TIME IS running out for Sen. John F. Kerry. At the moment, the all-but-confirmed Democratic nominee is enjoying a fair amount of success in the media and in the court of public opinion. This time is short lived. The truth of the matter is that Kerry is nothing more than a wishy-washy Massachusetts liberal, and this fact will catch up with him before November.
During the primary race, Kerry earned his stripes by bashing President Bush as much as possible. Unfortunately, Kerry can't get his opinions straight. For someone who claims that he is opposed to the war in Iraq, he certainly has a strange way going about it. In October 2002, Kerry voted to authorize the president to use force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. On Oct. 9, Kerry made the bold assertion, "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." But, of course, that was 2002. In 2004, Kerry grants himself the benefit of revisionist history.
Kerry stands on his Vietnam War record. He trumpets his four months of service on a patrol boat in Vietnam as major proof of his ability to lead. Kerry's proponents have taken great pains to force the White House to release Bush's war records, creating a major issue out of Bush's service. Unfortunately, Kerry is unwilling to offer the public the same degree of disclosure regarding his own time in the military.
Kerry served in Vietnam for a mere four months, yet received three purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star. A purple heart signifies a wound incurred in battle, yet surprisingly none of Kerry's three wounds caused him to miss time from duty. Three purple hearts was a ticket home, and Kerry jumped on the airplane as soon as he could. Serious questions remain about the nature of these injuries and just who submitted the paperwork for these medals. In time, this information will become public, and the effect on the Kerry campaign will be profound and the public outcry will be heard.
Of course, Kerry hasn't always been proud of his service in Vietnam. When he returned home from the war he became very active in the anti-war movement, and used this to jump start his political career. He was even seen at a protest throwing away his medals. He now claims that these were not his medals, as his medals hang "proudly" in his Senate office.
It is indeed unfortunate, but it is clear that this sort of political waffling is what we can expect from John Kerry on most issues. Kerry has offered a confusing front on the issue of gay marriage. Kerry was one of only 14 senators to vote against the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, yet now he is on the record supporting a Massachusetts state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Even one of The Washington Post's ultra-liberal columnists, Marjorie Williams, admitted on March 7, "To watch Kerry floundering in the impossible contradictions of this issue [gay marriage] is to see starkly how little he is guided by core principle."
Kerry is equally misguided on the use and funding of intelligence agencies. He has specifically stated that he believes accurate intelligence is a core component of the war on terrorism. He has also chastised both the president and the various intelligence agencies on multiple occasions for their pre-war intelligence. This is all very interesting considering the fact that Kerry has voted multiple times to cut intelligence spending. In fact, as a freshman senator in the mid 1980s, Kerry introduced a bill that would have effectively gutted the intelligence agencies that exist today. I fail to see how one can claim to support the war on terrorism (if not the president), but continually vote against military and intelligence spending.
Kerry's checkered past will catch up to him before the election. Right now the American populous is teetering due to the massive attacks on President Bush; however, in time, it will become apparent that Kerry's campaign will self-destruct. A presidential candidate, in order to be successful, must stand on a strong pillar of ideals and must make his opinions clear and known. John Kerry is a wishy-washy liberal who has flip-flopped on the important issues enough times that he can no longer escape his past.
Daniel Bagley is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at dbagley@cavalierdaily.com.
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