One of the best things Democrats can do for the reelection campaign of George W. Bush is to get behind a microphone and allow what they believe to escape their lips. Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) recently did such a thing twice. On Sunday, August 1, Sen. Kerry appeared on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert (click here for the transcript), and yesterday he officially announced his candidacy for President (click here for his announcement speech).
Interestingly, Sen. Kerry, one of the many Democrats who ridiculed President Bush's "aircraft carrier speech" on the deck of the U.S.S. Lincoln declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq, made his official candidacy announcement in South Carolina in front of an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Yorktown, during his American Courage Tour.
During these two appearances, Sen. Kerry provided plenty of reasons to oppose him. Here are a few:
#1 - Fuzzy Math
RUSSERT: Senator, if you eliminated the entire Defense Department, you could balance the budget. If you eliminated Social Security, you could eliminate the deficit. If you eliminated Medicare, you could eliminate the deficit. If you kept Defense, Social Security and Medicare and eliminated all the rest of the government, you would still have a deficit. How can you possibly cut the deficit in half when you listed all the programs-health care, education-that you're for? It doesn't add up.
KERRY: It [does] add up. It absolutely does add up, and I have been very careful in doing this. I have gone to some of the best people who've already been tested in this 'cause they did it with Bill Clinton. People like Roger Altman and Gene Sperling and Alan Blinder and others are working with me; Bob Reischauer, who was at OMB. We've crunched the numbers, and when you get rid of the top end of the Bush tax cut and put back in some of the inheritance tax, you get more money than I am spending. (Meet the Press)
Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend - that's the Democrat motto. If the funds aren't available, tax some more.
#2 - Cut Defense Spending
KERRY: . . . we need more troops in the military. We need two additional divisions in our military for the time being, because of the threats in the world. One of those divisions should be combat. One of those divisions should be for civil activities, police affairs, construction and so forth. But we cannot have a military that is as strapped and as stretched as the one we have today. We have. . .
RUSSERT: Where do we get them, Senator, and how do we afford it?
KERRY: I will pay for it. It's $5 billion to $8 billion, and I will pay for it by not adding one cent to the budget. There are reductions we can take out of the military budget and other sectors of the military today. (Meet the Press)
Why not cut other areas of spending to pay for military increases? Democrats are rarely willing to cut their pet programs to either reduce the deficit or build up the military - both of which they claim a desire to do.
#3 - Denying Votes He Cast, Imagining Votes He Didn't
KERRY: I voted to threaten the use of force to make Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions of the United Nations. (South Carolina candidacy announcement)
No, Sen. Kerry, you voted for the use of force. There was no congressional resolution calling for the "threat" of the use of force.
#4 - Litmus Test: Do as I Used to Say, Not as I Do
KERRY: George Bush has sought to undo guarantees enshrined in the Constitution - not by amending it but by subverting it with his judicial nominees. As President, I will only appoint Supreme Court Justices who will uphold a woman’s right to choose. (South Carolina candidacy announcement)
There was a time that Democrats used to claim that there should be no litmus tests for Supreme Court nominees. Since the entire party is now beholden to the pro-abortion lobby, they have changed their tune.
