Saddam has been captured, and John "The Hawk" Kerry has been set free! In yet another turnabout, the latest John Kerry is engaging in bitter self-recrimination. I should note that the NY Times reporter, apparrently not a psychologist, observed the scene superficially and concluded that Sen. Kerry was discussing Howard Dean. Look deeper! I have helpfully edited the story as appropriate to reveal the truer meaning:
Kerry Says [He] Lacks Presidential Traits
DES MOINES, Dec. 16 — Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts attacked [himself while looking in the mirror while shaving] on Tuesday as inexperienced, inconsistent and weak on foreign policy.
Americans face a "dual danger," Mr. Kerry declared in a presidential campaign speech at Drake University here: "On one side is President Bush, who has taken America off on a road of unilateralism and ideological pre-emption. On the other side are those in my own party, [such as myself], who threaten to take us down a road of confusion and retreat."
...Mr. Kerry had little new to say by way of policy recommendations. But he gave a scathing [self-assessment] of [his] remarks about Iraq over the last year, saying the [Massachusetts Senator] had been "all over the lot."
..."at other times, [I] said that we should not go into Iraq unless the U.N. Security Council gave us authorization," Mr. Kerry added, calling that a "fundamental misunderstanding" of how a president should protect the nation.
"Perhaps it reflects inexperience," he said, "but for [me] to permit a veto over when America can or cannot act becomes only a little more than a pretext for doing nothing. It cedes our security and presidential responsibility to defend America to someone else, and that is a profound danger for both our national security and global stability."
...Here in Des Moines, Mr. Kerry sought to draw a contrast between [his own] posture and those of earlier Democratic presidents, citing Jimmy Carter's "commitment to human rights" in the same breath as Franklin D. Roosevelt's fight against fascism. "None of them would have ever given others the power to prevent America from defending our interests or our ideals," he said.
"To follow the path that [John Kerry] seems to prefer is to embrace a kind of `Simon says' foreign policy where America only moves if others move first," he said. "And that is just as wrong as George Bush's policy of schoolyard taunts and cowboy swagger."
Asked for evidence of these Kerry flip-flops, the Senator pointed to his Senate floor speech of October 2002, and his recent comments attempting to explain his Senate vote authorizing force against Iraq. We note that the comments of John the Dove preceded Saddam's capture:
“We were told that any course would lead through the United Nations, and that war would be an absolute last resort.
And the best way for America to succeed in Iraq now?
“Our best option for success is to go back to the United Nations and leave no doubt that we are prepared to put the United Nations in charge of the reconstruction and governance-building processes. I believe the prospects for success on the ground will be far greater if Ambassador Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority are replaced by a UN Special Representative for Iraq.”
Simon says, drop out of the race. Sen. Lieberman will get credit for consistency, not you.
MORE: Text of his recent speech (normally, The Onion is subscription, but here we go).
Kerry the Dove, sighted in Iowa on Nov. 24 at a Dem Debate:
KERRY: I can't make that judgment, but I'll tell you this: that the president took a legitimate national security concern, which was containing Saddam Hussein and how you get the inspectors back in in order to do that, and literally distorted it and abused it by misleading the American people with respect to everything that he did.
He said that he would build an international coalition; he built a fraudulent coalition. He said that he would use the inspectors and respect the United Nations process; he couldn't wait to get out of it. He said that he would go to war as a last resort; he did not go to war as a last resort.
And the fundamental concept of the presidency is that you don't send young men and women to war because you want to; you do it because you have to. And I think he abused that.
"Eric, if you really think that if I were president, we'd be at war right now, then you shouldn't vote for me."
This guy really doesn't ever say anything without giving himself a way out.
Or, as you suggest, he has an unusually civil and diplomatic type of personality disorder, in which both dualling personalities convene a conference to decide upon the content and structure of each sentence.
Posted by: Alex Parker | December 18, 2003 at 10:50 PM
Kerry has also become a France Basher:
"Permission is the critical component here, if you wait for permission, you are actually ceding to a country like France a veto over your ultimate interests. No President will cede the security of the United States of America to any institution or to any country’s veto."
--John Kerry, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dec. 17. 2003
Posted by: RBA | December 19, 2003 at 11:59 PM