Junto Boys

CAN OF WORMS

"Reporting for Duty!" said John Kerry when he gave his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Understanding Bush's perceived skill as a war-time leader, Kerry decided to overplay his service in Vietnam. Kerry has used his service front and center thorough his political career.

He was the one that said that Cinton's non-service should not be an issue in the 1992 presidential campaigns. in 1985, he complained of being sent illegally into Cambodia during Christmas 1968 as a part of President Nixon's war strategy. It would have been a stronger point if OOPS Nixon had been President (He wasn't inaugurated until Jan 20, 1969). Now it looks like Kerry never made the trip. Yesterday on Meet the Press, his campaign manager said that Kerry was near the border around that time. Now they weren’t really sure where they were. That's a new way of putting it.

Last week, a caller on the Rush Limbaugh program defended John Kerry because the government sanctioned every one of those medals so they must be legitimate. Rush asked what the caller knew how many medals Bob Dole or George HW Bush had. The caller said that he respected the service of both men.

"But do you know how many medals each of them earned?" asked Rush.
"No" said the caller.
"The only reason you know about Kerry's is that he keeps telling us." Rush concluded.

And that's his problem. He wants this election to be about his service in Vietnam, not his record in the U.S. Senate of weakening defense and intelligence. Anything other than a salute to his valor is dirty politics. Had he repudiated the people who were going after Bush for his National Guard service, he could have all but insured the same treatment in return. He would have elevated the campaign and Bush would have had to play along or look mean. By allowing Bush to be attacked, he opened himself up to that style of campaign.

Since he insists it be about his service he's going to have to defend that record fairly or unfairly. The Swiftboat Veterans for truth have angered Kerry and the New York Times, but they aren't the only critics. Bob Dole has recently questioned Kerry's wounds. Steve Gilbert puts together a pretty good case that Kerry violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Kerry's problem is one of firmness. He's so locked into his Vietnam era behavior and so proud of it that he has offered himself very little wiggle room. For instance, Kerry has not once said that he learned from his youthful exuberances and is a wiser man for it. This alone would allow moderates to think that maybe Kerry believes that his anti-war activity was a bit much. He has not publicly repudiated his book 1971 THE NEW SOLDIER, though he has kept it from being re-published. It gives one the idea he is very proud of it, but isn't so sure that voters will be.

Bush wasn't in Vietnam with Kerry and doesn't know what happened. But thanks to Kerry making Vietnam an issue, there are plenty of people who disagree with him about Vietnam that will raise their own money to do so.

At some point this campaign will have to get back to what Kerry did in the Senate and it will be interesting to see how he handles that. For now, he has opened a can of worms and only has himself to blame.