Posted on 09/27/2004 3:18:21 AM PDT by kattracks
t isn’t hard to see, or hear. All one has to do is listen to John Kerry for a bit. His every word drips of it. It emanates from his every action. John Kerry is arrogant. This has never been more obvious than in his recent remarks about Iraq in the face of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s speech to a joint session of Congress. John Kerry essentially said that the prime minister didn’t know what he was talking about and that he, John Kerry, did.
We’ve heard about Kerry’s legendary elitism. We’ve heard the stories of him bucking lines in small town Massachusetts, chastising those he usurped with a flippant, “Don’t you know who I am?” We’ve read accounts of him demeaning Secret Service agents for his lack of balance on his snowboard – “I don’t fall down. That son-of-a-bitch knocked me over.” It’s clear that he believes he is above the everyman. Better than the everyman. Superior to the everyman. He is an elitist. He is a narcissist.
All of this pales in comparison to the statements he made directly after the speech to Congress by Prime Minister Allawi.
Mr. Allawi spoke to the American people, via their elected representatives, to affirm and confirm a few things. He wanted, first and foremost, to thank the American people for helping to liberate them from the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein. He thanked us for freeing the Iraqi people from a regime that the United Nations – that bastion of principle – allowed to remain in power regardless of the mass graves it produced and the truly illegal wars it waged. His was sincere and everyone who was in the House chamber felt it, accepted it and validated it.
Mr. Allawi then spoke of the commitment that he and his fellow Iraqis have made to bring democracy and a permanent freedom to his country, showcasing the incredible journey that the Iraqi people have taken in so short a time. He described in detail some of the horrors of Hussein’s regime including his own brush with brutality and death at the hands of axe-wielding thugs sent to silence the then exiled patriot courtesy of Saddam Hussein himself. Allawi conveyed that it is precisely because of this past, this history of cruelty, that the Iraqi people hunger for democracy and liberty. Again no one in the chamber doubted the sincerity of Mr. Allawi’s words.
But perhaps the most important element of Mr. Allawi’s speech to the American people was his contention that while our media reports the dire situations in just three regions within his country, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis are thankful for what the Coalition Forces have done and continue to do. He stood before our representatives and told us, straight from Baghdad, that the situation with regard to the terrorist insurgency is not as horrifying as our media is portraying it to be, that the peaceful regions outnumber the hostile regions 15 to 3, and, albeit little by little, that the war against terrorism in his country is being won. Given the exploits of CBS News in recent days it isn’t completely out of the question that Mr. Allawi is correct when he asserts that the media is over-blowing the situation, sensationalizing the actualities and politicizing the events in a few regions to give the illusion that the unrest is nationwide.
So, the question is this, who are we going to believe?
Are we going to believe a man who lives in Baghdad, whose job it is to nurture democracy in a newly freed nation, a man who lives and breathes every element of the Iraqi society, who witnesses firsthand the successes and the setbacks on a day-to-day basis? Or are we going to believe John Kerry and his disingenuous spin-doctors, people who have taken to constant repetition of talking points and non-truths in hopes of capitalizing on propaganda tactics from WWII? I don’t know about you but I have to believe someone who is dedicated to a free and peaceful Iraq over someone who is continuously preaching doom while proposing to handover reconstruction responsibilities to the very international organization who is responsible for allowing Saddam Hussein to remain in power while hundreds of thousands – if not millions – died at his hands.
John Kerry’s assertion that he knows better what’s happening in Iraq than Iraq’s own prime minister is the pinnacle of arrogance. He is an elitist. He is a narcissist. And if this is the way he intends to “court” the international community, if this is his diplomatic style, he would be a miserable failure as President of the United States.
Copyright © 2004 Frank Salvato
Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for TheRant.us. He is a contributing writer to GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials.com, and AmericanDaily.com and his pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications. He can be contacted at oped@therant.us.
"Miserable failure" suits him. He did marry 2 wealthy women....divorced one who suffered depression (understandably) and the other one who is nuts (also understandable being married to this pretender to greatness).
Perfect word! Thanks so much. I love learning new words! English is the richest of all languages.
Has he done ANYTHING extraordinary, aside from leading anti-vietnam war hippies against the war and making headlines for it because the CBS press etc agreed with that position?
Like most Democrats in the past 35-40 years, he expects to be judged on his stated intentions, never on his accomplishments or qualifications. Hillary leads the way in this . . . she has absolutely no qualifications or experience to be President, yet we all know her ambition.
Not only are these people unqualified for the highest office, they are totally unqualified to defend the US against the terrorists and their ilk who don't give a rat's behind about feelings or intentions. Kerry and the rest of the modern Democrats (Zell Miller excluded) are positively the worst people we could elect right now.
Howie Carr always gets a lot of calls when he asks for Kerry "Do you know who I am?" stories. And we know he jumped the line for the Reagan funeral (with his own cameraman, no less).
I think Kerry and his cohorts did themselves in for the election with the comments that were made after Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s speeches. And Kerry, Lockhart, etc don't see anything wrong with their comments, because, after all, everyone else around them is saying the same thing. Talk about living in an echo chamber.
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