Is Kerry Really the most electable Democrat? Bring It On?

The New Republic ^ | 2/2/04 | Micheal Grunwald

[jwalsh07]

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry likes to say that, if he's the Democratic nominee and President Bush wants to make the election a referendum on national security, he has just three words to say: "Bring It On!" But what if Kerry becomes the nominee and Bush wants to make the election more than a referendum on national security? What would the Republicans bring on then?

[jwalsh07]

A synopsis:

1.) Opposed the death penalty for terrorists!

"In one debate, Weld marveled that Kerry even voted against the death penalty for terrorists, but Kerry still refused to budge, accusing Weld of grandstanding and demagoguery, arguing that foreign nations might refuse to extradite captured terrorists if the United States were to adopt a federal death penalty. "Your policy is a terrorist-protection policy," Kerry snorted.

2.) Opposed the 16 hour work week for 2 parent welfare recipients?

"Weld's favorite Kerry quotation came from a debate over a 1988 welfare reform bill: "It contains provisions troublesome to me, such as the sixteen-hour weekly work requirement for two-parent families receiving benefits." Sixteen hours per week was troublesome?"

3.) Introduced legislation to pay for drugs and alcohol for addicts

"On September 8, 1994, Kerry offered two amendments to a Senate welfare-reform bill, both designed "to provide Supplemental Security Income benefits to persons who are disabled by reason of drug or alcohol abuse." "Their only disability was an addiction to drugs and alcohol," the announcer grimly declared. "Yet they still received federal checks. Federal investigators called the system 'out of control.'" The grainy black-and-white Weld ad showed an addict using his benefits to get high, then an alcoholic drowning his sorrows at federal expense. "Incredibly, John Kerry twice introduced legislation to keep paying monthly checks to alcoholics and drug addicts whose only disability was their addiction!"

4.) Taxes...he is very vulnerable on taxes

"Kerry had been the number-two official in the Dukakis regime that raised state gas taxes two cents in 1983; he had supported a budget that would have raised federal gas taxes six cents in 1990; he had voted for President Clinton's budget, which did raise gas taxes four cents, in 1993. "What is it with you and the gas tax, senator?" Weld grilled him during one of their seven debates. "That's not exactly a tax reserved for the wealthy."

5.) More Taxes...on the Elderly and the Middle Class and Families

"Kerry's vote raised taxes on millions of middle-income retirees by subjecting more of their Social Security benefits to taxation. Kerry himself had acknowledged this in his speech on the Senate floor: "The bill also raises taxes-seventy-five percent from those who make over one hundred thousand dollars and twenty-five percent from those who make between thirty thousand and one hundred thousand dollars. I wish we did not need to raise taxes, but every serious economist ... has admitted that the budget cannot be balanced without increasing taxes somewhat." Kerry also voted to eliminate a $500-per-child tax credit from the 1996 Senate budget resolution-a credit even liberals like Barbara Boxer and Tom Harkin voted to preserve."

6.) Kerry has some scandal skeletons too...

"...it came out that his supporters had treated him to meals and more lucrative freebies in the '80s: a car he "leased" for 16 months without any payments, a ritzy condo he rented for $200 per month from a friendly developer, a no-risk $21,000 real estate windfall arranged by a top fund-raiser, a lobbyist's $8,000-per-month waterfront apartment where he crashed without paying. Then it came out that Kerry had given less than 1 percent of his earnings to charity before marrying Teresa Heinz. And, when Kerry claimed he had been strapped for cash because his kids were in private school, it came out that he had bought a handmade, ruby red, $8,600 Ducati motorcycle the same year he had given only $175 to charity. "What is he doing with all his money?" Weld asked. "I mean, he's making one hundred thirty thousand dollars a year. He's got free meals, free cars, and free housing. And he can't throw a few bucks to the United Way? Come on!"

Credit for the synopsis goes to :

From The Loonatic Left Satirical Ramblings of Mahatma blog.

[republicanwizard]

Wow! I didn't know Weld was so bold.

[Dog]

See post 1...great research...

[jwalsh07]

John Kerry is on record as opposing the death penalty for terrorists and favoring partial birth abortion right up until the mast second and I plan on letting as many people know about that dichotomy as possible.

[jwalsh07]

Opposition research courtesy of William Weld. There's about a hundred pages of it and it excludes those things, social issues, that Weld and Kerry agreed upon.

[Dog]

John Kerry is on record as opposing the death penalty for terrorists

This fact will become part a great campaign ad.

Imagine Kerry having to answer why he would not want Osama Bin Laden.... the murderer of 3,000 Americans to face the ultimate justice.

[Main Street]

..........

[jwalsh07]

Imagine Kerry having to answer why he would not want Osama Bin Laden.... the murderer of 3,000 Americans to face the ultimate justice.

I suspect his position has become nuanced post 9/11 just like his support of homosexual marriage has become nuanced but it doesn't matter.

He has cast votes opposing the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans and opposing the DOMA.

I hope Rove wraps them around his neck and Bob Herbert and the choir girls scream their heads off about those mean, wascally conservatives.

[ClaireSolt]

My problem with Kerry is that he is not a leader. He's never done anything original, at all. He's just a pol.

[jwalsh07]

Well that is one of his problems but his problems are legion.

