Damn, I liked that guy.  Still like. Would have voted for him over Clinton. Good common sense guy. I like him better than John McCain. Kerrey was a SEAL and a genuine hero in my book.

Machingbird

He is a genuine guy.  As a governor and a senator, I have seen him vote for what he thought was right.  Not necessarily what his party was saying was right.  

He can't be that genuine.  Apparently he is lying about killing civilians.  Jeez, is that all it takes for you all to like a guy?

Maybe he did make the right decision, or at least the only one that made sense at the time. Lying about it to get a "preemptive strike" on a soon-to-be-released news article is more of the same Clintonesque behavior we have come to expect from our elected leaders.

Previosuly stated:  I wholeheartedly agree with this opinion!!!

If a man is put in the position of fighting for his country where the environment is literally, [b]"Kill of be killed",[/b] the ONLY people who can judge his actions are those who are with him at that time. Further more, IF a comrade in arms, (As this former Petty Officer who was part of Kerry's team has) wishes to judge what another man did over thirty years ago in combat, I believe his motives should be questioned throughly.

And he voted to take away your Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. And he ran campaign commercials that were meant to decieve voters that "assault weapons" were machineguns.

If he will not trust the people who he works for with guns, why should anyone trust him?

He should have turned in his Bronze Star a long time ago.  The citation stated that 21 Viet Cong were killed in the attack, didn't mention anything about 12 women and children.

Yes, I know it would have raised questions, but courage means exhibiting 'grace under fire' not fessing up after the ca-ca hits the fan.

And his anti-gun stance alone is unforgiveable!

Eric The Hun

Lets Look At His Voting Record
1. Pro Abortion
2.Extra Protection for Homosexuals as a Cival Rights Issue (dont ask dont tell military)
3.Opposed Prayer in Public School
4.For Socialized Health Care
5.Opposes Death Penalty
6. Against Private Ownership of Firearm
7. Opposes immigrations quotos
8.For NAFTA and GAT
9. In Favor of Kyoto accords (USA has to meet air&water quality the third world doesnt to make them more competative against us ecomomically)
10,Opposes Church providing welfare services
11. Pro affirmative action
12. For more money  for Russia
If it quacks like a socialists its probably a socialist..war hero or no to turn ones back on ones countryman and to try to deliver  America into the hands of the global new world makes one a traitor ...regardless of prior service...
And truthfully the other team member Klepp- is every bit as credible as Kerry just because Klepp wasnt an officer and a senator doesnt mean his version of what happend isnt true...I can tell you this from experiance in vietnam and in the exact same area kerrey and team was in..at the same time...under the same conditions.. with similar missons..and working with the Navy (Mobile Riverine Force Flotilla One 2/39th and 3/50th 1st Recondo Brigade) that 1. Kerrey misreported the night ...was not moonless as he said...2. If the event was a traumatic as he said it was...you do not forget little details like who fired first...or who got killed...especially when all the other details seem so fresh in his mind..ask any cop who has been at the seen of a homocide...a persons memory isnt that inconvienent...should Kerrey be hanged for what he did in vietnam under those conditions...if yes then you had better come for me to...and a whole lot of others including Gen Powell...who covered up My Lai
and you had better arrest the whole ARVN army...and the NVA and VC...however if Kerrey is lying and covering up and has spun the liberal press I think we had better look into why the press would cover for him ...because he is one of their own like Bill and Hillary and McCain...a third wayer...who is selling out america to the Global new world order and the UN...thats my opinon...but I think that a Navy Seal with a good reputation like Mr Klepp should at least be shown the courtesy accorded Mr Kerrey
He is every bit the hero Kerrey was by Kerreys own admission...and officers seem to get alot more medals in war time than enlisted....because to get a certain level of herosim medal and officer need put you in for it....and the system of medals is also subject to corrupt men...one of my buddies up in Colin Powells Americal Div..knows of a payroll officer who never did one day in combat who was awarded the silver star
so these things need to be carefully checked out...and Mr Klepp too deserves at least a hearing out...perhaps he decided that loyalty to the team was not as important as loyalty to the country...what a spot to put in...

The helicopter door gunner in Full Metal Jacket must have been based off of kerrey.

