Ezra, in a post titled “Substance-Free Attack Dogs” claims that I am over-reaching when I note that Kerry is out of line with his ‘foreign leaders’ comments. Notwithstanding the irony of being called an attack dog by none other than the First Violinist of the I Hate Bush orchestra, Ezra, while on the same sheet of music with the rest of the Anyone But Bush crowd, is off-key on a number of his assessments and statements.
Sayeth Ezra:
Sorry John, but your little scandal is over. The new Spanish prime minister has said he wants Bush out, not to mention that Kerry was misquoted in the first place.
Wrong and wrong- off to a typical start for Ezra. First, the new Spanish prime minister, a socialist, may dislike Bush and desire Kerry in office. But he was not in office when Kerry made the remarks, Kerry did not visit him, and since Kerry won’t tell us which leaders he is talking about, this is projection on Ezra’s part.
Second, while Kerry may have been misquoted, it did not change the thrust of his message. This was widely discussed in the blogosphere yesterday, and Ezra knows it. Why let the truth get in the way of spin? At any rate, it is a moot point, as Kerry himself isstanding by the statements:
In a telephone interview, the Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic nominee said “it’s no secret” that some countries are “deeply divided about our foreign policy. We have lost respect and influence in the world.”
He continued: “I stand by my statement. The point is not the leaders. What’s important is that this administration’s foreign policy is not making us as safe as we can be in the world.”
Undeterred, Ezra swings for the bleachers again:
They’re not going after Kerry on the economy, because he’s far more serious about the deficit than Bush is.
They’re not going after him on his foreign policy positions because they’re all thoughtful and tough.
They’re not going after him on health care because he’s got a sensible plan.
Instead, they’re going after him on whether or not he actually had the lamb when he lunched with the foreign leaders and the ridiculous and baseless charge that Kerry doesn’t talk about terrorism enough.
A banner day for Ezra, as he goes 0-6. They are going after Kerry on the economy- here is the Bush/Cheneypress brief on their plan for the economy, you can view any number of commercials from the Bush campaign on Kerry and foreign policy, and as far as I can tell, no one in America is talking about Kerry’s health plan.
Finally, no one cares what Kerry ate for lunch when he met with these foreign leaders, because HE DID NOT MEET WITH ANY. All people want to know is what foreign leaders? Saddam Hussein? Gerhard Schroeder? Aristide? Kim Jong-Il? Ordinary people want to know- but we know how Kerry holds ordinary people in low regard:
The town meeting was contentious at times, with 52-year-old Cedric Brown repeatedly pressing the candidate to name the foreign leaders whom Kerry has said are backing his campaign.
“I’m not going to betray a private conversation with anybody,” Kerry said. As the crowd of several hundred people began to mutter and boo, Kerry said, “That’s none of your business.”
These guys can’t even keep there lies consistent. Did he make the statement, or was he misquoted? It goes on and on.
One thing that I have learned about politics is that your political opponent often times over-reaches, and in doing so, exposes his Achilles heel. Ezra does so here, with this little statement:
They’re not going after him on his foreign policy positions because they’re all thoughtful and tough.
Anyone with half a brain recognizes that Kerry’s biggest problem is his voting record. Democrats are terrified that people will see the real record, so the new meme of the election is that Kerry is smart and thoughtful, able to understand complex situations and make nuanced decisions. That sounds great, especially since they can tie it in tothe absurdly false meme that Bush is stupid.
In the end, though, what it all boils down to is that Kerry is a waffler, an opportunist, and a Monday morning quarterback who likes to take every side to an issue. Exhibit A for the day:
“I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,” he said.
Nuanced, thoughtful, and tough, hunh? Your amendment failed, Sen. Kerry, and you voted against the bill. Period. End of story. Even Ezra can’t spin this one.
Guipo
wow john, that the best slam I’ve seen from you in months! Good job!
HH
Noam Scheiber, a Bush-hater but not a totally dishonest one, says the Kerry “misquote” is irrelevant.
Ricky
I guess that if the focus is on the “potayto/potahto” aspect of the Kerry claims, some people think everyone will forget the discussion about potatoes.
Terry
I don’t know anything about this Ezra fellow, but he sounds a little like my 19 year-old nephew who’s been taking a whole lot of political science courses at New Haven. Kids are highly impressionable at that age I guess.
HH
Oops, it wasn’t Scheiber it was Ryan Lizza.
burnplant
Wow, the Bush-Cheney adds go after Kerry’s record on the economy? What a scoop for Mr. Cole.
Since you are so into truth and revelations, could you please provide examples of the following:
“No President has ever done more for human rights than I have” George W Bush, Jan 11, 2004.
Is the President a liar, an exaggerator or both?
fracas_futile
Put a fork in him, W’s done.
Earliest attack ads by a President in modern history. No Rose Garden strategy here. The manure is choking the roses.
A half dozen congressional investigations the Republican’s can’t even vote against.
“Name the foriegn leaders,” “Who invented the internet,” “Look at what he voted for in 1995,” “What color is he wearing today!” Old games, worn out attacks.
W, the black & white, good or evil president is incapable of changing course. The man can’t admit he’s wrong.
What are you going to do about jobs, health care, terrorism, the environment, regaining America’s respect?
His new ideas sink like rocks or a trip to mars or work permits for illegals or a State of the Union address or an untested missle defense.
Any W proposals to fix what’s wrong with America will have the credibility of his WMD claims, his jobs forecasts and his jumpsuit photo.
