A Call to Service by John Kerry (Denver Post campaigning)

Denver Post ^ | August 15, 2004 | John Kerry, book excerpt

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Why I Am Running for President * * *

I am a child of the greatest generation of Americans and therefore a member of the most fortunate generation of Americans. Like my parents, I have always hoped and often assumed that my own children will have more opportunities in life than I had and will live in a country and in a world where such opportunities are more widely shared and more deeply rooted than at any time in the past. I am running for president in no small part to redeem that promise for the America to come. While we are living today in the most extraordinary and powerful nation on earth, I believe not only that America's best days are still to come but that our best work is yet to be done. We have the capacity to lift the life of our own land as well as lead the world to a safer and more hopeful future. But doing so will require equal measures of strength, vision, and resolve, embodied in a leadership that grasps both the breadth of our potential and the great legacy of our past.

As Americans, we inherit with our birthright of freedom a sacred chain of responsibility that stretches back to the Founders and to the sacrifices of the immigrants who built this country before and after them and extends to the present day. Our task is not just to guarantee material progress: along with a better life we must pass on to our children that unique sense of optimism and that God-given belief in the universal appeal of our ideals that have always marked our national character. I look ahead with confidence, because all around us I see evidence that the children of the baby-boom generation have the right stuff. The skill and courage of the young men and women who went into harm's way in Afghanistan and Iraq-and for that matter, at ground zero in New York-match the best of my generation during the cold war and my parents' generation during the Second World War. In that conflict my father flew DC-3s in the Army Air Corps. Afterward, he entered the diplomatic service and was privileged to be an active participant during the historic period when this nation forged a "grand and global alliance" against tyranny with measures that ranged from the Marshall Plan through NATO to a host of multilateral institutions. His was the greatest generation not just because it defeated Fascism but because it was determined after the war to create a nation worthy of all the effort and sacrifice that had been made and a world worthy of the cause for which they had fought. My parents raised me with a belief in patriotism and service. After I joined the Navy during the Vietnam War, I commanded a naval gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta. Then when I came home after two tours of duty, I decided that the same sense of service demanded something more of me. This led me to protest the very war in which I had fought, while always honoring those who fought before me, with me, and after me. It may be hard to understand three decades later, but for all the conflict and contention over Vietnam here at home, this period was also a time when the people of our country were drawn into a great civic discourse. Critical national issues had come to the center of people's everyday lives. We had both the burden and the honor of facing in a short span of time a long list of topics that would fundamentally change our lives-civil rights, women's rights, the environment, economic opportunity, and reclaiming democracy itself from elected leaders who lied to us and broke the laws they were sworn to uphold. We Americans took our country back and moved our country forward. That was the real America for which I had fought in the Vietnam War and in the antiwar movement, and I am still convinced-and can cite witnesses across the former Soviet empire who will confirm my belief-that it was the power of our values as much as the power of weapons that finally won the cold war. In world war and in cold war, our people never lost the determination to make sure that our country was truly the best it could be. They knew there were things worth fighting for, both at home and abroad. It is that determination I hope to bring to the election of 2004, to the presidency of the United States, and to the common challenges Americans face.

* * *

There's a famous old saying that all leaders tend to be either hedge-hogs or foxes. A hedgehog knows one thing very well, and a fox knows a little about everything. I suspect I would qualify as a hedgehog who's been around the field a few times. In the course of my public career, I've had the chance to master a range of issues-veterans issues after the war, crime as a prosecutor, economic development as a lieutenant governor, and then foreign policy, health care, intelligence, national defense, drug trafficking, technology, and education during nineteen years as a U.S. senator. I don't consider myself a policy wonk, but I was brought up to care about the big issues and to think for myself, not hire others to do the thinking for me. While my father, Richard Kerry, was serving as a diplomat, my mother, Rosemary, became a serious civic activist and an environmentalist before the word "ecology" was widely used. And I first got to know my wife, Teresa, at a policy conference in South America. It's no surprise that I'm accustomed to talking about ideas and world events around the dinner table and that my family is a central part of my political life. We've kept up the tradition with my daughters, Alex and Vanessa, and my stepsons, John, Andre, and Chris. They've all been nurtured on a steady diet of civic obligation. I've also benefited from a pretty remarkable extended family of people who have influenced my thinking and helped keep me humble and hungry for knowledge.

