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THE CASE FOR FLIP-FLOPPING (John Kerry alert!)
The Washington Post ^ | 12/24/2006 | John F. Kerry

Posted on 12/24/2006 6:53:58 AM PST by KCRW

There's something much worse than being accused of "flip-flopping": refusing to flip when it's obvious that your course of action is a flop.

I say this to President Bush as someone who learned the hard way how embracing the world's complexity can be twisted into a crude political shorthand. Barbed words can make for great politics. But with U.S. troops in Iraq in the middle of an escalating civil war, this is no time for politics. Refusing to change course for fear of the political fallout is not only dangerous -- it is immoral.

I'd rather explain a change of position any day than look a parent in the eye and tell them that their son or daughter had to die so that a broken policy could live.

No one should be looking for vindication in what is happening in Iraq today. The lesson here is not that some of us were right about Iraq or that some of us were wrong. The lesson is simply that we need to change course rapidly rather than perversely use mistakes already made and lives already given as an excuse to make more mistakes and lose even more lives

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: flipflopping; french; hanoijohn; insufferable; iraq; jeanfrancois; kerry; loser; pinhead; traitor; unfit; wot
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Is John Kerry really implying that he was right on Iraq all along?

"The lesson here is not that some of us were right about Iraq or that some of us were wrong."

Attention John Kerry- YOU VOTED FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ!

1 posted on 12/24/2006 6:54:01 AM PST by KCRW
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To: KCRW

Waste of bandwidth!


2 posted on 12/24/2006 6:57:52 AM PST by sodpoodle (if you can't handle the truth, try satire.)
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To: KCRW

If it was just a change in position, John, I don't think people would have had such a big problem. The thing is, it was a continual riding of both sides of the issues. And you never explained it.

Well, that, and you were weak on defense.


3 posted on 12/24/2006 6:57:57 AM PST by DaveLoneRanger ("I am here to fight evil and exchange good-natured barbs." - The Tick)
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To: KCRW
embracing the world's complexity

I think that people who use the verb "embrace" in this way are not very smart and don't use the English language very well. What is its meaning in this context? It does not convey anything specific. Kerry just wants us to think it means he's smart. To me, it says the opposite.

4 posted on 12/24/2006 7:01:01 AM PST by Bahbah (.Regev, Goldwasser & Shalit, we are praying for you.)
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To: KCRW

5 posted on 12/24/2006 7:03:29 AM PST by Always Right
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To: KCRW
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

"I was against writing this article before I was for it."

6 posted on 12/24/2006 7:04:40 AM PST by teacherwoes (A fugitive from a Democratically-controlled Congress)
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To: KCRW
"The only hope for stability lies in pushing Iraqis to forge a sustainable political agreement on federalism, distributing oil revenues and neutralizing sectarian militias. And that will happen only if we set a deadline to redeploy our troops."

The above is the only solution that Kerry provides in his Bush-hater rant. Basically the same cut-n-run nonsense.

Kerry needs to come to terms that the people of America REJECTED him in 2004!

7 posted on 12/24/2006 7:05:31 AM PST by avacado
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To: KCRW

Kerry, you LOST the 2004 election. You are NOT the President. Just thought you'd like to know.


8 posted on 12/24/2006 7:06:33 AM PST by Dilbert56
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To: KCRW
Jean Francois Cheri is Gallic to a fault. He can't explain in a sentence why he changed his views about Iraq. Flip flop indeed!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

9 posted on 12/24/2006 7:06:37 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: KCRW

May God damn him...


10 posted on 12/24/2006 7:07:06 AM PST by johnny7 ("We took a hell of a beating." -'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell)
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To: KCRW
There are no words in the English language that can describe the utter, deep, loathing that it is in my mind for f'kerry. He is despicable beyond words. His countenance is ugly, the way he choses to "be successful" us ugly, his policics are ugly, and he is just one low down POS.

I sincerely wish that some other non-political sugar momma would catch his eye...he would dump Teresa...move to BFE and live happily ever after..wind sailing, skiing..... wiling away the hours in some harmless activity...and

LEAVE US ALONE!

NOTE to all who think they "LIKE" F'NK:

If Kerry goes away, nobody will miss him.....and I mean no b-o-d-eeeee will even regognize that he has left the building.

11 posted on 12/24/2006 7:08:24 AM PST by B.O. Plenty (liberalism, abortions and islam are terminal)
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To: KCRW

Pathetic.


12 posted on 12/24/2006 7:10:56 AM PST by toddlintown (Six bullets and Lennon goes down. Yet not one hit Yoko. Discuss.)
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To: KCRW
The only thing he hasn't flip-flopped on is his un-erring ability to completely misunderstand an important situation.

His entire article is based on the idea that we need to be firm with the government of Iraq, and hold their feet to the fire-- by hanging "redeployment" of our troops over their heads.

