DEAD IN THE WATER
Re: The Washington Prowler’s Listless
Kerry:
OK, so the mainline media outlets and the Democrats consider “W”
to be a braindead boob. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I
admit I’ve never windsurfed. I have, however, done a fairly
significant amount of sailing in both the ocean and various
lakes.
Based on my sailing experience, I know that if I am considering
a day (or morning) of sailing, I will first check the wind. I would
think that lake sailing is more appropriate to compare to
windsurfing because you can see the surface and the wind conditions
of the particular area in which you will be sailing/surfing.
Mr. Kerry stands on the shore, wades in the surf and finds no
wind. Sounds like the perfect metaphor for his campaign.
— Michael Becker
Phoenix, Arizona
How in the name of all that is good and holy has this guy gotten so
close to being elected to the most powerful office on the
planet?
— Rick Moran
Algonquin, Illinois
When Kerry addresses the American Legion tomorrow, wouldn’t it be
great if the cameras showed the hall to be ABSOLUTELY EMPTY?
— Gretchen L. Chellson
Alexandria, Virginia
WINNING THE SILVER
Re: The Washington Prowler’s Citation
Enhancement and Reader Mail’s Medal
Mettle:
Letter writer Michael McLaughlin writes, “I doubt, in any event,
that the final approval authority for (Kerry’s) Silver Stars had to
go to SECNAV for approval.” Mr. McLaughlin’s comment is probably
not true because the current Navy Awards manual (section 113, Para
3) requires that Silver Stars be awarded by the Secretary of the
Navy in the name of the President. If that was the case with the
1969-era Navy Awards Manual (and I believe it would have been as a
result of the backlash to the bogus Silver Star awarded by General
MacArthur to Lt. Commander/Congressman Lyndon Johnson during WWII)
then neither Admiral Zumwalt nor Admiral Hyland had authority to
issue a Silver Star to Lt (J.G) Kerry. In that case, the validity
of the Silver Star having been correctly awarded in the first place
is brought into doubt.
— Charles Ryan
Seattle, Washington
Vietnam era Swift Boats had a crew of 6. Swift boats typically went
on missions in teams of 2 to 6 boats. That means on any specific
mission there were 12 to 36 people involved. On three separate
occasions — one man and only one man earned a purple heart for
being wounded in battle. How unlucky can one man get? One out of
….pick a number between 12 and 36…. three times. Amazing.
However, the one man that was wounded by enemy fire three times —
never once went to the hospital…never once lost a day of duty…
How lucky can one man get? Getting hit by enemy fire three times
and never getting sent to a hospital. Whatta’ guy.
Two and a half million people served in Vietnam. Many received
purple hearts. A few received 3 — and one and only one received 3
without spending a day in the hospital. One out of 2.5 million.
No doubt about it… he’s the luckiest unlucky man in world
— M. Tagliaferro
Ann Arbor, Michigan
THE DEEP END
Re: Brandon Crocker’s Mentally
Unfit for Command:
The Mental/Emotional disease that Kerry suffers from is called
Liberal Intellectual Radical Progressivism. A LIRP cannot bear to
be thwarted, crossed, contradicted, or challenged. LIRPs are
especially irked by being held to previous assertions. To the
Kerrys of this world, the proper place for non-LIRPs is worshipping
at LIRP feet, not “nit picking.”
I fully expect Kerry to lose it publicly, sometime soon.
Probably during the debates, when he will actually have to let
somebody he holds in contempt (Bush) directly challenge his
utterances.
With any luck, the Liberals will be occupied from December on
with explaining to the American public how the Democrats’
nomination of an under-medicated hysteric who wanted to run on his
dodgy war record because he had to avoid his even worse political
record, and who underwent a complete personality meltdown on live
TV, is the fault of some obscure Republican plot.
— C. S. P. Schofield
It does seem Mr. Kerry has a history of either lying or certainly
embellishing his personal history. But it also seems he’s been
recklessly self-destructive, to the point of inviting not only
scrutiny but also punishment.
What else explains his staking his presidential candidacy on his
Vietnam experience, with its inconsistencies, and then his
anti-Vietnam experience, with its inconsistencies?
How else can you explain the current flap-within-a-flap about
his medals? For instance, his DD-214 says he has a Silver Star with
a “V” device for valor. But the Navy just said it never awarded
such a device. Surely the senator checked his records?
Or how can his apparent lying about his whereabouts on or about
Christmastime 1968 be reconciled? Didn’t he know, certainly from
observing the past three or four presidential-election cycles, his
record would be microscopically reviewed and then reviewed in even
more detail?
Is there some underlying self-esteem issue driving him to
want
everyone’s approval which leads him to inflate who he is or
even
fabricate things?
