[N8 v2.0]

What's up with this...? I though Kerry was against the war before he was for the war before he was against it.



Kerry: Still Would Have Approved Force for Iraq
Reuters | Aug 9 | Patricia Wilson

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said on Monday he would have voted for the congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq even if he had known then no weapons of mass destruction would be found.

Taking up a challenge from President Bush, whom he will face in the Nov. 2 election, the Massachusetts senator said: "I'll answer it directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it is the right authority for a president to have but I would have used that authority effectively."

Speaking to reporters from the Powell's Landing on the rim of the Grand Canyon above a mile-deep drop, Kerry also said reducing U.S. troops in Iraq significantly by next August was "an appropriate goal."

"My goal, my diplomacy, my statesmanship is to get our troops reduced in number and I believe if you do the statesmanship properly, I believe if you do the kind of alliance building that is available to us, that it's appropriate to have a goal of reducing the troops over that period of time," he said.

On that timetable, Kerry's aim would be to pull out a large number of the 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq in the first six months of his administration.

"Obviously, we'd have to see how events unfold," he added. "I intend to get more people involved in that effort and I'm convinced I can be more successful than President Bush in succeeding in doing that. It is an appropriate goal to have and I'm going to try to achieve it."

Kerry refused to say if he had any private assurances from Arab or European nations that they would help with security and reconstruction in Iraq but said "right now the administration ... is scrambling and struggling to try to find a way to do that."

"All of this should have happened in the beginning, all of these things should have been achieved beforehand," he said. "American presidents should not send American forces into war without a plan to win the peace."

BUSH CHALLENGE

Bush last week challenged Kerry, who Republicans accuse of flip-flopping on Iraq by voting for the war resolution and against the $87 billion request to fund operations, to say straight out if he would have voted the same way if only to eliminate the danger that Saddam Hussein could have developed weapons of mass destruction.

"Now, there are some questions that a commander-in-chief needs to answer with a clear yes or no," Bush said. "My opponent hasn't answered the question of whether knowing what we know now, he would have supported going into Iraq."

"I have given my answer," Bush said. "We did the right thing, and the world is better off for it."

Kerry challenged Bush to answer some questions of his own -- why he rushed to war without a plan for the peace, why he used faulty intelligence, why he misled Americans about how he would go to war and why he had not brought other countries to the table.

"There are four not hypothetical questions like the president's, real questions that matter to Americans and I hope you'll get the answers to those questions, because the American people deserve them," he told reporters.

Kerry, who is on day 11 of a two-week coast-to-coast campaign trip, used the majestic backdrop of the Grand Canyon to criticize Bush for neglecting America's national parks system and pledged to restore $600 million he said the president had cut from the budget.

 

[LordOpie]

hey, look, fvcktard pasting partisan crap again.... whoooowheee, party time!

(nope, I don't read the crap you copy and paste. My 5 yo niece can do that too. Atleast her stuff is pretty.)

 

[syadasti]

That's some intense N8 thought right there Here is some more partisan crap in return.

Bush out flip-flops Kerry:

We need a decisive, President who doesn't read children's books when
America is under attack, this flip-flopping George Bush is an
astounding flop.

Bush was against campaign finance reform; now he's for it.

Bush was against a Homeland Security Department; now he's for it.

Bush was against a 9/11 commission; now he's for it.

Bush was against an Iraq WMD investigation; now he's for it.

Bush was against nation building; now he's for it.

Bush was against deficits; now he's for them.

Bush was for free trade; then he was for tariffs on steel, and now
he's against them again.

Bush was against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict; now he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.

Bush was for states' rights to decide on gay marriage; now he is for
changing the Constitution to outlaw gay marriage.

Bush said he would provide money for first responders (fire, police,
emergency); then he doesn't.

Bush said that "help is on the way" to the military; then he cuts
their benefits and health care.

Bush claimed to be in favor of environmental protection; then he
secretly approved oil drilling on Padre Island in Texas and other
places and took many more anti-environmental actions.