This entirely misses the context of the problem: It's not the emerging government of Iraq that is the holdup for peace; it's the Islamists pouring in to destabilize the region with backing by Syria and Iran that is the problem.

Iran and Syria are counting the days until we leave the area. No amount of "conversation" with Syria is going to change their underlying goal of reshaping Iraq into an Islamic totalitarian state.

...and by the way, John: Reagan was able to deal with Russia, and Nixon was able to deal with China because they laid the groundwork first through their tough stance on them. You are not Reagan, and you are not Nixon. The only people you have ever taken a tough stance on are your fellow servicemen, and anyone who has ever served their country.

Now shut up and leave the serious stuff to the grown-ups.

13 posted on 12/24/2006 7:20:50 AM PST by Egon (I stand beside you as your partner, in front as your defender, behind as... hey! nice butt!)
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To: KCRW

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1758057/posts


14 posted on 12/24/2006 7:26:31 AM PST by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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The war in Iraq was just and good....but how it is currently being prosecuted is PC and stupid. Lets face it we won the war and are in danger of losing the occupation.

We should have carpet bombed, ala WWII. We should have made the people of this rogue nation never want to fight a war again, like we did to the Japanese, and to the Germans. Surgical strikes DON'T WIN WARS.

As much as I despise John Kerry and would never have voted for him.....I feel the current administration has put to much stock into Democracy for these middle eastern peasants and peons. They are neither interested nor are they capable of appreciating Democracy.


15 posted on 12/24/2006 7:43:01 AM PST by Vaquero (Moderate Islam is Radical Islams Trojan horse in the West)
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To: KCRW

I thought this lieing puke was going to sign the form to release ALL his military records.


16 posted on 12/24/2006 7:44:42 AM PST by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: KCRW

I'm not going to read this.


17 posted on 12/24/2006 7:49:13 AM PST by popdonnelly
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To: KCRW

"I flopped before I flipped."


18 posted on 12/24/2006 8:05:45 AM PST by Lord Basil (stupisticated - Having a refined fantasy view of the world that is typically based on group-think.)
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To: popdonnelly

This is so badly done, it is truly emabarassing. It shows a very poor abiity to reason and even worse deficiency in explication. Note that where he states his policy perferances, he show no ability to defend or convince that they are correct. Rather than explaining what we might get out of talking to Syria, he goes off on a bunch of irrelevant anologies. No wonder he got C's at Yale.


19 posted on 12/24/2006 8:10:21 AM PST by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: KCRW

".....this is no time for politics."

Alrighty, then.


20 posted on 12/24/2006 8:11:51 AM PST by windsorknot
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To: KCRW

OMG ... this isn't scrappleface, it really is JonCarry doing a self-parody.


21 posted on 12/24/2006 8:26:06 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Prayers for our patriot brother, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub, now more than ever my FRiends.)
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To: KCRW

If idiots liberals had been patriotic and backed this war, it would have been over with.


22 posted on 12/24/2006 8:42:18 AM PST by Cobra64 (Why is the War on Terror being managed by the DEFENSE Department?)
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To: KCRW

Quoth the French Poodle:

Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap!


23 posted on 12/24/2006 8:47:02 AM PST by Fresh Wind (All we are sa-a-a-ying, is give Beast a chance.)
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To: KCRW
Image hosted by Photobucket.com look at me... LOOK at ME!!!

Yooo Hooo... I'm over HERE!!!
24 posted on 12/24/2006 9:04:16 AM PST by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: KCRW

Why would President Bush need to change in Iraq since Kerry went to Syria and got their commitment to change their ways?


25 posted on 12/24/2006 9:10:53 AM PST by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
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To: KCRW

Once a moron, always a moron.

The new babe who now runs the Outlook (editorial) section of the Washington Post (all articles except the official editorials) has made no secret that she is going to turn the already far-left slant of the section into a Daily KOs for the liberal limosine set. The occasional conservative article they would post to give them a cover of "balance" was thrown out and it now is just a flood of poorly written and reasoned columns from the Kerrys and Dodds and any RINO they can sucker in with a little ouff coverage in their Style section.

Even the comics in the Post are heavily loaded with ultra-left and reverse racist comics like Doonesbury, Boondocks, etc. This is the drivel that replaced classics like Calvin and Far Side.


26 posted on 12/24/2006 10:33:18 AM PST by oldbill
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To: KCRW

The biggest question? When will Jean-Fraude announce his candidacy for the RAT nomination?


27 posted on 12/24/2006 10:41:10 AM PST by freespirited (If it weren't for John McCain, George Soros would be just another rich guy.)
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To: KCRW

What a loser.


28 posted on 12/24/2006 11:06:40 AM PST by Kitten Festival
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To: KCRW

What a fool.


