[lbo-talk] Re New Economist Poll: Bad News For Bush

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Thu Sep 9 13:54:50 PDT 2004


----- Original Message ----- From: Christian Gregory
>Really. One of the Repugs campaign operatives on NPR was commenting on
>something Kerry said about the war. It was something like "Today Kerry
>articulated his eighth definitive position on the war." It's sad but true.

My lord, I'm amazed at how the left buys the GOP talking points.

Kerry's had basically the same position on the war since the authorization of force (and not that different from Howard Dean's). He said he was authorizing potential force to pressure Hussein to negotiate, but he wanted the inspection process to be given a chance to work and force to be used only in conjunction with allies' agreement.

He now condemns Bush because Bush failed to allow the inspections process to work-- which would have revealed the lack of WMDs-- and for failure to secure allied support. The result has been a war where the US has born all the costs of soldier deaths and economic costs, while making building democracy in the country harder due to the perceived illegitimacy of US actions.

Kerry doesn't think that the US can leave immediately but wants to enlist allied support and doesn't want the US to establish any kind of permanent occupation of bases in the country with the goal of all US soldiers out within four years.

I don't agree with Kerry's position-- I was against any war or even authorization for war-- but I see nothing incoherent in Kerry's position or contradictory from anything he's said in the past.

But with the Left mouthing Bush talking points-- Bush who lied and flip-flopped on justifications for war repeatedly-- it's surprising that Bush isn't doing better in the polls.

Nathan Newman



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