More 'swiftboating,' of a sort, of Kerry

RE "CANDIDATE to Kerry: Stop using vets as props" (City & Region, Aug. 22): Republican challenger Jeff Beatty says that Senator John Kerry should stop using vets as props? He's kidding, right? No group of politicians has manipulated veterans more effectively or disingenuously than the Republican Party. Who can forget the Swift Boat Veterans? It's no surprise that Beatty would now seek to simply dispose of the issue.

More important, no group of politicians, Republican or Democrat, can point to a more expansive or focused response to the needs of veterans than Kerry has accomplished on his own. His work has been carefully detailed to respond in specific, detailed ways to the needs not only of veterans but of their families. He has repeatedly rallied his colleagues in Congress to this cause, providing the kind of leadership that only personal experience can forge.

As for Beatty, of course he's attempting to deflect the senator's heroic work in this area. He could work a lifetime and never create the body of work that has become a signature issue for Kerry.

MAUREEN FLATLEY
Essex