I enjoyed
watching this overview of Vietnam with a special focus on Dick Cavett and his
guests. None of it was really new but I am always struck by seeing the segment
with John Kerry. In this case he was taking on Herb Klein who was there to represent
the Nixon administration.
All I can
say about Kerry is that he's the epitome of a sell-out. That's what I think of
every time I hear him today. With regard to Vietnam he's talking about
Imperialism and comparing US soldiers to Germans.
And rightly
so. The more I look into Vietnam and how it played out, the more I am offended at people who parade their participation in it.
Today, John Kerry
sounds just like Klein. It's amazing to think that 40 years later he would
become the very thing, the very policy and type of person he was critical of.
What a wasted life. I increasingly believe people learn nothing from history
and in fact very little from their own lives. I used to think that older people
would have pearls of wisdom to share, the jewels of reflection. There are a
few, but precious few I think. Most people just seem to go with the flow. Many
seem to just repeat the mantras of their day and not a few revise their own
pasts.
Billy Graham
also appears in this documentary and in light of his overall career and his
pandering to presidents, especially Nixon, I think history should rightly judge
him as a dupe and fool. Church historians if the Bible is at all their concern
would rank him as one of the most destructive forces in the 20th
century... Easy Believist Ecumenicism and Militant Nationalism. What a great
combination. What a great legacy. In the 50's and 60's Evangelicals didn't need
the Christian Right, they had Billy Graham.
Of course
who can forget this:
It's all the
more sick when you consider what Nixon really was and what he was really doing.
No doubt Nixon turned to those 'great spiritual sources' of greed, power and
vengeance as he plotted his agenda. And let's not forget manipulation as he
used everyone he could including Graham.
And for
those how might think that this PBS video is 'liberal', think again. It's all
softballs. If someone wanted to paint Vietnam in a bad light, they missed their
chance. Even the apologists like Wesley Clark, Kissinger, Haig, Graham and
Goldwater all admit to some extent that it was a fiasco. Of course in
Goldwater's case, he's just bitter they didn't drop more bombs. We can
literally thank God that man never had his finger on the button.
But again
out of all the items in the documentary it is John Kerry that is most striking.
What a sell out. Goldwater called Ellsberg a Benedict Arnold. Conservatives consider
the 1970's Kerry a traitor. I think more of the Kerry of today when I think of
that term. Not a traitor to America. I couldn't care less about that. No
Christian should. Our citizenship is in heaven, you cannot split your
allegiance. We serve the Truth and testify to it regardless of what Babylon or
Caesar think about the issue.
Kerry is a
traitor to his ideals and his own integrity. Apart from Christ they had no
meaning and so what's he left with? A dream of a better Babylon. He was seduced
and compromised.
