Sunday, May 30, 2004

The Bush campaign has a feature on its website called “Kerry on Iraq.” It’s supposed to show how John Kerry continually contradicts himself over Iraq policy. Not surprisingly if you read what Kerry actually says as opposed to how the website selectively edits the quotes, there really aren’t any contradictions. Here’s one that stood out

What the Bush site says Kerry said: “Kerry Ready to Include Saddam Hussein in War on Terror.”

It then gives this quote from the Larry King show:

Oh, I think we clearly have to keep the pressure on terrorism globally. This doesn't end with Afghanistan by any imagination. And I think the president has made that clear. I think we have made that clear. Terrorism is a global menace. It's a scourge. And it is absolutely vital that we continue, for instance, Saddam Hussein.

That last sentence doesn’t make sense, but I suppose you could in a stretch see that Kerry is lumping Saddam with al-Qaida, right? Well here’s what the Bush people left out of the quote

KERRY: Oh, I think we clearly have to keep the pressure on terrorism globally. This doesn't end with Afghanistan by any imagination. And I think the president has made that clear. I think we have made that clear. Terrorism is a global menace. It's a scourge. And it is absolutely vital that we continue, for instance, Saddam Hussein. I think we...

KING: We should go to Iraq? KERRY: Well, that -- what do you and how you choose to do it, we have a lot of options. Absent smoking gun evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the immediate events of September 11, the president doesn't have the authorization to proceed forward there.

But we clearly are he ought to proceed to put pressure on him with respect to the weapons of mass destruction. I think we should be supporting an opposition. There are other ways for us, clandestinely and otherwise, to put enormous pressure on him and I think we should do it.

I’m continually amazed out how Kerry’s nuance on policy is constantly being cast as prevarication and inconsistent (while not quite this extreme, Slate's new feature 'Kerryisms' is perhaps the height of inanity). But that’s the consequence of having a campaign that’s about politics and not policy. But people like GWB for whom there is no nuance in foreign policy (everything is black and white, good and evil) thoughtful responses to complex issues demonstrate disingenuousness.

# posted 1:03 PM