Close, But No Cigar

Oh, John Kerry, will you never learn? Don't get me wrong, I'm tickled pink that he's got the balls to criticize Bush right now, and I agree that it's important for Democrats to be able to raise the issue of our country's involvement in this travesty of a war. But although the Vietnam Conflict was ostensibly about stemming the spread of Communism, we didn't win, and Communism didn't spread. So, I appreciate that Kerry fought in the war, I appreciate that he understands what war is really about. I appreciate that he's an advocate of free speech and that he sees the correlation between it and democracy (unlike Bush, et al.). But he didn't fight "for his right to speak freely." That was the American Revolution. Since then, there hasn't been a war that directly threatened our Constitution, unless I fell asleep in history class when we covered it. You could argue that every war in which Americans fight solidifies our position as a tough-guy superpower, which protects us from invasion, but the real fight for freedom of speech in America happens in Washington. It happens in the courts, the Congress, and the Oval Office. It happens in the media and that ever-more-important court of public opinion.

I just have a hard time trusting people who think I will fall for that line of bull. "I fought to protect our country." "I fought for freedom of speech." "I fought to protect the American way of life." Where do they get this crap? You fought to support your country's interests in a war the administration chose to be involved in. Your major contribution was making our Army superior so we could "win" and thus add another log to the fire of American strength. Fine. In the abstract, you fought for our country (heh, I typed "cuntry"). Indirectly, you protected your right to free speech. All that is is sweet talk, and I'm tired of it.