Posted on 01/31/2004 7:20:35 AM PST by jmstein7
How liberal is John Kerry? According to several liberal newspapers and magazines VERY liberal!
The Economist, April 21, 1984
Of the Democrats, marginally the best known in Massachusetts is Mr Kerry. He is a down-the-line liberal who won election as lieutenant-governor by emphasising his anti-war credentials. Having been decorated for bravery as a naval commander during the Vietnam war, he came home to testify before congress that the war was wrong. He founded a nationwide protest movement of Vietnam ex-servicemen. Like Mr Markey and Mr Shannon, he favours a nuclear freeze and has been active in promoting a policy to control acid rain.
1984 The National Law Journal, November 5, 1984
Other Democratic candidates are using the court issue, Professor Dershowitz noted, including Lt. Gov. John Kerry in Massachusetts. Mr. Kerry has been running for the U.S. Senate on a platform stating he'll vote against Reagan nominees to the court, he said.
The New York Times, July 3, 1984
Nuclear freeze activists, deadlocked in their effort to endorse a single candidate for the United States Senate from Massachusetts, broke the stalemate by endorsing two men.
Lieut. Gov. John Kerry and Representative James Shannon, both Democrats, joined their hands in a sign of mutual victory Saturday after about 500 representatives of groups advocating a nuclear freeze throughout the state awarded the the unusual dual endorsement to the only candidates who vowed to work for all- out nuclear disarmament.
The Economist, SEPTEMBER 22, 1984
In the Democrats' hard-fought senate primary, there was no ideological divide between the winner, Mr Kerry, and Mr James Shannon, who has been named the second most liberal member of congress by both Mr Ralph Nader and the National Journal. Together these liberal rivals outpolled two conservative also-rans by four to one. Mr Kerry had the advantage of being better known, two years after his campaign for lieutenant-governor. He had also made a name for himself as a war hero, the founder of Vietnam Veterans against the War, and as a crusader against acid rain.
The Washington Post, October 21, 1984
The Vietnam War has been over for 10 years, but not here. It has blazed up as an issue in the slam-bang Senate fight between conservative Republican Ray Shamie and John Kerry, a much-decorated combat veteran who came home to lead the Vietnam Veterans against the War in the most powerful and moving protest of the time.
Gen. George S. Patton III, the flamboyant field commander who once said he "loved to see the arms and legs flying" in battle, came to Boston to blast Kerry for "probably" causing "some of my guys to get killed" by his dissidence. "There's no soap ever been invented that can wash that blood off his hands."
The Washington Post, October 24, 1984
To a great extent, the contest between Kerry, 40, the liberal Democratic lieutenant governor, and Shamie, 63, a political novice who defeated Elliot L. Richardson in the GOP primary, is tied to the battle between President Reagan and Democratic presidential nominee Walter F. Mondale in this state.
Kerry has pledged not to vote to raise taxes but instead to cut expensive weapons programs such as the MX missile and B1 bomber and to slash agricultural subsidies.
The Economist, OCTOBER 27, 1984
The campaign has crystallised into two arguments, of which the first is over who should get the credit for the continuing Massachusetts boom (unemployment has been around 4% for almost a year, the best performance in the industrial states). Mr Kerry thinks this is the happy result of public-private partnerships in education and development, including the low-interest state bonds for industrial expansion which Mr Shamie made use of for his own factory. Mr Shamie, a supply-sider who attributes the recovery mainly to the Reagan tax cuts, also believes that Massachusetts prospers because of the proposition 2 1/2 tax revolt of 1980, a version of California's proposition 13 which cut property taxes; Mr Kerry criticised the measure from the sidelines at the time as an "impulsive overreaction". The Democratic candidate, who does not want government any smaller although he is not a great one for raising taxes, reminded Mr Shamie the other day in a typically literate bit of mischief of a line from Longfellow: "And so we plough along, said the fly to the ox".
The New York Times, October 30, 1984
In an acrimonious fight for the Senate, Raymond Shamie, a conservative millionaire businessman who has wrapped himself in the mantle of President Reagan's policies and popularity, appears close to overtaking Lieut. Gov. John F. Kerry, a liberal Democrat.
The general election campaign has been bitter, with Mr. Shamie repeatedly accusing Mr. Kerry of lying and Mr. Kerry attacking Mr. Shamie for being vague and not answering questions in debates. Mr. Shamie has also asserted repeatedly that Mr. Kerry would vote to raise taxes, an assertion Mr. Kerry has denied.
In the Senate debate itself, Kerry, rather than embarass Vietnam by demanding the truth, launched a highly publicized diversionary investigation of the POW/MIA families and activists, who were demanding an honest accounting.
Kerry labeled them "professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers, con artists, and dime-store Rambos" who were only involved in the POW/MIA issue for money. Pictured right, Sen. John Kerry in Hanoi seated under a bust of Communist Vietnam's deceased leader, Ho Chi Minh.
Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs January 1993 Final Report:
The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs published in its January 1993 Final Report (page 6) that American servicemen were left behind alive and in captivity.
Kerry's Select Committee staff, in order to soft pedal this abandonment, added in the report "We acknowledge that there is no proof that U.S. POWs survived."
Kerry's "no proof" assertion, was an outright lie. It was an effort by Kerry's pro-Hanoi staff to bury our POW/MIA's and further open the doors to trade with Vietnam.
Kerry maintained there was "no proof U.S. POWs survived," but never produced evidence proving the left behind POWs were dead, or who was responsible for their deaths or where their remains were located.
Kerry never demanded that Vietnam explain.
Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry
CLINTON SAYS KERRY
NOT TOO FAR LEFT
This is the same Jane Fonda to whom today's Vietnamese dictatorship remains grateful, fondly labeling her "Hanoi Jane". From their news agency, January 2003:The 30th anniversary of Ha Nois Dien Bien Phu of the Air seems an appropriate moment to remember that in the midst of violent US intervention, our country enjoyed the support of Jane Fonda and millions of Americans who never came here but who shared her sentiments.
I say to John 'F' Kerry:Bring it on, Arsehole ! Bring it on !
Link works.
What I know of Viet Nam is from public schools (unfortunately) and my parents (fortunately). It is sad to me is how many people know only what public schools and the likes of Kerry have represented. I hear many people refer to his courage in going to Viet Nam and then his highly public opposition.
This much I know, anybody who goes to war knows not to cast a vote authorizing military action unless they are prepared to back it with the necessary funding and public statements. Could Kerry look into the eyes of a family that may not have supported action in Iraq war and lost a loved one and tell them he didn't really mean his yes vote meant yes? To me he is disgraceful and has shown, just like in his opposition to Viet Nam, that he is willing to use our military for political purposes.
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