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08/22/2004:

"Focus Shifts to Kerry's Antiwar Activities in '70s"

LA Times
After making his service in Vietnam the centerpiece of his presidential bid, Sen. John F. Kerry now finds himself defending his role as a protester of the war — the chapter of his biography that first gained him prominence but which he has discussed infrequently this year.

The new focus on the antiwar part of Kerry's past is the latest twist in a more than 30-year evolution of the role his actions during the Vietnam era have played in his political life.

Kerry used his leadership in the Vietnam protest movement as a springboard into politics, running as an antiwar candidate in his first campaign in Massachusetts — a race for the U.S. House that he lost. He also distanced himself from his military career at least once in his next five campaigns, all of which he won.

But his involvement in the peace movement receded as a key element of his political resume, as the nation's attitudes toward the Vietnam War changed. full article

Well this is what comes of a basic lack of integrity, opportunistically highlighting certain parts of your history and trying to distance yourself from others. I know people who are in favor of Kerry because of his 'integrity' in 1971, coming home to tell the truth about the war, but what they don't see is that Kerry does not want people to remember that chapter of his life, and instead has decided that the way to win the election is to out-Republican the Republicans. Every speaker at the Dem. convention got up there and emphasized Kerry the soldier, the war hero, the guy with the cojones to stand up to those A-rabs. The Republicans have a point about Kerry's waffling. Rove and the boys set the trap, and he stepped right in. Kerry has a history of leaning whichever way the wind blows, to the point of misrepresenting himself as an Irishman to get votes in Massachusetts, where every other politician is named Kerry. If you stand on your history, you stand on all of it, or none of it is worth a damn.