Politics Trumps Dignity

John Kerry could not resist politicizing an occassion as solemn as Memorial Day, or the dedication of the WWII Memorial.

Kerry showed up with a larger retinue of staffers and hangers on than the president did, including several World War II veterans, one of whom served in the famous Easy Company of the 101st Airborne, who parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day and who were immortalized in historian Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers. Kerry has since appropriated the nickname for his own small group of comrades from the Vietnam war.

"It was unseemly," says a major fundraiser for the memorial who was present on the dais with the president, his father, and other dignitaries. "The president and the White House went out of their way to make sure that the people this day was intended for didn't lose the spotlight. Then Kerry shows up with his film cameras and veterans groups and puts people out. It just didn't play well, as far as I'm concerned."

What a chump.