IF THE FLIP-FLOP FITS…
Kerry is guilty as charged
You can infer a great deal about a presidential candidate by the way his opponents attack him. Take John Kerry. The Bush squad wants you, the American voter, to know three things about Senator Kerry:
1) He's a flip-flopper
2) His Vietnam experience ain't all it's cracked up to be
3) He's the most liberal senator on Capitol Hill
Six months plus of investigation by the dirtiest detectives the RNC could find, and that's all Bush has on John Kerry. Three charges; end of list. Are these these charges really that bad? Let's examine.
He's a flip-flopper
To say someone is a "flip-flopper" is to say someone changes his mind upon further review and reflection. This is what intelligent people do.
Just last week, George W. Bush himself changed his mind. On Monday, he told NBC, "I don't think you can win a war on terror." He then spent all week recanting that statement, saying, "The war on terror can and will be won."
Bush has also changed his mind on the 9/11 Commission proposals, the creation of an office of Homeland Security, Condi Rice's being allowed to tesify publicly before the 9/11 Commission, and, most egregiously, his policy on nation-building. In 2000, Bush said the U.S. was "not in the nation-building business." Three plus years later, we are.
So, in some ways, both men are flip-floppers. As are we all.
There are some things, alas, that Bush obdurately will not reverse course on. This is how he can present himself as a non-flip-flopper, as someone who stays the course. Bush still thinks there are WMDs in Iraq. He still thinks there are ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government. He still thinks his economic policies have brought financial relief to most Americans. He still thinks his advisors--Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the rest of the neocons--are good at their jobs. All this in the face of insurmountable evidence to the contrary.
What would you rather have, a guy who is borderline delusional in his stubborn policymaking, or a free thinker who isn't afraid to change his mind?
Vietnam
No one disputes that John Kerry volunteered to fight in Vietnam. Even Bush now concedes that Kerry served honorably. So what's with those Swift Boat for Truth ads?
Kerry wanted to serve his country, so he went. Once there, he recognized the situation for what it was: a needless, stupid war fought to enrich big corporations, especially in the military-industrial complex. He almost got killed, saved some U.S. lives. When he returned, he became president of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
This sounds to me like a guy uniquely qualified to deal with the mess in Iraq, which is Vietnam but with Halliburton instead of Lockheed Martin.
Bush, who spent Vietnam defending Lubbock, Texas, calls it flip-flopping.
The liberal label
Liberal has taken on the negative connotations of pedophile and carb. Everyone thinks liberals are radical communist neofascist nutjobs. Not true.
If a Senator is liberal, what that means, to you and me, is that he votes for things that favor individuals over corporations, families over companies, the poor and the middle class over the wealthy, privacy over Ashcroftian thought policing, the environment over pollution, civil rights over the status quo, and so forth.
The truth is, the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is slight. There are no Michael Moores and Ralph Naders on Capitol Hill. The liberals in the Senate are the ones who represent the best interests of most Americans. Most meaning more than eighty percent.
It breaks my heart to see ignorant people in the blue states-people whom Kerry would most benefit-support Bush blindly, because of his political affiliation, his religious background, his aw-shucks smirk. This is like the citizens of Tattoine voting for Darth Vader over Obi-Wan because they like his deep, authoritative voice and sleek black cape.
Next time someone tells you John Kerry is a liberal flip-flopper, agree. He is. All our leaders should be.
—Greg Olear
Editor, LARGEREGO
September 7, 2004
Editor, LARGEREGO
September 7, 2004
"We are a nation in danger." |