I say f*ck Bob Kerrey. Whatever servive he might have performed for our country so long ago has been negated by the disservice he has done in the following 30 years. I'm sorry, while I appreciate the sacrifices made by veterans of war, that alone does not put them on a pedestal and above scorn for subsequently trying to subvert the very constitution and freedoms that they were supposedly defending.

I have a very bad habit of assuming ALL Vietnam veterans did the BEST they could under the horrible conditions they had to wage war in. (Even tho there are good and bad vets, just like other situations)  I love them all, I would forgive any and all of the mistakes they made and welcome them all back to this country, their HOME and ask them to educate us.  I know I shouldn't group all people together, but somehow I cannot shake that off--end rant.

Well if you want to hang Kerrey for murder get the Cong and NVA and the ARVN first cause nobody dragged innocents out of their poor homes and executed them without a trial or much evidence faster then they did....it was a ruthless time full of ruthless people and mercy and compassion were in short supply

But I would not vote for a democrat....sorry.

Eric...any after action report that said civilians were killed would have been unaceptable to the brass...My Lai was already in the wind at this time...and the word was out...the whole team would have been jepordized by such a report...not to mention the embarrasment to the Navy...like I said before I HAVENT YET TO SEE THE AMERICAN COMMIE PRESS HOLD THE COMMIES TO THE SAME STANDARDS THEY HOLD THEIR OWN TO... its like speilberg makes great movies about WWII vets killing nazis...but not too many about killing commies...that bothers me...hollywood doesnt like it when you kill their own.....

From J.J. Johnson - 04.27.01

If by chance you younger folks are thinking of joining the military and maybe scratching your head over hearing some yellow-bellied former Senator whine over what happened in Vietnam, please don't let it confuse you.

You see, it was war back then. And when you're in the military and at war, there is no such thing as innocence. It's called kill or be killed. Some of you may think you put on a uniform just to go to college, run for office, or impress your girlfriends while sinking Japanese fishing boats, but it's not. It gets real ugly.

Problem is, in the days of political correctness, revelations about simply doing your job as a Navy Seal can get you in political hot water. If you listen to the news-speak of the day, war is a neat and clean operation, where we only kill the bad guys who shoot at us first - if we can't bring them to trial. Please, if you're enlisting soon, this is NOT the way we fight and win wars. What that worthless chump Kerry is all choked up about is EXACTLY how we (the taxpayers) want you to perform if you ever find yourself in the same dilemma. If and when you want to blame someone for your lethal actions during war, so long as you followed orders, and did what you thought was best to achieve the objective, just blame the politicians who sent you there. Heck - for that matter, go ahead and blame us.

And if down the road you or your buddies do something like this, we as Americans frankly don't want to hear about it. Just kill the enemy (without mercy), win the war, don't bring any weird diseases back home, and don't leave any orphans over there. This is the real definition of "don't ask -don't tell". We'll add one more: Don't miss.

To put it bluntly, young folks of America - THIS AIN'T A DAMN NINTENDO GAME! God help us if we have to go into a serious war and these damn politicians have to send you out there with weapons you don't know how to use, and better not even LOOK at while you're here (unless you're over 21, go though local, state, and federal background checks, fingerprinting, etc. Your only hope is that if you're white, these stupid idiots in Washington will probably get women and minorities killed first as part of some stupid military affirmative action program (don't let that happen, either). We beg you, if we have to send you to war, please - PLEASE forget all the crap you were taught in school. You get reminded each day about the horrors of Columbine? That's what war is. That's what you will need to do to the enemy - not your classmates.

We don't care how you feel about it. We don't care if "that's not what you joined the military for". And I don't care if I've painted a sick picture in your head. That's your job. You don't have to like it. But if you do, there will be a pat on the back waiting for you when you get back as well. As much as you hear us preach that "violence never solves anything", it's just a bunch of B.S. so you won't haul off and shoot us grown-ups before your time. Trust us when we say: "Violence has solved every war we've waged so far."

You see, as much as we claim to be a peaceful, civilized bunch, we have proven repeatedly that we are the most lethal S.O.B.'s on the face of the earth. You think greasing a Vietnamese village is bad? Some of you new recruits may be too young to remember a highway between Kuwait and Baghdad. THAT was a work of art. B-52's doing target practice on thousands of folks trapped on a turnpike trying to escape a fake invasion. It was too cool. Think we were horrified? We ordered pizzas while watching it on CNN. This is not to take away from places like Dresden, Germany, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. That was different. We were really pissed back in those days.

