Taken from
rnc.org:
John Kerry told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday that he had released all his military records.
He hadn't.
Jeanne Shaheen on Fox and CNN said Senator Kerry's military records were posted on his campaign website.
They weren't.
Senator Kerry served from 1966 to 1978. If he did not intend to release all his officer evaluations, records of attendance including reserve duty attendance, medical records and all other military records held by him or the government, he should not have pledged to do so. He and his campaign should stop the word games and keep the pledge he made on national television.
Kerry said a lot of things on "Meet The Press" Read what he said
here.
Some quotes of interest to me:
...Americans are going to hear the truth, which has been sorely lacking from the political discussion of our country.
I couldn't agree more. The irrational hatred of Bush and the absurd allegations coming out of the left have created a carnival atmosphere instead of serious debate. If Kerry would stop lying about Bush, we could have a serious debate about the future of this country. Until then, I imagine the mud will continue to fly back and forth... and it will not work to Kerry's advantage
This administration misled America.
I sure hear that allegation a lot from the left... I have yet to hear them back it up.
What did this administration do to mislead the American public? Kerry had access to all the same intelligence info and came to the same exact conclusions the president did... he even voted to send our troops over, so how exactly did the administration mislead Sen. Kerry into making that decision?
Nothing is more important than how a president takes a nation to war, how a president decides to put young men and women at risk for our nation. I believe this president broke faith with the rules of how a president does that.
Rules? I have a degree in political science. I don't ever recall coming across a set of rules that the president must abide by before sending troops over seas. The president cannot keep troops over seas for more than 90 days without seeking Congressional approval... which Sen. Kerry voted for, but beyond that the president can do just about anything to keep America safe. America is safer with Saddam deposed of, the Iraqi people are safer with Saddam deposed of, the entire world is safer with Saddam deposed of... and the President did not break any "rules" in order to achieve this result.
[In an earlier interview Kerry had been asked] If that amendment does not pass, will you then vote against the $87 billion?]
[In the earlier interview Kerry responded] I don't think any United States senator is going abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running. That's irresponsible. ...I don't think anyone in Congress is going to not give our troops ammunition, not give our troops the ability to be able to defend themselves.]
[Russert then asked] And yet you voted against that very amount of money.
SEN. KERRY: There's nothing inconsistent in either of those statements
WHAT?!?! Maybe not inconsistent if you are a horrible, lying, waffling, say-anything-to-get-elected Senator named John Kerry
...and that advertisement displays really how sad and full of distortion, almost pathetic, the Republican approach to this is. First of all, they had a series of no's: Mr. Kerry on this; no. Mr. Kerry on this; no. It wasn't a series of votes. It was one vote and that is a distortion to the American people.
What is your point? You still, in your own words, " abandon[ed] our troops and recklessly [left] Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running [by] ... irresponsibl[y] giv[ing] our troops ammunition, [and] not giv[ing] our troops the ability to be able to defend themselves."
Secondly, that vote would never have prevented any of the body armor, ammunition or anything from getting to our troops. That's a lie. That's just an outright lie. In fact, the president of the United States himself, Tim, threatened to veto that very bill if we put health care for Reservists in the bill. The president threatened to veto that bill if we had loans instead of a grant. Think of that. The president threatened to veto that bill, and yet he is now accusing me for voting no.
You did vote no, Senator Kerry. There is simply no excusing your action.
Secondly,
I thought you just did secondly...
I voted to have that bill paid for by reducing the tax cut to the wealthiest Americans so we would be responsible fiscally and that was a way to do it. Now, when they weren't willing to do that and they weren't willing to change their policy to bring other nations to the table to reduce the cost to Americans, you're darn right I voted against it because one of the lessons I learned in Vietnam is when the policy is wrong, fix it, and I voted to fix it.
So you voted to put the lives of our soldiers at risk because you wanted to raise taxes on the rich? I am sorry, but this absolutely disgusting... Why not make cuts to some of the pork-barrel legislation and practice fiscal responsibility when it comes to bloated domestic programs before we roll back the tax-cuts which brought our country out of recession.
