Kerry confronts image from anti-Vietnam War era
From Wolf Blitzer Reports' Brian Todd in Washington:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From taking on his commander-in-chief, as he did at a New Hampshire victory rally when he said, "We'll show them we know something about aircraft carriers for real!" to touting his service record -- it's all out there for John Kerry.
The Vietnam experience, the decorations for valor, the antiwar protests -- Kerry has embraced it all.
Now, he confronts another image from his past.
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The picture, taken on Labor Day, 1970, shows actress and activist Jane Fonda at an anti-Vietnam War rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. A few faces behind her is former Navy lieutenant, combat veteran and fellow antiwar protestor, John Kerry.
The candidate never runs from his experience as a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. But the association with Fonda is too much for some veterans, including two members of Congress.
Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a former Navy pilot and the first "ace" of the Vietnam War, was shot down in 1972.
"It bothered us, anyone that associated themselves with Jane Fonda, with Tom Hayden, with the antiwar movement. We just wanted to do our job, complete our mission for our country that sent us and come back alive. And having people like Senator Kerry protest that was kind of a slap in the face to us," says Rep. Cunningham.
And Texas Republican Sam Johnson, a POW in Vietnam, told the Washington Times Wednesday, "I think it symbolizes how two-faced he is, talking about his war reputation, which is questionable on the one hand, and then coming out against our veterans who were fighting over there on the other."
Kerry certainly does not seem to lack veteran support on the campaign trail. CNN spoke Wednesday with the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Bobby Muller.
"We have been contacted by veterans across the country: 'How do I connect to the Kerry campaign? This is something I want to get involved in.' I have not seen in the 26 years that I've been in Washington, ever, the kind of dynamic and energizing of a Vietnam veteran community in this country as I am right now," says Muller.
Wednesday, a Kerry campaign aide confirmed that Kerry was at the rally and he did speak.
But Kerry's aides stress that he and Jane Fonda were only acquaintances; the rally was nearly two-years before Fonda's contentious trip to North Vietnam; and, they say, Kerry did not support Fonda's trip.
Jane Fonda spoke for herself, telling CNN:
"My reaction is that the American people have had it with the big lie. Any attempt to link Kerry to me and make him look bad with that connection is completely false. We were at a rally for veterans at the same time. I spoke, Donald Sutherland spoke, John Kerry spoke at the end. I don't even think we shook hands. And they're also saying this organization, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, was a Communist organization. This was an organization of men who risked their lives in Vietnam, who considered themselves totally patriotic. So anyone who slams that organization and slams Kerry for being part of it is doing an injustice to veterans. How can you impugn, how can you even suggest, that anyone like Kerry or any of these veterans were not patriotic? He was a hero there."
This is an issue, an experience that will not go away -- especially in an election year.
John Kerry's record, in war and against it, and tough questions about a president's service in the National Guard will remain at the forefront.
Young people who were finding their way back then are now a generation of leaders still struggling with this conflict, nearly 30 years after the war's end.