In fact, anyone ever tell you some of the horror stories on how we took this country, or the last time we unleashed our type of hell on this soil?

Some other time perhaps.

Back to the matter at hand. Look, we really don't like going to war unless the economy really sucks or someone attacks us; at least that's the way it used to be (ah - the good ol' days). But we've learned at least one and a half times that letting politicians dictate the rules of war only will get our butts handed to us on platters. It may not be the policy of Washington these days, but it is the policy of the Real American that any country that wants to pick a fight with us knows they will see a vast reduction of their population and infrastructure. We hand out medals for that kind of stuff.

So when you see tear-jerking sub captains, ex-navy seals expressing sorrow, dope-smoking draft-dodgers, and women who insist on getting combat pay during peacetime, then getting pregnant to avoid battle (followed by demanding the Pentagon pay for the abortion), rest easy with the fact that this is only a small fraction of military reality, and these types will die off or just fade away as time goes on. Then, we can get back to the glory days of uncensored ruthlessness, indescribable death and destruction, winner take all, and when you're done - smoke'em if ya got em.

Now run along, and don't be late for school.

J.J. Johnson
A Product of The Public Education System

[url]http://www.mishalov.com/Kerrey.html[/url]

(Later, after that interview and as we were departing, Kerrey attacked
    Klann's credibility. He said that Klann was angry that Kerrey hadn't
    helped him get a Medal of Honor for his mission in Iran. "It's every man
    for himself now," Kerrey said. Klann, who says he harbors no ill will, says
    Kerrey urged him this month not to talk about Thanh Phong. Kerrey
    denies it.)
   
   Ambrose, in a recent interview, "wholeheartedly" denied Klann's
    contention that the team rounded up the villagers and slaughtered them.
    Though he says his memory of the night has dimmed, he remembers
    bursting into one of the hooches to find only women. When he left the
    hooch, he says he remembers that "we took a round somewhere near the
    back by Knepper and Peterson. Somebody yelled incoming. Once we
    received fire, we immediately fired."

    Then, he says, things got out of hand. "It got ridiculous pretty much once
    the guns got going. I was in survival mode. It was dark, you're not
    seeing much but movement and shadows. You couldn't tell if they were
    women or men." He says they were shooting from 20 to 50 feet, and
    when they stopped, he realized the dead were women and children.
   
     Army radio logs found at the National Archives include a transmission
    from 8 p.m. on Feb. 27, 1969: "Be advised an old man from Thanh Phong
    presented himself to the district chief's headquarters with claims for
    retribution for alleged atrocities committed the night of 25 and 26
    February 69. Thus far it appears 24 people were killed. 13 were women
    and children and one old man. 11 were unidentified and assumed to be
    VC. Navy Seals operating in the area. Investigation continues." This is
    just a message, not an official report, so the number of dead varies from
    other totals.

    Connolly says he responded to Army inquiries that the killings were
    accidental, that Kerrey's team shot people who were running and that
    they couldn't tell gender or age in the darkness. Connolly says, however,
    that he never asked Kerrey about the killings. His response, he says,
    was based on conversations with various naval personnel, though he
    couldn't recall who.
     
    Herry wrote poetry and painted in watercolors. In the center of one
    landscape watercolor, Kerrey wrote in black marker the words of Emily
    Dickinson.

    Remorse is Memory awake,

    Her companies astir, -

    A presence of departed acts

    At window and at door.

     

    Its past set down before the soul,

    And lighted with a match,

    Perusal to facilitate

    Of its condensed despatch.

     

    Remorse is cureless, -- the disease

    Not even God can heal;

    For 'tis His institution, --

    The complement of Hell.

The U.S. gov. is actively pursuing war criminals from Yugoslavia, ex-nazis, Rwandans, etc.  I think this sets a really bad example having a war criminal as a top politician and causes the U.S. to lose credibility (again).  If we are to set the standard, Kerry should face prosecution.  Every war criminal who has been hunted down and trapped has used the excuse "..but it was war.."  The international courts who are basically run by the U.S. don't accept that as an excuse.  I don't think the American people should accept it either.

How come Kerrey didn't do all this public hand-wringing 20 or 25 years ago, or at least during his political career, rather than waiting until his political career is over?  How convenient.