First and foremost have been my brothers-in-arms from Vietnam, my crewmates from PCF 94 and PCF 44. We came from different states and backgrounds, but all that really mattered was that we were all from America. My real growing up came with them on a fragile boat under enemy fire halfway across the world. Thirty-five years later, they still help me keep my bearings. We share a precious, unshakable bond that veterans understand and others respect. While I was an antiwar activist and veterans advocate after Vietnam, my extended family grew to include thousands who had always passionately loved their country and often passionately disagreed with one another about how to fight for their country's values. After I testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, I felt as if I had heard from every one of them, whether happy, angry, approving, or damning, along with their parents, their wives and girlfriends, and their children. And I quickly learned to listen to the veterans of World War II and Korea who shared our sacrifices but didn't like our long hair, our music, or our challenges to authority. All these experiences helped me deal with the ultimate extended family of constituents I have represented in elected office. I will never forget meeting crime victims as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Crime too often is reduced to a statistic, but from each of them, I learned that every act of violence gives rise to an individual human tragedy. Since then, as lieutenant governor and as a senator, I've talked with countless citizens, often in happy moments but often, too, at some of the hardest times in their lives-men and women displaced from their homes by natural disasters or from their jobs by technological change; families overwhelmed by health-care costs or frustrated by bad schools; citizens struggling to obtain medical benefits for their parents or get questions answered by bureaucrats. I can't say I've heard it all, but I have heard a lot, and I've tried to learn something from every encounter with a person, a problem, or an idea that crosses my path.

* * *

I don't think it's an exaggeration at all to say that the 2004 election represents a real crossroads for our country. During the 1990s we were actually beginning to make real progress on a range of national problems that people had pretty much come to regard as immutable parts of the landscape. Violent crime fell sharply after nearly twenty-five years of steady increases. Welfare dependency was down by more than half. Teen pregnancy and abortion rates decreased. We adopted tough measures to reduce acid rain and raise water quality. Inner cities were being reborn all across the country. Real incomes rose for the middle class for the first time in two decades. Health-care costs stabilized. Technological innovations exploded, and productivity increased dramatically. Millions of working families-for the first time ever, a majority in this nation or any nation-joined the investor class, and America created the first mass upper-middle class in human history. Nearly thirty years of federal budget deficits were replaced by budget surpluses so large as to defy the imagination. From a statistical point of view, nearly everything good went up and nearly everything bad went down. And all this progress occurred despite partisan warfare and gridlock in Congress, and an administration under Bill Clinton that became more and more distracted and embattled by endless allegations and the investigations that grew out of them. While we can't go back to the exact policies of the Clinton years-as a progressive, I believe we should always be looking forward and embracing change-it is hard to believe that most people wouldn't want to go back to the kind of results they helped achieve. Instead, in the name of ideology and on behalf of selfish interests, the Bush administration has been systematically dismantling just about everything government accomplished during the 1990s: environmental protection, international diplomacy, substantial investments in basic scientific and technological research, fiscal discipline, and the commitment to a fairer society of opportunity for all. Not surprisingly, its policies have begun to have seriously alarming consequences: a sluggish economy, rising crime, the largest budget deficits in history, and the weakening of our alliances and standing around the world. Another four years of the Bush agenda, especially if there is a Republican Congress, will take this country so far off track that it could take a generation to put things right again. But if we put the country back on a progressive course in 2004, I believe we can rebuild the prosperity of the 1990s, reverse a long series of bad decisions and evasions of responsibility, restore America's world leadership in the eyes of our friends and our enemies alike, and protect the liberties that make this country a beacon to the hopeful and a reproach to tyrants everywhere. We have the chance to truly protect Americans from terrorism at home and abroad while calling on all Americans to join in the fulfillment of our freedom and democracy. The time has come to renew our best hopes, take up the great unfinished business of our society, and take on the big challenges that many people have come to consider as hopeless, challenges like achieving energy independence, providing universal access to health care, creating high-quality schools for all students, using technology to drastically reform how government works, and turning the rhetoric of worker-controlled lifelong learning into a reality. And if I have anything to say about it, we will also make a commitment to political and civic reform, turning the tide of cynicism and indifference about politics and government and making our democracy both far more participatory and truly representative. My fellow Democrats don't agree on all of these issues or how exactly to resolve them, and that's as it should be. I want my party to be an open door for lively debate, not a mirror image of the narrow ideological sect that the Republicans are becoming. Most of us, however, do agree that George W. Bush is leading America in a very dangerous direction. While we all admired the way he rallied the nation after 9/11, we also believe that he is, by ideology, inclination, and experience, incapable of keeping America strong enough at home or abroad to sustain us in peace or in war over the long haul. The question we now face is how to make that case to the widest span of the American people-Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans alike-and offer a clear alternative agenda. I, like so many of my fellow Democrats, am still angry about the painful and protracted events that followed the 2000 election and that perhaps altered its outcome. We should channel this anger into positive grassroots energy and into a determination never to let voters be disenfranchised again. President Bush has enough bad policies on which to focus our energies; there is no need to ascribe to him a weak intellect or bad intentions as a political strategy. We should not deny him his few successes or refuse to acknowledge the affection his plainspokenness and quiet self-confidence inspire in many. For my part, I intend to run a presidential campaign organized around a contest of ideas, values, and policies, rather than a clash of personalities or a war between political tribes.

