Posted on 11/06/2007 5:30:01 PM PST by CGblue
RANDOLPH -- John Kerry said Monday there might be a next time for his presidential aspirations, and if there is, the 63-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts says he’ll be ready for the political torpedoes that helped sink his 2004 White House bid.
Kerry, whose service as a U.S. Navy Swift boat skipper during the Vietnam War came under attack in his race against President Bush, said he has compiled a dossier on his war record critics that he wishes he had as the Democratic presidential nominee.
``We have put together a documented portfolio that frankly puts their lies in such a total light of absurdity and indecency, that should they ever rear their ugly heads again, we have every single ‘t’ crossed and ‘i’ dotted, and I welcome that in a sense,'' Kerry said following a morning address to the South Shore Chamber fo Commerce. ``It’s a shame we weren’t able to produce all that at the time.''
Kerry said he regrets his slowness to counter accusations from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which faulted Kerry’s war record and his subsequent anti-war activism.
``I think the bigger problem was the campaign should have spent more money putting the truth out there,'' Kerry said. ``I think there was an assumption that is was out there, it was sufficiently out there.''
While Kerry is sitting out the 2008 presidential election n he’s instead focusing on his own his race next year for a sixth term as U.S. senator n he expects he’d be dogged by the same war record critics in a subsequent race for the White House.
``I have no doubt at all that some of the people involved on the other side don’t care about the truth, think nothing about distorting it, will not hesitate to say and do whatever they think is necessary to win,'' Kerry said. ``But I think we are now much more prepared and savvy about those kind of things, and certainly in my own involvement, I will make certain that people don’t get away with that.''
Kerry said he regretted that the term ``swift boating'' has taken on the meaning of a political attack, but that such attacks have become a part of national politics.
``I hate to see the term become a negative term in American politics, it is what is is,'' he said. ``Would those same tactics be used against people? Sure, absolutely.''
Kerry also said he doesn’t see why Republicans were able to corner the market on the evangelical vote, adding that former Bush adviser Karl Rove used religion to divide voters.
``Evangelicals care enormously about the centrality of the teachings of Jesus Christ and of the Bible,'' he said. ``If you lead a life and if you are involved in issues that manifest a concern for those kinds of issues, there’s no reason that one separate issue or another ought to create a wedge.''
Kerry also said Bush and current Republican president contenders have exploited the issue of terrorism for political gain.
``There is a willingness to try to exploit 9-11, to scare Americans to try to move this debate to a place that it frankly isn’t,'' he said. ``I think the artificiality of that will be seen by many Americans, and it certainly does not represent real leadership.''
While Kerry hasn’t made an endorsement in the current race for the Democratic presidential nomination, he is quick to pounce on Republican Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who recently called the United Nations an obsolete body.
``I think Gov. Romney’s comments about the United Nations were ignorant and demeaning, and frankly almost counterproductive in the worst way,'' Kerry said. ``To dump on it the way he did is simply crass politics playing to the right-wing base, and that is not what we need in terms of presidential leadership in our country.''
Responding to observations that Kerry speaks more decisively today than he did as a candidate in 2004, Kerry said he’s learned from past mistakes on the campaign trail.
``I don’t think I’ve changed in my willingness to tell things as I see them, I did that when I ran for president,'' he said. ``I’m not sure I did it quite as directly and effectively as hopefully I can do it now.''
Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger Transmitted Monday, November 05, 2007
Funny how he's compiled dossier's on them, but hasn't produced his own......isn't it?
What a sad pathetic creature.
Message to Kerry: Don’t bother.
but did he sign the SF 180??? If not it’s all a work of Super ego Induced Fiction!
What a crock. If he really had been truthful, the accusations that he claims were made, could have been refuted immediately.
If things go really well, Kerry won’t have a next time.
Yeah. Put some ice on that, Frenchie.
Does he really think there will a next time?
Dude! All we EVER asked you for is your signed SF180. That’s all the information anyone needs to back up your military bragging. What? You lied to us about your illustrious service? You still contend that you weren’t a TRAITOR to the United States? LOL! Moron.
Give it up, Loser. Has-been. Never-was. Never-will-be.
you beat me to it. He made no mention of form 180. He claims the infomation wasn.t accessible out there then, well if he oly signed form 180, everything would have been out in the open 3 years ago.
So ketchup boy thinks theres a law of limitations on lies and sedition ?
Doom on that POS and his cow crap !
He is sad and pathetic, it is seared, seared into his personality.
Hey, Jean Kerri, we don’t need dossiers on your enemies, just YOUR dossier.
Give us the 180.
This is one of the best laughs I had all week
“Next time”??
Does Kerry believe the Swiftboaters and their supporters (me) haven’t buttressed their files on Kerry’s lies?
Ain’t that the truth!
PS
I don’t care, just thought I would let you know.
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