Harry
Not only is his voting record a big problem so it would seem is his veracity. The man is damn near pathological in his inability to tell the truth. Either that or he really doesn’t know the difference between the truth or reality and fiction. And if that is the case then folks we have got a real nutter on our hands. What in the living hell has happened to the Democratic party of Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey, and Sam Nunn? The closest Democrats left are people like Joe Lieberman and Dick Gephardt and they couldn’t even get a reacharound from the Democratic electorate. Out of the ten Democrats vying for the Demcratic nomination there were Lieberman and Gephardt, an ambulance chaser from North Carolina; what was left was a filthy rich leftist elitist snob from Massachusetts who can’t tell the friggin’ truth even about the most trivial thing and who has, to the best of my knowledge, never held a private sector job along six other complete whackjobs. I will not vote Democrat again until these people have croaked and the Democratic Party has come back to its senses. Which at this moment looks like never.
burnplant
Harry, would that be his pathological lying about saying Iraq was an immediate/imminent threat? (oh, and Ricky, potato-potahto…imminent-immediate, yeah you wouldn’t support a guy who parses words would you)
Or his lying about getting to the bottom of who leaked the CIA operative name?
Or his lying about the Penn steel tarifs?
Or his lying about his military service in his “biography”?
Or his constant lying that the economy is improving (it’s been “improving” for 3 years but just never gets there does it)?
Or his lying about not having any pre-9/11 attack information at his disposal?
Or his lying about his past alcohol and drug use?
Or his lying about dumping stock before the crash of Harken, just like his buddies at Enron et al, who caused poor Georgie’s bad economy?
That’s just off the top of my head. If you care to learn how to read AND use google, you too could become well informed.
Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie Lie and you suckers just eat it up. And then your defense, such as Harry’s, is to pull out your almost successful meme against Gore…”he’s a liar!” How rich.
Harry, pathological usually means more than 1 lie, do you have examples. Also, please provide examples of President “Human Rights” Bush in action…
waiting..
jack
“Harry, would that be his pathological lying about saying Iraq was an immediate/imminent threat?”
What part of “We can not wait until the threat is imminent” do you not understand?
“Or his lying about getting to the bottom of who leaked the CIA operative name?”
Has that investigation ended and been shown to have a fallacious conclusion that Bush lied about? I didn’t think so…next.
“Or his lying about the Penn steel tarifs?”
He imposed tariffs. Then he removed the tariffs. What did he lie about?
“Or his lying about his military service in his “biography”?”
Given the fact that any proofs that have been offered have been rejected, I hardly think an irrational claim by the left overcomes an honorable discharge in the hands of W
“Or his constant lying that the economy is improving (it’s been “improving” for 3 years but just never gets there does it)?”
Constantly improving means constantly getting better. In a capitalist worldview the economy can ALWAYS get better. Based on economic indicators, it IS getting better. Now, granted, leftist polemics won’t say that–but they will cash their dividend checks from Haliburton–just ask John Kerry how he likes his.
“Or his lying about not having any pre-9/11 attack information at his disposal?”
What the hell does this mean? That you think he knew?
“Or his lying about his past alcohol and drug use?”
Lying about them? He doesn’t talk about them, surely, but he also doesn’t say it didn’t happen. Would he be higher in your esteem if he prefaced every remark with “I used to do coke and drink alot”? Somehow I don’t think so…
“Or his lying about dumping stock before the crash of Harken, just like his buddies at Enron et al, who caused poor Georgie’s bad economy?”
Try googling this–wait–then look for sites that don’t have domain names like bushitler or bushlied. At least pretend to look for unbiased news, okay?
Veeshir
Actually, I think the nitwit means Cheney dumped his stock right before the market tanked.
Of course he dumped it because the liberals were screaming, ‘conflict of interest’.
My favorite line from Kerry is the one after the one quoted. (John, your link to the NY Times article isn’t working so I can’t get the exact quote).
Kerry says that the reason he voted against the $87 billion was because there was no amendment to rescind the ‘tax cuts for the rich’.
So in other words, class warfare is more important to Kerry than our soldier’s lives. Yeah, there’s a man I want to be President.
Of France.
burnplant
Ha ha ha ha, a France joke from Veeshit, that’s a good one!
Jack, you have your head so far up GOP talking points’ ass, I don’t think you can be helped…
Oh well, you are probably watching Hannity and Bitch right now anyway.
Fat Cracker
Um, burnplant it would seem you are confused as to what a lie is or who or what is a liar. Where in the statement, “We can not wait until the threat is imminent,” which is what Bush actually said, is the lie?. Check it out sir it’s in the record. Now to quote Bush as saying, “Iraq was an immediate/imminent threat,” which Bush never said, and is not in the record, is a lie. A lie is a untrue statemenat that is meant to decieve. See the difference? And you knew you told a lie when you attempted to massage the lie with the following statement, “oh, and Ricky, potato-potahto…imminent-immediate, yeah you wouldn’t support a guy who parses words would you,” knowing full well Bush did not parse his words which are still in the record. Check it out for yourself if you think I’m lying. And when a liar is when confronted with the undeniable truth such as the record it’s a brutal kick in the nuts, ain’t it?
Ricky
Does anyone else see an awful lot of Guy Cabot/JadeGold in burnplant?
Third incarnation, Cabot?
jack
You know you hit ’em when they can only respond with an ad hominem.
M. Scott Eiland
“I’m not going to betray a private conversation with anybody,” Kerry said. As the crowd of several hundred people began to mutter and boo, Kerry said, “That’s none of your business.”
If you didn’t want to betray the (alleged) private conversations with your foreign fan club, you shouldn’t have mentioned having them–dumbass.