29 posted on 12/24/2006 11:07:39 AM PST by Kitten Festival
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To: All; KCRW

.

No Joke.


JOHN KERRY =

Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp (Communist SLAVE LABOR Camp)

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts

.


30 posted on 12/24/2006 5:22:47 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Always Right


.


HILLARY in a NY Cap =

DUKAKIS in a TANK

.


31 posted on 12/24/2006 5:24:11 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Vaquero; All



.


NEVER FORGET



Praise GOD that...
President BUSH has promised...


Freedom's Return to:

Communist Vietnam
Communist North Korea
Communist Cuba



..as well as..



Freedom's Arrival to:

All the Countires of the Middle East


...as America's own best self-protection against future Terrorist Attacks here at home.



NEVER FORGET

.


32 posted on 12/24/2006 5:34:49 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: KCRW

John Kerry needs a strait jacket and a Hannibal Lecter mask.


33 posted on 12/24/2006 5:37:49 PM PST by hershey
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To: johnny7

That's it in a nutshell.


34 posted on 12/24/2006 5:38:44 PM PST by hershey
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To: KCRW
Ha! I thought this said "Lip" flopping. Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

John, I done tol' you once! SHUT. YER. PIE. HOLE. !

Your Friend an butt buddy,

Teddy Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

35 posted on 12/24/2006 5:39:52 PM PST by Gunny Gene
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To: ALOHA RONNIE

Bush has been negligent of America in giving freedom to these horrid lands...

We need freedom FROM these lands, not for them.

I say bomb em back to the stone age.....then they will think twice about messing with us....and will gladly become a Democratic Nation, just like Japan did, tail between their legs, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I dont drink the Bush Koolaid.


36 posted on 12/24/2006 5:48:18 PM PST by Vaquero (Moderate Islam is Radical Islams Trojan horse in the West)
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To: Vaquero


.


http://www.orgs.cc/RAHS60/

.


37 posted on 12/24/2006 5:55:14 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: KCRW
John Kerry does not realize, in his baited ignorance, that it is 1938 all over again. Islamofascism will attempt a World Caliphate. We have seen these kind of tyrants before, under the lovely icons of the Third Reich, which was supposed to last a thousand years.

Well the Islamofascisist have lasted over a thousand years, and mean to conquer the world.With the help of ignorant fools like Johns Kerry, they might actually come out of their chocks fast enough to do it.

I am reminded of those historical sychophants to the National Socialists of Germant, Charles A. Lindbergh and Joseph Kennedy,both ignorant liberals who could not stand on the strength of fact and evidence, but went wool gathering into the presumed friendly arms of tyrants.Even today liberals are still trying to reconstruct them.

Like Kerry they were fools who too readily abandoned the basic American tenant that a human being, more than anything, longs for personal freedom. The human spirit thirsts for it and wilts without it. Men like Kerry too soon forget, impressed like parrots that look in mirrors and listen to their own words so much that they believe they have discovered more important truths, fooling themselves and as many others as they can take with them.

Nuts to you John Kerry. You are simply on the wrong side of history, and this weekend, the Ethiopians show us the way, as they have for countless centuries in this battle.

When all is said and done, this is how John Kerry will be remembered:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

38 posted on 12/24/2006 6:48:12 PM PST by Candor7 (Into Liberal flatulance goes the best hope of the West, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: Egon

Nice post-

Do you write a blog?

If you do send me a link, if not- you should consider starting one. Most blogs are free and easy to start up.

This is well thought out, well written and easy to read and follow.

IMO, John Kerry has forgotten about one important ingredient when it comes to Iraq. He has completely forgotten about the Iraqi people and their needs.

I wonder if John Kerry has ever spoken to any of the Iraqi leaders?


39 posted on 12/24/2006 8:41:52 PM PST by KCRW
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To: Candor7

Wow- you should write a blog too!


40 posted on 12/24/2006 8:43:09 PM PST by KCRW
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To: KCRW
One more strand of barbed wire, would make Kerry's fence straddling extremely uncomfortable.
41 posted on 12/24/2006 9:16:04 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell ( BP agents Ramos and Compean, Patriots betrayed and persecuted for just doing their job!)
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To: KCRW
Attention John Kerry- YOU VOTED FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ!

And he was a signatory to that letter sent to X42 in October of 1998 by both houses of Congress, urging Bubba to do something about Saddam's WMD (I have a copy of the Congressional record with those names and their letter in my never-before nicotine stained fingers.)

