Posted on 09/07/2004 11:12:23 AM PDT by CHARLITE
Kerry’s Record of “Commitment” "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and who misled America into Iraq," were Kerry’s words at a recent midnight rally in Ohio; Oh?! Okay, the President doesn’t have to say a word, 2.5 million Vietnam Veterans will.
For too many years Kerry’s lapdogs protected him whenever he was challenged, but they have never had to face the collective wrath of those who he betrayed.
If commitment is defined in part by ones voting record, then the list below sheds light into some of the dark corners of Kerry’s twenty years in the Senate, a record that he undoubtedly wishes would go away. This writer challenges Senator Kerry’s “commitment” to defend this country with Kerry’s own votes.
Senator John Kerry voted to kill: The Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle; The Army M-1 Abrams Tank; The Army Patriot anti Missile system; The Air Force B-1 bomber; The Air Force B-2 bomber; “Block 60” F-16 aircraft for the Air Force; The Air Force F117 Stealth Fighter: The Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle; The Navy’s Aegis Fleet protection anti-air and missile system; The Navy and Marine F/A-18; The Navy’s P-3 Orion upgrade; Every Aircraft carrier laid down from 1988; and, 87 billion dollars for US forces to continue the anti terrorist mission in Iraq, including body armor to protect them in the process. Kerry's “anti-terrorist” voting record shows he voted to kill or at the least diminish the activities of every clandestine agency of the U.S. Government by voting to cut:
The CIA by 80%; The FBI by 60%; The National Security Agency by 80%; but, Kerry did vote to increase funding of the UN by 800% . There is more, but the objective reader should get the point. It is notable that virtually all the weapons listed are presently in use or were used by US Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the War on Terror. Any shortcomings of the CIA, FBI and NSA, as they pertained to “911,” unmistakably point to Kerry’s manifest “commitment.”
Whether or not Kerry likes it, he will be “crushed” because his betrayal of Americans fighting in Vietnam arguably contributed to the untimely demise of 16,000 (while he was betraying them in favor of Hanoi’s communist totalitarian regime) who were fighting there to advance the cause of Freedom as well as to contain the spread of Communism as it was first spelled out as US Policy by President Truman.
Even in this present War on Terror, Kerry publicly maligns the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq by characterizing those fallen heroes as “wasted,” not unlike his comments on April 23rd, 1971 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” But the central, penetrating question: Is the War on Terror, is the struggle for National Survival, is protecting Americans a mistake? Evidently Kerry thinks so when it’s convenient; but then he asserts that he would win the War on Terror. Which is it? Are they wasted, or will we win? Ah, but we dare not question his “commitment.”
Kerry has publicly excoriated the President for waging the War against terrorists wherever they may be, and that includes Iraq; this despite the fact that he voted to give the President the authority to do precisely what he did. Now, Kerry loudly proclaims that the President has failed, and declares that he (Kerry) would fight a, let’s give them a break, “more sensitive war.” Again, Kerry shows his “commitment” by offering comfort to the Nation’s enemies.
Is “GW” perfect? Hardly! Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” aptly describes the situation:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Has the President made mistakes? Of course he has, but he, as the “Man in the Arena,” struggles on with a winning strategy, despite political torpedoes from the “left” at home that undermines the War effort among friends and foes. He is imbued with a vision of Freedom, and “spine of tempered steel,” while his opponent flip flops and spins with every change in the winds of fortune or opposition; “commitment?” One of them has commitment all right, but it is not John Forbes Kerry.
Kerry’s historical conduct in hindsight, is now so transparent, so unworthy of dignity, so scurrilous and so treasonous that instead of being a major party’s candidate for the Presidency, he should be serving time in Leavenworth. Here’s why: Article III, Section 3. of the US Constitution states: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”…
But ah, “freedom of speech” is Kerry’s “get out of jail card.” And so, one of the two major parties has chosen to soil itself by selecting Kerry who cannot, and will not win. (Aside: Why does one see Bill’s and Hillary’s fingerprints all over this? Does one think they might be in on this “dirty little secret?” Of course they are. They want Kerry to lose so Hillary can run in 2008.)
Despite his ignominious rhetoric at the 1971 Senate Hearings, neither he nor his “Fellow Traveling” neo Marxists will succeed in painting honorable and patriotic Americans as barbarians, cutting off heads and limbs, of blowing up bodies, and of behaving worse than Genghis Khan. Kerry did not speak for servicemen and women then, does not speak for them now; and America will purge him and his despicable words from its memory when it overwhelmingly rejects him on November 2nd.
Kerry’s political aspirations animate his behavior, and that began before he went to Vietnam; yes, he has “commitment” all right---to himself. His treasonous support of the Communist Regime in Hanoi has yielded him a place of honor in that totalitarian nation’s “War Remnants Museum.” And, despite “their” best efforts to deflect it, “Benedict Arnold” Kerry will bear that stigma until the lights on earth go out.
Finally, as one who believes in forgiveness, should one forgive him? Yes, but he has to ask.
Semper Fidelis
Copyright © September 6, 2004, by Robert L. Pappas. With proper attribution, this essay may be quoted and redistributed. It may not be used in any way, in conjunction with any advertisement without the author’s expressed written permission.
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Wow. That's saying what you think. I couldn't agree more.
I feel a little better knowing that there are those like Colonel Pappas out there.
Colonel Pappas, thank you for your service, and thank you for the courage of your convictions and for expressing them so eloquently.
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