Overdose
07-31-2004, 07:22 PM
Personally I’m getting rather aggravated with the Republicans trashing John Kerry’s record in the Senate, and in Vietnam (oh and flip flopping).
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John Kerry’s service in Vietnam showed leadership, and quick decision making skills. His band of brothers have stood by him. Every person who served with John Kerry (but one) agrees that he showed true leadership in Vietnam. When I see the Veterans Against John Kerry, I want to puke. The majority of them did not serve with Kerry, and have no validation to what they are spewing. The Right Wing refuses to listen to the people who served under Kerry, yet they find it perfectly acceptable to believe Veterans who have no knowledge as to what Kerry was like during Vietnam.
The next attack they love to throw out is how he attacked our troops at home. Although that is somewhat true, he more so attacked the policies our Government had during Vietnam. The policies that forced our men to go into villages and kill innocent women and children, while burning their villages. If the Right Wing has a problem with him protesting that (our polices), then they need to get a reality check. The soldiers he may have attacked, were the ones who raped women and did far more then what was ordered of them.
I’m willing to admit he did exaggerate the truth in some respects during Vietnam. But what the Republicans fail to remember is that it was an extremely emotional time for Americans. Emotions were high, and the country was viciously divided. America was not listening to the so-called hippies, who were the “low lives” of our society. Which thus put pressure on John Kerry and other Veterans to make a stand against this war. Since he had to make a gigantic impact he sometimes exaggerated the truth, and in rare occasions lied. If you also cannot understand that he was naïve’, being in his 20’s, then you again are not being understandable. Overall if you attack him for this, you do not understand the era he was in or the age he was.
Another thing they cease to never recollect is that he has apologized for the exaggerations he made. What else do they want from him? He has done all he can do for the few faults he had. People do make mistakes, just like George Bush and his addiction to drugs and being AWOL.
John Kerry also led the expedition in the Senate to find all the missing POW’s in Vietnam…that were not accounted for. He did show respect to our troops, as shown with this example.
I also find it highly ironic that they awarded him a Bronze and a Silver Star, and commended him for his “wonderful service”. Yet when he starts to attack this war at home, he is now this “liar, and disgrace to our military” And sadly you can’t have it both ways.
Righties love to say, he disrespected the troops by throwing his ribbons and other peoples medals over the fence. Yet, it’s his decision to do so. And the other medals he “may” have been throwing were of Veterans who wanted their medals thrown. So in all actuality he did nothing wrong.
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Next is their onslaught against him for being in the Senate. It’s highly funny how they think calling him the most “liberal” senator will discourage us from liking him. I can’t see anything that good OR bad about him being a Senator. I’m not very knowledgeable to his votes in the Senate, but the Republicans don’t seem to be either. He’s the most liberal senator, as far as I can tell from them. And I’m a liberal, so, more power to him.
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Flip Flopper? Yes…No? Maybe so?
I don’t fee like going through it all, so here is a Blog from our Al Franken, who refutes all of the Right Wing attacks on Kerry being a flip flopper...
Sean Hannity and the Right Wing thinks Kerry is a flip flopper because...of this next set of lies....
"Here’s a guy that supported gay marriage, now against it. Here’s a guy that by my count has had six separate different unique positions on the war on Iraq. Here’s a guy that voted for the $87 billion to fund the war before he voted against it. Here’s a guy that was for the Patriot Act. Now against it. No Child Left Behind, for it, now against it. Here’s a guy that supported -- was against the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans. Now he’s for it. The only thing he seems consistent on is that, throughout the 19 years he was in the Senate, he voted to raise taxes consistently 350 times. What does that tell us about a man that has no core values or principles?"
The liberal reply, by Al Franken...
~Here’s a guy that supported gay marriage, now against it.~
This is a lie. Kerry’s position has always been consistent on this. I disagree with him, but Kerry has always been against gay marriage. He is for civil unions. What Hannity is doing here is taking Kerry’s vote against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and deliberately misrepresenting it as a declaration in favor of gay marriage. But let me read you what Kerry said on the floor of the Senate about that vote.
“I will vote against this bill, though I am not for same-sex marriage, because I believe that this debate is fundamentally ugly, and it is fundamentally political, and it is fundamentally flawed….the results of this bill will not be to preserve anything, but will serve to attack a group of people out of various motives and rationales, and certainly out of a lack of understanding and a lack of tolerance, and will only serve the purposes of the political season.”
