[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 53 (Thursday, April 22, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CREDENTIALS NEEDED FOR THOSE ATTACKING JOHN KERRY

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I came to the floor to talk about Earth 
Day, but listening to what is going on out here makes me think I will 
change my subject.
  I spent 2 years, 1968 to 1970, as a psychiatrist in the United States 
Navy taking care of people who lived through what John Kerry went to 
war about, and for anybody to come out here and attack his war record, 
you have to have pretty good credentials.
  Now, if you served and showed up for drills at your local National 
Guard, I think those would be acceptable credentials. But if you were 
in the National Guard and you did not show up, you were AWOL for a 
whole year, you have got real nerve to start an attack on John Kerry's 
character.
  During that war many people on both sides of the issue, whether we 
should go to war or were against the war, acted bravely. But some 
people were simply not available. They never showed up for their flight 
physical. They were not there.

                          ____________________