The Man Who Was Unchanged(GOP for Kerry?! What's the deal?)

LATimes, Financial Times ^

[mack98]

Here's what Robert Kagan, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and contributor to the Weekly Standard, said in a recent Financial Times piece [http://snipurl.com/9ns6]: "There are many reasons why, in theory, the US would benefit from a Democratic victory. It is important for the Democrats to own the war on terrorism and not simply be the opposition. Also, we would have a fresh start with the Europeans and other allies, though they would quickly be disillusioned to learn that Kerry wouldn't be that different from Bush in some respects."

Here's what former WSJ'er Max Boot, currently with the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard [http://snipurl.com/9s4u], wrote in the LATimes: ... I am not at all averse to giving a Democrat a shot. In fact, a Democrat might be better able to sell skeptics abroad and at home on the need for toughness. It also would be good for the Democrats to buy into this long-term struggle, just as Republicans bought into the containment policy with Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1952 election. ...

[mack98]

Ok, now it's getting freaky. Two different pubs, running material within days of the other (time span no more than a week) and so very close to 2 Nov, from two high-profile fellas who have a few notable things in common. Not freaked yet? How about if both of these gents are ideologically conservative, currently write for a conservative pub and are affiliated with mega-huge think tanks.

Talking points floating around? Coincidence?

Flash Question: Are some on the right preparing --maybe even positioning themselves-- for a Kerry win? Say it ain't so.

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[trashcanbred]

That of course is a shame and a sham. They have nothing to lose if Bush wins and someting to gain if Kerry wins. I make sure I remember sell outs like these.

[okie01]

Flash Question: Are some on the right preparing --maybe even positioning themselves-- for a Kerry win? Say it ain't so.

Boot's column doesn't suggest this at all. You did read it, didn't you?

[Blood of Tyrants]

For US representative for my district I have the choice between a moderate/left 'Rat incumbent and a Republican that says that there is no way he can vote for Bush.

I'll just leave that one blank.

[DaveTesla]

pSSST...

YOU HAVE BEEN READING PRAVDA

In 1966, a year after his son Mark was born, Halperin
during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee urged that the United States should
diplomatically recognize the Communist People’s Republic
of China and seek its admission to the United Nations.

After leaving government, Halperin was feted and embraced
by many “progressive” groups that promoted similar views,
such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and
the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Check out... Read carefully
The ABC's of Media Bias
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15511

[DaveTesla]

The ABC's of Media Bias!
By Lowell Ponte

[trashcanbred]

I read this article this morning and thought it was good but focused too much on Halperin's dad. Ok so he was a Commie with a capital 'C'. It could ahve been said on 4 sentences and that would have been enough for me.

[Poincare]

I knew this would happen. Kerry's got the hawks and the doves. Bush has the sane middle.

[Veritas et equitas ad Votum]

I don't think the premise is necessarily wrong, however, John Kerry is NOT the guy. Maybe, maybe, a Gephardt or Lieberman or someone like that. If Kerry wins, we all lose. Of that I am 100% convinced.

[ScottFromSpokane]

Both Kagan and Boot are hawks, but I don't believe either one is a conservative or a Republican.

[ScottFromSpokane]

And did you actually read the Boot piece? It's all about how it's too bad the Dems nominated a jerk like Kerry, who can't be trusted to defend America.

[DaveTesla]

Here is SIX sentences...

Morton Halperin during the mid-1970s befriended Philip
Agee, a former-CIA-agent-turned-Communist who publicly
identified hundreds of purported American Central
Intelligence Agency agents. At least one of these agents,
Athens station chief Richard Welch, was murdered shortly
thereafter. Halperin flew to Europe to help Agee find safe
haven after Great Britain expelled him. In the U.S.,
Halperin opposed legislation to punish the outing of U.S.
undercover agents as Agee had done. Halperin has described
the CIA as “the subverter of everybody else’s freedom.”

Halperin, as Director of the Washington, D.C. office of
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in this era
also defended the right of The Progressive magazine to
publish secret details it had obtained of how to make an
atomic bomb.

[DaveTesla]

Both Kagan and Boot (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and
the Council on Foreign Relations) work for communist think tanks.

[trashcanbred]

Yeah I think the article should have focused more on this than focus on his dad. Who would hire this kind of kook?

[mack98]

The fact is that there seems to be several underlying messages in both pieces. One of which involves the Ds playing a larger role in GWoT. I do accept, however, your observation re hawks v conservatives. That still doesn't diminish the fact that there's that underlying message, as if on point, re Ds taking the lead.

Listen, we can go back and forth re specifics. Casual readers don't differentiate between hawks, conservatives, etc. If we're to believe the media, there's a 5%-6% of undecideds who may end up moving this election one way or the other. Does anyone here honestly think after reading both pieces an undecided isn't going to wonder whether Kerry is actually up to the task -- especially when penned/spoken by folks from the ideological right, affiliated with Kristol's WS?

Now, if a pinhead posted Friedman's piece in today's NYT, that would be quite another story. What Friedman wrote is expected. After flirting with being somewhat neutral, today's column clearly places him in the Kerry/Edwards column.

Getting back to this thread, regardless of the context and how it's presented (re Scott's point), what are some hawks/conservatives thinking when making statements like above (ie, Kagan, Boot)?

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[elizabetty]

Don't forget the article this week (somewhere) that the DNC had sent people out to give interviews and say they were not connected with the DNC but "experts in their fields." Then they were suppose to espouse this line of thought, "Bush Bad, Kerry Good"

[DaveTesla]

..................Propaganda
The Communist ^ News Network, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS

[mack98]

Sure, it happens all the time.

For example, the PBS Lehrer Hour features James Fallows, as part of commentary/analysis of the prez debates. What does Fallows do, he spins everything in Kerry's favor. [Actually, he's quite good at it from the PR standpoint.]

He's penned a few heavyweight politico pieces in the Atlantic Monthly, markets himself well, and boom, he's on a nightly broadcast. The average viewer --not a putdown, just a description of a casual viewer who may not be aware of these links-- takes everything Fallows says as bible, and viola, you may end up with one more "undecided" leaning toward Kerry.

There are many "Fallows" out there. And, with more casual viewers watching cable, etc., it's clear how easy this election could go one way or another.

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[trashcanbred]

I watched Scarborough tonight and they had on MSNBC Political Analyst o'Donnell on... Ugh... it was so sickening...

[mack98]

With O'Donnell it's different. It's clear where he's coming from (the left). He wears his politics on his sleeve, esp when someone gets him started.

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