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Kerry's looking for American failure -- and he's it (Mark Steyn)
Steyn Online ^ | 9/26/2004 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 09/26/2004 6:25:47 AM PDT by angkor

Before John Kerry, the only alumni of Swiss finishing schools I'd ever met (in my younger days) were a certain type of lively English girl, a couple of minor princesses from Gulf emirates and a charming young Iranian lady whose family had been forced to flee after the shah fell. Collectively, they all fell into the category the British call ''posh totty.'' And, although they were way out of my league, the one thing I noticed was their impeccable carriage -- they'd done all the walking-around-with-books-on-your-head stuff -- and how exquisitely well-mannered they were. Even when giving you the brush for being a broke loser, they were very nice about it.

In this respect, John Kerry isn't exactly the best advertisement for his Swiss finishing school. Forget the impeccable carriage -- if you imagine you're watching streaming video on a slow dial-up connection, his gait seems perfectly natural. But the manners thing seems to have passed him by entirely. His decision to break the time-honored tradition of keeping out of the way during the other guy's convention by rushing on the air within an hour of President Bush's speech to give an instant response was boorish and petty. But, given that his ''midnight rambler'' routine in Ohio was a disaster, there didn't seem much point dwelling on it.

But last week he did it again. Ayad Allawi, the first prime minister of post-Saddam Iraq, was in Washington to give a joint address to Congress. A tough, stocky, bullet-headed optimist, Iraq's interim leader delivered a simple, elegant and moving speech, which made three basic points:

''First, we are succeeding in Iraq. [Applause] It's a tough struggle with setbacks, but we are succeeding . . .

''The second message is quite simple and one that I would like to deliver directly from my people to yours: Thank you, America [Applause] . . .

''Third, I stand here today as the prime minister of a country emerging finally from dark ages of violence, aggression, corruption and greed . . . Well over a million Iraqis were murdered or are missing . . .''

Kerry didn't show up for Allawi's visit to Washington -- he was in Ohio again, which is evidently becoming the proverbial Vietnam-type quagmire for him. Nonetheless, barely had the prime minister finished than the absentee senator did a daytime version of his midnight ramble and barged his way onto the air to insist that he knew better than Iraq's head of government what was going on in the country. One question from his accompanying press corps was especially choice:

''Prime Minister Allawi told Congress today that democracy was taking hold in Iraq and that the terrorists there were on the defensive. Is he living in the same fantasyland as the president?''

It would be nice to think this was a somewhat crude attempt at irony, but given America's Ratherized media this seems unlikely. Just for the record, Allawi is not living in a fantasyland. He's living in Iraq, and he begins his day with a dangerous commute across Baghdad's ''Green Zone.'' John Kerry's regular commute, by contrast, is from his wife's beach compound at Nantucket to his wife's 15th century English barn reconstructed as a ski lodge in Idaho. Nonetheless, he's the expert on Iraq and the guy living there 24/7 is the fantasist, and he's happy to assure us the prime minister doesn't know what he's talking about. It's all going to hell, forget about those January elections, etc.

What a small, graceless man Kerry is. The nature of adversarial politics in a democratic society makes George W. Bush his opponent. But it was entirely Kerry's choice to expand the field, to put himself on the other side of Allawi and the Iraqi people. Given his frequent boasts that he knows how to reach out to America's allies, it's remarkable how often he feels the need to insult them: Britain, Australia, and now free Iraq. But, because this pampered cipher has floundered for 18 months to find any rationale for his candidacy other than his indestructible belief in his own indispensability, Kerry finds himself a month before the election with no platform to run on other than American defeat. He has decided to co-opt the jihadist death-cult, the Baathist dead-enders, the suicide bombers and other misfits and run as the candidate of American failure. This would be shameful if he weren't so laughably inept at it.

Still, you can understand why, inside the Democrat-media cocoon, the senator's bet on the collapse of a free Iraq doesn't sound quite as revolting as it does to the average Iraqi. On Thursday, President Bush held a press conference at the Rose Garden with Allawi. You know the way these things go. The Norwegian prime minister happens to be visiting Washington and they hold a joint press conference and Norwegian issues aren't terribly pressing at the moment so the press guys ask Bush about prescription drug plans for seniors and increased education funding while the visitor from Oslo stands there like a wallflower at the prom. But Iraq's the No. 1 issue in American right now, and they've got the go-to guy right in front of them, and what do the blow-dried poseurs of the networks ask:

''Mr. President, John Kerry is accusing you of colossal failures of judgment in Iraq . . .''

