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Media & Politics
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Archive of materials on
John Kerry's Military Service
Also see archive of articles on
George Bush's record of service in the Texas Air National
Guard
Possible approaches to this
archive for summaries and and presentations:
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If you are a Kerry supporter, write a summary
that gives full weight to claims made by critics
of Kerry's military record.
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If you are a Bush supporter, write a summary
that gives full weight to questions raised about
the credibility of Kerry's critics.
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If you are a Bush
supporter, write a summary that places John Kerry's
opposition to the Vietnam war in its historical
context.
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If you are a Kerry supporter, focus on
the consequences of his
decision to emphasize his military service
rather than his opposition to the Vietnam war.
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If you are a Bush
supporter, write a summary that takes account of the
role of the Bush campaign in raising questions about
Kerry's military service.
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Write a summary that deals only with
journalistic issues. For example, go
through various articles and blog entries to see
if professional reporters properly credited and
or described their sources. This approach will
yield interesting results if you compare
information first reported by bloggers and then
reported as "new discoveries" by mainstream
journalists.
In all cases, remember that your job is to write a
summary. Do your best to keep your opinions out of
your work. Remember that trying to maintain a reasonable degree
of objectivity is not the same as pretending that you
have no opinions. On the contrary, a balanced
perspective requires you to challenge yourself to
recognize ways in which your opinions color your
perception and presentation of facts. In this
case, if you
find yourself making pronouncements about the meaning of
military service or other clearly ideological topics,
stop, think, and get back on track.
Also, keep in mind that your summary will be very short.
Consequently, rather than trying to condense a massive
pile of information, concentrate on one basic issue,
question, or theme.
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Vietnam Veterans Against
John Kerry (central source of Globe story)
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Video and sound recordings of Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
WinterSoldiers.com
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Kerry Team Lines Up Vietnam Witnesses, Lois Romano and Dana Milbank,
Washington Post, 8/24/04
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Navy
records appear to support Kerry's version,
Associated
Press, Aug 25, 2004
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John Kerry's Service Record - documents posted on Findlaw.com
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Plot
thickens after checking records, Thomas Lipscomb, Chicago Sun Times,
8/27/04
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Navy Rejects Probe of Kerry's War Medals, Will Dunham, Reuters,
9/17/04
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Navy: Kerry medals approved properly, AP, CNN, 9/20/04
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Kerry smeared a hero: my dad,
Carol Crowley, guest columnist, Atlanta
Constitution, 9/20/04
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[Elections, 2004]
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