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Kristol: Disgraceful
The Weekly Standard ^ | 10/04/04 | William Kristol

Posted on 09/24/2004 3:08:03 PM PDT by Pokey78

The disgraceful behavior of John Kerry and his team is sufficient grounds for concern about his fitness to be president

WE REALLY DON'T KNOW what a President John Kerry would do about Iraq. His flip-flops about the war, his inconsistencies, the ambiguity of his current position (win or withdraw?)--all of these mean we can only guess about a Kerry presidency. He would probably be inclined to get out of Iraq as soon as possible; it might be the case, however, that as president he would nonetheless find himself staying and fighting. Who knows?

What we do know is this: Kerry and his advisers have behaved disgracefully this past week. That behavior is sufficient grounds for concern about his fitness to be president.

On Tuesday, President Bush spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. Senator Kerry decided not to say anything supportive of the president as he made the American case to the "international community." Nor did he simply campaign that day on other issues. No. Less than an hour after President Bush finished speaking in New York, Kerry was criticizing his remarks in Jacksonville, Florida: "At the United Nations today, the president failed to level with the world's leaders. Moments after Kofi Annan, the secretary general, talked about the difficulties in Iraq, the president of the United States stood before a stony-faced body and barely talked about the realities at all of Iraq. . . . He does not have the credibility to lead the world."

So Kerry credits Kofi Annan--who a few days before had condemned the "illegal" American war in Iraq--as a more accurate source of information on the subject than the president of the United States. Kerry also seems to think it significant that the General Assembly sat "stony-faced" while the president spoke. Would the applause of delegates from China, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and, yes, France, have made the president's speech more praiseworthy in Kerry's eyes?

Then Kerry was asked about Kofi Annan's description of the war in Iraq as an "illegal" invasion. Kerry answered: "I don't know what the law, the legalities are that he's referring to. I don't know." So the U.S. government is accused of breaking international law, and Kerry chooses not to defend his country against the charge, or to label it ridiculous or offensive. He is agnostic.

Then Kerry continued: "Well, let me say this to all of you: That underscores what I am saying. If the leader of the United Nations is at odds with the legality, and we're not working at getting over that hurdle and bringing people to the table, as I said in my speech yesterday, it's imperative to be able to build international cooperation." It's our fault that the U.N. is doing almost nothing to help in Iraq. After all, according to Kerry, "Kofi Annan offered the help of the United Nations months ago. This president chose to go the other way."

Leave aside the rewriting of history going on here. The president of the United States had just appealed for help from the United Nations and its member states to ensure that elections go forward in Iraq. Kerry could have reinforced that appeal for help with his own, thereby making it a bipartisan request. He chose instead to give the U.N., France, Germany, and everyone else an excuse to do nothing over these next crucial five weeks, with voter registration scheduled to begin November 1. If other nations prefer not to help the United States, the Democratic presidential candidate has given them his blessing.

Two days later, Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. Sen. Kerry could not be troubled to attend, as a gesture of solidarity and respect. Instead, Kerry said in Ohio that Allawi was here simply to put the "best face on the policy." So much for an impressive speech by perhaps America's single most important ally in the war on terror, the courageous and internationally recognized leader of a nation struggling to achieve democracy against terrorist opposition.

But Kerry's rudeness paled beside the comment of his senior adviser, Joe Lockhart, to the Los Angeles Times: "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips."

Is Kerry proud that his senior adviser's derisive comment about the leader of free Iraq will now be quoted by terrorists and by enemies of the United States, in Iraq and throughout the Middle East? Is the concept of a loyalty to American interests that transcends partisan politics now beyond the imagination of the Kerry campaign?

John Kerry has decided to pursue a scorched-earth strategy in this campaign. He is prepared to insult allies, hearten enemies, and denigrate efforts to succeed in Iraq. His behavior is deeply irresponsible--and not even in his own best interest.

There is some chance, after all, that John Kerry will be president in four months. If so, what kind of situation will he have created for himself? France will smile on him, but provide no troops. Those allies that have provided troops, from Britain and Poland and Australia and Japan and elsewhere, will likely recall how Kerry sneered at them, calling them "the coerced and the bribed." The leader of the government in Iraq, upon whom the success of John Kerry's Iraq policy will depend, will have been weakened before his enemies and ours--and will also remember the insult. Is this really how Kerry wants to go down in history: Willing to say anything to try to get elected, no matter what the damage to the people of Iraq, to American interests, and even to himself?


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: kerry; kerryiraq; kristol; weeklystandard
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To: combat_boots

What bad word? I thought it was a hell of a good comment.


61 posted on 09/24/2004 3:54:27 PM PDT by JusPasenThru (What did Dan Rather know, and when did he know it?)
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To: Pokey78

Once a traitor.........Always a traitor!!


62 posted on 09/24/2004 3:55:26 PM PDT by PISANO (NEVER FORGET 911 !!!!)
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To: JusPasenThru

Thanks, pal.


63 posted on 09/24/2004 3:55:50 PM PDT by combat_boots (Dug in and not budging an inch)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
You got some serious problems, the least of which is confusion over your prefered nationality.