NBC guy: ''A central theme of your campaign is that America is safer because of the invasion of Iraq. Can you understand why Americans may not believe you?''

CNN: ''Sir, I'd like you to answer Senator Kerry and other critics who accuse you of hypocrisy or opportunism . . .''

They're six feet from Iraq's head of government and they've got not a question for him. They've got no interest in Iraq except insofar as they can use the issue to depress sufficient numbers of swing voters in Florida and Ohio.

Who's living in the fantasyland here? Huge forces are at play in a world of rapid change. As the prime minister said, ''We Iraqis will stand by you, America, in a war larger than either of our nations.'' But the gentlemen of the press can barely stifle their ennui. Say what you like about the old left, but at least they were outward-looking and internationalist. This new crowd -- Democrats and media alike -- are stunted and parochial, their horizons shriveling more every day.

So for Kerry the new world war is just a wedge issue. After their schooling in Switzerland, those well-mannered English gels used to describe themselves as ''finished.'' If he wasn't ''finished'' after graduating from the Institut Montana in Zug in 1955, this week John Kerry is looking finished in a far more American sense.


TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: kerry; marksteyn
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1 posted on 09/26/2004 6:25:49 AM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor

Did "Journalists" really ask those questions phrased that way? Usually they phrase their snide questions by using a quote from someone else like the two I didn't paste. Who were these two? I'd really like to know.

2 posted on 09/26/2004 6:35:50 AM PDT by StACase
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To: angkor
Great perspective...

The MSM (The biggest 527) is more interested in replaying Kerry's taking points to take down Bush than to really find out the truth about the state of the Iraq war. It is appalling that no relevant questions were asked of Allawi!!!

Journalism is in the gutter

3 posted on 09/26/2004 6:36:23 AM PDT by elchilo
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To: angkor

This is exactly why I want to vote two times: Once against Kerry and one for Bush.

Where in the world does Kerry get off? This is not fantasy land, this is ludicrous on his part.


4 posted on 09/26/2004 6:38:20 AM PDT by Y0K (NFFC@MyByWordForKerry-Edwards.com)
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To: angkor

Priceless !


5 posted on 09/26/2004 6:38:51 AM PDT by Wil H
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To: StACase
Did "Journalists" really ask those questions phrased that way?

Yes, David Gregory. He's the same prick that asked Bush if he would apologize for getting us into Iraq...

There's no doubt his agenda is to make Bush looks as bad as possible.

6 posted on 09/26/2004 6:46:20 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Words Mean Things...)
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To: angkor
Kerry finds himself a month before the election with no platform to run on other than American defeat.

Steyn nails it right here.

7 posted on 09/26/2004 6:48:04 AM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: angkor

The following are my thoughts, and mine alone, I speak for no one else.

The DNC and Kerry are as to Al Qaeda in Iraq, what their counterparts, Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams are as to the IRA in Ireland, they are both nothing more than political mouthpiece wings for terrorist groups.

Having been exposed as they were during the Vietnam era, the DNC and Kerry have now shed their last cloak of patriotic deceit about winning the war on terror in Iraq, It is back to hate America, hate our military. The DNC and Kerry are working in orchestrated coordination with Kofi Annan and the UN, repeating almost verbatim the United Nations resident terrorist prophets of doom and gloom press releases, spieling perfectly the speeches of defeatism from that viper's nest housed there on the Hudson.

Kerry's agenda is first to demoralize America, followed by appeasement, then, surrender to the terrorist enemy's terms in Iraq, he has no intent of winning there, he will use his same scum bag (Momma-T's terminology) anti-war policy from over 30 years ago, CUT and RUN. I do not think it is a matter of him not having the will to fight the terrorists, it is much more profound, he prefers that enemy to win, not Iraq, not America, not the coalition, but the terrorists.

He damned over three million (3,000,000) souls to horrible deaths when he and his hate America cohorts accomplished their betrayal of South Vietnam and consequent pull out from all of South East Asia. Kerry and his Jane Fonda ilk have no regrets whatsoever for their planned actions during those turbulent times, they are proud of their complicity in humiliating America and that 58,000 of our brave troops died there. Even today, as they repeatedly love to say adnauseam, for a mistake.