To those who think that sounds naïve, I would point to my last contested senatorial reelection campaign, in 1996, when I was challenged by William Weld, a very popular incumbent governor. There's no question that that campaign could have degenerated into a mud bath if we had let it. It was a close race between two longtime state-wide elected officials with nearly universal name recognition, the kind of race that is often decided by turnout. We both had advisers who urged us to focus on "energizing" our supporters with emotional appeals and attack ads and forget about persuading the relatively small group of undecided voters. But Governor Weld and I chose another path for our campaigns-a long series of debates rigorously focused on issues rather than personalities, a process that let voters reach their own judgments about our differences, our characters, and our capacity for leadership. By the end of that campaign, we all sincerely felt we were part of something unique and valuable, which had not only raised the level of civic discourse in Massachusetts but had actually boosted voter turn-out through positive rather than negative means. That's precisely the kind of contest I would like to have with George W. Bush, and it's one that I believe will serve the nation well.

Continues...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In other words......The Swift Boat Vets for Truth are cutting into my poll numbers. Back off!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

An excerpt from, Unfit for Command.

***On March 15, 2004, Admiral Hoffmann's telephone rang again. Once again, the caller was John Kerry. Kerry had clinched the Democratic nomination, and he knew that Hoffmann was organizing Swiftees to bring out the truth about him, his exaggerated military record, and his antiwar lies that had slandered his fellow veterans. Kerry made the admiral an offer: If you will back off and drop your efforts, I will ensure that my biography, Tour of Duty, which I know is unfair to you, will be changed to make it accurate in a revised edition. Here is my secretary's number - you can get me anytime.

The offer from the Democratic presidential candidate was an attempt to flatter Hoffmann, a warrior whose coin is not power or wealth, but honnor--an honor deeply impugned by Kerry's book. Hoffman, after all, is a wounded survivor of the amphibious assault at Wonson, Korea, where his minesweeper still lies below the frigid waters of Wonson Harbor. Kerry knew that winning Hoffmann over to his side would thwart the Swiftees' efforts to discredit him. Hoffmann told Kerry that he and the vast majority of his shipmates could never forgive him for his defamation of our Navy and other U.S. Armed Forces by his slanderous and undocumented accusations of unspeakable atrocities in Vietnam before the U.S. COngress in 1971, his leadership in the VVAW, and his association with the traitorous Jane Fonda and others of her ilk. Surprisingly, Kerry responded by simply saying that he "was expressing his conviction."

If Admiral Hoffmann were truly a butcher whose conduct "sickens" John Kerry to this day, an impression one could easily gain from reading Tour of Duty, then why did Kerry offer to change inaccuracies he knew were in Tour of Duty in exchange for Admiral Hoffmann and the Swiftees ceasing their activities? In emails on May 3, 2003, and on May 7, 2004,trying to dissuade Swiftees from joining Admiral Hoffmann, Wade Sanders referred to the group as "bitter drunks," something the sailors involved deeply resented. Moreover, Sanders referred to Joe Ponder, a seriously disabled Swiftee who cried when talking about Kerry's charges, as "a whining crybaby."*** - pages 68-69

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Give veterans a say on Kerry - Hear them out

New Video Rocks the Boat for John Kerry -- Vietnam Portrayal Casts Doubts Among Independents***More specifically, 27% of independents who either planned to vote, or were leaning toward voting for Kerry, indicated that they were no longer sure of voting for him after watching the video. ***

[LibertarianInExile]

Choose

[L.N. Smithee]

President Bush has enough bad policies on which to focus our energies; there is no need to ascribe to him a weak intellect or bad intentions as a political strategy.

You just did, you son of a...

[chemicalman]

Like my parents, I have always hoped and often assumed that my own children will have more opportunities in life than I had and will live in a country and in a world where such opportunities are more widely shared and more deeply rooted than at any time in the past.

Only so many rich heirs to go around.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

I, like so many of my fellow Democrats, am still angry about the painful and protracted events that followed Al Gore's failed attempt to steal the 2000 election and that perhaps altered its outcome by disenfranchising American servicemen and -women of their rightful votes.

Edited and corrected for historical accuracy.