MR. RUSSERT: If there's another bill to provide money for the troops, you'll vote against it again?
SEN. KERRY: It depends entirely on what the situation is, Tim. I'm not going to say that. What I'm saying is even the generals in Iraq said the money in that bill had no impact on their ability to continue to fight.
Which generals have said that? How does Kerry get a pass on statements like this? Wasn't Kerry recently criticizing Bush for not properly supplying our troops? Haven't there been stories in the press about how our soldiers lack necessary supplies including, but not limited to, ammo, rations, and body armor?
We had money all the way through January, and if my vote had been the deciding vote, you know as well as the president knows, as well as every Republican knows, that if I'd been the deciding vote, we would have sat down at a table, we have worked out exactly how we were going to do this intelligently and we would have had a better bill. That's how you change policy. You stand up for principle. That was a vote for principle.
Yes. The principle of putting politics before our soldier's lives. Congratulations, Senator Kerry. There are SOME issues that you don't waffle on... To bad the only time you show consistency is to the detriment of our soldiers, tax payers, gun owners, etc.
MR. RUSSERT: You do not believe the war on terror is primarily a military operation, not a law enfor...
SEN. KERRY: No...
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: ...not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You do not.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily.
This is classic. It seems like Russert can't believe what Kerry is saying. Who knows what Kerry really believes... When he changes his mind, waffles, and flips back and forth on the issue, he just denies that he is doing it and changes the subject.
[Russert] ...Are you concerned that you're sending the wrong message to the troops by not showing solidarity in terms of the war in Iraq? And have you broken your pledge?
SEN. KERRY: No, I haven't.
Just like you didn't during Vietnam, eh?
If you haven't read the entire transcript, do it... It is a
MUST READ. Russert did an amazing job with this interview. His stock went way up, as far as I am concerned. I really don't have time to go through more in the article so I will leave you with this last bit:
MR. RUSSERT: Before we take a break, I want to talk about Vietnam. You are a decorated war hero of Vietnam, prominently used in your advertising. You first appeared on MEET THE PRESS back in 1971, your first appearance. I want to roll what you told the country then and come back and talk about it:
(Videotape, MEET THE PRESS, April 18, 1971):
MR. KERRY (Vietnam Veterans Against the War): There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free-fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: You committed atrocities.
SEN. KERRY: Where did all that dark hair go, Tim? That's a big question for me. You know, I thought a lot, for a long time, about that period of time, the things we said, and I think the word is a bad word. I think it's an inappropriate word. I mean, if you wanted to ask me have you ever made mistakes in your life, sure. I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. It was honest, but it was in anger, it was a little bit excessive.
MR. RUSSERT: You used the word "war criminals."
SEN. KERRY: Well, let me just finish. Let me must finish. It was, I think, a reflection of the kind of times we found ourselves in and I don't like it when I hear it today. I don't like it, but I want you to notice that at the end, I wasn't talking about the soldiers and the soldiers' blame, and my great regret is, I hope no soldier--I mean, I think some soldiers were angry at me for that, and I understand that and I regret that, because I love them. But the words were honest but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top. And I think that there were breaches of the Geneva Conventions. There were policies in place that were not acceptable according to the laws of warfare, and everybody knows that. I mean, books have chronicled that, so I'm not going to walk away from that. But I wish I had found a way to say it in a less abrasive way.
MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, when you testified before the Senate, you talked about some of the hearings you had observed at the winter soldiers meeting and you said that people had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and on and on. A lot of those stories have been discredited, and in hindsight was your testimony...
SEN. KERRY: Actually, a lot of them have been documented.
MR. RUSSERT: So you stand by that?
SEN. KERRY: A lot of those stories have been documented. Have some been discredited? Sure, they have, Tim. The problem is that's not where the focus should have been....
So which is it, Senator Kerry?
Are you a liar and perjurer or an admitted war criminal?
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