Suitably Flip

John Kerry Celebrates Iraqi Liberation Day By Condemning Country To Civil War

The Frankensenator was on NBC's Meet the Press this morning, selling a disjointed and depressing set of policies that we can likely expect to form the wobbly basis of a 2008 Presidential bid.

On this 3rd anniversary of the liberation of Iraq (coverage of and reaction to which Michelle is rounding up), Senator Kerry broke several pieces of disheartening news to us.  Not only is Iraq already engaged in a civil war, it's certain to escalate and there's nothing we can do about it.  Instead, we ought to initiate a full retreat (beginning 5 weeks from now) and let them kill each other.  We also need to hold a big summit with Egypt, Jordan, the United Nations, "and other stakeholders" to figure out how to proceed.

[Side note: In business school, it always made my teeth itch when a professor of organizational behavior or a similarly soft subject would bring up the notion of "stakeholder theory", which amounts to little more than an indefeinsible refutation of the concept that the goal of a business is to make money for its shareholders. That's all I could think of each time Kerry groaned the word.]

Kerry was explicit enough to state that while our soldiers have done what we asked them to do, this war cannot be won.  He recounted the story of his visit to the Vietnam Memorial last night, reading names of soldiers that died for a policy the country knew to be wrong, and suggested the condition has reappeared.

His dauntless flipfloppery clearly in the pink, Kerry was undaunted by Russert showing him clips from the campaign trail (and even from a previous appearance on Meet the Press!) waxing resolute on the war in Iraq, arguing against a "cut and run" policy or the notion of instituting a timeline for withdrawal.

And what of Iran?  Why, it's "real diplomacy" to the rescue again.  Here, we need to sit down with China and Russia to urge them to implement sanctions, if they're "ultimately necessary".  If they're ultimately necessary?  I thought Iran was supposed to be the opportunity for Kerry types to pretend they're tough on the war on terror.

Russert also engaged Kerry in a discussion of a hypothetical censure or impeachment of the President.  He was explicitly in favor of censure, stating as fact that the President did "violate the law".  Asked about impeachment, he wouldn't directly answer, but equivocated that talk of impeachment is currently a waste of time (which I took as a thinly veiled threat that it'll become a more productive avenue of discussion if Democrats retake the majority).  When asked what the penalty of a censure would be, Kerry correctly noted that the only penalty is the reprimand itself.

In the same breath, he dove briefly into a complaint about all the "politics and bickering" of which the American public is so sick and tired, then snapped back to the admittedly hollow censure browbeat.

My favorite (using the term broadly) bit came when the Senator laid out his Short Plan for America.  This is very nearly verbatim:

Tell the truth.
Fire the incompetents.
Get out of Iraq.
Healthcare for all Americans.

There it is.  Socialism and surrender.  John Kerry's 2008 platform.

I realized I've really blocked out just how unpleasant it was last fall having to listen to this man bob, weave, lecture, and drone.  I think that half hour slaked my thirst for his brand of senselessness and defeatism for the next couple years.

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John Kerry Celebrates Iraqi Liberation Day By Condemning Country To Civil War

The Frankensenator was on NBC's Meet the Press this morning, selling a disjointed and depressing set of policies that we can likely expect to form the wobbly basis of a 2008 Presidential bid.

On this 3rd anniversary of the liberation of Iraq (coverage of and reaction to which Michelle is rounding up), Senator Kerry broke several pieces of disheartening news to us.  Not only is Iraq already engaged in a civil war, it's certain to escalate and there's nothing we can do about it.  Instead, we ought to initiate a full retreat (beginning 5 weeks from now) and let them kill each other.  We also need to hold a big summit with Egypt, Jordan, the United Nations, "and other stakeholders" to figure out how to proceed.

[Side note: In business school, it always made my teeth itch when a professor of organizational behavior or a similarly soft subject would bring up the notion of "stakeholder theory", which amounts to little more than an indefeinsible refutation of the concept that the goal of a business is to make money for its shareholders. That's all I could think of each time Kerry groaned the word.]

Kerry was explicit enough to state that while our soldiers have done what we asked them to do, this war cannot be won.  He recounted the story of his visit to the Vietnam Memorial last night, reading names of soldiers that died for a policy the country knew to be wrong, and suggested the condition has reappeared.

His dauntless flipfloppery clearly in the pink, Kerry was undaunted by Russert showing him clips from the campaign trail (and even from a previous appearance on Meet the Press!) waxing resolute on the war in Iraq, arguing against a "cut and run" policy or the notion of instituting a timeline for withdrawal.

And what of Iran?  Why, it's "real diplomacy" to the rescue again.  Here, we need to sit down with China and Russia to urge them to implement sanctions, if they're "ultimately necessary".  If they're ultimately necessary?  I thought Iran was supposed to be the opportunity for Kerry types to pretend they're tough on the war on terror.

Russert also engaged Kerry in a discussion of a hypothetical censure or impeachment of the President.  He was explicitly in favor of censure, stating as fact that the President did "violate the law".  Asked about impeachment, he wouldn't directly answer, but equivocated that talk of impeachment is currently a waste of time (which I took as a thinly veiled threat that it'll become a more productive avenue of discussion if Democrats retake the majority).  When asked what the penalty of a censure would be, Kerry correctly noted that the only penalty is the reprimand itself.

In the same breath, he dove briefly into a complaint about all the "politics and bickering" of which the American public is so sick and tired, then snapped back to the admittedly hollow censure browbeat.

My favorite (using the term broadly) bit came when the Senator laid out his Short Plan for America.  This is very nearly verbatim:

Tell the truth.
Fire the incompetents.
Get out of Iraq.
Healthcare for all Americans.

There it is.  Socialism and surrender.  John Kerry's 2008 platform.

I realized I've really blocked out just how unpleasant it was last fall having to listen to this man bob, weave, lecture, and drone.  I think that half hour slaked my thirst for his brand of senselessness and defeatism for the next couple years.