[noodler]

A horse is a horse of course of course and no one considered a talking horse until of course the source could force the fameous Mr. ed(wards)
Creeps go yacking and soil the streets and waste the time of day
But me and ed will always speak especially with nothing to say
A vote is a vote, i quote i quote
each one is welcomed from simp and dolt
So i'll just talk till your guts revolt
me and Mr.ed !
A line made shine a quote to note
A total indifference to my boat
they're always on a pleasant note..de dee de dee de dee de dee---You've never heard of media whorse..?
For me and Mr. ed._

[beyond the sea]

There's no question that that campaign could have degenerated into a mud bath if we had let it

Kerry, when slipping and falling in a mud bath was heard to say, "I don't fall down. That son of a b*tch knocked me over."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry does not plan to visit Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley because he's concerned his campaign entourage could distract from recovery efforts, he said Saturday. ***Kerry says he won't tour Charley damage in Florida

Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., goes for a bike ride near his home in Ketchum, Idaho on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004. Kerry is in Idaho taking three days off after his finishing his 'Believe in America' tour in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good one!!

[mondoman]

CHARGE! Here comes the Cavalry to the Rescue! You can count on JFK's allies in the media to distract the focus from controversy to Presidential Positioning.

Glad I get the Rocky; Can't stand the Sunday Post.

[zarf]

Release your military and medical histories Mr. Kerry. We're waiting.

[devolve]

                        

                  
                        

SELECT AN ALTERNATE CHOICE DAY:

    New Year`s Eve in Kohnbodia

    St. Valentine`s Day in Kohnbodia

    April Fool`s Day in Kohnbodia

    Washington`s Birthday in Kohnbodia

    May Day in Kohnbodia

    African Queen`s Day in Kohnbodia

    National Coffee Day in Kohnbodia

    Feast Day in Kohnbodia              

[joesnuffy]

For my part, I intend to run a presidential campaign organized around a contest of ideas, values, and policies, rather than a clash of personalities or a war between political tribes.

To the dems there is no absolute truth....there is only politics....and even this they bitch about calling any counter to their lies......merely a 'clash between political tribes'....and 'unfair'

The Democratic Party faithfull needs to hear the truth...The truth is what Swift Boat Vets bring to the table.....

especially the Swift Boat vets who have in the past voted for Democrats...

The truth can set you free...it can also purge the Democratic Party of LIARS....that have taken it over...and perhaps restore it to be what it was suppose to be...Loyal Opposition....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry (and the media) have made such a BIG point of Bush going to Fl and "getting in the way."

I still remember the media's fawning coverage of Clinton feeling everyone's pain (among other things) whenever tragedy struck - or was invented.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

To the dems there is no absolute truth....there is only politics....and even this they bitch about calling any counter to their lies......merely a 'clash between political tribes'....and 'unfair'

The big lie. Tell it loud and often enough and it will become the truth.

[sevry]

I suspect I would qualify as a hedgehog

Who'd argue with that? Kerry's definitely a hog for a hedge. You know if he first was for it, he'll be agin it at some point. And if he was agin it, he'll be for it, as the clock ticks away. And then he'll jump back again, a happy hog.

[jnarcus]

Oh man he writes even worse than he speaks.....zzzzzz. Ok I am awake now....Just what did John Kerry's father do in WWII seems to me that his dad must have been married with children and I thought the big claim was that his dad was in the diplomatic corps or the foreign service....certainly I have NEVER heard it said that his dad actually fought in the big one

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry's World: Father Knows Best

[kabar]

They should have published excerpts from the New Soldier.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That will be kept under wraps.

[Chieftain]

Tired of this endless crock of BS? You can do something to help silence it!

Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

[hford02]

Ditto on RMN versus DP, but it's still a lib rag... just a little less blatant.

[sergeantdave]

Hi. My name is John Kerry and I'm better than you. Are there any rich old ladies out there? Ah, there's one. Hi, dear. Meet me later and let's sip some wine. And bring your dog collar. I'm a size 14.

As I was saying...ahem, I am better than you. Do you know why I'm better than you? What's that, dear? Yes, I do sign pre-nupials. I'll sign then all night long if you want me to, dear.

Now, as I was saying...it's all about me because I'm better than you. I'm better than you because I got lost in Cambodia while on my swift boat.

Pardon me, dear. I couldn't hear you. You own two 747s? Hmmmm. Is that a Tiffany tiara you're wearing, dear. Can I fondle the diamonds?

[skinkinthegrass]

The Swift Boat Vets for Truth are cutting into my poll numbers. Back off!!

John "French Poddle" F'n Kerry: {Mighty Mouse Theme} "Here! I come to save the Day...." {/Mighty Mouse Theme} sounds like an old 78 record and We've heard it ALL before...Thx for the report :)

[potlatch]

Good post devolve!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[devolve]

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!