Sen. Harkin called Dick Cheney a "coward" because he didn’t serve in Vietnam. There was no criticism of Harkin’s name-calling from the Kerry camp, which frankly is a little surprising. The name-calling aside, Dick Cheney wasn’t the only American who sat out the war by using legitimate student deferments, after all. John Edwards, in fact, did the exact same thing. But you are not likely to hear Harkin denouncing Kerry’s runningmate as a coward.
Sen. Harkin lied when he claimed to have flown combat missions over Vietnam and when pressured, he backed down to claiming that it was sorties over Cuba and when pushed even harder, he admitted that he was a ferry pilot and NEVER saw any type of combat at all. The closest Harkin came to combat was ferrying jets from Japan to Vietnam or the Philippines, well out of the range of Vietcong missiles.
Had he ever flown anywhere in Vietnam, he would have received two medals (the Service and Campaign medals) just for being there. Both were awarded at the same time and nothing beyond your presence in the country or Navy operating area was required to qualify for them. His records show he received neither of them.
The election results showed voter rejection of Democratic "obstructionism" in the Senate by the defeat Daschle and Harkin should be next.
Sen. Harkin called Dick Cheney a "coward" because he didn’t serve in Vietnam. There was no criticism of Harkin’s name-calling from the Kerry camp, which frankly is a little surprising. The name-calling aside, Dick Cheney wasn’t the only American who sat out the war by using legitimate student deferments, after all. John Edwards, in fact, did the exact same thing. But you are not likely to hear Harkin denouncing Kerry’s runningmate as a coward.
Sen. Harkin lied when he claimed to have flown combat missions over Vietnam and when pressured, he backed down to claiming that it was sorties over Cuba and when pushed even harder, he admitted that he was a ferry pilot and NEVER saw any type of combat at all. The closest Harkin came to combat was ferrying jets from Japan to Vietnam or the Philippines, well out of the range of Vietcong missiles.
Had he ever flown anywhere in Vietnam, he would have received two medals (the Service and Campaign medals) just for being there. Both were awarded at the same time and nothing beyond your presence in the country or Navy operating area was required to qualify for them. His records show he received neither of them.
The election results showed voter rejection of Democratic "obstructionism" in the Senate by the defeat Daschle and Harkin should be next.