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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (79508)	10/21/2004 12:39:02 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793975

Investor's Business Daily Company You Keep Tuesday October 19, 7:00 pm ET Ibd Politics: When John Kerry claimed "foreign leaders" preferred him to President Bush, we could only scratch our heads. But now we're getting the picture. At a Hollywood, Fla., fund-raiser last March, Kerry told supporters foreign leaders were virtually lining up to back him. "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy, they look at you and say, 'You have got to win this; you have got to beat this guy; we need a new policy.' Things like that." When pressed, Kerry said he had "no obligation" to reveal their names. Well, maybe it's the closeness of the polls, but finally many of those "foreign leaders" are stepping forward. It's quite a group. Just Thursday, Palestinian Authority leader and sometime terrorist Yasser Arafat endorsed Kerry. Why? Kerry did once call him a "statesman." And, as his foreign minister noted, under Kerry "several staff members during Clinton's administration would return." Kerry has also won praise from Kim Jong Il, North Korea's totalitarian dictator, who has murdered millions of his own people. Kim calls Bush "human scum." But he likes Kerry's support of two-way talks between North Korea and the U.S. -- which would give the "beloved leader" a big negotiating advantage. Then there's Fidel Castro -- another communist tyrant smitten with the Massachusetts senator. While Kerry delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Castro celebrated by running a bootlegged copy of "Fahrenheit 9/11" over Cuban TV. Don't forget former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Last year, Mahathir, who is often called "moderate," said Jews "rule this world by proxy." This year, he urged U.S. Muslims to vote for Kerry "in the name of Islam." We all know, of course, whom President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany prefer. Polls show Bush is overwhelmingly unpopular in those countries. And neither man has made a secret of his contempt for the cowboy from Texas. How about Bush? He gets foreign support, too. But big difference. Russia's Vladimir Putin, for one, thinks Bush will be a bulwark in the global war on terror. Japan's ruling party, the LDP, also backs the president; Kerry's stance on North Korea terrifies the LDP. Among Israelis, Bush is wildly popular. Kuwaitis see him as president of the world, not just the U.S. And don't forget the 30 nations in the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq. Yes, we'll admit to skepticism when Kerry first touted his foreign support. But no more. Many "leaders" indeed support him. It's just that most of them seem to be nondemocrats and anti-U.S. cranks. We go back to an old saying: You'll be known by the friends you make and the company you keep. If so, Kerry's in big trouble. And if he wins, so are we.