Boston Globe: Kerry's lack of decisiveness on Iraq is suffocating him

[Larkspur]

by Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist | August 17, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/08/17/kerrys_lack_of_decisiveness_on_iraq_is_suffocating_him/

IRAQ IS the paper bag John Kerry cannot punch his way out of, suffocating himself even though the top is wide open. Last week, Kerry said he would have still voted to give President Bush the authority to invade Iraq, even if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had no tie to 9/11. "Yes, I would have voted for the authority,'' Kerry said. ``I believe it is the right authority for a president to have.''
<SNIP>

The catch-up questions only make it more obvious that Kerry should have said, "If I knew now that we did not have a plan to win the peace, if I knew now that we were rushing to war on faulty intelligence, if I knew now that the president was not doing the hard work necessary to give America the truth, if I knew now that he was misleading America about how he would go to war, if I knew that we were not going to bring other countries to the table in a way that truly supported American troops, why of course I would have never voted to give the president the authority to go to war. You never give the president authority to go to war unless he can prove beyond a doubt that war is necessary.''

You do not have to be a conscientious objector to say that. Kerry could have even gone as far as saying, sure, he and the Clinton administration were as adamant in the 1990s as the Bush administration has been these last three and a half years that Saddam was a bad man who they thought had bad weapons. But that never had to extend to giving a president power when it was clear all along that Bush was rushing toward unilateral action. Bush He dismissed international weapons inspectors and even the concerns of US military veterans such as 1991 Gulf War commander Norman Schwarzkopf, who said the rush to war by the hawks in the administration, without proof of weapons, was "scary.''
<SNIP>
Bingo, Mr. Jackson!

[David Dunham]

1. Why Kerry voted 2 years ago is the PAST. Forget it. Care about Iraq now!

[Pastiche423]

9. Forget it?

As in, forget the loss of almost ONE THOUSAND Americans and TENS OF THOUSANDS of Iraqis?

For political expediency sake?

Sorry, that is something I can never forget.

[IndianaGreen]

11. Fair enough, IWR is in the past. Let's discuss the present!

The present time is that Kerry wants to do a Nixonian "stay the course" in Iraq, which if he implements as policy will be as much a blunder as Bush's invasion.

[Skittles]

14. in the PRESENT

KERRY DOESN'T REGRET THAT SHAMEFUL VOTE

[regnaD kciN]

12. Unfortunately, Kerry's recent mishandling of the question...

...is "now."

[Demobrat]

15. Vietnam was 30 years ago.

Can we forget about that too?

[dennis4868]

2. AMAZING.....

how the media is putting Kerry on the defensive regarding the Iraq war.....we have a pResident who lied us into a war and now almost 1000 soldiers are dead, thousands have injuries for the rest of their lives, and Kerry is the one they are putting on the defensive?

I only wish the damn media was this aggressive with Bush before the war and demaned the evidence to go to war!

[Larkspur]

3. Since Kerry has blundered on his vote for IWR and stupidly fell into

Bush's trap, doesn't that tell you that Kerry can be politically incompetent also. He may be better than Bush, but Kerry still has innocent blood on his hands with his cowardly vote in 2002 and his support of an illegal war that most of our allies opposed.

[mzmolly]

4. I hate to say this Larkspur, but I dont think Kerry's vote would have been

the same if he weren't making political considerations.

Note, none of our Anti-Iraq war candidates are the nominee. For some reason standing up to Bush against the war was seen as "weakness" instead of "strength" :(

[dennis4868]

5. he did not....

SUPPORT THE ILLEGAL WAR....Kerry only supported giving Bush the authority to use force if inspection did not work!

[Larkspur]

6. That's not what he recently said

Kerry said that he'd vote the same way knowing everything he knows know about Bush's incompetence and the lack of WMD's. Kerry supports the Iraq war because Israel supports it and Kerry wants those Likkudite dollars in his campaign war chest.

[emulatorloo]

8. Sorry, you are over-reaching or basing your arguments on misleading

headlines, not what kerry said. . . .

[regnaD kciN]

13. Don't blame this one on "the media"...

Kerry was asked a simple question, and elected to give an answer which makes no sense in relation to what he has said over the past year, thus giving the Rovians new ammunition for applying the flip-flop label. The media didn't misquote Kerry; they merely accurately reported an instance of off-the-cuff incoherence. As I've said before, it's a good thing this gaffe occurred early in the campaign, while everyone was looking ahead to the Olympics. If he'd come up with such a lame answer during one of the debates, he'd be finished -- shades of Gerald Ford's "there is no Soviet domination of Poland" in 1976. I hope Kerry and his staff are figuring out a more sensible-sounding "impromptu" reply on that subject for the remainder of the race.

[swag]

7. Funny, he doesn't seem to be suffocating to me

in fact he's doing pretty fucking well.

[dumpster_baby]

10. The corporate media whores fear Kerry will end the war, and gear down

....American militarism, once he gets into office. So they are trying to force his hand now.