Bumper Sticker Contradiction

On the way to work today, I followed an SUV with five or six anti-Kerry bumber stickers. They were unique in the respect that they all attacked Kerry's Vietnam service. One ridiculed him for being a "four-month" veteran, another supported the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. While I have been aware of the attacks on his Vietnam experience, I had not seen any bumber stickers reflecting such animosity. The curious thing about this vehicle was that it also had one of those ubiquitious yellow ribbon magnets that reads "support our troops." I guess this means to support all of the troops except for John Kerry, who was, after all, a soldier in Vietnam. Or, maybe it means to support the troops that happen to agree with the President's decision to invade Iraq, though this would leave a substantial number of them out. It was one more example, I think, of people's inability to seperate the war decision from the war effort.

As a sidenote, I have finished reading the Kevin Phillips book on the Bush family, "American Dynasty". He lays out a pretty strong indictment of the Bush's, and it is hard to read his book as merely another polemic in an election year. His facts seem to be well researched, and his conclusions logical. I'll write more about the book, and my reaction to it, in the near future.

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