I don’t know. I’m gathering data. Here’s some you might agree with. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-boot5aug05,1,1100348.column?coll=la-util-op-ed I find it one-sided, but I’m thinking about it.

I don’t have an opinion because I cannot validate your observations.

So why do you think Kerry has staked out those positions…Patriotism? ignorance? Stupidity?

I see your point. I don’t buy it, but don’t see any point in arguing it. Now, what have you got on El Salvador?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/06/veteran_retracts_criticism_of_kerry/

The whole SBVFT thing is starting to smell very fishy.

No, the issue is not incendiary. You stated that Kerry’s anti-war efforts fall under patriotic dissent. I am establishing a pattern behavior.

If you want an example of patriotic dissent I offer you the case of Joan Baez. Her last visit to Vietnam in the late 70′s led her to the conlcusion that she was wrong about the communists in Vietnam and really has since stayed away from endorsing communist insurgencies. Kerry on the other hand never said he was wrong about the communists in Vietnam and continued to endorse Communist and other anti-American regimes thtoughout the world.

I said I was off topic and, yes, I am avoiding this incendiary issue. I’m just trying to pick your brain on why we have such a presence in El Salvador. Indulge me, please.

You are avoiding the issue. Kerry supported the communist rulers against the people of Nicaragua and the Communist terrorists against the people of El Salvador.

This is off topic, I know, but you seem like a knowledgeable guy and I am curious about the El Salvador situation, having been briefly to San Salvador. That’s an odd place with lots of social problems and lots of people carrying guns. Correct me if I’m imagining things, but didn’t Ollie North have something to do with that “rebellion”? It seems strange to me that the largest US Embassy in Latin America is in San Salvador–it looks kinda like a mini pentagon. We obviously have some interest there, but I can’t figure out quite what it is. Cheap labor? Cheap materials? Worries about other neighboring countries? I’d like to hear your take on the situation.

Let’s see. Kerry supports the NVA and meets with representitive in Paris. He also supports the nuclear freeze movement, which in light of post communist disclosures, is shown to be run from Moscow, He supports Danny Ortega and the communists in El Salvador. Moving on to the GWI, he sides with Saddam Hussein. He currently advocates securing North Korea’s future as a communist dictatorship. I guess that still makes him a patriot in your mind.

I forgot, he did oppose a communist dictator once… Slobodon Milosevic. That time he support the Islamicists in Kosovo.

Thanks for your response. Obviously I was wrong about your 2000 vote. But I want to thank you for bringing up cognitive dissonance because the collective “you” I was referring to surely exhibits it here (self included). I think the concept is insightful and explains a lot. As for Kerry opposing Vietnam, I’m with Cain. That’s not being a commie symp. That’s patriotic, and shows he has the ability to re-think things. Something not exhibited by a certain White House resident. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=503181