OK, the shit's getting deep in here now. Purple Hearts are handed out by the military right and left. Some are for having your arm blown off and some are for small cuts on your pinky. That's the way its always been. John Kerry didn't decide to give himself a Purple Heart, the people above him did.
Bottom line: Kerry was a rich kid with a Yale degree that VOLUNTEERED and saw combat while Bush used daddy's political connections to secure a spot in the Ntl. Guard where he was almost guaranteed to see no combat.
Kerry was in the war, he's entitled to protest it and have his opinions against it.