And on that, I totally agree with him. So, for the record: Kerry has been totally consistent on this. He has never flip-flopped. Sean Hannity is lying, and he knows it.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that by my count has had six separate different unique positions on the war on Iraq. ~
Okay. This is just stupid. Kerry’s position on Iraq has been totally consistent. Yes, he voted to authorize the president to use force against Iraq. But voted for that in order for Bush to go to the UN and get the inspectors back into Iraq, which was a genuine triumph. But, the president acted in bad faith. Here is what Kerry said about it on Face the Nation on September 14, 2003:
“The president promised he would go to war as a matter of last resort. He didn’t. The president promised he would build a coalition and work through the United Nations. He didn’t. We’re paying the price for the reckless way in which this president approached this. It’s a failure of diplomacy, and today it’s a failure of leadership.”
Kerry was entirely consistent, and not only that, he was right.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that voted for the $87 billion to fund the war before he voted against it.~
This is correct, but it’s not a flip-flop. Kerry voted for an amendment to the Iraqi appropriations bill that would have paid for the $87 billion by taking it out of the tax cut for the extremely rich. That amendment lost, 57-42, because Bush insisted that the $87 billion be added to the deficit. As we discussed with Paul Krugman last week, never in the history of this country have we had tax cuts while we were at war. Not only that, but Paul Krugman told me that he has yet to find any civilization in the history of this planet that ever had a tax cut during a war.
After the amendment went down, Kerry did vote against the final $87 billion supplemental appropriation, as a protest against the way Bush got us into the war and is conducting it. But he knew that the troops would have the support, because the bill passed 87 to 12.
You can support our troops, and still protest the president. If you can’t hold those two ideas in your head, you won’t enjoy my show, and I suggest you switch over to Rush right now.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that was for the Patriot Act. Now against it.~
Well, here’s what Kerry said:
“I voted for the Patriot Act right after September 11th – convinced that – with a sunset clause – it was the right decision to make. It clearly wasn’t a perfect bill – and it had a number of flaws – but this wasn’t the time to haggle. It was the time to act.
"But George Bush and John Ashcroft abused the spirit of national action after the terrorist attacks. They have used the Patriot Act in ways that were never intended and for reasons that have nothing to do with terrorism. That’s why, as President, I will propose new anti-terrorism laws that advance the War on Terror while ending the assault on our basic rights.”
In other words, he voted for the Patriot Act after 9/11, although he objected to parts of it. Bush has abused it in ways that were never intended by Congress when it was passed. If you can’t hold that in your head, you will love Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
~No Child Left Behind, for it, now against it.~
This is an easy one. On this one, like all the others, Kerry’s position is consistent, and principled, and Hannity’s is dishonest. Kerry voted for the bill, which the president promised to fund. The president didn’t fund it, which created unfunded mandates on states and school districts across this country. As a result, classroom sizes are getting bigger, after-school programs are being dropped, teachers are being fired, and education is getting worse. Everyone in education across this country will tell you that. No Child Left Behind is the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that supported -- was against the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans. Now he’s for it.~
Actually, Sean’s right on this one. Kerry was against the death penalty before 9/11. And after 9/11, he now supports the death penalty for terrorists. Now, Bush—before 9/11, wanted to invade Iraq. And after it, wanted to invade Iraq. So maybe he was more consistent. Kerry was affected viscerally by 9/11. I’m not sure I’d call that a flip-flop.
Next.
~The only thing he seems consistent on is that, throughout the 19 years he was in the Senate, he voted to raise taxes consistently 350 times.~
This is a disgraceful lie. It is a distortion of a phony statistic put out by the Bush campaign. The Bush campaign lists 350 of Kerry’s votes for, quote, “higher taxes.” Almost all of these are votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged, such as a 1987 vote against a repeal of the “windfall profit” tax on oil. Taxes would have remained the same if his side had prevailed. In other words, this was a vote against an irresponsible tax cut for the rich.
Let me make a side note. We need to pay for the government. Someone’s got to pay for it. And if you cut taxes for the rich, the burden gets shifted to everyone else, or their children.
Bush’s list even includes votes that Kerry cast in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts. On Bush’s list, there’s only one actual tax increase that Kerry voted for, which incidentally is counted twice. It’s his vote for Clinton’s 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, which raised taxes on the top 1% and cut taxes on people at the bottom, and was followed by eight years of unprecedented growth.
Look. The reason I took the time to go over all of this is you’re going to hear this garbage repeated over, and over, and over again from now until November. And we are not going to let them do it. We are not going to let them do to John Kerry what they did to Al Gore.
Kerry is not a flip-flopper. Bush is a liar. And his shills in the media, like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh—they’re liars too.
~ Al Franken
KERRY IS NOT A FLIP FLOPPER!
