Posted on 09/20/2004 2:16:00 PM PDT by areafiftyone
NEW YORK(AP) Staking out new ground on Iraq, Sen. John Kerry said Monday he would not have overthrown Saddam Hussein had he been in the White House, and he accused President Bush of "stubborn incompetence," dishonesty and colossal failures of judgment. Bush said Kerry was flip-flopping.
Less than two years after voting to give Bush authority to invade Iraq, the Democratic candidate said the president had misused that power by rushing to war without the backing of allies, a post-war plan or proper equipment for U.S. troops. "None of which I would have done," Kerry said.
"Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell," he added. "But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure."
Bush responded in kind, interpreting the comment to mean that Kerry believes U.S. security would be better with Saddam still in power. "He's saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy," the Republican incumbent said.
"Today, my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind," Bush said at a New Hampshire rally. "He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, No, we should not have invaded Iraq, after just last month saying he would have voted for force even knowing everything we know today."
Kerry called on Bush to do a much better job rallying allies, training Iraqi security forces, hastening reconstruction plans and ensuring that elections are conducted on time. But his speech was thin on details, with Kerry saying Bush's miscalculations had made solutions harder to come by.
Bush cited Kerry's four-point plan and dismissed it as proposing "exactly what we're currently doing."
Both candidates addressed partisan crowds, drawing cheers and hoots as they stretched each other's records and rhetoric _ mixing facts with political creativity toward the same goal: raising doubts about the other man's credibility.
*** Bush said Kerry was flip-flopping.***
They are going to hang those rubber flip flops around Kerry's neck and set them on fire before this election is over.
This is incomprehensible. Why say he would NOT have invaded Iraq AFTER saying he WOULD have invaded Iraq even if he had known that Saddam did not have WMDs. You can't nuanced that. You can't make both statements true so one of them is a lie.
I'd be shocked if this is jumped upon in the debates.
Actually, I'm starting to think that he's more entertaining than Dean. He and TeRAYza both open their mouths, and nobody(including their own handlers) knows what they're gonna say. I wouldn't be surprised if he let's go with his own "Eaarrrggghhhh!" in the next 43 days.
MEMO to Kerry: No one is listening to you...we're all too interested in the CBS fake memos story...I'm sure that you will be given numerous chances to speak on THAT issue in the near future...
Run Left Kerry........faster......faster........faster!!!!!!!
I suppose supporting terrorists with oil for food program does not count and we should let the UN handle Iraq. Ha! Terrorism isn't chaos?
And the benefit of retaining Saddam Hussein in the position of Maximum Leader in Iraq would be....
Hadn't the leftists been extremely critical that back in the 1980's, Reagan had supposedly been directing aid to Saddam Hussein, and that was why he got so evil? Does retaining Saddam now somehow mitigate all the high crimes he was engaged in back then?
Does Kerry really despise those poor miserable Iraqis THAT much, he would abandon them to the tender mercies of Saddam?
That would be SO racist.
Well, at last Kerry is telling part of the truth. He would not have invaded Afghanistan and overthrown the Taliban, either. He — and virtually all Democrats — would have wrung their hands after 9/11. They would have hemmed and hawed at the UN, held pretentious summit meetings with European leaders, and then would have turned the whole matter over to the UN and International Criminal Court in the Hague (or wherever they are) to investigate. His only concession to our national sovereignty and right to defend ourselves would have been to lend some FBI resources to the Euros to help with the investigation.
I hope the mainstream media outlets pick this one up BIG TIME! This needs to be shown over and over again!
1,000 American dead to liberate a people........and he just spit on their graves.
Whoever told him to make this statement needs a medal........he will face a firestorm over this one.
Another 2 to 3 days of him off message.
but...but... Girlie Man Edwards said he would crush Al Qaeda!
Kerry loves to get "peace agreements" that aren't worth the toilet paper they are written on.
Let's not forget Kerry's stellar Senate career where his greatest achievements were
Stopping the funding for the Nicaraguan Contras after bring back a peace agreement with Daniel Ortega of the Sandanistas (which was worthless). Ortega turned around and solicited $200 million from the Soviets a few days later. Read: Kerry's Disloyal Nicaraguan Journey and Don't forget 'The John Kerry Committee'Investigating (or creating) the Iran/Contra and BCCI scandals.
Blocking the vote on the Vietnam Human Rights Act in the Senate in 2001, which tied U.S. aid to Vietnam's human rights performance, and had passed by a 410-1 margin in the House of Representatives. Kerry, chairman of the Senate's East Asian and Pacific Affairs subcommittee, said in a statement at the time that he and fellow Vietnam War veteran Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) "are concerned that denying aid to Vietnam would actually slow human rights improvements." Many Vietnamese living abroad, along with human rights campaigners, say conditions in Vietnam have deteriorated in the three years since Kerry blocked the legislation.
Persuading the MIA/POW Senate committee to vote unanimously that no POWs existed in Vietnam in order to open up trade with Vietnam (his cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO of Colliers Intl, received a contract for a huge commercial deal worth at least $905 million to develop a deep-sea commercial port at Vung Tau).
For more on the POW/MIA issue, here is a great article: When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A. - Senator covered up evidence of P.O.W.'s left behind
For more, check out the John F. Kerry Timeline. Email it to your friends, post on your blogs.
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Yes he abandoned the Vietnamese....
What does he think Bush did? LOL!
yea he would have let the food for oil program line his own pockets...
Thanks for keeping us up to date on Kerry's latest core beliefs. (Snicker.)
Damn that Dubya. All the Libs were excited, some conservatives worried, and he just blew Kerry out of the water again. LOL Between our President's sweet words and Rather's continuing saga, Kerry becomes more and more irrelevant.
The man should be careful. He's going to run out of stakes.
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