Dear Swiftboat Veterans for "Truth",
Here's the thing. Yes, you guys had it very tough in Viet Nam. But you know what? That was a long time ago, and frankly, I'm not that concerned about it. Here's what I'm concerned about, in no particular order:
1. The economy. Have you guys tried to find a job lately? And not a service industry, do-you-want-fries-with-that job, I mean a decent, white-collar job. Seems like a lot of those are moving to India. I'd be interested in what the candidates think about that. Also, it might be nice if the candidates talked about deficit spending and their budget proposals.
2. Healthcare. You vets can get healthcare at the V.A. hospital, or at least I hope you can. Most of us have to depend on our jobs for healthcare. Remeber those jobs going over to India? Some jobs don't provide healthcare at all, or if they do, the costs that employees have to shoulder are increasing dramatically. I'd like to know where the candidates stand on the fact that the vast majority of Americans have no recourse when it comes to basic health.
3. Foreign Policy. Do you remember a weird-looking bearded fella by the name of Osama bin Lauden? I think he was the guy who engineered the attacks of September 11, do you remember those? Which candidate remembers Osama? Maybe we should make sure Afganistan doesn't slip back into the clutches of the Taliban, what do you think? Also, weren't most of those hijackers from Saudi Arabia? And how's that "mission accomplished" thing going over in Iraq?

In short, fuck what happened in Viet Nam. At this point, we should all be scared shitless about the fate of Social Security, war in the Middle East, and whether or not we can afford a visit to the doctor's office. We really don't need to be worrying about the 2.5 centimeter wound John Kerry got in his arm or his butt or wherever the hell the shrapnel went in, and it also doesn't matter where Dubya spent his National Guard days at this point either. I can't fucking believe that Americans are so gullible and unthinking - ignorant - that this is what we are debating, a minor incidents in a war that happened almost 40 years ago, rather than the very real and very scary things that we are facing today.

P.S. - regarding your outrage that Kerry would dare to testify to atrocities committed in 'Nam by the Good Guys - here's a little refresher on something called the My Lai massacre, thought maybe you'd like to read that before you get all indignant? I had to read about this in high school history, thought since you were there you might have a better recollection of what happened, but whatever.