Incoherent? Yes. Contradictory? No.
Kerry thinks we needs to stick around to pick up the "mess". Just like Laurel and Hardy... "Look at the mess you've made!". Except this isn't comedy (Ok, maybe black.), and we *ARE* the mess.
Kerry is mainstream. If anyone wants an alternative within the Democratic party, Dennis Kucinich is waiting in the wings.
If Bush wins the election, and *if* there is anything recognizable left of our constitutional institutions... The social pendulum may swing far enough in the other direction to give Kucinich a chance to push the Dems to the left in 2008, a direction they haven't gone for a long, long time (If ever.).
Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com
----- Original Message ----- From: Nathan Newman To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 1:54 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Re New Economist Poll: Bad News For Bush
----- 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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