Crude jokes, insults OK with Kerry camp

Once again we see the depths that the poodle will go to. He once again plays the Vietnam card. Let me tell you something johnny boy, I laid my life on the line to defend freedom for 20 years. To use that as an excuse to defend the vile and hateful rhetoric that came out of your fund raiser in NYC, is beneath contempt. Try being a man instead of the wuss you are and stand up for something! - Sailor

Crude jokes, insults OK with Kerry camp
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Saturday, July 10, 2004

When in doubt, play the Vietnam card. That's long been a tactic embraced by Sen. John Kerry and his aides in the face of political trouble.

It's what the Kerry camp resorted to again Thursday to excuse the vile criticism of President Bush by the Democratic nominee's Hollywood backers at a New York fund-raiser.

``Performers have a right to speak their minds even when we don't agree with everything they say. That's the freedom John Kerry put his life on the line to defend,'' Kerry spokesmen David Wade said.

And what was Kerry defending? John Mellencamp singing a song with the lyrics, ``Texas Bandito, how much money did you put in your pocket today?'' And ``He's just another cheap thug who sacrifices our young?''

Then there was Whoopi Goldberg's elongated sexual pun using the president's last name.

And surely Kerry fought valiantly in Vietnam to ensure Chevy Chase could opine: ``Clinton plays the sax, John plays the guitar, and the president's a liar.''

Instead of denouncing the repugnant comments, as Howard Dean [related, bio] did when racial remarks and profanity were used at one of his fundraisers, Kerry simply went on with his stump speech. He only took issue with Goldberg calling running mate John Edwards a ``kid.''

That Kerry, by his silence, tacitly endorsed the content of his supporters' remarks says something troubling about the tone of his campaign. That he allowed his military service to be used once again like some prop in a movie, says something even more troubling about his character.