Kerry used soldier's funeral to solicit campaign help

Justin Johnson

Sen. John Kerry solicited the families of slain soldiers at their sons' funerals as part of his campaign to undermine the president's policy in Iraq, charges Melanie Morgan and Catherine Moy in their new book "American Mourning".

The authors raised the issue today amid the fallout over a comment Kerry made Monday night that is being widely interpreted as an insult to U.S. troops.

Moy said the book documents an April 2004 incident in which a Kerry campaign representative visited parents of a fallen U.S. soldier at his funeral to ask them to speak out against President Bush.

"A woman, who had also lost her son in the war and who represented the local Kerry campaign, approached the Johnsons at their son – Justin's – wake. Justin was laid out in his Army uniform as the woman began her speech about hating Bush and helping Kerry. She asked the Johnsons to speak out against President Bush," the authors said in a statement today.

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The Johnsons are the family of Justin Johnson, one of two war heroes who died in Iraq and have been honored in the book.

Justin Johnson and the other soldier, Casey Sheehan, and their lives are profiled in the story of how their families' responses are poles apart, just as Americans are split over the war.

The book describes how the Johnson family drew together after Justin's death, with his father even volunteering for duty in Iraq to continue his son's role in the war on terror. Cindy Sheehan, Casey's mother, meanwhile, exploded into anti-U.S. activism, describing her own nation as "thugs" and honoring the terrorists who killed her son as "freedom fighters."

The authors issued a statement responding to Kerry's comment to college students in California Monday, which seemed to suggest that if they don't study hard, they'll end up in the military.

"This is yet another disgusting attempt to politicize soldiers from a man with a long history of disrespecting our troops. It is especially difficult for those who genuinely support our troops such as Morgan, who spent yesterday helping to put together 2 TONS of coffee, Gatorade, beef jerky and cookies in individual packages to send to soldiers serving in Iraq as a thank you for their sacrifices," the statement said.

In an interview with WND, Moy said anyone who has watched Kerry's career shouldn't have been particularly surprised by his comment.

"John Kerry has always been about himself. He showed his true colors back in Vietnam when he turned on his own brothers in arms. It's all about John Kerry," Moy said.

Kerry was speaking Monday night at a political rally at Pasadena City College. He warned students there that if they don't study hard and get a good education they might "get stuck in Iraq."

The remark is being interpreted by many veterans – including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. – as a slam at military service, suggesting it's a last refuge for the lazy and uneducated.

Video of Kerry's comment can be seen here.

The Massachusetts senator told the students: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq. ..."

Audience reaction to the comment included gasps and laughter, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

The paper said Kerry was trying to emphasize that candidate Phil Angelides would be a better governor for college students because he would repeal an increase in college tuition and expand financial aid.

Kerry has insisted it was a "botched" joke against President Bush, but he also has cancelled a series of planned campaign events because of the outrage.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

When a number of voices suggested he apologize, Kerry followed up with a news conference in which he blamed the Republicans for the reaction.

"This is the classic GOP playbook," Kerry said. "I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium."

The senator said he would not apologize, calling his comment a "botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops."

"Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how," Kerry said. "I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and his broken policy. If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the president and his failed team."

'He had benched himself'

Moy said the comment has seriously damaged Kerry.

"He has benched himself," Moy said, "after he was taken to the woodshed by some Democratic leaders."

She said his statement gives the appearance of some sort of "hatred" for U.S. soldiers, "saying that these people are uneducated."

People often get too caught up in whether there's a "D" or an "R" after the name, Moy continued.

"People should look at the person, the character," she said. "He just doesn't have it."

"Senator Kerry's history of calling American troops in Vietnam 'baby-rapers and murderers,' and his current comments calling them 'not smart,' shows that the public was right in rejecting him as 'unfit for the job of Commander-in-Chief,'" the book's authors said in their statement.

John Kerry testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

Kerry angered many in the military last December with remarks in an interview with CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer, accusing U.S. soldiers of "terrorizing" Iraqi children.

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs," Kerry said. "Whether you like it or not ... Iraqis should be doing that."

Those remarks reminded many Americans of Kerry's most controversial testimony before the nation in 1970, when he was a returning Vietnam vet calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces in that conflict.

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