Thinking Out Loud: Did Kerry Meet with the Communists in 1970 and 1971?
I'm still trying to piece this stuff together, but it looks like John Kerry was a freelance negotiator with the Viet Cong and the Government of North Viet Nam. How did that work? Was he some sort of spy or traitor or what?

In his opening remarks to Senator Fulbright in the famous hearing of 22 April 1971, Kerry said the following (emphases added):

My feeling, Senator, is undoubtedly this Congress, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I do not believe that this Congress will, in fact, end the war as we would like to, which is immediately and unilaterally and, therefore, if I were to speak I would say we would set a date and the date obviously would be the earliest possible date. But I would like to say, in answering that, that I do not believe it is necessary to stall any longer. I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh's points it has been stated time and time again, and was stated by Senator Vance Hartke when he returned from Paris, and it has been stated by many other officials of this Government, if the United States were to set a date for withdrawal the prisoners of war would be returned.

I think this negates very clearly the argument of the President that we have to maintain a presence in Vietnam, to use as a negotiating block for the return of those prisoners. The setting of a date will accomplish that.

And check out this article at WinterSoldier.com by Jerome Corsi, co-author (with John O'Neill) of the new book Unfit to Command. Looks like Kerry was making deals with the Communists:

On June 16, 1971, the communist Daily World newspaper quoted Kerry as planning a month-long trip to South Vietnam in July to report on "what is really happening" to the American soldiers over there. Newly released FBI files on the VVAW also report that John Kerry made a second trip to Paris in the summer of 1971 to meet again with the Vietnamese communist peace delegations and try to arrange a prisoner release.

Like I say, I'm still trying to figure all of this out. It doesn't matter whether I am spreading lies and slanders because that's now been shown to be an irrelevancy this year. What matters is how well I can malign the character of a man who served his country in uniform.

That is, if it happens to Bush, it can happen to Kerry, right?