I know, this is probably diary #2000 about John Kerry today, and Kerry should not be what we are talking about this close to the mid-term election.
But there is a personal element for me to this story today, and I felt I really wanted to comment on it, and why the GOP smear campaign against Kerry today was so outrageous to me personally and to my family.
I didn't support John Kerry in the primary in 04 (I live in NH, so I get my pick of contenders to vote for). I won't support him in 08. He ran a poor campaign which I believe cost us the White House. And I won't support giving him our party's nomination so he can do it again. I will, of course, vote for whoever the nominee is, as I did in 04. So, it's not like I'm some big John Kerry-ite.
On June 13 of this year, my younger brother Russ was killed in Afghanistan. There is obviously no need for me to explain the pain this caused me and my family, from my mother, to Russ' twin brother, to his fiance.
We were contacted by all the members of our state's congressional coalition (all Republicans) and by our governor (John Lynch, a Dem). Only one politician from outside the state contacted us, and that was John Kerry. At Russ' funeral, the only two politicians who attended were Lynch and Kerry (no, cynics, he didn't advertise his appearance or make any statements to the media about it, so don't suggest he did it to win votes).
Since the funeral, a couple of our congressmen have followed up a little with our family. So has Lynch. So has Kerry. He has called my mother on multiple occaisions and offered to do anything he can to help us.
In short, he was there for my family, the family of a fallen soldier. He continues to be there for us, and has offered to do more.
What he said yesterday was clearly a slip of the tongue. He was talking about Bush, and misspoke slightly. The White House knows it, just as we know it. For cheap political gain, Bush and Co. are trying to make it sound as if he is insulting the troops, when they absolutely know that that is not the case.
As someone who has experienced Kerry's support for the troops first-hand, and as someone who has seen him give some small amount of comfort to my griveing mother, I can't put into words how offensive I find the false suggestion, for cheap politcal gain, that Kerry wants to insult our troops and their families.
To everyone out there trying to make that case (Bush, Cheney, Snow, McCain, among others), one simple message: Go to hell.