VIETNAM VETERANS FOR ACADEMIC REFORM
The University of Kansas Student Auxiliary
V.V.A.R.: Leading the student revolt on campus against speech codes, political correctness, multiculturalism, gender feminism, dormitory re-education, lying about Vietnam, and other instruments of academic oppression.
Leonard Magruder - Founder/President
Former professor of psychology - Suffolk College, N.Y.
Member: National Association of Scholars
CONTACT: Magruder44@aol.com - Phone: 785-312-9303
V.V.A.R. PRESS RELEASE: April 21, 2004
SPECIAL TO:
BERLINER MORGANPOST-GERMANY
REPUBLICA-ITALY
IZVESTIA-RUSSIA
MOSCOW TIMES-RUSSIA
DIARIO DEL MUNDO -SPAIN
LONDON TIMES-ENGLAND
GLOBE AND MAIL-CANADA
JERUSALEM POST-JERUSALEM
ISLAMABAD NEWS-PAKISTAN
JAZIRAH-SAUFDI ARABIA
HINDUSTAN-INDIA
CHINA DAILY-CHINA
NACIONAL-MEXICO
CITIZEN=CANADA
MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERING UP VIETNAM VET REJECTION OF KERRY AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
By Leonard Magruder
April 21, 2004
The national or mainstream media is gambling with national security when it hides what it probably already well suspects, that most Vietnam veterans are opposed to the idea of Kerry as Commander-in-Chief. It is that section of the American public, along with veterans of other wars, that can be most expected to understand something about national security. The war on terrorism, and the economy, are the two top issues in this presidential campaign. The media is emphasizing the economy as they believe this would probably help Kerry, their favorite to win. However, because the university and the media have kept the American people so starved for information as to the true nature of the war on terrorism, in particular its relation to Islam and its notion of “jihad,” the public would be very interested in knowing how those who have served feel about Kerry as a potential Commander in Chief. A poll on how Vietnam vets feel about this would seem to be a natural. But, while we have polls on everything else, oddly a poll on this has never appeared.
In one of our recent articles we did report on what anecdotal data we had seen on this subject to that date as follows:
In the wintersoldier.com poll, it is running 96% against Kerry. In The Wall Street Journal letters section, 66% against. In a San Diego newspaper an editor reports “100 to 1” against, a South Carolina media poll reports two thirds against. Talk show host Hewitt reports of his callers, “the vast majority hold Kerry in contempt because of his actions,” and view his antiwar activities as “profoundly wrong and disqualifiying for the presidency.”
Last Saturday, Leonard Magruder, President of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform, decided to send out an appeal to all the Vietnam veterans on his mailing list, some hundred or so, to send him estimates of opinions in the groups of Vietnam veterans they know. Here are the results from that request, broken down into four groups: group results with data, group results with no data, single votes for Kerry, single votes against Kerry .
GROUPS WITH DATA
§ 6 Vietnam vets this weekend at HS reunion, all oppose Kerry - Dan Haney, 602nd Air Commando Sq., A1 pilot ‘67
§ Out of 45 Vietnam veterans... all say pooh on JFK...100% - powmiavets
§ Our heli-vets pol shows 160 against and 6 for Kerry - Ron Leonard, 25th Aviation Battalion
§ I know thousands of vets. I would say the opinion is about 98% against Kerry - Tony Cartlidge, Vietnam Combat Marine, 1968
§ Of 27 Vietnam Veterans I know, including myself, not one is willing to vote for John Kerry. - Charles Banto, USMC 1958-1974, 2 tours in Vietnam
§ Out of 25 guys 85% - 95% against Kerry - Mike (mleonardos)
GROUPS WITH NO DATA
§ Our group is virtually united in distrust/dislike of Kerry - Philip Topps, Cpt. Inf.(ret), 1st Inf. Div. 69-70
§ Every vet we know is opposed to Kerry - Chuck and Mary Schantag, P.O.W. Network
§ Can’t say I know a vet who is for him - Storrs Warinner, F-4 pilot Ubon 67-68
§ Rangers are 100% against Kerry - NOATLMUS44, President
§ I am anti-Kerry, as are most of my friends who are Vietnam veterans - Stud 369
SINGLE VOTES FOR KERRY
§ Kerry at least showed up for duty and even fought - Segh222
§ I am in full support of Kerry for president - Vietnam, 1964-1965, U.S. Navy, 1966
§ I am for Kerry - Dan Mauer, Navy, Vietnam era vet
SINGLE VOTES AGAINST KERRY
§ Kerry as president...my worst nightmare. - Doyle Biond, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)
§ Kerry second to Jane Fonda for treason - Fthcag
§ One strong vote and voice against Kerry – J. Bruce
