Reply #31: A vague but acceptable platform, if somewhat dishonest...

[Darranar]

The US "commitment to democracy" is of course legendary, as the people of El Salvador, Egypt, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, Chile, Venezeula, and Haiti will no doubt testify. Israel does not (yet) have a similarly impressive record; they have engaged in only two campaigns of benevolent liberation, the Six Day War and "Peace for Galilee."

The US and Israel do share "values", or to be more precise, a lack of them; values are something embraced by few states, and in this case neither the US nor its Middle Eastern client state stand out from the norm much.

But despite the usual mythology, the words are actually quite pretty; the real question is whether Kerry will live up to them.