The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.Before giving Kerry total vindication on this point, I'll wait and see what other less partisan analysts have to say about Mr. Kerry's records, but it does appear that he has indeed signed and delivered the Standard Form 180.
The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions. An earlier release of the full record might have helped his campaign because it contains a number of reports lauding his service. Indeed, one of the first actions of the group that came to be known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was to call on Kerry to sign a privacy waiver and release all of his military and medical records.
I have removed the countdown from the sidebar.
One question remains...why did he wait?
Asked why he delayed signing the form for so long, Kerry said in a written response: ''The call for me to sign a 180 form came from the same partisan operatives who were lying about my record on a daily basis on the Web and in the right-wing media. Even though the media was discrediting them, they continued to lie. I felt strongly that we shouldn't kowtow to them and their attempts to drag their lies out."And this is why John Kerry would have made a horrible president. It's all about him. He wanted the controversy...otherwise he would have released the records if they would have vindicated him against the charges made by the Swifties. Waiting until now was a strategic and tactical error that may have cost him the election.
12:30PM Update
I am beginning to think that this exchange on The Corner is worth subscribing to...LET IT GO [John Podhoretz]I don't think we'll ever get the Truth on this one...and quite frankly, I'm not real sure that I care all that much any more...
Kathryn, the bloggers need to let the Kerry 180 form business go. Really. The Globe got the records and they don't feature the smoking gun the bloggers were hoping for. As Kerry might himself say, "Les jeux sont faits."
RE: LET IT GO [K. J. Lopez]
I'm with you on that, JPod. He's not president, that's what I needed for election 2004 closure.
