Had the Democrats bothered to pay attention to this column, it's just possible that one of theirs would be in the White House now. A bold claim, to be sure, but we were ahead of just about anyone else in the media in identifying, and reveling in, John Kerry's weaknesses. It began all the way back on Dec. 6, 2002, when we observed (citing The New Republic's Peter Beinart) that Kerry, in an interview on "Meet the Press" a few days earlier, had mentioned his service in Vietnam nine times. We included a sampling:
On why he voted against the 1991 Gulf War resolution: "The president at the time was saying 'The coalition won't hold together.' I believed it would hold together, and I thought we owed ourselves another three to four weeks to build the support of our nation so that if things turned sour, as we all know they can in war, we had the legitimacy which some of us who fought Vietnam remember bitterly, and we lost at that point in time. I don't want to see us lose the legitimacy to our effort."
On Henry Kissinger's appointment to head the committee investigating Sept. 11: "In many ways, you know, Dr. Kissinger and I had differences years ago over Vietnam. I've gotten to know him since then. I have no personal quarrel with him, at that point. We've been able to make peace, much as we did with Vietnam."
On capital punishment: "I am for the death penalty for terrorists because terrorists have declared war on your country. And just as I, in a war, was prepared to kill in defense of my nation, I also believe that you eliminate the enemy and I have said publicly that I support that."
Perhaps Kerry is genuinely obsessed with Vietnam; more likely, he had made a strategic decision to run as a "war hero" and was, in his awkward way, trying to let everyone know that, by the way, he served in Vietnam. |
