Decorated Navy SEAL Slams Bush For Lying About Criminal Record

'Just after the governor's reelection in 1998, [Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne] Slater pressed Bush about whether he had ever been arrested. 'He said, 'After 1968? No.''' -New Republic

''Governor, you're covering your rear end. You were protecting yourself. You were concerned about what might happen to you,'' Sen. Kerrey said. ''How dare you say that your character is superior to Vice President Gore.''

Bob Kerrey was elected governor in 1982 and senator in 1988. The achievement for which he is best known he is appealingly modest about: when asked which medals he won during his service in Vietnam, he has been known to answer, ''One Purple Heart, one Bronze Star, one whatever.'' ''Whatever'' is the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration; Kerrey is only the fifth Medal of Honor winner to serve in the Senate, and the other four won theirs in the Civil War. He is a man of determination and charm. He grew up in Lincoln, and after graduating from the University of Nebraska with a pharmacy degree in 1966 he volunteered for the Navy SEALs. In March 1969, after three months in Vietnam, a grenade exploded at his feet, and he lost his right leg below the knee. But he kept directing his platoon's fire until his men were able to escape. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon and later became an avid opponent of the war in which he so honorably served.

I don't think an arrest (or even necessarily lying about an arrest) for drunk driving twenty-five years ago means a damned thing. Neither did Bill Clinton's womanizing or Al Gore's marijuana use (although neither of those is as bad as driving drunk). It's nice to know, however, that someone is questioning the Governor's character, because I don't see how he has any claim to moral superiority over Vice President Gore. So please, America, don't vote against Governor Bush for driving drunk. Vote against him because he's just as shifty as the next guy, because he doesn't seem to understand the basics of the job for which he's applying, because he has no experience with ANY branch of the federal government, because he's failed at every job he's had that didn't rely on being the namesake of a former president, and because when it looked like Al Gore was going to hit him on national television, he stepped away and cringed like a little bitch. In short, help him keep the promise he made in 1994 to be the first Republican ever to complete two terms as governor of my state of