Kerry Still Hasn't Made His Case On Iraq Strategy

Roll Call ^ | September 24, 2004 | Mort Kondracke

[Gerry In KC]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-9_24_04_MK.html

September 24, 2004 Kerry Still Hasn't Made His Case On Iraq Strategy By Mort Kondracke

Kerry has finally answered the seminal question: Would he have waged war to topple Saddam Hussein? His answer, made clear only on the "Late Show" with David Letterman of all places, is "No.

[Gerry In KC]

So, does anyone have a good count of the number of times Kerry has flip-flopped on Iraq? This certainly adds to the count.

[jocon307]

Kerry's current position seems to be "I'd do everything Bush is doing, only better". Which is pretty unimaginative, as well as unconvincing.

[JustaCowgirl]

Mort made an outstanding point on the Fox Roundtable last night. He was commenting on Kerry's 'plan' to deal with Iraq by saying that he,Kerry, would call a summit of European and Middle Eastern leaders to determine how to deal with the Iraqi problem.

Mort asked (paraphrased) 'And what do you suppose would be the first demand that would be made of President Kerry by that group of leaders?' It would be "Denounce and remove your support for Israel right now, as a sign of America's good faith in the Middle East." Of course, Kerry couldn't do that, and then the leaders would say 'See, you didn't really mean that you would solve the Middle East's problems as all!'

I think Mort is exactly right. Kerry is unbelievably silly and naive about world politics and American foreign affairs, and that is potentially fatal to this country.

[evad]

So, does anyone have a good count of the number of times Kerry has flip-flopped on Iraq? This certainly adds to the count.

I wonder if it even matters anymore.

Everytime the buffoon opens his pie hole he drives in another nail.

At this point I say what matters is the swifties continue the attack, Bush and the RNC keep up the pressure, and.... bring on the debates.

There was a point I thought they would be significant but I think sKerry is in such a hole he couldn't even help himself there.

[lyingisbetter]

I don't understand why everybody doesn't see Kerry's policy on Iraq as clear as it is!

What ever goes wrong, Kerry's against!

Whatever Bush is for, Kerry's against!


By the way, is it not kind of cute how Teresa is posturing the democrat's campaign for a Bin Ladin capture in the next few weeks? I can see them behind closed doors.
If they capture Bin Ladin, we are screwed, what do we do?
Let's just call the soldiers and the Bush administration liars now! They had him all the time. yeah yeah, that's it!!

[TomGuy]

Now, now, now, Mort, Kerry said he has one position on Iraq.

Of course, the challenge is to figure out which one position out of the many he has had.

And, he retains the right to change his mind, depending on the audience, wind flow, and most recent polling data.

But, at all times, Kerry will have only one position (nuance: at a moment in time). Ok, ok, maybe two positions. And a contingency for a third option. But a fourth for flexibility. But that's it.......maybe.

[evad]

Kerry is unbelievably silly and naive about world politics and American foreign affairs, and that is potentially fatal to this country

Soooo true..
that's what makes him soooo dangerous.

J F'n Kerry is a very risk scheme.

[TomGuy]

In one recent speech, one analyst counted something like 14 flipflops, within that one speech.

I don't remember whether the speech was just about Iraq or was a more general policy speech. But 14 flipflops in one speech is quite revealing.

Kerry tries to cover all bases in each speech. If you listen/read them closely, you will find him trying to pander to all positions.

[lillybet]

Pander is a good description, Pandering to the French and the German's is exactly what he will do, to keep them happy. Pray President Bush stays at the Whitehouse, otherwise America will look weak to the rest of the world.

[evad]

>>If you listen/read them closely, you will find him trying to pander to all positions. <<

No core values, no substance...basically, an empty suit.

The contrast to Bush is clear as crystal. How anyone could think of voting for sKerry is scary but yet, almost half the population will.

[Starstruck]

[television is just wrong]

Nor does he plan to...

[Use It Or Lose It]

Kerry has finally answered the seminal question: Would he have waged war to topple Saddam Hussein? His answer, made clear only on the "Late Show" with David Letterman of all places, is "No.

Of course it was on Letterman. Everyone else was watching Leno.

If the campaign folks are of a mind, they should use the Letterman video clip in a new commercial: "No" - cut to the dead Kurds of Halabja; "No" - cut to mass graves; "No" - cut to the 7 men whose hands were cut off....and so on. Then cut to Kerry's own words (pick the audio/video clip of your choice) in which he says Saddam must go.

Let Kerry's own words do him in!

[lyingisbetter]

Letterman last night put Kerry down.
Said "the guy shows up, sits here and goes on a rant, I'm not smart enough to know if he's lying or not, what a guy"

something like that

[rmgatto]

At tthe debat, W should say something like: my opponent has changed his position so many times that we're issuing a "Best of Kerry's Flip-Flops" collection.

[chainsaw]

Kerry Still Hasn't Made His Case On Iraq Strategy

And he still has not signed a form 180. I suspect because he a trial by court-martial and was given a dishonorable discharge because of his treasonable actions in Paris while still an officer in the Naval Reserves.

[Ed_in_NJ]

He's already demonstrated his first strategic step: Insult and deprecate any Iraqi dignitary that comes to your country to say "Thank you."

[Owen]

Folks, it's crunch time. There are only a few days left before the 30 day limit for registration. Please call the campaign and volunteer to register voters from GOP districts in battleground states. And then volunteer for GOTV efforts just before and during the elections. The alternative is condemning your family and neighbors to life under the opposition.

Tactics trump policy every single time. If Bush is preferable, then he's preferable and the die is cast. We can persuade the majority of Americans of that, but if they don't vote it won't matter.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Now, now, now, Mort, Kerry said he has one position on Iraq.

Which reminds me of a blond joke...
A police officer pulls a blond female over for going the wrong way on a one way street.
When informed by the officer that she was on a one way street, she replied to the officer...
I was only going one way.

[igoramus987]

Bush should take to the debates, sheets of paper containing all of Kerry's positions on Iraq as a visual aid.

"Here are all Kerry's flip flops on Iraq. All 14 pages of them".