Kerry Tries to Have It Both Ways on Issue After Issue

Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign ^ | March 17, 2004 | Bush-Cheney '04

[PhiKapMom]

Kerry Tries to Have It Both Ways on Issue After Issue

In October, John Kerry was one of only twelve Senators to vote against funding for our troops in Iraq, including money for body armor, higher combat pay and better health care for reservists and their families. Here's Kerry yesterday, backpedaling furiously from that vote:

Mr. Kerry added, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," referring to an amendment he supported that would have rescinded some tax cuts to finance the war.

Kerry's tortured explanation of his vote is problematic on a number of levels, not the least of which is his willingness to make troops in the field pay the price because he didn't get his way on a tax increase. But the explanation also reveals Kerry's troubling tendency to explain away inconvenient votes by simply claiming he voted the other way -- on earlier, less important versions of the bill. Recall his Cuba flip-flop:

''I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,'' Kerry told WPLG-ABC 10 reporter Michael Putney in an interview...

``And I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him.'' ...

There is only one problem: Kerry voted against it.

Kerry's campaign then issued a press release stating he had been "clear" on Cuba:

In 1995 John Kerry voted twice for the Helms Burton law; but voted against it on final passage in 1996 when House Republicans insisted on an unworkable lawsuit provision that would clog our courts and prevent some claims from ever being settled.

What Kerry is doing here is playing a Washington game that enables him to be on both sides of virtually every issue. Awarding Kerry the "Whopper of the Week" in Slate, Tim Noah calls him on it:

Kerry aides told Wallsten that Kerry voted against the final bill because he disagreed with some technicalities added at the last minute, but that he voted for an earlier version of the bill. But every piece of legislation that comes before the Senate is subjected to a succession of votes, many of them tactical in nature. The only vote that counts is final passage. If it were otherwise, any legislator could claim to have voted for or against almost any bill, depending on the audience, and there would be no accountability at all. (emphasis added)

The bottom line is this: when it really mattered, on final passage, Kerry voted against funding for our troops in Iraq. He's now trying to say he voted the other way. On issue after issue, he wants to have it both ways.

No thanks, Senator. We need steady leadership in the White House.

[PhiKapMom]

And I thought Al Gore told Whoppers!

[PhiKapMom]

Please distribute this everywhere! This information gathered together in one place needs out in public.

[cripplecreek]

Might explain his 16 point slide in the NYtimes poll they buried on page 8.

[bigpete_53]

Kerry thinks the Senate record is like BK - he can have it his way, right away.

[Just mythoughts]

Must be why somebody sent him to hide out in Idaho. He has been getting advise from the BJclinton himself.

They can't produce ink fast enough to respond to his lies.


His "First Responders" to his lies need a break, they are not putting out his fires fast enough.

[finnman69]

[expatguy]

And I thought Al Gore told Whoppers!

Al Gore invented the Whopper.

[martin_fierro]

[goldstategop]

Algore looks like the model of probity next to Baron John Forbes Munchausen.

[Teacher317]

Mr. Kerry added, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,"

He says this while asking to be PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?!? A third-grader would know better than to say anything so stupid!!

[LADY J]

Is Kerry mentally disabled? It's beginning to look that way.

[PhiKapMom]

URL for this article from the OFFICIAL BushBlog where they post this information should be:

Kerry Tries to Have It Both Ways on Issue After Issue

[guitfiddlist]

Kerry needs to give an expiration date for each of his statements.

[PhiKapMom]

So the NY Times buried it -- you can bet it would have been front page material if they knew it was the truth!

Seems Kerry has no idea what he is dealing with in this campaign. Governor Marc Racicot is probably one of the best organizational people we have in the GOP. His legacy at RNC is one of efficiency plus a hard hitting RNC Research Department that Chairman Gillespie is now running with and doing a great job.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[PogySailor]

Did you see this one?

Kerry Tries to Have It Both Ways on Issue After Issue

[PhiKapMom]

LOL!!! He is going to out whopper Gore in the first month if he keeps this up, and we are a long way from November.

[PhiKapMom]

I hate to ask -- is that the REAL THING? If it is -- the guy is certifiable!

[PogySailor]

AAARRRGGGHHHH! I meant this one:

John Kerry Issues The Indignation Proclamation

[PhiKapMom]

That was a post from me yesterday.