This will hopefully be my last political rant for a while. I usually try to keep my political beliefs to myself, but today, I just couldn't help it. What is going on with all the previous war experience mudslinging going on between Senator Kerry and President Bush? My answer is, Who cares? Kerry and Bush both served our country as younger men. Both made some mistakes. Both, I believe, are patriots, and want what io best for our country. The problem is, they continue to focus on the past. I don't care what John Kerry did 35 years ago, and I don't care about Bush's military experience. Let's focus on the current issues, please!
Here is the problem however. Kerry is campaigning specifically on his past military experience. Almost his entire theme during the Democratic national convention (which I watched almost in its entirety), focused on his Vietnam experience. So, he brought the wrath of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth guys upon himself. Second, he refuses to release his military medical records to the public. Why? If he did such a fantastic job "defending this country in Vietnam," (?) and did nothing wrong, why won't he release his records for all to see unless he has something to hide. This is poor campaigning. I want to believe him (I really do), but what is he hiding?* President Bush released all of his records regarding his National Guard service immediately. He didn't campaign or bring attention to his past military experience. He wants people to vote or not vote for him based on his last four years as commander in chief, not what he did 30 years ago. I think this is smarter campaigning.
But my whole point is this, let's get away from all this past military experience garbage, and talk about the war in Iraq, the economy, education, and all other important issues facing us today. After all, when I applied for my latest job, the interviewer did not ask me about my experience and behavior when I was in kindergarten.
*There is a fantastic movie starring Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen called The Contender addressing this very issue.
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First, I don't agree that the reason those ads aired on television is because Kerry talked about his past experiences in Vietnam. Those ads would have run regardless. Second, Bush did not rush to make all his records available as you state. There are still missing records of what he was doing when he was supposed to be showing up for his mandatory physical. People have a pretty good idea why he didn't show up. (Sniff, Sniff). The reason this is an issue with me is I would rather have someone sending my son or daughter into combat who didn't try like hell to get out of fighting themselves. Bush and Cheney try to paint themselves as some sort of great American patriots when the truth is when they had the chance, they were both MIA. Cheney had five deferments. He had five chances to fight and ran in all cases. Kerry had the same options available to him as Bush and Cheney. He chose to fight. Period.
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