IS KERRY JACQUE CHIRAC'S MAN?:
Real Clear Politics -
Does Senator Kerry just make things up because he thinks they'll sound good to a particular audience? I wonder after his comment this weekend in Florida:
"I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy, they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy, things like that.'"
Huh? Who's he talking about and what foreign leaders has he met with? Tony Blankley tackles Kerry's extraordinary claim in his column today:
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Sen. Kerry has been on public view almost every day since he started running for president last year. I don't recall seeing him on European, Middle East or other foreign travel during that period. Nor do I recall seeing or reading about foreign heads of state meeting with Mr. Kerry when they visited Washington during the last many months. In the absence of any public evidence that he has met with several foreign leaders recently, the burden of proof should be on Mr. Kerry to prove that he didn't just make up this little story.
While the issue of whether Kerry just made this story up because he thought it sounded cool is relevant, the more important storyline is why Kerry even thinks this is a positive and what it says about his view of the world. Blankley is right when he says:
But Sen. Kerry obviously believes the times are changing. He believes that there may be millions of Americans who will be impressed by the fact that hand kissing, back-stabbing, atheistic, sophisticated Euro-leaders prefer John Kerry to George Bush.
Whether or not he actually met with any of these leaders, I would suspect that he is right that they would much prefer to do business with a notional President Kerry. Doubtlessly, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev enjoyed dealing with President Carter more than with President Reagan.
Weak American presidents who feel the need to apologize for America protecting its interests in the world are invariably favored by both our enemies and our competitive friends. The French couldn't stand our last cowboy president, Ronald Reagan.
I am sure that M. Chirac will be glad to continue to kiss Mr. Kerry's hand, as long as Mr. Kerry will kiss a lower, dorsal part of M. Chirac's anatomy. But I rather doubt John Kerry will get elected president by American voters while in that posture.
Well said. |
