The Kitty Dukakis Moment [Rush's Debate Analysis]

RUSH: Now, this is what I think is the Kitty Dukakis moment. You've got to realize, folks, that debate is going to live on beyond last night. People are going to continue to be talking about it, thinking about it, hearing about it, long after last night, and even the spin of last night, and I think this is going to be one of the things that survives the debate. Jim Lehrer -- of the News Hour, who somehow didn't see fit to ask John Kerry about his voting record in the Senate or anything -- Jim Lehrer said, "Senator Kerry, what is your position on the whole concept of preemptive war?"

KERRY: The president always has the right and always has had the right for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine throughout the Cold War, uh --

RUSH: It was not! John Kerry and his people argued against preemptive strikes during the Cold War! He opposed the Grenada invasion. He went down and made nice with the Sandinista communists in Nicaragua. We all know what he did when he got back from Vietnam. He has no interest in preemptive war. He's never supported it -- and in fact, throughout the last six months to nine months of the Iraq war, John Kerry and Democrats and members of the press have gleefully written stories about how the whole concept of preemptive war is now destroyed because we did a preemptive war here in Iraq and it's going so bad and so horribly, this proves that we can't do preemptive war. At his own convention John Kerry said, "Every attack will be met with a swift and sure response." He didn't say what he would do to stop any attack. He's not for preemptive war. There's nothing in his history that suggests he's for preemptive war. He even voted against retaliatory war in 1991 in the Gulf War, the first one. So this business about "all presidents have the right for preemptive strike...great doctrine throughout the Cold War," it was never used! Here's the rest of the bite.

KERRY: -- and it was always one of the things we argued about with respect to arms control. No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to preempt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America --

KERRY: -- but if and when you do, Jim, you've got to do it in a way that passes the -- the -- the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people, understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.

RUSH: That means you got to go get a permission slip from Jacques Chirac before you engage in preemptive action which is not preemptive action. When you have to go pass a "global test." What's the global test, the United Nations Security Council? Whatever it is, it's subordinating our own national defense to a "global test." That is not preemptive action. That, my friends, is the Kitty Dukakis moment in last night's debate. It's the one that will survive.

RUSH: Back to the audio sound bites. Now, this is going to be the Kitty Dukakis moment where John Kerry, for all this attempt that he made last night to sound tough, all the effort that he made to assure people that he's not going to buckle to anybody and he's not going to let anybody tell us what we can and can't do, and he's going to protect people, he's going to do all this, then subordinated the very vehicle of our protection, preemptive action, to a global test. Here's how the president responded to it.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm not exactly sure what you mean, "passes the global test." You take preemptive action if you pass a global test? My attitude is, you take preemptive action in order to protect the American people, that you act in order to make this country secure.

RUSH: Now, I think that's a perfect, flawless answer. Absolutely. You take preemptive action to protect the country. You don't go get a test for it! We are the world's leading power. We are a beacon. We are the United States of America. Our defense is not subject to others. Nobody else can defend us, anyway. Nobody's going to join us defending ourselves anyway except these 30 countries or so that we have there, so what's the point of passing this global test? John Kerry doesn't want to offend anybody. John Kerry wants to make sure that everybody understands what we're going to do and why, and they can raise their objections, and if they're reasonable, well, then he'll think about it and talk about it and maybe stop what we're going to do. That's not reassuring. None of what Kerry said last night is reassuring when it comes to the things that matter to most people. (program observer interruption) What, Mr. Snerdley? What? (program observer interruption) Oh..." (program observer interruption) Oh, but the problem is (program observer interruption). Mr. Snerdley thinks that some of what Kerry said last night, some of the things he said are reassuring, like on what? (program observer interruption) Nukes? You think (program observer interruption). Well, what did he reassure you on, Mr. Snerdley? Give me (program observer interruption). What did he re... (program observer interruption). Uh-huh. Yes, yes. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. (program observer interruption) Right. Well, okay. What are you listening to? Mr. Snerdley just said that he was believable when he said he wouldn't let any U.N. power veto our national secure then he comes up with his global test business. He's right over the place. (program observer interruption) Well, you can't believe him and that's the whole point! You can't believe what John Kerry says, and I'll tell you why you can't believe what John Kerry says, because John Kerry doesn't deal in certainty.

John Kerry does not have core values and issues. Victor Davis Hanson in the National Review On-line today has a great way of putting it. I'm going to have to paraphrase it because I don't have it right in front of me. He says, "John Kerry goes with the flow of the battlefield. If it goes bad one day on the battlefield, we got to get out. He has no long-term vision. He has no willingness to endure the bad times in order to get to the Promised Land, because the bad times..." He is obsessed with negativism. His actions will be dictated to by negativism. When things begin to go wrong, "Uh-oh, we got to get out, and I'm going to lead the way in getting us out, because I'm going to lead the way in getting us out." He was all over that last night. "We're going to stay in Iraq. We're going to get the mission done. We're spending too much money on it. I'm going to not spend too much money on it. I'm going to bring us home. I'm going to get us home in six months, and I don't mean six months unless we do it any way."

