I haven't watched "Going Upriver" in a while. It's an excellent look at who John Kerry is, and in that sense, it's a damn good film. And George Butler does an masterful job presenting the Senator's story. Throughout most of the documentary, you see a young man who answered his country's call to service and who would later lend his voice to the anti-war movement, struggling to help stop the loss of life in Vietnam and speaking out against an administration hell-bent on continuing the carnage of a failed war against the will of the American people.
Some things haven't changed much in 35 years.
"The only change in the policy has been a change from admitting that we were there to try and defend that country from communism to changing it so that we can get out of there to somehow save face for the United States of America.""... that means another 5,000 to 20,000 lives will be lost. And I'd like to take a tally in this country and see how many people are willing to be those lives ..."
-John Kerry on The Dick Cavett show, 1971
"As in Vietnam, we went into Iraq ostensibly to fight a larger global war under the misperception that the particular theater was just the latest battleground. And we soon learned that the particular aspects of the place where we were fighting mattered more than anything else.""Presidents and politicians may worry about losing votes or losing face or losing legacies. I think it's time we worried about young Americans and innocent Iraqis who are losing their lives."
-John Kerry at Faneuil Hall, 2006
Watching the film, you can't help but see the parallels with where we find ourselves today or the consistency of the Senator's message then and now.
"And as in Vietnam, we have stayed and fought and died even though it is time for us to go."
Amen, Senator.
Although I own a copy of the movie, I hadn't watched it in some time. But the other night, I did. Because of this blog post. I figured, after reading it, that if I was going to revisit the past, might as well go for it.
Watch the full video here. The quality's not quite as good as the DVD, but it's worth watching if you've not seen it, and worth re-watching if it's been a while.
There's another reason I haven't watched the film in a while. It's the same reason it took more than two years before I watched the '04 concession speech. Because watching would mean coming face to face with how very close we came to electing a man who would lead this country forward, and not down the bitterly divided path we find ourselves on today. Painfully close.
As we head toward '08 and the next Presidential election, I hope we've learned the lessons of the previous campaign. The Republican tactic, we've discovered, is not to attack the opponents weaknesses, but his strengths. In JK's case, honor, duty and service. Didn't matter that they had nothing to attack him with. There were people who were more than willing to fabricate a story that they could sell to the public, and that the media was happy to feed.
The truth took quite a beating at the hands of Bush campaign in '04. They got away with it, too, and we're left with the after effects. Sure, the lies have been debunked, and the Senator has been vindicated in the eyes of most thinking people. Now, three years later, the message of '04 about the war and the environment and healthcare and all the things the campaign tried to get through the right wing barrier of lies and terror are now the common wisdom. Hell, even right wingers like George Will have admitted that Sen. Kerry was right about fighting terrorism. I guess that's something.
So, my advice in the run-up to election '08 is once it gets to day two of media coverage of flag-pin-hair-cut-gate, do yourself a favor. Think back to how totally idiotic it was to disparage someone who spent his life serving his country because he windsurfs. Then turn off the news and watch a movie.
Comments (4)
Posted by fedup | October 20, 2007 4:08 PM
Excellent post Faith. I have the movie and watch it often. The words that ringout to me in that movie is when JK is saying "We haven't learnt our lessons", he was so right and has been proven right on so many things that he said over and over again in'04 and to this day.
PS, I will also suggest reading the book "Tour of Duty" by Douglas Brinkley, I hear it is in paperback and a few things have been added, I need to get a copy.
Posted by ProSense | October 20, 2007 7:41 PM
Excellent post. It really is time to watch this movie again. When you look at the situation in Iraq and couple it with the propaganda being used to justify continuing this atrocious war, it's obvious that history is being repeated. Tragic!
Posted by Otter | October 21, 2007 1:10 AM
You know, I'm looking at this post here and looking back at several of the other posts here and thinking back on all the other posts here since you guys launched the KV site, and...
...all I can say is that the work you guys put into building this, and the work you put into making it happen every day, just continues to impress the living heck out of me every time I come here.
This is great stuff, y'all. And I (and, ahm, we) are totally grateful for it, too.
Thank you.Thank you all so much.
Posted by Connie | October 21, 2007 1:03 PM
You're right, Faith! It's time to re-watch that film and become inspired by the man who followed his heart and his mind and then courageously took positive action. It'll help me follow through with the "positive action" part. Getting discouraged right now with the destructive policies of this administration just feels like self-indulgence. What would JK do -- he'd find a way to do something positive to change a bad situation. Thanks for the reminder, Faith.