Bush said he is the "education president;" then he refused to fully
fund key education programs and rarely does his homework, such as read
position papers so he will be more knowledgeable on issues.

Bush said that him being governor of Texas for six years was enough
political experience to be president of the U.S.; then he criticized
Sen. John Edwards for not having enough experience after Edwards had
served six years in the U.S. Senate.

During the 2000 campaign, Bush said there were too many lawsuits being
filed; then during the Florida recount, he was the first to file a
lawsuit to stop the legal counting of votes after Gore took advantage
of Florida law to ask for a recount.

On Nov. 7, 2000, the Bush campaign supported Florida county officials
drawing up new copies of some 10,000 spoiled absentee votes in 26
Republican-leaning counties that the machines did not read and marking
them for the candidates when they showed "clear intent;" they opposed
doing the same thing after Nov. 7 when Gore asked for such recounts.
Bush dominated absentee balloting in Florida by a two-to-one margin.

Bush said during the 2000 campaign that he did not have a "litmus
test" for judges he appointed to be against abortion; then he mostly
appointed judges who were against abortion.

In the early 1990s, Bush led a campaign to raise taxes in Arlington,
Texas, to build a new baseball stadium for the team he partly owned;
he later criticized politicians for supporting tax increases ñ after
he got rich by selling the team with the new stadium to a wealthy
campaign contributor.

Bush opposed the U.S. negotiating with North Korea; now he supports
it.

Bush went to the racist and segregationist Bob Jones University in
South Carolina; then he said he shouldn't have.

Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to
sanction military action against Iraq; later Bush announced he would
not call for a vote.

Bush first said the "mission accomplished" Iraqi banner was put up by
the sailors; he later admitted it was done by his advance team.

Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the
U.S.; after meeting with Mexican President Fox, he decided against it.

Bush was opposed to Rice testifying in front of the 9/11 commission
citing "separation of powers;" then he was for it.

Bush was against Ba'ath party members holding office or government
jobs in Iraq; now he's for it.

Bush said we must not appease terrorists; then he lifted trade
sanctions on admitted terrorist Mohammar Quaddafi and Pakistan, which
pardoned its official who sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya, and
North Korea.

Bush said he would wait until after the Nov. election to ask for more
money for the war effort; then he decided he needed it before the
election, after all.

Bush said, "Leaving Iraq prematurely would only embolden the
terrorists and increase the danger to America." His administration now
says that U.S. troops will pull out of Iraq when the new provisional
authority asks. Then he said they'll stay "as long as needed" again.
Now he's saying that the Iraqis can ask the troops to leave, and they
will. Or is he?

The Bush administration officials said that the Geneva Conventions
don't apply to "enemy combatants." Now they claims they do.

Bush officials said before the Iraq invasion that Iraq posed an
"imminent threat" to U.S. security and that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction and even nuclear weapons; after the invasion, they denied
saying the word "imminent" and saying that Iraq had WMDs and nuclear
weapons, even though they were caught on tape making such statements.

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama Bin Laden. It is our
number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." - George
W. Bush, Sept. 13, 2001

"I don't know where he is. I have no idea, and I really don't care.
It's not that important. It's not our priority." - George W. Bush,
March 13, 2002

Are you getting tired of this? Well, some in the American military are
getting tired of this, too: "The (Bush) administration has an overly
simplistic view of how and when to use our military. By not bringing
in our friends and allies, they have created a mess in Iraq and are
crippling our forces around the world." -Retired Admiral William
Crowe, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Ronald Reagan

http://www.geocities.com/jacknichols123/johnjohn.htm

 

[fluff]

That's some intense N8 thought right there Here is some more partisan crap in return.

Bush out flip-flops Kerry:

Looks like there are a few lies in there also. But that's OK I suppose because he wasn't under oath.

But then, why should that make a difference?

 

[N8 v2.0]

Even the liberal Canadian Press has figured it out...

Two birds of a feather on Iraq
Toronto Sun | August 11, 2004 | Lorrie Goldstein

WE ALL know who the "pro-war" candidate in the American presidential race is, right?

