The more things change

Via The BUFFALOg - Longest. Headline. Ever.

Kerry's FBI files reveal comments from Buffalo chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Most of us know that John Kerry was one of the leaders of the group "Vietnam Veterans Against the War" back in the early 1970's.

Little known though is how the Buffalo chapter of the group felt about Kerry.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Channel 2 News has obtained hundreds of pages of Kerry's FBI files directly from the agency's headquarters in Washington.

A memo dated November 10, 1971 from the Buffalo FBI office to its Washington headquarters states that the Buffalo chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War wanted the national group to condemn Kerry because of his "wealthy family background and his political aspirations."

The memo went on to say that the Buffalo group felt that "Kerry supported the U.S. government and was only using V.V.A.W. to further his political aspirations."

In a coincidence of history, Kerry actually spoke in Buffalo at U.B.'s Main Street campus shortly after the memo was written. There, he told students there were "two Americas. One filled with slogans from our leaders, the other, reality."

Kerry would use almost those exact same words 33 years later during his presidential campaign when talking about the situation in Iraq.

So even VVAW thought he was a disingenuous opportunist (and such a sentiment coming from that crowd is a statement in itself). Kerry's been singing the same tune in the same key for over 30 years, but remember - John Colapinto assures us that President Bush is the candidate "whose entire strategy is to never change at all, no matter what the facts are."