The Things They Kerry'd [Hugh Hewitt]

The Things They Kerry'd Introducing the first edition of Hugh Hewitt's exclusive "Kerry Files" memo. by Hugh Hewitt 02/12/2004 12:00:00 AM

WITH LESS THAN 38 WEEKS until the November 2nd vote, radio hosts have got to sharpen the message. That's less than 200 broadcast days, and even with 15 segments per three hour show, that's only 3,000 opportunities to present a four- to twelve-minute segment that focuses on some aspect of John Kerry's record.

As a service to my broadcast colleagues, I will prepare occasional talking point memos to fill the spaces between now and November 2, 2004. So here is Volume 1, Number 1 of the Kerry Files:

NATIONAL SECURITY. Voters cannot trust John Kerry's judgment or his resolve on issues of national security. From his April, 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to his statement on January 29, 2003, in a Democratic candidates' debate that the war on terror is "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation," Kerry has fundamentally misunderstood threats to national security and the best means to defend the United States against them.

MULTILATERAL MAN. The "Swiss-educated son of a foreign service officer," as Time Magazine described Kerry in its February 9 issue, is a fully-formed U.N. man, for whom the opposition of the U.N. to any proposed American initiative would mean at least temporary and perhaps permanent paralysis.

DEFENSE RECORD. As a senator, John Kerry has voted against the full funding of most major weapons systems of the past two decades, including the MX missile, the Patriot inteceptor, and missile defense deployment.

THE L-WORD. According to Kerry-friendly Time Magazine's profile, there is "plenty to support the notion that Kerry [is] just a classic bleeding heart: his ratings from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action have always hovered in the 90%-to-95% range."

GAY MARRIAGE. Kerry was one of only 14 senators to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law, signed by Bill Clinton, that obstructs the automatic extension of Kerry's home state's embrace of gay marriage.

ABORTION. Kerry has repeatedly voted against the federal law banning partial birth abortions.

MASSACHUSETTS. Kerry is a stand-in for Senator Edward Kennedy, the latest in a long list of failed Massachusetts liberals who wanted to be president--a list that includes Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas, and of course, Teddy himself. A vote for Kerry is, in effect, a vote for Kennedy, as well as the East-coast elitism that has never successfully governed the country . . . or understood the world as other than a very contentious faculty meeting that can be calmed with the judicious application of soothing words and the distribution of small perks.

ARROGANCE. Kerry's personal arrogance is legendary, and his nickname--"Live Shot Kerry"--conveys that his arrogance is without even the mediating aristocratic virtue of reserve.

KYOTO. John Kerry's attachment to the Kyoto Protocol is complete and unshaken, despite the overwhelming rejection of the framework and its economy-crippling provisions by the public and most elected officials--including a large majority of Kerry's Senate colleagues.

FLIP-FLOPS. Kerry's indecision combines with his well-documented flip-flops to make him the Hamlet of the Senate--exactly the opposite of the war-time leadership we need.

JUDGMENT. Kerry has equated the president's service in the National Guard with avoiding the draft by skipping to Canada: "I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard." Equating honorable service with dishonorable flight is strong evidence of an impaired moral judgment.

DEATH PENALTY. As recently as 1996, Kerry publicly opposed the death penalty for terrorists. Now he says he supports it.

IRAQ. John Kerry voted against the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait. Had Kerry had his way, Saddam would still be on his throne, sitting atop Kuwait's oil, warehouses full of chemical and biological weapons, and, in all likelihood, nuclear weapons.

PERSONALITY. Kerry is without question the dullest, most self-absorbed, and most-awful-to-listen-to candidate in modern times. His Democratic primary victories were the result of Howard Dean's simultaneous self-destruction and take-down of Dick Gephardt. No other Democratic candidate could even make a plausible claim to be president. So Kerry emerged as the default nominee. He's got a glass jaw so transparent it sparkles in the fog.

THERE'S A SHOW'S-WORTH OF TALKING POINTS with which to start. Did I mention the photos of Kerry and Jane Fonda? Or that he's voted against cutting taxes a gazillion times and wants to raise them in 2005? Or his opposition to parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion?

Against this hour's work the Democrats have Ambassador Joe Wilson, their feverish attempt to distort the president's national guard service, and the possibility that Saddam fooled the world into believing he had WMD.

Hugh Hewitt is the host of the Hugh Hewitt show, a nationally syndicated radio talkshow, and a contributing writer to The Daily Standard. His new book, "In, But Not Of," has just been published by Thomas Nelson.

Go for the red meat:

"Vietnam Veteran Larry J. O'Daniel has today challenged former fellow officer and veteran, John Forbes Kerry to come clean with charges Kerry has made in
the past. O'Daniel, a decorated combat veteran from Vietnam and Phoenix says that the issue is one that the Senator himself has brought on."

(snip...)

"My challenge is clear. Make the specific charges, times, dates, persons, programs, units involved, of war crimes as outlined in your 1971 testimony. Be specific
on your own knowledge of these war crimes. Clear the air about Phoenix, your participation, knowledge, even suspicions. Support the investigation of the war
crime allegations of your former colleague. Do not allow his status of being a fellow privileged fraternity member from doing your sworn duty, either now as a
Senator, or from that era, where as an officer and gentleman, you claimed personal knowledge of atrocities."