He's the guy who said he would have authorized the war on Iraq, even if he had known in advance that the U.S. would fail to find any weapons of mass destruction there.

He's the guy who declared he will never give up America's right to defend itself to the United Nations or anyone else -- including the right to launch a pre-emptive war in order to protect national security.

He's the guy who has promised to build a stronger U.S. military.

He's the guy who chose a staunch supporter of the war with Iraq as his vice-presidential running mate.

And he's the guy who says the U.S. can't cut and run now, although he would try to replace more American soldiers with troops from other nations.

If you're thinking this guy has to be Republican President George Bush, well, you'd be right. But only half right. Because all these positions are in fact shared by his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry.

This week, Kerry said he still would have voted to authorize the war against Iraq in his Congressional vote of October 2002, even if he had known in advance the U.S. would fail to find any WMD.

Prior to that, in his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Kerry pledged never to abandon America's right to strike first against its enemies, or to give the UN or anyone else a veto over the exercise of American military power.

Before that, Kerry chose Sen. John Edwards, who also supported the motion authorizing war against Iraq, as his running mate.

All of which means, as even a growing number of anti-Bush pundits have observed, from the editorial writers of the New York Times to the publisher of Harper's Magazine, that there isn't much difference between Bush and Kerry on Iraq.

To be sure, Kerry has criticized Bush, charging that the president misled the American people about "how he would go to war," relied on faulty intelligence and went into the conflict with no realistic exit strategy or plan to involve other countries in relieving U.S. troops.

But surely, these are all secondary issues for the 50% of Americans (including the vast majority of Democrats) who now say the war was a mistake. After all, it's a president's initial decision to go to war -- which Kerry still supports -- which is far more significant than any post-war plans he may have, given that the aftermath of any war is almost always bloody and unpredictable.

The fact that Kerry has now stated he would have repeated his 2002 vote authorizing Bush to wage war on Iraq, even if he had known the U.S. would fail to find any WMD -- the main reason Bush gave for going to war in the first place -- raises another question about Kerry.

Why, then, did he subsequently vote against authorizing Bush to spend $87 billion to pay for the ongoing war effort?

In that case, Kerry first proposed an amendment to tax the rich to raise the money and when that failed, voted against the expenditure, leading to his now infamous explanation that: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

Writing recently in the Globe, John R. MacArthur, the anti-Bush publisher of Harper's Magazine, lamented that even though he believes "John Kerry is fundamentally anti-war -- he has to be after experiencing the insanity of Vietnam ... (Kerry's) vote for Mr. Bush's Iraq folly was a cynical political choice, not a genuine commitment." Why? Because both then and now, MacArthur argues, the Kerry camp figured "the anti-war types will vote against Mr. Bush no matter what Mr. Kerry says about Iraq," so why risk offending "the 'support our troops, Abu Ghraib or not' lobby?"

Indeed, the only U.S. presidential candidate who can now claim to be unequivocally "anti-war" is Ralph Nader -- something U.S. voters (and media) backing Kerry in their lust to get rid of Bush are obviously prepared to ignore.

 

[Tenchiro]

So we agree, both candidates are f*cktards.

 

[N8 v2.0]

So we agree, both candidates are f*cktards.

Vote Nader and McCain!

 

[BostonBullit]

That's some intense N8 thought right there Here is some more partisan crap in return.

Bush out flip-flops Kerry:

actually Kerry has a 16yr lead on flip-flopping....

 

[dante]

actually Kerry has a 16yr lead on flip-flopping....

only b/c bush was hanging out doing coke while Kerry was in the senate...

 

[N8 v2.0]

only b/c bush was hanging out drinking diet coke while Kerry was skipping out on his senate duties...

...

 

[golgiaparatus]

That's some intense N8 thought right there Here is some more partisan crap in return.

Bush out flip-flops Kerry:

LOL! Good show. I think that it is a politicians nature to flip and flop to please people... especially at election time.

And just for chits and giggles, I dont even read more than a couple of lines of N8's political posts anymore. He's like a fundamentalist republican.

He's repubvangelical.