[Dan from Michigan]

I got some more ops research of my own coming soon. I'll just say that something out of print from 1971 can still be checked out from libraries.......

And I'm expecting a call when it's in, probably in about a week.

[anniegetyourgun]

Bingo. And he's not even a very good one, at that....

[goldstategop]

A Ducati Liberal... and this expose of Jean F. Cheri is NOT from a right-wing magazine!

[jwalsh07]

A Ducati Liberal... and this expose of Jean F. Cheri is NOT from a right-wing magazine!

Correct! :-}

It gives it a little more pizzaz.

[jwalsh07]

Looking forward to it Dan.

[Paulus Invictus]

To all Freepers: A few minutes ago, Mike Savage opined that unless Bush changes his attitude about amnesty and slows spending, he will not win, even against a loser named Kerry. There seem to be more and more so-called conservatives out there making the same negative noises. I can't believe that a RAT would be good for the nation, regardless of how these people think. Jim had it right the other day in his post re the situation.

[RippleFire]

bump

[Main Street]

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[southernnorthcarolina]

Truly an embarrassment of riches from an unlikely source, the New Republic. Wonders never cease.

As Kerry becomes the nominee-presumptive, all sorts of great anti-Kerry material has come flooding in, from 1971 (William F. Buckley, Jr., and vintage Doonesbury strips Gary Trudeau no doubt wishes he didn't pen), to his Senate voting record, to retrospectives such as Ann Coulter's recent column.

And there will be more, much more. Our problem, it seems to me, will be how to focus on the most compelling arguments. It will take discipline not to present the electorate with a squadrillion reasons not to vote for Kerry, because too much "stuff" may have the effect of blurring the argument. Hopefully, Rove and company will take a half-dozen of the most egregiously leftist, out-of-step-with-the-voters Kerry positions, votes, or actions, and hammer them home again and again -- combined, of course, with the President's positive message and accomplishments.

[jwalsh07]

Pretty good analysis. The overriding theme will be that John Kerry is Teddy Kennedy. They deserve each other.

[sauropod]

We should hold a memorial medal tossing event.

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

We need bumper sticker messages.

Kerry or Bush: Which one would Osama vote for?

[Milligan]

That would be a good bumper sticker. People should think twice about our national security. Cash and Kerry will not provide us with any protection. If Kerry gets elected he would hand over US troops to the UN to reduce the budget. He will placate with terrorist and get US killed like 911. Scares me. Vote for Bush.

[dano1]

Introduced legislation to pay for drugs and alcohol for addicts

I heard Kerry say just a few weeks ago on CSPAN that we ought to have drug treatment on demand. He was talking to an individual from the audience after some Iowa campaign event. IMHO, drug treatment on demand is is a terrible idea. Drug treatment a "spin dry" center costs a small fortune!

[RJCogburn]

Opposition research courtesy of William Weld

Of all the dem candidates, Kerry produces the most unpleasant visceral reaction for me. I would not underestimate him, though.....he smoked Weld, who was a very popular governor and able campaigner.

[Torie]

I think the traction to be derived from voting records is exaggerated (except maybe on national security issues). Kerry will have to reinforce it all in the campaign, and he is not going to do that. The man is too skillful. Bush needs to show progress in Iraq, progress in the job count, and somehow explain away the ballooning deficit. Moreover, Bush needs to show he is more than a genial somewhat inarticulate guy, with a shaky handle on details. Bush is not Reagan, and Kerry is NOT Mondale or Dukakis. Thus the scheduled Bush grilling by Russert. It will be very interesting to see how Bush holds up. I am impressed by his willingness to submit to the Russert BBQ.

[BillyBoy]

Lurch wants to compare his "service to his country" compared to Bush?

Bring it on!

BUSH IN 1970:

LURCH IN 1970:

[yonif]

Lieberman would have been the biggest threat to Bush, if he was the nomination, due to Lieberman's strong support of the war on terrorism, including the war in Iraq.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Kerry claimed he had been strapped for cash because his kids were in private school...

Wow, Kerry's kids were in private school...what a shock (heavy sarcasm). Somebody should ask him what was wrong with the neighborhood public school.

[jwalsh07]

Wow, Kerry's kids were in private school...what a shock (heavy sarcasm). Somebody should ask him what was wrong with the neighborhood public school.

An excellent point.

[jwalsh07]

Lieberman would have been the biggest threat to Bush, if he was the nomination, due to Lieberman's strong support of the war on terrorism, including the war in Iraq.

Oddly enough, what we see a sLiebermans assests, his party's faithful see as mortal sins.

[jwalsh07]

You're giving Kerry way too much credit. He's going to be nibbled down to size by his liberal voting record. His faux populism may not jerk your chain but it will jerk a lot of chains. He's a typical liberal, no donations to charity but he'll take your money in a heartbeat.

Fire hydrant, taxes, DOMA, PBA, death penalty for terrorists and Big Dig corruption with, God forbid, lobbyists. So much for the populist. Death by a thousand cuts. He beat Weld because he was running in Massachusetts. Kansas ain't Massachusetts toto.

[harpo11]

I just want to know why Scary F'ing Kerry isn't getting criticized by the media for saying "Bring it On" like President Bush did when he said it, only he was referring to the bad evil guys, the terrorists. Kerry is talking about the republicans.

[jwalsh07]

If you know enough to ask, then you already know the answer. Such is life with der media.