He was all over the place last night. Nobody has the slightest idea what the hell's going to happen to this country if that stupid SOB is in the White House. Nobody! Now, you people out there, you're going to have to get a grip here and stop looking at all these stylistic stuff last night and stop worrying about what you wish Bush would have said and pay attention to what Kerry said. Kerry is his own gravedigger. You know, Bush wasn't there to pile the dirt on the grave but Kerry dug the grave. Go read a transcript of this debate. Listen to some of the foolish things that he said. A global test? A global freaking test? You know, folks, this isn't a game we're playing here. This is not a horse race. You're falling prey to the media looking at this as, "Who did better last night on this point and that point?" and everybody seems to have lost sight of what's at stake here, and Senator Kerry sure didn't reassure me that he has the slightest idea of what's at stake.

I mean, his position on North Korea last night was absolutely frightening. John Kerry said the #1 issue that frightens him is nuclear proliferation, and yet the North Koreans and the Iranians are getting nuclear weapons. What's he going to do to stop it? In North Korea, he's going to do "bilateral talks." We've tried that. You know what they do? They walk out! Bush said, "You can't do that! You got to get five or six other countries like we've done. You got to get China involved so they can't walk out on us or they're walking out on everybody else." Then Kerry said, "I'm worried about nuclear proliferation." He then came along and said one of the things he wants to do is get rid of the bunker busting nuclear bombs that are in production. Well, folks, how are we going to get rid of these knew nuclear weapons if the North Koreans won't get rid of them but with the bunker busting nuclear bomb that Kerry says he's going to get rid of?

Does he think that he's going to put Madeleine Albright back in charge and she's going to go over there and slap them on the hand for playing a trick on her and Bill Clinton, and they're going to straighten up and that little potbellied communist dictator in North Korea is going to say, "Okay, I fear you Mr. Kerry. I'm going to give up our nukes. You can have our rods and we'll go back to producing nuclear power"? You think this is going to happen? This guy was so all over the ballpark last night, and all the libs think that he scored a home run because of style? Go look at his words. Go look at what he said -- and a lot of you people think Bush blew it sky high because he didn't say what you wanted him to say and he didn't look well and he smirked and all this sort of stuff, and I know I'm even getting e-mails, "Rush, what are you smoking?" I'm not smoking anything.

Well, I do have a cigar going here, folks, but that's common. I lit the one o'clock cigar a little earlier here today, because I was looking forward to this program. Still am looking forward to this program. I mean, this is absolutely absurd. (program observer interruption) You felt reassured by things John Kerry said last night, "if you can believe him"? Come on! Let me ask you something, Mr. Snerdley. After what you know about John Kerry just in this campaign, how do you say you "can feel reassured by him, if you can believe what he said"? How can anybody believe what he says? (program observer interruption) He doesn't believe what he says. I'm telling you that this (program observer interruption). You know, he tried to get away last night. He tried to get away with exactly what I predicted.

He tried to get away last night with acting like nothing he said before today or last night was heard by anybody. Well, nice try, but everything he said has been heard by a lot of people. Why do you think that he is down in the polls? Why do you think? It's not about style. People are reacting to him. People are reacting to what he's saying and isn't saying. There have been a lot of ads portraying what Kerry has said. This debate did not occur in a vacuum last night. A lot of people say, "Well, this is the first day of the campaign! Kerry brought it back to liiiife! Kerry set a new..." BS, folks. This debate didn't happen in a vacuum. It didn't end last night. The ability to inform people of what was actually said last night didn't end when the debate ended.

You know, if people want to get involved in the spin game, let them get involved in the spin game. I'm not trying to spin anything. I'm just telling you what I thought. As I told you, I thought there was a momentum shift halfway through the debate and I thought it looked like Bush ran out of material, said, "Okay, I'm done. Let's get out of here." (program observer interruption) Yeah, not great form. I don't care what the reason is. They say he was tired from touring hurricane victims all day. That doesn't matter. You know, the perception is reality here and a lot of people have this perception, but go look at Kerry, and go look at what he said. Here, a couple more bites here. Jim Lehrer asked a question about the money in Iraq or whatever. I forget the question but this was Kerry's answer.

JOHN KERRY: $200 billion! $200 billion that could have been used for healthcare, for schools, for construction, for -- for prescription drugs for seniors, and it's in Iraq.

RUSH: Now, all kinds of people have been doing fact checks today. The amount of money spent in Iraq is $93 billion, another 20-or-so on security over there. The grand total is $120 billion. But despite all that, here is John Kerry wanting to put a price tag on this. Let's go back to his appearance on Meet the Press, one year ago, August 31st, 2003. Tim Russert said, "Do you believe we should reduce funding that we are now providing for the operation in Iraq?"

AUGUST 2003 JOHN KERRY: By whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win. It is critical that the United States of America be successful in Iraq, Tim.

