John Kerry really said this?

Ok... let me get this straight cause you are confusing me. Which one of them was in vietnam during the war?

[Beer and Pizza]

Kerry was an anti-war activist, he ran for the Senate based on his being an anti-war activist.

20 years later he wants us to forget that and only remember that he was in Vietnam. He wants it both ways, to pick and choose whether he is a warrior or an anti-war activist based on which suits his political situation better.

Bush being stateside during the war is unexciting, but he never turned against his fellow soldiers. Bush ain't a hero, but he also ain't a hypocrite, which is much more important.

Who wants to forget that he was an anti-war activist? After risking his life overseas I would think he would have that right. How is fighting to save his fellow soldiers lives (by trying to get them out of the war) abandoning them?

[Beer and Pizza]

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Who wants to forget that he was an anti-war activist?

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I guess I missed all the ads from last years campaign about his being a proud anti-war activist. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Perhaps I am misunderstanding you (or you are misunderstanding me) but what does him being proud about being an antiwar activist have to do with anything?

New York Times: Bush Possibly Given Preferential Treatment for National Guard Slot: "A former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Ben Barnes, was questioned Monday for more than five hours in a deposition in which he was
expected to discuss his role in recommending George W. Bush for a pilot's slot in a National Guard unit during the Vietnam War. Barnes did not meet with reporters after the deposition, and one of his lawyers, Charles Burton, said a confidentiality order prevented discussion of the deposition. But Burton released a statement confirming reports that a Houston businessman who was a friend of the Bush family had asked Barnes, then serving as speaker, to recommend Bush for a Guard slot. Barnes later called the general overseeing the Texas Air National Guard. Bush became an airman in May 1968. ... Barnes' deposition was part of a federal lawsuit involving
allegations by a fired director of the Texas Lottery that the company operating the lottery, Gtech, had been given the state contract as a payback to Barnes for keeping quiet about Bush and the Guard. Barnes, whose lawyers deny the accusation, once worked as a lobbyist for Gtech. The statement said that in September 1998, Barnes relayed details of his role in 1968 to Donald Evans, the finance director of the Bush campaign. Afterward, the statement said, Bush wrote Barnes a note 'thanking him for his candor' in saying he had not been called by the Bush family." [New York Times, 9/28/99]

Washington Post: Bush Finance Chair Paid Visit to Former TX House Speaker to Discuss Bush's Draft Record in 1998: "[Donald] Evans, now national finance chairman for Bush's presidential
campaign, could not be reached for comment. But a spokesman said Evans sought [former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Ben] Barnes out
primarily to knock down a rumor that the senior Bush had solicited Barnes's help during an encounter at the Bluebonnet Bowl in December 1967. The spokesman, Dan Bartlett, said the rumor cropped up last year during Bush's campaign for a second term as governor. Bartlett said Barnes assured Evans that no one in the Bush family asked him to help George W. get into the
Guard but Barnes added that he might have gotten such a call from a Houston businessman. According to Bartlett, Evans, who was Bush's gubernatorial campaign chairman last year, did not recall Barnes naming the businessman and did not mention this aspect of the conversation to Bush. Instead, Evans told the governor of Barnes's assurance that no one in the Bush family asked him for help. George W. Bush wrote to Barnes on Sept. 9, 1998: 'Dear Ben: Dan Evans reported your conversation. Thank you for your candor and for killing the rumor about you and dad ever discussing my status. Like you, he
never remembered any conversation. I appreciate your help.' However tentative Barnes may have been with Evans, he was definite about it today.
He said he was contacted by Sid Adger, a wealthy Houston businessman and a good friend of the senior Bush. Barnes said Adger asked him to 'recommend George W. Bush for a pilot position with the Air National Guard' and Barnes did so in a call to Brig. Gen. James M. Rose, the top official in the Air Guard. Both Rose and Adger are dead." [Lardner, Washington Post, 9/28/99]

From factcheck.org:
The CBS program 60 Minutes aired an interview Sept. 8 with former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, who said he used his political influence to get Bush into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968, when the Vietnam war was raging. "I would describe it as preferential treatment," said Barnes, a Democrat who is supporting Kerry. "We had a lot of young men that left and went to Canada in the '60s and fled this country. But those that could get in the Reserves, or those that could get in the National Guard -- chances are they would not have to go to Vietnam."

A Boston Globe report Sept. 8 concluded that Bush "fell well short of meeting his military obligation" because of irregular attendance at Guard drills. The Globe said Bush's superiors "could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973 or 1974. But they did neither."

The Associated Press reported Sept. 8 that newly obtained records show Bush's Texas unit continued operating the type of airplane that Bush was trained to fly until 1974, long after Bush's last flight in April 1972. Bush aides once suggested that a reason he stopped flying and later skipped a flight physical, leading to his official grounding, was that his services weren't needed because the F-102 Delta Dagger planes were being phased out.

You're right, he never went AWOL, that's why these payment records show he wasn't paid from the time of his last service in Texas until the conclusion of the senatorial campaign he was working on.

I love how Republicans are still bitter about Clinton, the bottom line is, he reported to all physicals he was asked to report to. The only reason he missed any requests to report to the draft board is because he was in England and the dates had passed by the time he recieved the letters and they had to keep rescheduling them. In order to be a draft dodger, one must be drafted first. William Jefferson Clinton was never drafted, therefore, he could not possibly have been a draft dodger. Duh.

[Wes ManTooth]

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Kerrys right forearm has more brainpower then Bush has altogether.

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The same right arm that when he threw a baseball for an opening pitch at a MLB game the ball did not even make it to home plate. He was booed at Fenway, in Boston... your avatar is fitting.