42 posted on 12/24/2006 9:42:55 PM PST by Christian4Bush (Don't blame me - I didn't vote for these DEM b**tards. (redacted to satiate religioncop TXBlair))
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To: Dilbert56
LOL! John effin (aka Lurch) will never admit to ,or believe he lost the 2004 election ,cause his initials are J.F.K.! According to lurch this means he is ''destined'' to be the President. This is seared, SEARED into his memory. ( I fear for this guys sanity'' when he finds out the RATS(despise losers) and no longer want his services, and would just as soon he puts a bullet through his head than run again. But I'm sure he'll ignore the RATS wishes and run again anyway since he has no dignity whats so ever and no class to speak of!
43 posted on 12/24/2006 11:03:42 PM PST by Bush gal in LA
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To: KCRW
Hmmm, it looks as though Mister Kerry has been reading my tagline, folks. He concludes his piece (which is an objective lesson in how densely one can pack logical fallacies into one essay) with the following.

Ahem...When Churchill urged, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in," he added: "except to convictions of honour and good sense."

This is a time for such convictions.

And, dear friends, his denouement is supposed to let us see the glorious shining path that (his euphemisms for) cutting and running makes good, Churchillian, sense.

Senator Kerry's surrender scheme is something up with which Sir Winston would never have put!

Mister Kerry's pretentiously "streaks" his ignorance with typical hubris.

Consider... The barrel of a gun can't answer the question of how you force Iraqi nationalism to trump sectarian loyalty. The only hope for stability lies in pushing Iraqis to forge a sustainable political agreement on federalism, distributing oil revenues and neutralizing sectarian militias. And that will happen only if we set a deadline to redeploy our troops.

So, in Mister Kerry's odd little mind, setting a deadline to (and there is no other word for this) surrender will somehow magically "push" the Iraqis to get along and share their oil wealth?

John Kerry, what if the bad guys said they told you they would do these things, but didn't mean it, hoping to take advantage of you because you trusted them?

Actually, Mister Kerry, I can give you a good example of how I suspect that this is really a con game that you are playing.

What if YOU told me and some of my fellow voters that you would sign a form 180 to release all of your military records (including the shadowy info on your Naval discharge circa 1972), and what if we believed you and voted for you, and then what if you didn't sign the form?

We would have taken an irrevocable action based on trust, and you would have really pulled on over on us, huh?

So, you provide an excellent bad example here, Senator Kerry. And, your candy-land proposal is beyond simple ignorance.

As an aside, why is it that malignant blamers such as John Kerry seem to think that they have ANY talent for diplomacy? Malignant blamers put counterparts on the defensive, and are the polar opposite of successful negotiators. Malignant blamers in official capacities are among the biggest liabilities that can afflict nation diplomatically.

.

44 posted on 12/24/2006 11:24:27 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: B.O. Plenty

Sooo, tell us how you really feel about Kerry?



LOL, he sets me off too; not as much as Carter though, but then I'm 59 and Carter makes my blood pressure rise. Merry Christmas and a Bonne Anne!!


45 posted on 12/24/2006 11:48:18 PM PST by Atchafalaya (When you are there thats the best)
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To: KCRW
I wonder if John Kerry has ever spoken to any of the Iraqi leaders?

'Course not! He only talks to people with whom he has clout. Namely, any and every enemy of these United States.

No blog-- Don't have the time or the blood pressure to support it. Thanks for the compliments, though!

46 posted on 12/25/2006 12:09:59 AM PST by Egon (I stand beside you as your partner, in front as your defender, behind as... hey! nice butt!)
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To: KCRW

There truly is something very sad about any person who doesn't realize that he or she is irrelevant and has become yesterday's news. I guess it may have to wait until the democrat party primaries in 2008 before Kerry the loser admits what he is and always will be which is Kerry the loser.


47 posted on 12/25/2006 4:12:18 AM PST by saneright
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To: saneright

I forgot to mention that when referring to John Kerry the word loser she be spelled LOSER.


48 posted on 12/25/2006 4:15:19 AM PST by saneright
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To: KCRW
Look Theresa! The dolphins are playing!!


49 posted on 12/25/2006 6:20:53 AM PST by Hadean
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To: Atchafalaya
I am coming up on 70...Carter don't bother me at all.

Why???....because Carter is a tottering OLD POS with no real power.

Kerry Otoh, is a lot younger and nastier POS with some financial backing(if Teresa gives him some money) wielding considerable power due to his seat in the Senate.

Carter will croak soon, therefore doesn't have enough time, energy nor power to do us any harm at all. Carter has already done the most damage to the U.S. as he can. Fortunately for us, Pres Reagan undid a lot of it, but failed to deal with islam. Too bad for us.

F'n has 15 or 20 years in which he can do irrepairable damage to the U.S.

And.... he WILL damage us if he gets what he wants.....

Thus, the only peaceful way that we can get rid of him is that a richer, younger woman(or man) whisks him off to paradise, and out of our lives.

50 posted on 12/25/2006 7:07:44 AM PST by B.O. Plenty (liberalism, abortions and islam are terminal)
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