§ Opposed to Kerry attempt to use his “service” to espouse expertise on National Security - Gary Holmes, USN/Naval Aviator (ret.) 1958-1981
§ Vietnam veteran against Kerry...will work actively against his getting elected. - Robert Cretaro, U.S.Army, Vietnam, 1971-1972
§ I am vehemently opposed to Kerry as our next Commnder -in-Chief- Bob Dougles, 2 tours Vietnam
§ A pathological liar - Col. Stanley Horton
Assigning a very conservative 5 to each of the groups with no given stats, the overall results of this poll is an overwhelming, and hard to believe, 98% against Kerry. The 7-3 single votes alone results in 70% against. An ongoing poll at wintersoldier.com of some 15,483 vets is also running 98% against, but this is certain to be heavily skewed by the probability that the vets who go to this site are attracted there in the first place by the fact that the site is against Kerry. Because this is still not a “scientific” poll, only suggestive, nevertheless we, at this point, are willing to make what we consider a very conservative preliminary estimate and say that at least two thirds of all Vietnam veterans in the country are opposed to the idea of Kerry becoming Commander-in-Chief. If Vietnam vets only were voting for president, Bush would win in a landslide.
From the comments that accompanied the reporting to us of these opinions, we believe this strong opposition on the part of those who have served is based on these facts: Kerry’s slander of America soldiers in ’71, comments by him that appear either sympathetic to, or ignorant of, Communist and other enemies, a history of weakness on defense matters, repeated naive attempts at negotiation with enemies, and frightening recent statements such as the one is South Carolina that he would “stop the war on terrorism.” The difference between Kerry’s lifelong preference for negotiation, even appeasement, which may have been appropriate for an earlier era, is in stark contrast to the new Bush doctrine of pre-emption and unilateralism that became obviously necessary after 9/11. A doctrine that simply amounts to the obvious fact that if someone is coming at you with a nuclear or other weapon of mass destruction, you must strike first, and you don’t need permission from anyone else. We believe vets sense that Kerry simply has no understanding of the dangerousness and intractability of the enemy. He is, as we titled a recent article, “Kerry Too Naive.” (see v-v-a-r.org).
Condoleezza Rice in U.S.A Today yesterday said of Kerry’s view on the U.N., “The idea that somehow if there were a U.N. flag instead of a coalition flag, that these thugs would not be attacking us...is naive.” Vietnam veterans are a very strong part of national leadership these days, held in high regard by the public. If the public becomes aware that these vets have serious misgivings about Kerry, that will have impact, and help the nation to see through the media emphasis on the economy as the primary issue. Those who have served in a war know that the first issue under current circumstances cannot be the economy. It is terrorism. Without a country there is no economy to worry about. A nuclear detonation in Washington would destroy the economy.
An accurate poll on how vets actually feel about Kerry could help steer the nation in the right direction, away from the myths that the media are promoting.
Orson Scott Card, in a recent article on the web, “The Campaign of Hate and Fear,” said, “I watch the steady campaign of the national news media to try to win this for the Democrats, and I wonder. Could this insane, self-destructive, extremist-dominated party actually win the presidency? It might, because the media are trying as hard as they can to pound home the message that the Bush presidency is a failure - even though by every rational measure it is not.”
Our years of experience with the media tells us Card might be right. We know that even our own home newspaper, The Journal-World, will not call us on this, simply because they are trapped in the going media mythology. And as for our University Daily Kansan, they are in a perpetual leftist coma. For that reason we are also sending this press release out to the major European media, most of whom have offices in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C., in hopes that they will help America by looking into this issue.
Distribution:
National media
European media
Vietnam vets in Congress
Leaders- Vietnam vet organizations
Kansas media
Faculty and student org. - K.U.
This article may be reproduced in any form.
Founder/President, V.V.A.R.
Phone: 785-312-9303
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