Not at all. I see more American spirit in Alberta than in most places here in the United States.

Check out the movie "Last of the Mohicans" when you have a chance. It offers some great insight into the real American spirit. (Call me Nathanial . . . or Hawkeye, proud adopted son of Chingachkuk.)

64 posted on 09/24/2004 3:56:08 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I made enough money to buy Miami -- but I pissed it away on the Alternative Minimum Tax.)
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To: Pokey78

Bump to top.


65 posted on 09/24/2004 3:56:41 PM PDT by dano1
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To: Owl558
Were you slapped around by a right of center columnist when you were young?

No, it's actually the other way around. In my book, we call people like Kristol Marxists.

66 posted on 09/24/2004 3:57:42 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I made enough money to buy Miami -- but I pissed it away on the Alternative Minimum Tax.)
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To: RinaseaofDs
Hello,

Our lives are at stake. And our kids, and parents, and neighbors, and friends.

This one is for keeps folks, and anyone who does not understand that needs to step aside and let the adults try to deal with a horrible situation.

Glad to be here (despite the topic), MOgirl
67 posted on 09/24/2004 3:59:26 PM PDT by MOgirl (In memory of Walton Wayne Callahan, I love you forever.)
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To: Pokey78

Yes, Kerry will do anything, say anything, if he thinks it will get him into the WH. There, at least, he has a chance to wear the pants in the family.


68 posted on 09/24/2004 3:59:33 PM PDT by hershey
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To: JusPasenThru
It is impossible to be friends with someone who has the temerity to call a legitimate war, 'nonsense'. It is likely that an American soldier gave his life today in defense of our freedom, and for someone to attempt to dishonor that sacrifice with such irresponsible speech is, in my opinion, traitorous.

I lived through the Vietnam War, and such language is reminiscent of the cowardly turncoats of that time.

69 posted on 09/24/2004 4:01:43 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: hershey

That's what he thinks, remember the Clintons?


70 posted on 09/24/2004 4:02:45 PM PDT by BlessedByLiberty (Respectfully submitted,)
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To: Alberta's Child

Fine. I'll call you Hawkeye Pierce, after the limp-wristed star of M*A*S*H.


71 posted on 09/24/2004 4:03:02 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: Alberta's Child

"In my book, we call people like Kristol Marxists."

Dude, you are so blinded by ideology and hate that you can't see that Kristol is right in this case. I also do not agree with the guy on a lot of things, but right is right and wrong is wrong.

And you, my friend, are wrong.


72 posted on 09/24/2004 4:03:23 PM PDT by Owl558 (Pardon my spelling)
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To: Pokey78

"At the United Nations today, the president failed to level with the world's leaders."

A US Senator telling the world that the American President lied to them.

This is not "loyal opposition."

This is an attack on the credibility of the government of the United States.

Kerry needs to be removed from consideration for the presidency. Kristol is right. He's not fit.


73 posted on 09/24/2004 4:07:37 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (I, the jury)
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To: Owl558
It has nothing to do with ideology -- I simply don't trust the guy's motives, that's all.

If Bill Clinton published an extensive legal tract on the importance of telling the truth in the U.S. court system, you can be damned sure most rational people would pass him off as a jack@ss no matter how clear, concise, and legally correct he was.

74 posted on 09/24/2004 4:07:39 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I made enough money to buy Miami -- but I pissed it away on the Alternative Minimum Tax.)
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To: txrangerette

It is absolutely criminal what the Dumocrats are doing to our troops.


75 posted on 09/24/2004 4:09:31 PM PDT by marty60
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To: sinkspur
You can be honest and admit it, Sinkspur . . . that little tidbit about William Kristol and the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya really caught you off guard, didn't it?

;-)

76 posted on 09/24/2004 4:10:08 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I made enough money to buy Miami -- but I pissed it away on the Alternative Minimum Tax.)
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To: Kristian
Everybody's forgetting what I think is the single biggest success of the Bush administration -- getting nukes out of Libya. If we suppose Iraq never had WMD's, we had no idea the extent of Libya's program. No idea! What are we supposed to do if some unsuspecting country drops a suitcase nuke on the Capitol Hill steps?

Better safe than sorry and Iraq, by violating all of the UN resolutions after the '91 gulf war had it coming.

77 posted on 09/24/2004 4:12:25 PM PDT by AmishDude (FR: Hundreds of voices are shouting, spitting, and clamoring for attention at any given moment.)
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To: AmishDude
Everybody's forgetting what I think is the single biggest success of the Bush administration -- getting nukes out of Libya

Actually, it was a total capitulation. Didn't Bush say that there would be no negations with terrorists?Can you say OIL?

78 posted on 09/24/2004 4:16:15 PM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
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To: AmishDude

Libya was responsible for the deaths of how many Americans?


79 posted on 09/24/2004 4:17:26 PM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
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To: AmishDude

80 posted on 09/24/2004 4:19:34 PM PDT by sarcasm (Tancredo 2004)
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