Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, by Douglas Brinkley, published Jan. 1, 2004


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BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book came out in early 2004, before the Swift Boat Veterans' attack had fully taken effect. The real question for any campaign watcher in 2004 is, "Why didn't the Kerry campaign use this book to defend themselves from the Swift Boaters?"

Truly, we at OnTheIssues have no answer to that question. This book makes it clear, from a reasonably unbiased source, that Kerry really did the things he said in Vietnam, and not the things the Swift Boaters said. The Swift Boat book, on the other hand, was a series of extreme anecdotes that were damaging individually but seemed like a ridiculous exaggeration in their totality. The Kerry campaign could have presented the truth and won the hearts and minds of the voters. The Kerry campaign was unimaginably stupid in not defending themselves, and it cost Kerry the election.

In retrospect, the unimaginable stupidity of the Kerry campaign in NOT recognizing the Swift Boat threat, and in NOT responding by spreading this around, was the REAL indicator that Kerry deserved to lose. Kerry did NOT deserve to lose for being a war criminal, as the Swift Boaters convinced the American public. Kerry DID deserve to lose because no president should be so unconfident, so misreading of the American public, and so arrogant as to not defend himself against a valid attack.

Just read the excerpts of this book, then join us in marveling at such stupidity bred by arrogance. The protagonist of this book was a legitimate war hero who threw away his chance to be President by ignoring his own history.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, January 2007

Click here for 3 full quotes from John Kerry in the book Tour of Duty, by Douglas Brinkley. OR click on an issue category below for a subset.

War & Peace    Only veteran to testify to congress about Vietnam.    Accused US government of war crime, not veterans.    Before enlisting, believed in the US saving face in Vietnam.

Click for quotations from other sources by:
• John Kerry