The 2004 Presidential Election - A Hippocratic Viewpoint

Since the "Clinton Precedent" apparently didn't stick, I'm going to use more of a Hippocratic (as opposed to hypocritic) viewpoint when considering Vietnam era actions of the candidates from "The Big Two" this year. The Hippocratic Oath, boiled down means, "Above All, Do No Harm".

Let's say George W. Bush knowingly used string-pulling to get into the TANG. Let's say then LT Bush was ordered to and did not take a physical towards the end of his ANG hitch. Even though there's a preponderance showing the opposite, let's say that's all true.

Now lets move onto his opponent, Senator John F. Kerry. After receiving four deferments, he was turned down for a fifth and joined the Navy. As the captain of a swiftboat, he received a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. As a result of the three Purple Hearts (even though he missed a total of something like two days of duty due to the severity of his wounds) he was cycled out of Vietnam, but not out of the military.

While still a member of the military, he testified before Congress accusing his brothers in arms still fighting, still in captivity in Vietnam, of all manner of war crimes. His testimony fostered, one could say help created, the "Vietnam vet as psychotic animal" stigma. This stigma was not only haunted Vietnam vets for decades, it gave fuel to the anti-war movement, and it gave aid and comfort to the enemy.

One of the tactics communist countries employee during wartime is trying to get POWs to admit to war crimes so that they can use these testimonials for propaganda. Our military members take great pains, literally, to avoid giving the enemy such testimonials.

John Kerry gave the enemy for free, from the saftey and comfort of Washington DC, what our brave fighting men endured torture and deprivation to keep from providing.

While still a member of the military, (May, 1970) John Kerry and his wife traveled to Paris on a private trip where he met with Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam (the political wing of the Vietcong) as well as with representatives of Hanoi who were in Paris for the peace talks.

While still a member of the military, John F. Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and took part in demonstrations against the war, in uniform. These demonstrations included, but are not limited to, throwing away his (or not his) medals (or ribbons and not medals, or medals and not ribbons or both) and passing out flyers defaming the American military.

I'm not even going to bother getting into his post-Vietnam history of gelding the military and intelligence services so as to keep this apples-to-apples. Even though one could easily say that undermining the US military during the Cold War was, again, providing aid and comfort to the enemy. Heck, I won't even bother pointing out that Senator Kerry holds a place of honor in the Vietnamese Communist War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the "War Crimes Museum") in Ho Chi Minh City.

Just take the actions of George W. Bush and John F. Kerry during the Vietnam era into consideration, since that seems to be the focus for so many people. Which man's actions during the Vietnam war era fit inline with the Hippocratic Oath? Which one's fit the "Above All, Do No Harm" guideline?