Inside Politics

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Bush backers

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as official policy, do not endorse candidates for president. Simply put, according to a spokesman for the VFW, they don't want to risk alienating the winner if they picked the other guy.

But that doesn't mean individual members of the group can't make a call, and a past commander from each organization endorsed President Bush yesterday -- despite the fact that Sen. John Kerry saw active duty in Vietnam and Mr. Bush did not.

Ed Banas, the immediate past national commander in chief of the VFW, said he is endorsing Mr. Bush because he is a "principled leader."

But it was Mr. Kerry's activities in Vietnam Veterans Against the War that clinched his decision.

"The thing that was probably most annoying to me and many, many people who served our country is that Mr. Kerry renounced every one of his comrades who served in Vietnam," Mr. Banas said. "I cannot find that to be a forgivable instance."

John Brieden, past commander of the American Legion, said he has heard Mr. Kerry speak -- including a speech to his organization -- and he has a tendency to say "exactly what the group wanted to hear."

"In fact, his speech was right down our point papers, line by line," Mr. Brieden said in a conference call organized by the Bush campaign.

"I have to laugh because as I have heard people talk about his flip-flop on positions, I feel all he's trying to do is tell every group what they want to hear," he said. "That means a different position for every group."