------------
Thanks for playing Republicans...NOW SHOVE IT!
--------------
John Kerry’s service in Vietnam showed leadership, and quick decision making skills. His band of brothers have stood by him. Every person who served with John Kerry (but one) agrees that he showed true leadership in Vietnam. When I see the Veterans Against John Kerry, I want to puke. The majority of them did not serve with Kerry, and have no validation to what they are spewing. The Right Wing refuses to listen to the people who served under Kerry, yet they find it perfectly acceptable to believe Veterans who have no knowledge as to what Kerry was like during Vietnam.
The next attack they love to throw out is how he attacked our troops at home. Although that is somewhat true, he more so attacked the policies our Government had during Vietnam. The policies that forced our men to go into villages and kill innocent women and children, while burning their villages. If the Right Wing has a problem with him protesting that (our polices), then they need to get a reality check. The soldiers he may have attacked, were the ones who raped women and did far more then what was ordered of them.
I’m willing to admit he did exaggerate the truth in some respects during Vietnam. But what the Republicans fail to remember is that it was an extremely emotional time for Americans. Emotions were high, and the country was viciously divided. America was not listening to the so-called hippies, who were the “low lives” of our society. Which thus put pressure on John Kerry and other Veterans to make a stand against this war. Since he had to make a gigantic impact he sometimes exaggerated the truth, and in rare occasions lied. If you also cannot understand that he was naïve’, being in his 20’s, then you again are not being understandable. Overall if you attack him for this, you do not understand the era he was in or the age he was.
Another thing they cease to never recollect is that he has apologized for the exaggerations he made. What else do they want from him? He has done all he can do for the few faults he had. People do make mistakes, just like George Bush and his addiction to drugs and being AWOL.
John Kerry also led the expedition in the Senate to find all the missing POW’s in Vietnam…that were not accounted for. He did show respect to our troops, as shown with this example.
I also find it highly ironic that they awarded him a Bronze and a Silver Star, and commended him for his “wonderful service”. Yet when he starts to attack this war at home, he is now this “liar, and disgrace to our military” And sadly you can’t have it both ways.
Righties love to say, he disrespected the troops by throwing his ribbons and other peoples medals over the fence. Yet, it’s his decision to do so. And the other medals he “may” have been throwing were of Veterans who wanted their medals thrown. So in all actuality he did nothing wrong.
----------------------
Next is their onslaught against him for being in the Senate. It’s highly funny how they think calling him the most “liberal” senator will discourage us from liking him. I can’t see anything that good OR bad about him being a Senator. I’m not very knowledgeable to his votes in the Senate, but the Republicans don’t seem to be either. He’s the most liberal senator, as far as I can tell from them. And I’m a liberal, so, more power to him.
---------------
Flip Flopper? Yes…No? Maybe so?
I don’t fee like going through it all, so here is a Blog from our Al Franken, who refutes all of the Right Wing attacks on Kerry being a flip flopper...
Sean Hannity and the Right Wing thinks Kerry is a flip flopper because...of this next set of lies....
"Here’s a guy that supported gay marriage, now against it. Here’s a guy that by my count has had six separate different unique positions on the war on Iraq. Here’s a guy that voted for the $87 billion to fund the war before he voted against it. Here’s a guy that was for the Patriot Act. Now against it. No Child Left Behind, for it, now against it. Here’s a guy that supported -- was against the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans. Now he’s for it. The only thing he seems consistent on is that, throughout the 19 years he was in the Senate, he voted to raise taxes consistently 350 times. What does that tell us about a man that has no core values or principles?"
The liberal reply, by Al Franken...
~Here’s a guy that supported gay marriage, now against it.~
This is a lie. Kerry’s position has always been consistent on this. I disagree with him, but Kerry has always been against gay marriage. He is for civil unions. What Hannity is doing here is taking Kerry’s vote against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and deliberately misrepresenting it as a declaration in favor of gay marriage. But let me read you what Kerry said on the floor of the Senate about that vote.
“I will vote against this bill, though I am not for same-sex marriage, because I believe that this debate is fundamentally ugly, and it is fundamentally political, and it is fundamentally flawed….the results of this bill will not be to preserve anything, but will serve to attack a group of people out of various motives and rationales, and certainly out of a lack of understanding and a lack of tolerance, and will only serve the purposes of the political season.”
