"I watched Kerry throw his war medals"

The slime du jour is the old charge that Kerry-claimed-he-threw-his-medals-but-never-really-threw-them. Tom Oliphant pretty much puts an end to this latest GOP nonsense in today's Boston Globe. "ON THE WAY to the fence where he threw some of his military decorations 33 years ago, I was 4 or 5 feet behind John Kerry." "As he neared the spot from which members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War were parting with a few of the trappings of their difficult past to help them face their future more squarely, I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons that most of the vets had been wearing that unique week of protest, much as they are worn on a uniform blouse." The point is that "medals" and "ribbons" was interchangeable back then. The ribbons one wore on one's uniform symbolized, among other things, medals that the soldier had won. Obviously, unless you're a member of the Soviet Politburo, you don't go around wearing medals all the time. They get cumbersome, you know. So, because Kerry said he threw his "medals" when, in fact, he kept the metal medal but threw the ribbon instead, the GOP is trying to paint Kerry as a liar and, probably, a murderer of small animals. Next.