Kerry has never flip-flopped on ANY issues. Not a single one.
1. Kerry voted against dealing with Saddam in 1991 after he had invaded Kuwait, his troops brutalizing Kuwaiti citizen (especially women) in the process.
Kerry voted in favor of dealing with Saddam in 2002 (when he was preparing to run for President).
2. Kerry switched positions on double taxation of dividends:
Kerry, December 2002: "We should encourage the measurement of the real value of companies by ending the double taxation of dividends."
Kerry, Spring 2003: Votes against legislation to cut the double taxation of dividends. Is quoted on May 8, 2003 as saying "This is not the time for a dividends tax cut that goes to individuals."
3. Statements about Iraq WMD's:
But none of his flip flops are more important than his statements on Iraq and its WMD's dating from 1990, when he acknowledged that Iraq had WMD's but wanted to do nothing about it even after Saddam invaded a U.S. ally:
“Today, we are confronted by a regional power, Iraq, which has attacked a weaker state, Kuwait. … The crisis is even more threatening by virtue of the fact that Iraq has developed a chemical weapons capability, and is pursuing a nuclear weapons development program. And Saddam Hussein has demonstrated a willingness to use such weapons of mass destruction in the past, whether in his war against Iran or against his own Kurdish population.”
--John Kerry, Congressional Record, 10/2/90, p. S14330
“If we go to war in the next few days, it will not be because our immediate vital interests are so threatened and we have no other choice. It is not because of nuclear, chemical, biological weapons when, after all, Saddam Hussein had all those abilities or was working toward them for years ….”
--John Kerry, Congressional Record,1/12/91, p. S369
(Here, Kerry acknowledges Iraq's WMD's but, in the specific context of Saddam's hostile military takeover of Kuwait, votes against the use of force to oust Saddam!)
Years later, the WMD's are still there, and Kerry is still struggling:
“[Saddam Hussein] cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this Nation.”
--Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 11/9/97, pp. S12254 -S12255
"“The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but as I said, it is not new. It has been with us since the end of that war, and particularly in the last 4 years we know after Operation Desert Fox failed to force him to reaccept them, that he has continued to build those weapons. He has had a free hand for 4 years to reconstitute these weapons, allowing the world, during the interval, to lose the focus we had on weapons of mass destruction and the issue of proliferation.” 10/09/02
--Despite AS' protestations that Clinton wiped out the WMD's in 1998, Senator Kerry apparently doesn't agree.
"“I believe the Senate will make it clear, and the country will make it clear, that we will not be blackmailed or extorted by these weapons, and we will not permit the United Nations an institution we have worked hard to nurture and create to simply be ignored by this dictator.” 10/09/02
“If You Don’t Believe In The U.N. ... Or You Don’t Believe Saddam Hussein Is A Threat With Nuclear Weapons, Then You Shouldn’t Vote For Me.” 1/31/03
Kerry Said Leaving Saddam Hussein “Unfettered With Nuclear Weapons Or Weapons Of Mass Destruction Is Unacceptable.” 2/12/03
"“I think Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction are a threat, and that’s why I voted to hold him accountable and to make certain that we disarm him." 3/19/03
Then, while the troops were fighting in Iraq, Kerry directly attacks the Commander in Chief (and likens him to Saddam, the most brutal dictator of the late 20th century) by claiming we need "regime change" in Washington.
I'd say that he's at least bobbing and weaving on these issues, and in some cases I would call those a flip flop. But then again, I think oral sex is sex, and I found out a few years back it wasn't. So I am willing to stand corrected. |
