John Walsh

The Roman Emperor, Nero, is said to have played his fiddle while his magnificent city, Rome, was being consumed by fire. While the story may or may not be true, it is always used as an example for not being able to discern what is really important and acting upon it. I think such a situation exists right now. Both major political parties as well as all the major newspapers, TV networks and talk shows have chosen to expend a huge amount of time and energy on events that occurred thirty ...The Roman Emperor, Nero, is said to have played his fiddle while his magnificent city, Rome, was being consumed by fire. While the story may or may not be true, it is always used as an example for not being able to discern what is really important and acting upon it. I think such a situation exists right now. Both major political parties as well as all the major newspapers, TV networks and talk shows have chosen to expend a huge amount of time and energy on events that occurred thirty five years ago. A highly organized and well financed group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has launched an attack upon the nominee of the Democratic Party for President, John Kerry, claiming he faked his service in Vietnam and is not entitled to the medals awarded him by the Dept. of Defense. These medals include a Silver Star and Bronze Star for bravery under fire, and three Purple Hearts for wounds received in battle. They are saying in essence that a young Lt. J.G., in the Navy, just out of college, was somehow able to dupe the various authorities and boards set up by the armed services to make such awards. If this were true, the charge seems to brings into question all such medal awards that were made to our soldiers serving in Vietnam.. It certainly brands as liars those who served with Kerry on the swift boat he commanded. Men who have appeared with him throughout his political career and attested to his courage and coolness under fire.

That's the fiddling part. Now for the burning part: Kerry is in a very hot campaign to wrest our government from the failures of President George W. Bush and get the country back on the right track to peace and prosperity. There are plenty of issues to debate; the mess in Iraq, the exporting of manufacturing and technological jobs overseas, the 43 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance, the ineffectual War on Terror which has neither made us safer our brought to justice the likes of Osama bin Laden. The list is long and the issues important to all of us. Yet what has the media (Of which, I'm sorry to say, I am a member) been focused on for about two weeks? False and scurrilous charges against Kerry for his service in Vietnam thirty five years ago. Kerry is the target for not only his candidacy against George W. Bush, but for his return home to lead the Vietnam veterans who came home to reveal the atrocities committed on the Vietnamese in the name of truth, beauty and the American Way.