RUSH: Okay. So we're back to this "consistent position" that Joan Kerry has said. One position, and he's consistent? That's what he said last night. Well, BS folks. He hasn't had one consistent position. I want you to listen to these two bites again back to back. The first bite is Kerry complaining about the $200 billion in Iraq and how little we have here at home for pressing needs, followed by Tim Russert asking him how much should we intend in Iraq.

DEBATE JOHN KERRY: $200 billion. $200 billion that could have been used for healthcare, for schools, for construction, for -- for prescription drugs, for seniors. And it's in Iraq.

AUGUST 2003 JOHN KERRY: By whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win. It is critical that the United States of America be successful in Iraq, Tim.

RUSH: Now, John Kerry might want to pretend he never said that but he did and we're playing it here for you and we're going to keep playing it throughout the election and things like this until everybody gets it. He's not going to be able to get away with pretending he wasn't alive before last night. He's not going to get away with pretending he wasn't a presidential candidate before last night. I'm going to go back to this $200 billion here for just a second. This is one of those times, and I'm sure you agree with me, I'm waiting for Bush to knock this out of the park and he don't do it. What about the prescription drug plan for seniors, the new entitlement that Bush did?

Why couldn't he have said: "What are you talking about, Senator, we aren't spending enough on prescription drugs? Look at what we've done with the new entitlement. We've got a brand-new prescription drug plan for seniors and it was implemented in June." Then he could have talked about all the money he spend on healthcare, the education budget. Construction of what? Construction projects are going through the roof in this country. It's the reason the stock market's going through the roof, and who engages in construction anyway? The government doesn't do it. It's the private sector. Now, I know. I know. If I can say it, why couldn't Bush? I don't know, folks. I'm not Bush. He may not think like we do. Bush may be... I can't explain it and I'm not going to try to explain it, but frankly, it doesn't bother me when Bush doesn't say it because I will, the next day.

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Global test?

To understand John Kerry is to understand his dad. Richard Kerry wrote in his book, The Star-Spangled Mirror, published in 1990:

"Americans are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white. They celebrate their own form of government and denigrate all others, making them guilty of what he calls 'ethnocentric accommodation' -- everyone ought to be like us. As a result, America has committed the 'fatal error' of 'propagating democracy' and fallen prey to 'the siren's song of promoting human rights,' falsely assuming that our values and institutions are a good fit in the Third World. And, just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness, they exaggerate their enemies' badness. The Soviet Union wasn't nearly as imperialistic as American politicians warned. Seeing the Soviet Union as the aggressor in every instance, and the U.S. as only reacting defensively, relieves an American observer from the need to see any parallel between our use of military power in distant parts of the world, and the Soviet use of military power outside the Soviet Union. . . . Third world Marxist movements were autonomous national movements -- outside Moscow's orbit."

More quotes and facts on the John F. Kerry Timeline. Email it to your friends.

They connected the dots in 1998 but Senator Kerry and MSM can't seem to connect the dots in 2004.

Here is an easy to read chart of what the media was saying pre-911 (and after): Connect the Dots...Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden
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It's easy to hammer Rush sometimes.

During the political "slow times"---no elections on the horizon, world events kinda slow, etc.---he can be a bit repetitive, not terribly interesting even.

Whatever, because when it counts---when the cards are down and the stakes are high---nobody even comes close to Rush.

The guy is brilliant, he's an excellent communicator...he's the best at articulating certain points of view.

'We need to have Rush start hammering away on the SF 180 issue. Those documents contain the end of Kerry's political life, and they need to see the light of day.'

What do you think is there, datura? A dishonorable discharge, later fixed by Clinton?

Or maybe, details of the deal the other Swifty officers made with him to help him get his purple hearts so he would get our and they were rid of him? If that were sos, someone would have leaked it...

oooohhhhh, that gives me an idea...who has a REALLY old typewriter?

Rush is making great points. I think Kerry did win last night on style. SO WHAT? When Bush essentialy said Kerry looked at the same intelligence as as he did, that was the end of the debate for me...Bush had just opened a can of Whoop Ass on Kerry and nobody noticed.

I don't care if Bush wins or loses these debates because there is no way Kerry is going to hide from what he says and his obvious flip-flops...It is without a doubt the most generous helping of BS I've ever heard...

Remember, there is three debates. Next Bush comes out playing Good Cop!

Kerry said this last night:

"If the president had shown the patience to go through another round of resolution, to sit down with those leaders say, "What do you need? What do you need now? How much more will it take to get you to join us?" -- we'd be in a stronger place today."

What did Kerry mean by this?

Bush could easily say, "so what - the guy has made a career making speeches...what has he accomplished making all those speeches?"

"while he was having a manicure, I was going over the security briefings, talking to Vlad-i-meer, cursing the Mooolahs, visiting the hurricane victims, signing bills, working on the budget, talking to my pal, Tony Blair, before his surgery, pinning a few medals on some wounded soldiers in the hospital,...."

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