Listen and pay heed to the DNC and Kerry's rhetoric, pay very, very, close attention, they are really telling America exactly what they are going to do. Abandon the Iraqi people to the tender mercies of insane murderers, as those 3,000,000 decades ago they abandoned, to be slaughtered by their commie filth soul mates in Vietnam and Cambodia.


8 posted on 09/26/2004 6:48:09 AM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: angkor

Mark Steyn is a new media superstar.


9 posted on 09/26/2004 6:49:43 AM PDT by tkathy (There will be no world peace until all thuggocracies are gone from the earth.)
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To: StACase
Did "Journalists" really ask those questions phrased that way? Usually they phrase their snide questions by using a quote from someone else like the two I didn't paste. Who were these two? I'd really like to know.

I taped it from C-span, and need to look at it again to be sure, but I don't think the camera ever went into the press corps. There is probably a transcript somewhere to give us the names.

10 posted on 09/26/2004 6:51:31 AM PDT by CaraM
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To: tkathy

Little snot-nosed David Gregory of NBC News (the guy who can do Brokaw better than Tom Brokaw) ?


11 posted on 09/26/2004 6:56:31 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: angkor; Pokey78; Madame Dufarge; Leisler
But, because this pampered cipher has floundered for 18 months to find any rationale for his candidacy other than his indestructible belief in his own indispensability, Kerry finds himself a month before the election with no platform to run on other than American defeat. He has decided to co-opt the jihadist death-cult, the Baathist dead-enders, the suicide bombers and other misfits and run as the candidate of American failure. This would be shameful if he weren't so laughably inept at it.

The laughably inept Man Who Would Be King...

Steyn Bump!

12 posted on 09/26/2004 6:58:00 AM PDT by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: angkor
This new crowd -- Democrats and media alike -- are stunted and parochial, their horizons shriveling more every day.

Boy, does this say it all. I was thinking the other night just how disfunctional our media has become. It's like it deliberately went out to find all the psycologically damaged people it could find in order to commit public suicide. Watching that press conference, listening to those questions, can anyone here say those are normal people asking the questions?

13 posted on 09/26/2004 7:17:59 AM PDT by McGavin999 (If Kerry can't deal with the "Republican Attack Machine" how is he going to deal with Al Qaeda)
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To: scholar; Bullish; linear; yoda swings; Pokey78

Ping


14 posted on 09/26/2004 7:35:50 AM PDT by knighthawk (We will always remember We will always be proud We will always be prepared so we may always be free)
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To: StACase
Since Dan has now shot his wad, the rest of the MSM have to take up the slack.

The trick is to stop buying any products connected to the MSM. Check the mastheads to your magazines. Cancel accordingly. Read net stories instead, usually more current. When in doubt, just go a a forum of your favorite topic and enjoy.
15 posted on 09/26/2004 7:40:50 AM PDT by snooker (French Fried Flip Flopper still Flouncing, be careful out there.)
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To: angkor

Steyn btt


16 posted on 09/26/2004 7:55:13 AM PDT by TASMANIANRED (What did Kerry know and when did he know it?)
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To: TASMANIANRED

BTTT


17 posted on 09/26/2004 8:17:06 AM PDT by rirepublican
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To: angkor

Mark Steyn sees all of this as it truly is. He sees so clearly and in the same fashion....Thank You, Mark.


18 posted on 09/26/2004 8:24:55 AM PDT by shield (The Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God!!!! by Dr. H. Ross, Astrophysicist)
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To: angkor

John F*ckin' may be many things but being a gentleman doesn't come to mind. He turns snarling and surly when cornered. You can't say a lot of upper class folks get down in the gutter when the heat's on. For Kerry, attacking comes first and manners come second. Since his running mate Little Johnny is spectacularly unequipped for the task, the Democrat from Beantown has had to take on the burden of hitting hard and being presidential at the same time. Call it Windsurfing On Steroids. He's looking to be remembered as the man who ended up dead broke despite Teresa's millions. What a fitting footnote in American history. BRING IT ON!!!


19 posted on 09/26/2004 8:34:15 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Ursus arctos horribilis

Good points.


20 posted on 09/26/2004 9:21:49 AM PDT by Defiant (Kerry, Kerry, quite contrary. How does your treason grow?)
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