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John Kerry's Politics of Shame 10/13/2004 11:48:32 AM
As I watched John Kerry emerge from the primary pack last spring, I couldn't help but wonder who was this lanky, somber, well dressed and serious contender? I knew little about him, and except what I’d seen of him in the debates, he seemed at the time to be the only candidate who could bridge the extremes of the Democratic Party.
John Kerry's Politics of Shame
By Robert Amoroso
As I watched John Kerry emerge from the primary pack last spring, I couldn't help but wonder who was this lanky, somber, well dressed and serious contender? I knew little about him, and except what I’d seen of him in the debates, he seemed at the time to be the only candidate who could bridge the extremes of the Democratic Party.
Howard Dean, Kerry’s only serious rival, had catapulted into first place and seemed invincible until he shouted himself into oblivion, dropping like a stone, as he lost one key primary state after another. Almost overnight his lead all but evaporated.
As Dean self-destructed before our very eyes, poised in the wings and ready to take the mantle of the Democratic Party was John Forbes Kerry. He seemed, at first glance, to have all the political tools necessary to perhaps wrestle the Presidency from the incumbent George W. Bush.
However, like a welcomed guest who at first appears gracious and charming until he begins to reveal his true character, Kerry has revealed that his, and his character’s, flaws are monumental.
Perhaps my analogy is somewhat odd when one considers Kerry's Vietnam experience and the controversy that surrounds it -- it's often been said that the worth of a man can be found under the most adverse conditions, or to put it simply, one’s "grace under fire.”
There is no controversy, however, surrounding John Kerry's testimony before Congress in the early 1970's. His words are well-documented and ring true to his character.
At the time of his well-publicized testimony, there were still American POW's being brutalized and held captive by the enemy in the North. Yet Kerry went before Congress to tell of the atrocities that were being committed by his comrades in arms.
Nowhere in his testimony did he outline actual events or atrocities that he had actually witnessed or experienced. Instead he discoursed on how brutal America was and a comparison of our military to that of Ghengis Kahn.
Fast forward to the bitter 2004 campaign for the presidency and one can again see the same pattern of deceit, the same disingenuous tone and the same convoluted logic within his speeches. Again, as now we're faced with another controversial conflict, Kerry again defames the heroic battle being waged.
However, unlike that conflict so long ago, this one is being fought to protect the lives of Americans against a faceless enemy, an enemy without a country, without borders, an enemy who has already inflected carnage and destruction to our people, the likes of which we've never witnessed in our lifetime.
This man would be our President and who first voted for the insertion into Iraq now proclaims for the entire world to hear (including our enemies) that this is "the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time". He suggests, as he did thirty years ago, that our President lied and is misguided and, worse yet, unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.
As he did before Congress in the early 1970's, Kerry gives no specifics or any facts to back up these charges, but rather follows his old pattern of deceit.
He slanders both our coalition and the interim Prime Minster of Iraq, with pejorative remarks and ridicules the progress that is being made. Worst yet, he now positions himself as a strong advocate for defense, despite a record of 20 years in Congress that suggests just the opposite.
Last week as I watched the second debate between Senator Kerry and the President, I couldn't help but admire the debating skills of the Senator. He was poised, self-confident and well spoken, with an innate ability to maneuver the debate, similar to that of a skilled trial lawyer.
As I listened to the Senator define himself as “strong on defense,” I couldn't help but recall another war not so long ago, in that conflict an invading army without any provocation crossed the boarders of its neighbor. In 1991, another President, along with the United Nations, Congress, and a collation of nations recognizing the dangers of this invading army, and acted to push back the aggressor. Then as now, Senator Kerry thought that it was "the wrong war, at the wrong time, in the wrong place." We know this because he voted against coming to the aid of Kuwait, against intervention from this invading army, against the U.N., against the President and against the will of Congress.
The Senator, of course, had every right to vote is conscience. But he now skillfully redefines himself as a leader who would seek a wider collation, and that he would not have "rushed into war," and if that is his position now, then the question needs to be asked, what of 1991? When indeed all of those elements were in place, why did he vote against intervention?
At this pivotal time in our history, and with so much at stake, if the 1991 Gulf War and 9/11 weren’t "the right war, at the right time, in the right place," then what ever could be? Perhaps another 3,000 innocent lives lost, or perhaps another American city under assault, or worse yet, a nuclear or biological attack?
The issues I have with Senator Kerry is that he now positions himself, as being strong on defense, when his record of over 20 years suggests just the opposite and he now seems to embrace the preverbal "smoking gun" theory as with the WMD issue in Iraq. The only problem with that logic is that the missile would have already left the chamber, and thus the "smoking gun." A chilling thought indeed, Senator Kerry.
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Robert Amoroso (Amo) is a published author with his first novel entitled JOURNEY in the marketplace. For more information on Mr. Amoroso or to view excerpts from his novel simply log onto authorsden.com/robertamoroso, or contact Mr. Amoroso directly at Amo1109.aol.com.
Reprinted with permission from Citizen-Journal.org
