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: May 3, 2004
STUDENT GROUP IN SECOND APPEAL TO WORLD MEDIA AS AMERICAN MEDIA CONTINUES TO SHOVE KERRY DOWN AMERICA'S THROAT
SPECIAL TO:
BERLINER MORGANPOST-BERLIN
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-SAUDI ARABIA
HINDUSTAN-INDIA
CHINA DAILY-CHINA
NACIONAL-MEXICO
CITIZEN-CANADA
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. The nation's veterans is that section of the American public 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 (April 21, 2004) 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.’”
Recently, Leonard Magruder, President of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform, the student auxiliary at the University of Kansas, decided to send out an appeal to all Vietnam veterans on his mailing list to send him estimates of opinions in the groups of Vietnam veterans they know. Here are the updated results from that request, broken down into two groups: group results with data, group results with no data. Because the media will not report on this issue, nor conduct a scientific poll of their own in a transparent effort to protect Kerry, we are appealing, for the second time, to the world media to raise this issue. It relates directly to national security in America, something that affects the whole world.
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 about 650 Vietnam vets and their attitude toward about Kerry is 100% negative. Dan Decker, TSgt. USAF (ret.)
§ 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
§ 240 vets, mostly Vietnam, 85% against Kerry. Tony Newcomb, Cpt.U.S.Army (ret.)
§ Of the more than 2500 veterans of all ranks who responded, 59 took umbrage with what I had to say (against Kerry). Mark A. Smith, former POW, Vietnam, Holder, Distinguished Service Cross
§ An ongoing poll, with names and comments at 11thcavnam.com is running 16 for Bush, 4 for Kerry (80% for Bush.)
§ 12 Vietnam vets, all of whom are against John Kerry. Vietnam vet, Tom Taylor
§ A summary of individual votes sent in to V.V.A.R. is running 12 for Bush, 3 for Kerry.
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
§ I share the distrust I hear from my veteran colleagues. Peter McHugh, CW4 USA, ’67-’68, ’71-’72
§ I would say 90% of the military here (power plant) are against Kerry. P.Rein
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 three fourths 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 oppostion 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 naïve 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 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 this new type of enemy nor any idea on how to deal with it.
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.
We are not the only ones that see what the media is up to. 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.”
We are sending this press release out to major world media, most of whom have offices in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C. in hopes that they will help America by raising this issue.
Distribution:
National media
European media
Vietnam vets in Congress
Leaders - Vietnam vet organizations
Kansas media
Faculty and student org. - K.U.
For our recent articles on Kerry go to: www.v-v-a-r.org.
This article may be reproduced in any form.
Founder/President, V.V.A.R.
Phone: 785-312-9303
Website design and management courtesy of Annette R. Hall. Hosted by www.i-served.com.