And on that, I totally agree with him. So, for the record: Kerry has been totally consistent on this. He has never flip-flopped. Sean Hannity is lying, and he knows it.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that by my count has had six separate different unique positions on the war on Iraq. ~
Okay. This is just stupid. Kerry’s position on Iraq has been totally consistent. Yes, he voted to authorize the president to use force against Iraq. But voted for that in order for Bush to go to the UN and get the inspectors back into Iraq, which was a genuine triumph. But, the president acted in bad faith. Here is what Kerry said about it on Face the Nation on September 14, 2003:
“The president promised he would go to war as a matter of last resort. He didn’t. The president promised he would build a coalition and work through the United Nations. He didn’t. We’re paying the price for the reckless way in which this president approached this. It’s a failure of diplomacy, and today it’s a failure of leadership.”
Kerry was entirely consistent, and not only that, he was right.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that voted for the $87 billion to fund the war before he voted against it.~
This is correct, but it’s not a flip-flop. Kerry voted for an amendment to the Iraqi appropriations bill that would have paid for the $87 billion by taking it out of the tax cut for the extremely rich. That amendment lost, 57-42, because Bush insisted that the $87 billion be added to the deficit. As we discussed with Paul Krugman last week, never in the history of this country have we had tax cuts while we were at war. Not only that, but Paul Krugman told me that he has yet to find any civilization in the history of this planet that ever had a tax cut during a war.
After the amendment went down, Kerry did vote against the final $87 billion supplemental appropriation, as a protest against the way Bush got us into the war and is conducting it. But he knew that the troops would have the support, because the bill passed 87 to 12.
You can support our troops, and still protest the president. If you can’t hold those two ideas in your head, you won’t enjoy my show, and I suggest you switch over to Rush right now.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that was for the Patriot Act. Now against it.~
Well, here’s what Kerry said:
“I voted for the Patriot Act right after September 11th – convinced that – with a sunset clause – it was the right decision to make. It clearly wasn’t a perfect bill – and it had a number of flaws – but this wasn’t the time to haggle. It was the time to act.
"But George Bush and John Ashcroft abused the spirit of national action after the terrorist attacks. They have used the Patriot Act in ways that were never intended and for reasons that have nothing to do with terrorism. That’s why, as President, I will propose new anti-terrorism laws that advance the War on Terror while ending the assault on our basic rights.”
In other words, he voted for the Patriot Act after 9/11, although he objected to parts of it. Bush has abused it in ways that were never intended by Congress when it was passed. If you can’t hold that in your head, you will love Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
~No Child Left Behind, for it, now against it.~
This is an easy one. On this one, like all the others, Kerry’s position is consistent, and principled, and Hannity’s is dishonest. Kerry voted for the bill, which the president promised to fund. The president didn’t fund it, which created unfunded mandates on states and school districts across this country. As a result, classroom sizes are getting bigger, after-school programs are being dropped, teachers are being fired, and education is getting worse. Everyone in education across this country will tell you that. No Child Left Behind is the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act.
Next.
~Here’s a guy that supported -- was against the death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans. Now he’s for it.~
Actually, Sean’s right on this one. Kerry was against the death penalty before 9/11. And after 9/11, he now supports the death penalty for terrorists. Now, Bush—before 9/11, wanted to invade Iraq. And after it, wanted to invade Iraq. So maybe he was more consistent. Kerry was affected viscerally by 9/11. I’m not sure I’d call that a flip-flop.
Next.
~The only thing he seems consistent on is that, throughout the 19 years he was in the Senate, he voted to raise taxes consistently 350 times.~
This is a disgraceful lie. It is a distortion of a phony statistic put out by the Bush campaign. The Bush campaign lists 350 of Kerry’s votes for, quote, “higher taxes.” Almost all of these are votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged, such as a 1987 vote against a repeal of the “windfall profit” tax on oil. Taxes would have remained the same if his side had prevailed. In other words, this was a vote against an irresponsible tax cut for the rich.
Let me make a side note. We need to pay for the government. Someone’s got to pay for it. And if you cut taxes for the rich, the burden gets shifted to everyone else, or their children.
Bush’s list even includes votes that Kerry cast in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts. On Bush’s list, there’s only one actual tax increase that Kerry voted for, which incidentally is counted twice. It’s his vote for Clinton’s 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, which raised taxes on the top 1% and cut taxes on people at the bottom, and was followed by eight years of unprecedented growth.
Look. The reason I took the time to go over all of this is you’re going to hear this garbage repeated over, and over, and over again from now until November. And we are not going to let them do it. We are not going to let them do to John Kerry what they did to Al Gore.
Kerry is not a flip-flopper. Bush is a liar. And his shills in the media, like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh—they’re liars too.
~ Al Franken
KERRY IS NOT A FLIP FLOPPER!
------------
Thanks for playing Republicans...NOW SHOVE IT!