Dessicated Husk

This entertaining missive is from OpinionJournal:

We were traveling earlier this week, so we missed John Kerry's appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. But something tells us the show was a lot less entertaining than Dana Stevens's review of it in Slate. That something is Stevens's review itself. As you read this, keep in mind that she's a Kerry supporter: "Kerry's charisma was less than zero: It was negative. He was a charm vacuum, forced to actually borrow mojo from audience members. He was a dessicated [sic] husk, a tin man who really didn't have a heart. His lack of vibrancy, his utter dearth of sex appeal made Al Gore look like Charo." No doubt this is Kerry's clumsy effort to prove he's no Sitzpinkler. Stevens also notes that despite the damage the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have done to him, Kerry has failed to understand that his "war hero" act has worn thin (emphasis in original): "When the interview was over and Kerry rose to leave, he caused audible groans in my household by saluting the audience (just as he did at the opening of his convention speech: 'John Kerry reporting for duty.' Lieutenant Kerry, your first order is to stop saluting the audience. It makes you look like a total tool)..."

John Kerry, Reporting for Duty... Again

John E. O'Neill vs. the Washington Post

John E. O'Neill of SwiftVets takes on all comers at the Washington Post. A "searing" read...

Bethlehem, Pa.: Mr. O'Neill, you are questioning the validity of medals awarded to John Kerry by the U.S. government. Aren't you also by implication questioning the competency of the medal eligibility determinations made by U.S. military brass? If so, aren't you in reality calling into question the authenticity of every medal awarded to every U.S. serviceman? If so, how do we differentitate the "good" medals from the "bad" medals? John E. O'Neill: A portion of the book deals with the incidents in which John Kerry obtained medals. With respect to John Kerry's first Purple Heart the book demonstrates that it was from a self inflicted wound in the absence of hostile fire. It was denied by the commanding officer at the time Grant Hibbard. It was granted only three months later when Kerry applied after all who had known the facts had left Vietnam. With respect to Kerry's third Purple Heart Kerry represented to the Navy that he had received shrapnel from an underwater mine. He know admits that he had wounded himself earlier in the morning playing around with a grenade. The would was minor and superficial. The Naval award system particularly with purple hearts depends on a self reporting system relying on integrity. Kerry gamed that system by submitting false information to the Navy. He used the three Purple Hearts to get out of Vietnam 243 days before his one year tour ended. No one else in the history of our unit ever reviewed a Purple Heart for a self inflicted wound. Neither did anyone else leave early because of three minor scratches. None of which resulted in an hour lost or involved more than bandaid and tweezers. The Naval System depends on the integrity of a Naval officer. Kerry didn't have it. _______________________ St Augustine, Fla.: Mr. O'Neil, are you saying that John Kerry lied when he reported the information he had received about atrocities in Vietnam to Congress? Are you saying there were not attrocities committed in Vietnam or that they should not have been reported? John E. O'Neill: All atrocities in Vietnam should have been reported to investigative authorities and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Neither John Kerry nor his associates in VVAW ever reported a single atrocity to the Naval investigative service or any other law enforcement authority. Instead Kerry made a general charge that rape, murder and mayhem was occurring on a day to day basis with the awareness of officers at all levels of command. On the Dick Cavett show in June 1971 I asked Kerry to itemize the specific atrocities that he had seen. He was unable to name any except generalizations. He lied to the United States Congress and to the world when he claimed that our policies in Vietnam were criminal policies and that our troops to the lowest levels were criminals carrying out murder and mayhem on a daily basis. It is one thing to be against the war in Vietnam, it is another to criminalize the kids that the country sent to fight it. Kerry did the second. That was wrong.

Read the rest at Washington Post: Online Conversation with John O'Neill

Quote of the Day

"John Kerry has opposed researching, developing, and deploying the missile defense system that will protect us against the missiles that North Korea researched, developed, and deployed under the terms of the agreement that Bill Clinton negotiated with it in 1994."