NASTY JOHN

New York Post ^ | 3/09/04 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

Evidently, John Kerry wants to challenge Bill Clinton in the Political Chutzpah Sweepstakes - because, like Clinton, he's already laying claim to being a victim of the hardball politics he himself practices with complete abandon.

Right now, the only political chainsaw that's buzzing, looking for a head to lop off, is Kerry's. He has already launched a vitriolic line of attack against George W. Bush that is virtually without precedent for a major-party presidential candidate.

[goldstategop]

The one good thing is John F. Kerry hasn't offered anything positive. He hasn't told the American people what he would do different if he were elected President. The danger is he'll get pegged as a I Hate President Bush One Note Johnny. I hope he keeps it up.

[lainde]

And I thought Clinton/Gore had taken us to new lows. Kerry may surprise me yet.

[GmbyMan]

Kerry does sound a lot like Dean did in late 2003. Anyone remember what happened to him?????

[driftless]

I cannot recall any Republican prez candidate ever saying things about Dem candidates like the Dems, especially Kerry, are saying about Bush. Naturally Big Media is approving of every foul and malicious utterance by Kerry. And most of it, Kerry's trash initiative, was before Bush had even started his campaign. Where was Big Media accusing Kerry of slinging mud and making outrageously false claims? It will only get worse.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

It's understandable that Kerry, a loyal Democrat, would pass lightly over the presidential tenure of Jimmy Carter - whose four-year tenure featured the onrush of communism into Central America, the Arab oil shock of 1979, the fall of Iran to the mullahs and the taking of 52 American hostages for 444 days and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. You really can't do much worse than that.

But what about Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon?

The LBJ factor can hardly be overstated. JFK overthrew the president of South Vietnam just a month before he himself was killed; if you are going to do that you then ought to put something better in place, and LBJ tried--and failed. Viet Nam was a sticky situation which Eisenhower inherited from Truman and passed on to Kennedy. Kennedy kicked the tar baby by overthrowing Diem, and Johnson subsequently disproved the second half of the theory that "to err is human--to really foul up requires a computer!"

Kerry's entire career is centered on denial of the obvious fact that Democrats turned Vietnam into a disaster. Kerry's wartime valor was aparently genuine, but his turn against the war was not irrational. At that point he had the choice of opposing a Democratic president or opposing the system root and branch--essentially, opposing the Constitution. And he, and many other Democrats, chose the latter course.

[kattracks]

While the media has taken no notice of the nasty, ongoing, Kerry attacks against President Bush, they seem to have suddenly awakened.

US presidential race takes nasty tone

[Dahoser]

The one good thing is John F. Kerry hasn't offered anything positive. He hasn't told the American people what he would do different if he were elected President.

Actually, he has. He said he'd change the Bush terrorism policy from making war on the terrorists to the failed Klintoon approach of making law enforcement on them. We saw how successful that was in preventing the Khobar Towers, African embassy, and USS Cole bombings, and, dare we mention it, 9/11. That's certainly positive for the terrorists.

[R. Scott]

http://www.petitiononline.com/kerryrec/petition.html
The above link is a petition requesting John Kerry release his medical records. Of particular note to me is any reference to his three Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat.

[Enduring Freedom]

Are you talking about Flipper?

Flipper, the Slippery Senator?

Him?

Ain't got a chance in hell.

You'll laugh about this lunatic in only a few months.

Remember, it took Dean just weeks to self-destruct.

This clown is going to be taken out, Big Time.

[PogySailor]

Kerry learned one thing from Dean's long honeymoon in 2003: Right now he can say anything he wants about Bush - anything at all - without suffering at the hands of a critical media.

Worse than that. Look at the headlines given to any Bush criticism of Kerry's Senate votes. You'd think he ran a James Byrd ad or something, except they never really complained so loudly about those. The media (national and local in my view) are guilty of "in kind" contributions to the Kerry campaign. They are rooting for him openly.

[FReethesheeples]

Nasty John the French Undertaker, personally endorsed by Jacques Chirac, is a weapon of mass economic destruction. He'll destroy the troops in Iraq, the ar on Terrorism, & the U.S. stock market with all his negative talk and whiny-leftist-liberal sour-puss personality.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The media (national and local in my view) are guilty of "in kind" contributions to the Kerry campaign. They are rooting for him openly.

That's impossible. That journalism is objective is the foundational assumption McCain-Feingold takes for granted--and Bush signed it, so he agrees with that.

</sarcasm>

SIGH . . .

[FReethesheeples]

Nasty John the French Undertaker, personally endorsed by Jacques Chirac, is a weapon of mass economic destruction. He'll destroy the troops in Iraq, the ar on Terrorism, & the U.S. stock market with all his negative talk and whiny-leftist-liberal sour-puss personality.

[GraceCoolidge]

I read that article earlier but I can't agree with your assessment. Note the impersonal headline "race takes nasty tone." They lead off with President Bush's "attack" on Kerry (which focused on his voting record, how diabolical). Maybe it is at least a step in the right direction, but at most, the media is going to say how nasty both sides have been.... they won't ever comment on the disparity in tone from the campaigns. John Kerry's personal attacks are just plain virulent. I am still waiting for an example of all the negative personal attacks on John Kerry and his wife that Kerry keeps whining about.

[johnb838]

Kerry does sound a lot like Dean did in late 2003. Anyone remember what happened to him?????

No. What?

[kattracks]

What I meant was that the media hadn't "noticed" any of the disparaging Kerry ads. Now they suddenly awaken so that they can claim President Bush's ads are negative.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OESY]

It's understandable that Kerry, a loyal Democrat, would pass lightly over the presidential tenure of Jimmy Carter - whose four-year tenure featured the onrush of communism into Central America, the Arab oil shock of 1979, the fall of Iran to the mullahs and the taking of 52 American hostages for 444 days and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Americans must ask themselves, Do we really want to return to a Carteresque foreign policy?

[ought-six]

"And I thought Clinton/Gore had taken us to new lows. Kerry may surprise me yet."

Just wait until the Hildabeast jumps into the fray (and she will because her ego is so daunting that she will not be able to stay out of the limelight).