Talk about mixed emotions...

...my rage at Bush campaign flack Terry Holt's contemptuous dismissal of John Kerry's service in Vietnam, and by extension the service of every one of us that went there, is stirred up with my profound appreciation for Billmon's eloquent response.

As Billmon points out, this latest slap is just one more example of the Republican Party's gradual abandoment of concern about and growing disrespect for Vietnam vets. As John Kerry has wondered aloud, just what is it that the chickenhawks who didn't serve have against those of us who did?

Well, the bottom line is that they just don't care. That's right. If you're a veteran, George Bush doesn't care about you. Ignore the rhetoric. Look at the budget. Examine the policy. He just doesn't care.

As Billmon writes...

"In 1998, DNA testing allowed the remains of Vietnam's formerly unknown soldier -- Air Force Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie -- to be identified, and he finally went home to Missouri. Rather than pick a substitute from the dwindling supply of unknowns (and risk a future repetition of the interment/eviction cycle) the DVA left the tomb empty.

As empty, apparently, as the right's former solicitude for the soldiers of a lost war. You don't hear much of that old "noble cause" rhetoric from the Republicans any more -- particularly not when Kerry is trying so hard to draw a distinction between his band of brothers and the somewhat less, ah, heroic group around President Bush. After all, the GOP has a new bloody shirt to wave now, a new war to flog. The Vietnam vets are last century's model, ready for the political scrap heap..."

Well, I may be a relic, but I'm a relic with a vote, and I've got millions of brothers. A whole band of them, you might say. You wonder why so many of us have rallied around the Kerry campaign with such enthusiasm? It's pretty simple, really. I have a lot of reasons for supporting John Kerry, but certainly one of them, a big one, is a simple desire to have a President who will respect my service with the same level of appreciation that I had for my country when I walked into the recruiters office. We don't need brass bands and parades, just sincere respect, and policies that reflect it.

I can't say that the Democratic Party has always done a great job in that area, either. Too often, the veteran vote has been seen as something too likely to go the other way, although there's no real objective evidence to support the assumption. This campaign season I've drug out my old 'Vietnam Veteran' baseball cap, and I have to admit that this is the first time I've ever felt comfortable wearing it to Democratic Party functions, and John Kerry is the only candidate I've ever seen who routinely asks his audiences to recognize the veterans among them.

And you know what? Respect feels good.

And that's another reason that I'm proud to be a



(tip o' the faded Upper Left boonie cap to Diane and Cereffusion for the pointer)