Pounce on Kerry! Antiwar speech forbidden!

[latebloomer]

Apparently in this day and age it is strictly forbidden for a candidate for President to express ANY antiwar sentiments, past or present.

Kerry knows this. He refuses to come out strongly against the Iraq war, and chooses to portray himself as a decorated war hero rather than the Kerry that I admire, who spoke so strongly about the wrongness of that war.

But now his peace activist days have come back to haunt him. Led by a group of rabid veterans of the genre who start foaming at the mouth at the mention of Jane Fonda, the Bush campaign is demonizing him as a traitor for speaking out against the criminality of Vietnam. Rather than defending his VVAW days, Kerry backpedals and continues to insist that his heroism as a soldier was the most significant part of his service.

Is this country not ready for someone who can proudly cite his peace activism and at the same time denounce the current version of US militarism and empire-building?

Guess not. At least, the powers that control the party, media and corporate world would never allow someone like that to secure the nomination.

Obligatory disclaimer-- I am voting for Kerry, but not happily.

[jonnyblitz]

1. good post.

It would be nice to be happy about voting for him wouldn't it? I hear ya...

[jimshoes]

2. It's a tough balancing act

Malloy read some of Kerry's testimony on the air last night. It was extremely powerful stuff. I was proud that he had the character to voice what was then an unpopular, (at least among the Washington warmonger crowd) antiwar opinion. Today we face an uncertain future, while military toughness must be a part of that future, military ignorance and arrogance must not. I think Kerry knows the difference.

[Malva Zebrina]

3. It is sad that in this election we seem to be asked to vote fo the man

who would be the better war president. At this point,the issue seems to be who is the man who is most capable of pre-emptive aggression -- that is the way these days.

On this day, some 950 of our young people have had their young lives brutally cut short-950 families in this country will never be the same---all on the lies of an evil, willfully ignorant man,who was NOT elected, whose base, as he bragged, is the "haves" ,the top 1% of the millionaires and the billionaires who are getting richer due to his dictatorial tyranny over the working class man, who slaves for minimum wage in more than one job, in order to pay rent and feed his family and whose children are not covered by medical insurance and so he must arrive at some crowded emergency room where a hundred others are waiting to see a doctor while his sick child is running a 104 temperature.

and we spend billions and billions of dollars slaughtering innocent people for the sake of the war profiteers, and we spend millons and millions to run political campaigns -- the one with the most money, it is perceived--will win.

This system is sick and broken and sad.

[welshTerrier2]

4. powerful words

nicely said, Marianne ...

the American people, even many Democrats, are sound asleep ... and we have failed to awaken them ...

the one point you made that i'm not so clear about was: the issue seems to be who is the man who is most capable of pre-emptive aggression

while i hated Kerry's IWR vote, it is not clear to me that he would, in any way, endorse bush's doctrine of pre-emptive war ... Kerry has stated on many occasions that war must always be the action of last resort ... I would hope that he would endorse the long-held doctrine that attacking another country would require the presence of imminent threat ...

nevertheless, i couldn't agree more with your statement that: the system is sick and broken and sad ...

[mike_c]

5. it's very discouraging, isn't it...?

...watching the nation's "leaders" acting out an obvious charade while thousands die for nothing in our names.

:puke:

[robcon]

6. I don't think Kerry was anti-war in the excerpts in the ad.

He could be described as anti-American-soldiers by claiming atrocities were routine.

He's go to come back hard against the ad, and explain his position.

[latebloomer]

7. Unfortunately what he said was true

Atrocities were widespread, if not routine.

[Warpy]

8. No candidate is everything to everyone

and I think Kerry needs to make a major speech on how Bush violated nearly every provision of the bill Congress passed allowing him to use force as a last resort against Iraq.

However, consider what this country has become. People are scared, and the terra alerts every time Bush's poll numbers drop or his team does something colossally stupid that they need to keep out of the papers only increases the fear. They're looking for a daddy to protect them, and that's the reason for all Kerry's posturing.

If you need a reason to like Kerry, look at what he did exposing the BCCI scandal. He had begun looking into drug cartel money laundering and stumbled on a huge international money laundering operation with tentacles reaching into all parts of the US government and funding what would become bin Laden's training program. His investigation was eventually halted due to "national security" concerns (Bush family connections), so he did an end run around Congress and gave what he knew to the AG of NY and a few other agencies and the scandal finally broke wide open. Kerry may be just the guy we need right now. He was defunding terrorism even before most people in the government knew it existed! Plus, he took on the Bush family.

All the military posing chaps my butt, too, but I know where it's coming from and why. When your opponent is a Village People soldier, it's time to let the people know what the real thing looks like and let them decide who is the better protector.

[latebloomer]

9. "Village People soldier"!!

I like it!!