He does seem to be obsessed with Vietnam. Perhaps he was wounded
psychologically before he got there or, worse, suffered some mental
or soul wound there that no one can see? Who but he knows? I’ve
begun to genuinely pity him. Something just doesn’t seem right. I
wonder what will happen to him when he loses?
I don’t know. But I know his behavior can’t be explained by
simply saying he’s just keeping up the tradition established by
Bill Clinton and Al Gore, neither of whom is a friend of the truth
and both of whom always were blown wherever the political winds and
each day’s poll results would carry them.
If only it were that easy.
— C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia
POST-VICTORIAN
Re: James Bowman’s Francine’s
Anti-Victorian Prose:
Right on the mark. First rate column by Jim Bowman analyzing
today’s attitudes. Speaking of which, how on earth would Victorians
view the likes of Paris Hilton who has become a major celebrity
largely it would seem for being seen fornicating on the Internet,
and now has an autobiography out being featured in U.S., one of
those celebrity-oriented weeklies? How can parents hope to instill
any sort of values in their young when our society makes light of
such matters? Pretty discouraging state of affairs. What to do?
— C. Grenier
THE DOCTOR IS IN
Re: Shawn Macomber’s Vice, Meet
Virtue:
I am glad you made it on time for your appointment. Lie down on
the couch and let the good Doctor explain a few things. Hopefully
you will feel better after our session.
First neither political extreme in this country will ever make
it. A 200 year track record indicates this to be a fact. The
conservative Republican base is small and the Democratic liberals
are even smaller. Take solace in that fact. One need only look to
the California Republican party of the last 30 years to understand
this. They stood on their principles while the Democrats ran the
show out there. They forgot the fact that in order to effect change
one must have the means to be the change agent. Otherwise one
forever walks the dark streets like Diogenes forever seeking Truth
at the worst, or at the best like Winston Churchill “his one
shining moment” after 50 years before and since in backwater
service to the Crown.
Gingrich is right in one respect — a moderate position to
expand the party base is crucial. Why? The Democrats show the way.
They held power from the mid '30s till about 1990. In that 60-year
period they quietly and methodically effected their changes. They
moved in inches to gain miles over the long haul. If the goal of
the Republicans is to roll back much of what the Democrats did,
then it will take as nearly as long to do so. That means
politically the Republicans must amass a super majority in both
houses such that the loss of a few seats in any election cycle does
not place the reversal in peril. And to that end Gingrich points
the Republicans to include even more moderates not less for that is
where the swing voters reside.
In order for the reversal to begin, the Republicans will have to
understand that change is generally feared. Like a good father they
need to point to the goal all the while convincing the electorate
that it is their idea and actually good for them in the long run.
Bush, has some inkling of this with his medical and savings
accounts concepts of empowering individuals to their own good. But
it takes time Shawn, at least a generation. But take heart, the
boos that the Kerry daughters received at the MTV awards were the
opening murmurs, to paraphrase Churchill — “The beginning of the
End,” for the Democratic liberalist minority.
I see our time is up, same time next week I presume?
— John McGinnis
Arlington, Texas
MR. MAYOR
Re: John Tabin’s Rudy
Awakenings:
I’m actually quite tired of only Republicans being expected to
be “bi-partisan.” President Bush came to office with the promise to
be a “uniter, not a divider.” He extended his hand to the Democrats
— even “acted” like a Democrat with all the spending bills, most
of which were “pet” Democrat issues — and look where we are. The
Democrats have never ceased in their attacks on George W. Bush.
They hate him, plain and simple — and manage, with the help of the
media, to get away with criticizing him for the very things they
signed on to, offering nuanced explanations for how they now
despise what they once supported.
Major KUDOS to Rudy Giuliani for not shying away from creating
the appropriate contrast between the president and Senator John
Kerry. If telling the truth is being “partisan” — so be it.
— Cathy Thorpe
Columbus, Georgia
The RNC should be brought before the World Court for having
unleashed Rudy Guiliani’s words of mass destruction upon the
hapless Democratic Party and G.I. John. Their effectiveness rivaled
anything Hap Arnold and Curtis LeMay could have ever dreamed up. I
fully expect to see liberal historians begin proposing that
Guiliani’s speech was inhumane overkill on a scale equal to
Dresden.
— Doc Watson
Beaumont, Texas
As a site for a resettlement camp for liberals you should consider
Boulder, Colorado. They stand a chance of being eaten by mountain
lions and getting close to nature.
— John Ortmann
Fort Collins, Colorado
SUGGESTED READING
Re: Lawrence Henry’s Travis
McGree Says a Long Goodbye:
Well done, Mr. Henry! Well done!
And now, perhaps, you have another one in you about another
McDonald (Ross) and his moody California Private Eye, Lew
Archer?
What say?
— Bob Keiser
Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
Readers of the Travis McGee stories should try the Doc Ford novels
of Randy Wayne White. Sort of an up to date Travis.
— Thomas Culligan
