about war crimes in his testimony before Congress in the early 1970s?"
Why did Dean provide a link to the swifties propaganda instead of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations transcript of Kerry's speech?
The link Dean provides leaves out the first 6 words of Kerry's testimony.
Also 2 paragraphs before need to be looked at to put things into proper
prospective.
The link below will get you to Kerry's testimony on 04/22/71
Kerry Testimony
It's long but worth the effort if you don't want spin.
If Elliott and Odell read the whole transcript they would see that Kerry
never accused them of anything. If Dean had read the transcript he
should have called them on it.
Dean, Elliot and Odell have an agenda.
Remember My Lai !!!!!!
Follow the link below for a personal account of atrocities
during the war.
atrocities
It is neither. It's my blog and you follow my rules or you get the fuck out.
In your initial posting you were both rude and inflammatory. If you want to ask questions, or point me to data you think I haven't seen, feel free. If you're going to act like an asshole, then you're out the door. Capice?
As to your accusation that Elliot and Odell have "an agenda" -- so far you have provided me with no evidence of what that agenda is.
Regarding My Lai: it was an isolated incident so far as any credible source I've ever seen has ever said, and it was nothing Kerry or the his fellow Swift Vets had anything to do with. It was a war crime. Those happen in every war. Those guilty of that were prosecuted and imprisoned, and rightly so, after being turned in by their fellow soldiers.
If you would like to highlight the portions of Kerry's testimony that you feel relevant, feel free. All you need do is quote the relevant sections. I am not going to be baited by someone who makes handwaving generalizations. My purpose in the interview was to ask the common questions that are hurled at these guys, and that's what I did.
If you have questions you would like me to forward to Elliott or Odell, feel free. But if you're just going to hurl snide accusations, get lost.
Nothing in that testimony changes that, or would have changed my questions for Elliott or O'Neill. If you feel something in it should have, feel free to point it out. Without, of course, snide insinuations or accusations.
The sad part to me about this whole thing is that I've long felt that Kerry could have dealt with the fact that the vast majority of vets who served with him are still angry with him with a tact and grace that would have made the issue go away, by simply apologizing for any misunderstandings, admitting that his rhetoric was over the top and that he relayed some false allegations that day, and let it go at that. Instead he's got the vast majority of Viet Nam vets in the country mad as Hell at him still, and he chose to call honorable decorated Veterans who served with him liars. This speaks very poorly of him in my view, and in the view of many others who have family members and loved ones who served in Viet Nam. Including at least one friend of mine who knew Kerry personally as a fellow member of Vietnam Vets Against the War.