"Either itemize those incidents or apologize to the veterans of Vietnam whose reputations, valor, and integrity you sullied then and now and renounce those
charges you then and now refuse to itemize. I make this challenge as a veteran of Vietnam, Phoenix, and as a former fellow officer and colleague. Duty -
Honor - Country - These are our obligations. You are at a fork in a path. Integrity or disgrace. Your choice."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1076350/posts

See also THIS thread:

JOHN KERRY -- THE LIST YOU NEED TO HAVE!
Various Sources ^ | 02-12-04 | cww
Posted on 02/12/2004 7:56:20 AM PST by CWW

JOHN KERRY – THE LIST

·
ABORTION
o Voted to federally fund abortions
o Voted against Parental consent for minors
o Voted against ban on Partial Birth Abortion (3 times)
o Voted against ban on sending money to UN population fund if the money could was sent to pay for China’s forced abortion and sterilization policy
o NARAL lifetime rating of 100%
o National Right to Life Committee lifetime rating of 0%
·
DEATH PENALTY
o Opposes federal death penalty
o Voted against death penalty for terrorist (recently flip-flopped in 2002)
o Voted against death penalty for drug-related murders
·
TAXES & BUDGET
o Voted against Bush tax cut & wants to repeal portions of Bush tax cut
o Voted for 19993 Clinton tax hike (largest in history)
o Voted against major tax relief packages at least 10 times
o Voted at least 5 times against balance budget amendments
o Kerry voted at least five times to raid The Social Security Trust Fund.
·
MILITARY & NATIONAL SECURITY
o Voted for 7 major reductions in military funding
o Voted against Gulf War I (1991)
o Voted for Gulf War II (but then criticized and voted against military appropriation for troops.
o Voted against MX missile
o Voted against Trident Submarine
o Voted against SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative – Star Wars)
o Voted against B-1 and B-2 Stealth Bomber and Fighter
o Favored UN control of US Troops (in the 1970s)
o Supported Slashing $2.6 Billion from Intelligence Funding While Serving as a Member of Senate Intel Committee
o Attended a seminar (the so-called "Winter Soldier Investigation) bankrolled by Jane Fonda in Detroit in February 1971 during which 125 self-proclaimed Vietnam veterans testified at a Howard Johnson's about atrocities allegedly committed by our own forces. Many of the so-called Veterans were frauds and virtually every alleged atrocity was investigated and proven to be false.
·
FAITH & VALUES
o Voted Against Defense of Marriage Act (to give states option to decide whether to recognize homosexual marriages in other States)
o Sent letter to Massachusetts’ Legislature opposing Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
o Favors Civil Unions for homosexuals
o Voted to extend hate crimes protections to homosexuals
o Voted against a constitutional amendment on flag desecration.
o Voted against voluntary school prayer
o Voted against ban on human cloning

EDUCATION
o Voted against voucher pilot program
o Voted against approving a school-choice pilot program
·
JUDGES, COURTS & LAW
o Voted against confirmation of Clarence Thomas for Supreme Court Justice
o Voted against confirmation of Robert Bork for Supreme Court Justice
o Voted against confirmation William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
o Voted against confirmation John Ashcroft as US Attorney General
o Voted against punitive damages in products liability cases
o As Michael Dukakis’ Lt. Governor From 1983-1985, Kerry Supported Granting Prison Furloughs To Hundreds Of Massachusetts Inmates.
·
FOREIGN POLICY
o Against linking Most Favored Nation status to China’s human rights record
o Voted for Kyoto Protocol on Environment that exempted major Third Word polluters
o Supported Iraq regime change as late as January, 2003. Now has flipped-flopped
o For Unilateral nuclear Freeze
o Voted against deployment of INF missiles in Europe
·
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS
o Founder Member of VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War)
o Attended and conducted anti-war and anti-American protests in the 1970s
o Organized the Protested
o Votes with Ted Kennedy an average of 94% of the time
o Received $300,000 contribution from Johnny Chung as directed by Chinese intelligence officer
o Supported Communist Sandinistas and visited with leader Communist Daniel Ortega days before Ortega flew to Moscow and received $200 million in Soviet aid
o Has a lifetime rating of 26% from Citizens Against Government Waste
o Has a lifetime rating of 0% from the National Rifle Assoc.
o Lifetime liberal vote rating of 93% from Americans For Democratic Action (5 points higher than Ted Kennedy)
o Voted with the liberal activist group, The League Of Conservation Voters, an average of 95% of the time...
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

P-O-W!! ...And Peter goes down.

The 'Hammer' is on fire!

February 12, 2004

Posted at 4:00 PM, Pacific

The New Republic's Peter Beinart and I mixed it up today, when after dancing around the fact that he and the staff at TNR had been discussing the Kerry allegations he chastised me for bringing up the DrudgeReport's allegations on air without any evidence for their veracity. Trap sprung. I asked Peter for the evidence supporting the allegations that Bush was a "deserter" or "AWOL", allegations that he and the TNR staff have been rolling about in for days. The only "evidence" he could cite was General Turnipseed's alleged charge. Understand that Turnipseed has never alleged that Bush was AWOL or a deserter. Never. Four years ago he said he doesn't recall seeing him. On Tuesday he stated that Bush could well have been on the base, but that he just didn't see him. In other words, there is no evidence whatsoever to support Terry McAuliffe's slanderous charge that was repeated in Congress yesterday by a Democratic congressman and by countless pundits including the increasingly repugnant Begala, and widely read websites of the left like Joshua Marshall's. But while Beinart and his colleagues of the left have no problem covering the Bush story and shifting coverage from the lack of evidence for the charges levelled at Bush to their disatisfaction with the completeness of the Bush denials, they are feigning shock that a report from Matt Drudge on alleged Kerry infidelity should be mentioned outside their newsrooms. The timing of the new allegations is wonderful especially because it throws such a defining light on the bias of the Washington media --ever ready to carry the water of the Democrats and dismayed that they might be obliged to cover some nasty business about the front-runner from the left.

Hewitt Wrestlemania

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