Kerry’s Dangerous Miscalculations
During his 1971 congressional testimony about the Vietnam War John Kerry was asked by a senator to assess the threat of Communism, not just to Indochina, but to world peace in general. The witness (Kerry) responded, “I think it is bogus, totally artificial. There is no threat. The Communists are not about to take over our McDonald hamburger stands.”
In the decade following the witness’s testimony, the nonexistent threat resulted in the slaughter of 2,000,000 Cambodians; the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets; the internment of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese in reeducation camps; numerous civil wars and bloody insurgencies in Central Africa, South and Central America and Southeast Asia; the mass migration of hordes of starving refugees; the proliferation of state-sponsored terrorism; the “disappearance” of hundreds of thousands of “undesirables” and enemies of the state; the imprisonment and torture of countless dissidents; and the continued brutal subjugation of more than one-third of the world’s population.
Whether Kerry was callous, calculating, cavalier, or just obtuse is perhaps less important than the fact that his assessment of Communism was (is) shared by many in the free world.
These factors contribute to a casual ignorance about an ideology that caused human suffering on a scale that dwarfs that produced by any war, epidemic, or natural catastrophe in the history of mankind. Indeed, the sheer magnitude of the horror challenges the imagination and numbs the conscience. Stalin reputedly declared that “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” The mind can process lots of statistics. One hundred million deaths, however, is a figure that can exist only at the outer limits of human comprehension.
In 1998 John Kerry considered Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction a threat “with respect to potential terrorist activities on a global basis” (Emphasis added). However, just five years later he flip-flopped, contending that Vice President Cheney had exaggerated the Iraqi threat. Later still, during the Democratic-primary debate in Greenville, South Carolina, he became even more dismissive: When asked whether the President had exaggerated the threat of terrorism in general, he responded, “I think there has been an exaggeration. They are misleading all Americans in a profound way.”
And while Kerry dismisses the threats of Communism and terrorism as “bogus” or “exaggerated,” he sees fit to compare the threat of global warming to the threats of the Cold War. This kind of flippant analysis — from a presidential candidate, no less — would not be lightly tolerated in a society with a long memory.
Let him tell the families and victims (who survive terrorist attacks) that terrorism is not a threat.
This man does not have the necessary instincts and clarity of thought to be the leader of the United States – - terrorism is real. No one exaggered what happened on US soil on September 11th. Nor did anyone exaggerate what happened in the not so distant past in Madrid. No one is exaggerating the attacks that occur somewhere in our world on an almost a daily basis.
His lack of judgment and inability to see the facts when they are there in front of all of us every day is something I cannot comprehend – - Are we to be lead by a man who walks around wearing blinders?
What you offer is the generous outlook on Kerry’s motives, here, that he’s un unwitting stooge… or, as Mona Charen calls him, a useful idiot.
However, What cannot be ignored is the idea that one does not get elected to the upper house being a total idiot.
Kerry, being a demonstrated far-leftist hismelf, *may* be working for the furtherence of world socialism…. that it’s not idiocy that drives him, but rather a long term goal he’s not telling us about.
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Everyday I am seeing Kerry as a threat to this nations national security! Good Grief!
bithead- this is MA that we are talking about being elected to the senate. They vote democratic no matter what!
todd that isn’t even accidentally amusing
Hey todd- how is the health care system in canada these days?
Ok todd – you got your ‘dig’ in . . . but what are your feelings about Kerry’s statements on this issue? Do you have an opinion on Kerry’s testimony in 1971? How do you feel about his statement that the threat of terrorism is greatly exaggerated?
In 1971 he called the threat of Communism “bogus” and history proves him wrong.
In 2003 he calls the threat of terrorism ‘exaggerated’.
Do you have any input on this – rather than your usual dig on the current administration?
Todd,
You have hospitals but it takes you up to a year just to be able to get a hip surgery done sometimes.
Your socialist medicine is also the reason Canadien money for years has been worth less than American Money.
But America is becoming socialist and our dollar is shrinking as well.
it is clear that we cannot allow Kerry to be elected President… they say that during a campaign, the candidate puts his best foot forward, but it seems to me that Kerry is getting all the junk out there first… and I’m glad because it tells us what kind of person he is…
or, if he is putting his best foot forward, God help us, because we are going to be living in hell IF he is elected… higher taxes, higher gas prices, fear of terrorism on our soil again, we will be friends with the french again, dogs and cats will be able to get married… total mahem!!!
I know I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek, but you get my point, the America that we know today will cease to exist and we will become southern canada… make no mistake about it, Kerry is not good for America, now it’s time for America to wake up and realize this fact.
Please vote in 2004 and vote anyone but Kerry.
) )
(I will be voting for Bush, but I said that so that the liberals have an out
oh my god, southern canada! we’ll all be saying oot instead out. we’d atack people when attacked. the world will actually like us too. perish the thought.
the rest of the WORLD has a healthcare system. ours the only one that benefits the rich corporations and lets our fellow man lie and rot. reagan called it’ trickle down economics’ that is what Jesus would do.
dick,
Ahh yes- this is why we gave $10 billion to Africa for AIDS- the rest of the world has a heathcare system.
Yes, some of the world has a heathcare system, but it is far inferior to our own. Ours does need regulation for sure, but it is still better than any other.
Ted
I live near the border… Canadians come here when they need sophisicated health care, we go there to buy cheaper drugs. Best of both worlds…
Socialized medicine would not work in the US. Our population is too large. Further, think of what removing the profit motive would do to the development of advanced care procedures, of which we lead the world in? It’s not all coming out of Universities.. and those that do come from universities do so because we attract the best doctors from around the world here in the US. Socialized medicine would kill that.
I’ve seen it firsthand living overseas; the government sponsored health care is a disaster. The worst doctors and care money can buy. Just look at what happened in France last summer during the heat waves. We need better control of the cost to the individual, perhaps by limiting the malpractice claims, but government sponsored health care is not something we really want.
Don’t most people go into business to make a profit? Dicknbush, do you work for free? Do you think it woould be fair if we decided how much you can make?
As for our healthcare- What is wrong with it? I have never had a problem with the system. I can’t do much more than pay my taxes to help those that chose to live off medicaid (welfare). As for seniors, How many are being over-medicated? I found this to be one of the problems with my mother-in-law…I did some checking on my own, and found she was taking this to counter act that and noting was working. We got tough with the doctor, and insisted that he give us samples until we find the meds that worked. guess what..1 heart pill, insulin, 1 asprin, and a one a day= $15.00/month as opposed to $347.00/month she was paying…So I guess is is up to the people to start taking control and becoming educated.