Just hang a lantern on Kerry's record

Boston Herald ^ | 10/07/04 | Boston Herald editorial staff

[kattracks]

The best thing about the final weeks of a presidential election is not, contrary to popular opinion, that it's almost over. It's that with time running out, candidates have no choice but to cut to the chase.
     In a campaign speech yesterday in Pennsylvania, President Bush [related, bio] did just that by contrasting, in the clearest terms yet, the two candidates' records and visions for the future.
     ``My opponents' endless back-and-forth on Iraq is part of a larger misunderstanding,'' Bush said. ``Senator Kerry is proposing policies and doctrines that would weaken America and make the world more dangerous.''
     That should set the elite media all atwitter, considering their level of indignation when Vice President Dick Cheney said much the same thing.

     Bush also finally set that ``misunderstanding'' in the context of John Kerry's 20-year voting record in the U.S. Senate.
     ``As a candidate, my opponent promises to defend America. The problem is, as a senator for two decades, he has built a record of weakness . . . He twice led efforts to gut our intelligence service budgets . . . He voted against many of the weapons that won the Cold War . . . He has voted more than 50 times against missile defense systems that would protect us from the threats of a dangerous world,'' the president said. Those are votes Kerry must explain, not ignore, as he has done throughout this campaign.
     And Kerry will sure have to do a better job explaining what Bush labeled the ``Kerry doctrine,'' requiring American actions in the war on terror to pass a ``global test.''
     Bush gave no quarter on economic issues, either. ``[Kerry] voted in the United States Senate to increase taxes 98 times . . . He voted for higher taxes on Social Security benefits . . . Now the senator is proposing higher taxes on more than 900,000 small business owners. My opponent is one of the few candidates in history to campaign on a pledge to raise taxes. And that's the kind of promise a politician from Massachusetts usually keeps.''
     Oy. A reputation well-earned is surely hard to shed, and that's something John Kerry [related, bio] may find out the hard way.

[HankReardon]

If Kerry succeeds and gets elected, which city goes first from bio, chem or nuclear attack? When will it happen? Before it happens will President Kerry launch a pre-emptive surrender?

[Rob45and2]

I'll bet cash money it will be Chicago or L.A..

[LOC1]

John Kerry says he can do a better job than President Bush.

Oh really?

What is Kerry’s record during his 20 years in the Senate?

• Kerry voted against most of the major weapons systems that our troops use today.
• Kerry voted against the $87 billion for support of the troops, after he voted for it.
• Kerry led the fight against President Bush's Department Of Homeland Security, voting against it six times and delaying it for 112 days.
• Kerry missed more than 75% of the meetings of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• Kerry proposed slashing the intelligence budget by $7.5 billion after the first attack on the World Trade Center.
• Kerry has voted at least 350 times for higher taxes.
• Kerry has been able to persuade congress to pass only eight insignificant laws that bear his name, and most of those were strictly ceremonial.
• Kerry has proposed that use of force by the US must meet a “global test.”
• Kerry voted against the first Gulf War, after Saddam invaded Kuwait. By Kerry’s standards, Saddam would still be in power, and in Kuwait.
• Kerry says he has a plan. Custer had a plan, too.

Kerry can do a better job than President Bush? Oh really?