Thursday, September 30, 2004
Kerry: Iraq a Mistake
It's now clear what John Kerry's new position is on the war in Iraq -- Bush erred in committing us to war, but nevertheless President John Kerry will make sure we win.
Unfortunately, the fact is that John Kerry has no credibility on his "current" Iraq position. He has clearly shown that he will say whatever he thinks will get him elected.
In the fall of 2002, he stood with President Bush in voting for the authorization to go to war. Why? Because a clear majority of Americans supported Bush, and John Kerry believed if he did not go along, we was jeopardizing his chance to be elected President. Remember at that time, no one imagined that winning the Iraq war would be as difficult as it has turned out to be.
Then in the Democratic primaries, he became the anti-war candidate. Why? Because Howard Dean was running away from him with his anti-war position. John Kerry believed that if he remained steadfast with President Bush, he could not win the Democratic nomination. And so he changed his position.
Now, with the nomination secured, John Kerry is telling us he will not waver in winning the peace in Iraq. Why? Because that's the position that he believes gives him the best chance of being elected President.
So is this now his "real" position? I don't think so. Given his history, it's clear his stated position is whatever is politically advantageous at the moment. So I don't believe that what John Kerry says has any correlation to what he actually thinks. (If it does, God help us if he becomes President -- we'll have troops in and out and then back in every country on Earth within his first year!)
So, as the war continues, and more Americans die in Iraq, John Kerry is going to be steadfast in winning the war, in spite of the fact that he believes it is Bush's enormous mistake? Does he really think we're going to buy that?
I don't think so. After all, how do you ask someone to be the last man to die for a mistake?
