Mark Steyn: Kerry’s quagmire

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 08/28/04 | Mark Steyn

[American in Israel]

Reminds me of clintons "vivid memories" of church burnings in Arkansas when he was growing up. Then it was found that there were NO churches burned in Arkansas in that time frame.

Clinton's favorite dreams perhaps?

[AFPhys]

Ping to the list, and thanks to bmwcyle ... this one is a pleasurable 4-page read.

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... there’s no doubt every wound from the last 35 days is self-inflicted, beginning with the candidate’s disastrous decision at the Democratic Convention to play up Vietnam and play down Iraq, 9/11 and anything else that happened in the last 30 years. Since then Kerry’s shot himself in the foot so many times he ought to put in for a good dozen more Purple Hearts.

The flaw in the Senator’s strategy to run for president as a plucky 24-year-old Swift boat lieutenant was an obvious one. The argument that his Swift boat command demonstrates his superb qualities of leadership falls apart once you notice his striking lack of the first ingredient of leadership: followers. ...

...But the party that likes to sneer that Bush never had a plan to deal with Iraq’s inevitable insurgents doesn’t seem to mind that Kerry never had a plan to deal with the Swiftees’ equally inevitable insurgents. A guy awash in gazillions from Barbra Streisand and co. who can’t see off a couple of hundred middle-aged ‘liars’ and their minimal ad-buy? Is that really the fellow you want to put up against al-Qa’eda, the ayatollahs and Kim Jong-Il?

The Kerry campaign’s bumbling ineptness this last month is a bit of a stunner to those of us who followed Bill Clinton for eight years. The Democrats may not know how to run a school district or a highway department, but they’re supposed to be able to run scandals.

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I think Steyn missed only one opportunity ... when he said, "He got three scratches and went home eight months early.", he could have stated instead, "As a result of his three scratches, he served only a third of a normal tour of duty."

I would also like to see it mentioned that being in charge of 5 sailors on a small boat does not exactly mean you have outstanding leadership credentials.

This is an excellent, and funny piece...
.

[VRWCer]

Steyn is marvelous! I don't even know which lines I like best, nearly spewed my coffee several times. Thank you for posting this. He has an amazingly insightful grasp of the whole situation, and knows how to express it with wit and grace.

[VRWCer]

Somewhere in Washington, Congress is missing a senator.

[shield]

God, I love this man..............

[SuziQ]

The minute you start running ads demanding that voters ‘tell George W Bush to stop telling lies about what a weally weally big war hero I am’, you sound ridiculous. Especially when your opponent is a guy who’s never complained about anything – not the ‘Bush is Hitler’ stuff, not the ‘Bush knew about 9/11 in advance’ stuff, not even the comparatively mild Michael Moore slur that he’s a moron so paralysed without his minders that he continued reading My Pet Goat to Florida grade-schoolers for a full seven minutes on September 11. Kerry himself made sneering cracks about the pet goat business, and Bush didn’t whine about it.

Yep, Americans are coming to understand who truly is the MAN in this contest.

[SuziQ]

Love that graphic. Have you noticed that the most recent Democrat President and leading candidate have spent a good deal of time trying to 'act cool'. There was Slick Willie with his saxophone, trying desperately to be Clarence Clemons, and here's Kerry trying to be Pete Townsend!

[moodyskeptic]

Good post. You are good at quickly compiling news!

Something you said got me thinking: Kerry's defenders are spinning that it was "brave" to protest Vietnam in the 70s. I remember the 70s, and the entire pop culture was, by then, deadset against the war, It took no bravery to join the chorus.

While viewing images of Kerry from his VVAW days it hit me: Kerry was a late-comer hippie, a wannabe. He returned to America and found the scene awash with pot, patchouli, peasant dresses and hippies donning military fatiques in irony. He was jealous to join the fun, as were thousands of returning GIs.

I knew plenty of these types. They over-corrected. They missed the Hendrix/Doors/Iron Butterfly era and discovered Hait Ashbury too late. As George Harrison said, the authentic hippies were gone and it was now just a sad skid row. Kerry missed the exciting years of 66-69 and was desperate to be a true counter-culture freak.

So he, and a million more, tried too hard in 70-73 to ape the scocialist hippie protester image, but it was all too late and sad. Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper were playing, not Donovan and Sgt Pepper Beatles. He missed it, and he's been scratching for street cred with the smelly hippie cult ever since.

Just a theory based on an observation.

[SuziQ]

We are being played.

He and the MSM only THINK they're playing us. The Swift Boat Vets are doing their thing and reminding everyone of Kerry's duplicity in dealing with his Vietnam 'brothers'. The President's job, and he's doing it admirably, is to remind us of Kerry's most recent actions; his work, or lack of it, in the Senate. This is what the President has been concentrating on out on the campaign trail, and what he'll zero in on in the debates!

[hocndoc]

To be honest, the Bronze Star shows consistency: he ran away BEFORE he came back...

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Safetgiver]

NO, No. MLK was in the North Pole on Christmas Eve with a moose and a sled. Kerry's dog was in viet nam with Teresa who was in Mozambique...Where the hell WAS Kerry?

[malakhi]

LOL - John Kerry: BRING IT ON! A short time later: CALL IT OFF!

I wanted them to bring it in, before I wanted them to stop.

[malakhi]

Somewhere in Washington, Congress is missing a senator.

He may be absent, but I doubt he's missed.

[sweetiepiezer]

Bring it on baby. Bring it on.

[jazzo]

Classic Steyn Bump

[Lurker]

Thanks for the whole thing Pokey.

As usual, Steyn nails it.

L

[ninenot]

Where the hell WAS Kerry?

One toke OVer the Line, Sweet Jesus,

One Toke Over the Line...