Kerry's Purple Heart

Okay, so you take a guy who is cravenly ambitious (as early as finishing school he received a report card noting "excessive amounts of self-confidence" for which "repressive measures" had to be taken); and who idolizes JFK to the point of dating a Kennedy family member, joining the Navy, then volunteering for SWIFT boat duty (JFK was also a boat commander).

Then dude gets three Purple Hearts and is outie in 4 months.

Might the suspicion that those Purple Hearts were suspect not occur to some ? Might some not think that young Kerry went to Vietnam with personal motives in mind, the most obvious of those being that military service would provide a fine platform for a political career ?

I mean, how many Navy officers toted Super 8 cameras, the better with which to re-enact, for posterity, the battles in which they engaged ?

Well, it seems at least some of Kerry's commanding officers thought him a loose cannon - I expect lots more of this type of analysis from the Right in the immediate aftermath of the Boston DNC lovefest.

Retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, who headed Coastal Division 11, said Kerry was seen by colleagues as a self-serving, "loose cannon" who came only to launch a political career.

Hoffman said Kerry "arrived in country with a strong anti-Vietnam War bias and a self-serving determination to build a foundation for his political future."

"He was aggressive, but vain and prone to impulsive judgment, often with disregard to specific tactical assignments," Hoffman said. "He was a loose cannon."