Al Hunt: The Effort to Smear John Kerry's War Record

Al Hunt, in the WSJ (Aug. 5, 2004):

Suppose in the 1992 presidential election, after an unconfirmed rumor surfaced about an alleged affair then President Bush had years earlier, Clinton supporters decided to make marital fidelity a central issue.

That would be almost as crazy as the current effort by some Bush backers to focus attention on John Kerry's Vietnam War record and subsequent protests. This is being significantly funded and directed by Texas fat cats and political operatives who have more than a passing relationship with Bush political guru Karl Rove. These are some of the same people who surreptitiously smeared John McCain in the last election. There's a Web site, some vicious TV ads are supposed to start this week, and a man, who was a pawn of the Nixon White House efforts to discredit John Kerry 33 years ago, has written a book attacking Mr. Kerry's Vietnam experiences.

The charges are that Sen. Kerry has exaggerated his war record, maligned all Americans soldiers when he later protested against the war, and learned the wrong lessons from Vietnam.

The goal is to undercut the Democratic nominee's credentials as a commander in chief. As was the case with the attacks on Sen. John McCain four years ago, Mr. Rove and his boss will claim they have nothing to do with these "independent" efforts -- by virtue of the law and the politics.

The allegations against Mr. Kerry in Vietnam are that he only served four months, hyped his heroism and didn't earn his medals, particularly his first Purple Heart, presumably because if you got three you could leave early. Think for a moment of that logic. He was cited for a Purple Heart on Dec. 2, 1968, at the beginning of his swift boat tour of duty, after he had volunteered three times: once for the Navy, then for duty in Vietnam and then to command a swift boat; those four months were his second tour of duty. Somehow these hatchet men -- and women -- want you to believe he faked the first injury, figuring he could get two more Purple Hearts in those treacherous waters -- getting wounded, mind you, not killed -- and then get out.

They deride his Silver Star, which was pinned on him personally by the commander of U.S. Naval forces in Vietnam, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt; men in his boat say he saved their lives. The Bronze Star was awarded when Lt. John Kerry, wounded, ordered his boat back to pull Army Ranger Jim Rassmann out of the water. All the crewmates on that swift boat that day cite his courage. Yet a TV ad is running this week claiming it's untrue.

Indeed, 10 of the 11 men who served on his two swift boats all have sworn by John Kerry; nine living members were in Boston. Every serious journalist that has examined the record has come to the same conclusion, the Boston Globe and Washington Post most prominently. Even Charles Colson, the White House aide who masterminded the anti-Kerry efforts in the Nixon years, was unable, despite a concerted effort, to find "anything negative" about Mr. Kerry....