Payback

Dan of Dislogue has some first hand reporting of an Anti-Kerry Vietnam Veteran Rally(via Instapundit). It is interesting stuff, with lots of other good links as well. I expect that Vietnam Veterans will have a fairly large effect on this election. A large majority of them strongly dislike Kerry and they, their family and their friends, regardless of political affiliation, will be much less likely to vote for Kerry than they would otherwise be. Add in the other military families and friends who may not have connections to someone who served in Vietnam, but can certainly see parallels between what John Kerry did then and the anti-war left now and this can have a major effect on the election. I doubt that this distaste against Kerry will translate directly from votes that would have gone to Kerry going directly to Bush instead, some of that will happen, but even more significant may be people who simply won't vote at all because although they are democrats, cannot bring themselves to support John Kerry. In many ways, the Bush AWOL stories and hype may even feed this phenomenon. Many people think that John Kerry slandered the soldiers who fought in Vietnam, questioning George Bush's service may remind them of that, more then convincing them that George Bush is dishonest. I have seen several people that have referred to a John Kerry defeat as the victory parade the Vietnam Veterans never had. Perhaps, this election, despite its acrimony, mud-slinging and dredging of the past will finally heal the wounds of Vietnam that our nation still obviously bears.