Frank Burns Lives

Don’t look now, but Mr. French might be about to throw his first purple heart over the fence again, right next to his “covert” Cambodia exploits.

[A] Kerry campaign spokesman has acknowledged on Brit Hume's Fox News show that John Kerry's wound on 2 December 1968 came from an unintentionally self-inflicted wound - an accident, in other words:

And questions keep coming. For example, Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2nd, 1968. But an entry in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes that, quote, he and his crew hadn't been shot at yet, unquote. Kerry's campaign has said it is possible his first Purple Heart was awarded for an unintentionally self-inflicted wound.

Observes Captain Ed:

Score another one for the Swiftvets, and another retreat for Kerry, this time on a key contention for both a medal and for his truncated tour of duty. Without that first Purple Heart, Kerry would have had to stay on the Swiftboat assignment past March 17th and remain in combat. Now that the Kerry campaign seems to have retreated from Kerry's citation, the fact that Kerry pushed this award weeks later up a different chain of command takes on a great deal more significance. Instead of bravely taking on combat, he now looks desperate to get out ahead of everyone else and willing to falsify records to do it - which is exactly the impression that his later assertions have given us.

That’s one purple heart down, and two purple hearts, a bronze star, and a silver star to go.

Ditto his credibility, ultimately, with anybody outside the moveon.org fringe.