How John Kerry's 'Smoke & Mirrors' Strategy Is Diverting Attention Away From His 20 Year Senate Record

We can call John Kerry many things: turncoat, flipper, waffler... try magician; This guy is a whole lot better than we give him credit. Case in point, by now just about every conservative blogger has jumped all over Kerry for saying

We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance ... As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.

Just about everybody immediately jumped on this: all of talk radio, the whole blogosphere, political opinion columnists... the Bush/Cheney campaign even had a commercial slamming Kerry almost immediately. Both the President ...

Now, just this weekend, Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to -- quote -- "nuisance" -- end quote -- and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling. See, I couldn't disagree more. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance. Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorists, and spreading freedom and liberty around the world.

... and the Vice President

THE VICE PRESIDENT: The clearest, most important difference in this campaign is simple to state. President Bush understands the war on terror and has a strategy for winning it. Senator Kerry does not. (Applause.)

All doubt on this matter was removed this past weekend by comments Senator Kerry made to The New York Times. The Senator said he wanted to lead America back to the place where we were -- and this is a direct quote: "Back to the place we were, to a time when terrorism was" -- in his words -- "a nuisance" -- like illegal gambling and prostitution.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: That's the comparison he made. When I read that, I thought to myself, when was terrorism only a nuisance? Was it a nuisance over four years ago today, October 12, 2000, when the USS Cole was attacked and we lost 17 of our sailors?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Was terrorism just a nuisance 11 years ago when the World Trade Center was first bombed?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Or 16 years ago when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the skies over Scotland?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Or 21 years ago when a truck bomb hit a barracks in Beirut and killed 241 American Marines?

AUDIENCE: No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, there never was a time when terrorism was just a nuisance. There never can be a time when terrorism is a nuisance. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level -- our goal is to defeat terror, and with George W. Bush as President, America will stay in the fight until the fight is won. (Applause.)

have been slamming Kerry for this most recent "gaff".

But all this attention to Kerry's most recent mind boggling statement comes at a cost... a cost I believe Kerry may have gladly paid.

We saw with the CBS Memogate how an incredible story can pull all the air out of the swift boat's sails. Before Dan Ra^ther took center stage in the election coverage, a group of understandably angry veterans were waging a political war on the self-admitted war criminal, John Kerry. Since Dan Ra^ther stole the spotlight, the swiftees have all but disappeared from the media coverage. The attention and criticism of Kerry's record was diverted to Bush's Natl. Guard record. When all the smoke cleared, the left had successfully changed the subject away from the swift boats and onto the liberal media bias. The successful Swift Boat's campaign against Kerry was effectively ended, and Kerry's freefall in the polls ended... Kerry even saw an increase in his credibility rating.

The War on Terror and Foreign Policy is a losing battle for Kerry. We all know it, and Kerry is no exception. Where Kerry does have an edge is on domestic policy; which is surprising because he has a 20 year senate record making him the most anti-gun, anti-defense, anti-business, pro tax, big government candidate the Democrats have ever supported in a bid for the presidency.

Kerry's senate record could very well be the nail in the coffin for his campaign; and Kerry's people have known that all along. Why else would they be running on his War record instead of his Senate Record? Why else have we have spent months chasing the ghosts of Vietnam instead of looking at Kerry's Senate Record?

Kerry likes to call Iraq George W. Bush's 'grand diversion'. John Kerry used Vietnam as a 'grand diversion' to keep the New Media off his senate record. John Kerry has also used the Iraq War and the War on Terror to his advantage; by waffling and making ridiculous statements, like the most recent 'nuisance' remarks, John Kerry is using smoke and mirrors and slight of hand to walk the New Media into his trap.

While we continue to harp on Kerry's short-comings on the areas where he is already losing with the American People (The Iraq War/Foreign Policy), he is going virtually unchallenged on his domestic qualifications; particularly the 20 years he spent in the Senate working towards achieving the most liberal record in the Senate.

Whatever we may think of Kerry as a candidate for President; we must always remember that he is a smart man surrounded by very smart men and women. Everything he says is very likely meticulously planned and thought out. When he makes a ridiculous revisionist statement about going back to the pre-9/11 mentality where we didn't make terror concerns a primary focus, we need to ask ourselves, what does he get out of saying this? The obvious response is that the conservative watchdogs are going to go on the offensive, attacking him. But as I said before, these attacks come at a price; we take our attention off his yet unchallenged Senate record.

With only a few weeks left till election day, Kerry has masterfully kept the media attention off his senate record. He probably knows this is his only chance of winning the election; the American people will not support his ultra-liberal Senate record. I am contending that John Kerry walked us into a trap. He has been doing it since he became the frontrunner for the Democratic Nomination. It is all smoke and mirrors, and time is running out: We must not put all our eggs in the War on Terror/Foreign Policy basket. We need to defeat Kerry on both the Foreign and Domestic fronts... and right now we are failing to do that.

We need to make this year's October surprise an all out assault on Kerry's Senate record, and the time do this is running short. We need to stop reacting to Kerry's Razzle Dazzle Smoke and Mirrors Show and take a more proactive approach to this campaign or Kerry might just pull this election out of his magical hat. If you don't want to see a Kerry run nation, do your part and expose Kerry on his Senate record. If you know a conservative blogger, pass this message on. The only way grass roots efforts work is through participation, so lets make sure the American people get the 411 on Kerry's Senate record. Let's work to inform the American people before it's too late!