John Kerry: "I'm all for strength, when appropriate" (illuminating interview)

Time magazine ^ | 3/7/2004 | PERRY BACON JR., LISA BEYER, KAREN TUMULTY and JOHN KERRY

[Utah Girl]

Does John Kerry have a stand on anything at all? Heaven help us for the next four years if he wins...

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - VNVAJK

[Steely Glint]

Spineless crawfishing. God help us.

[jwalsh07]

We are always entitled to do that under the Charter of the U.N., which gives the right of self-defense of a nation.

To John Kerry: No dipsh!t, we don't derive any "rights" from the United Nations. What a loser.

[timpad]

"when appropriate" = politically useful to JFKetchup

[zarf]

This guy is WAAYY too enamored with his own supposed discursive intellectuality and analytical "prowess" that he can't make up his mind about anything.

Pathetic.

Bush is a leader. Kerry is an accountant.

[KellyAdmirer]

TIME: So, if we don't find WMD, the war wasn't worth the costs? That's a yes?
KERRY: No, I think you can still—wait, no. You can't—that's not a fair question, and I'll tell you why. You can wind up successful in transforming Iraq and changing the dynamics, and that may make it worth it, but that doesn't mean [transforming Iraq] was the cause [that provided the] legitimacy to go. You have to have that distinction.

Flip-flop city, eh, Mr. Kerry? But you're a fighter and we can't question your judgment because you served in Vietnam and, you know, understand war in ways we mere mortals can't.

It's amazing watching the man in action. There's nothing he says that he won't backtrack on a paragraph later.

[dufekin]

Yes, yes, yes, Kerry has a stand on all of the important issues of the day!

First and foremost, he served in Vietnam. Got that? That's the central issue in the 2004 campaign. There is nothing that Bush can say or do (blunders excepted) regarding national security without impugning the patriotism of John F. Kerry, because Kerry served in Vietnam.

But on this subject, Kerry both supports and opposes weapons inspectors, both supports and opposes the Iraq war, both supports and opposes the American military personnel. He both supports and opposes each of the following with respect to Iraq: pre-emption, dictatorships, terrorism, democracy, and nation-building. He also opines that weapons of mass destruction of Saddam Hussein are both present and absent. He manages to hold all of the foregoing opinions concurrently, and they are, by decree, consistent.

But one thing is clear: Kerry believes that Bush is wrong, whatever Bush did is wrong. That's unmistakably clear.

So don't be disappointed. (I'm a little confused, but it's only because I'm a real moron, a loser if you will, who doesn't understand what Kerry says and desperately needs training in logic.) But trust me, Kerry can't be wrong; most Americans support him but not his opponent--or so he says.

[EDINVA]

no, but he clearly has his "sources"

" .... I have been told by people ...."

aren't you glad he wasn't like the Bush White House, preparing for war, in withholding the names of his sources? Gives me enormous comfort !

[boxerblues]

TIME: So, if we don't find WMD, the war wasn't worth the costs? That's a yes?
KERRY: No, I think you can still—wait, no. You can't—that's not a fair question, and I'll tell you why. You can wind up successful in transforming Iraq and changing the dynamics, and that may make it worth it, but that doesn't mean [transforming Iraq] was the cause [that provided the] legitimacy to go. You have to have that distinction.

Part of the reason given by Bush was regime change and you still voted on it. flip flop

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Does John Kerry have a stand on anything at all?

No, I think you can still—wait, no. You can't—that's not a fair question

[freebilly]

This is pretty sad. This is the best the Dems can come up with-- a narcissistic political hack with a personality disorder?

[Reactionary]

"I spent the time to go to the U.N. and sit with the Security Council before the vote, because I wanted to ascertain what their real state of mind was and whether or not they would be prepared to enforce the resolution, provide troops, whether or not they took it seriously, whether or not they would share costs and burden, and I came away convinced after a two-hour conversation, a lot of questions, that they would."

Right, Kerry. You spent two hours rubbing elbows at the UN and you were "convinced" that they would help us in the war in Iraq. Strangely, after months of wrangling with the same UN they never gave the slightest hint they were interested.

Kerry's lying, as usual. Or perhaps the French and Germans really admired his haircut.

[Braveforever]

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry:
Hairstyle by Christophe's $75.
Designer shirts: $250.
Forty-two foot luxury yacht: $1 million.
Four lavish mansions and beachfront estate: Over $30 million."
Senator Kerry D-Mass.,
"Another rich, liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he's a man of the people. " Priceless."

[goldstategop]

John F. Kerry would have trusted the UN and the word of a murderous dictator over the evidence at the time. He would have allowed Saddam to actually acquire WMD before he would have acted. And by then it would have been too late. We need a decisive leader and Kerry isn't born to be one.

[CyberAnt]

I think he's a lunatic.

I think any person on this forum could have answered those questions more succinctly than Kerry did.

Every question was not geared toward whether it was good for America .. but only if it made President Bush look bad. Amazingly juvenile and pathetic.

[backhoe]

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

[lainde]

bttt

[CWOJackson]

It's silly titles like this one that gives the impression that John Kerry is indecisive.

He's not, he just likes to spread his decisiveness around.

[NYCVirago]

KERRY: If I had been the President, I might have gone to war but not the way the President did. It might have been only because we had exhausted the remedies of inspections, only because we had to—because it was the only way to enforce the disarmament.

For pete's sake, we had 12 years of the "remedies of inspections"! How much longer did he want? Never mind the fact that he voted for the war in the first place!