Kerry's Running On His Military Record - (...or not)

[HemlockGrey]

Alright, so I think it's become fairly obvious that the Right-Wing has disseminated its talking points with impressive effectiveness. I've even heard a few of the board members spouting this nonsense as if it were Gospel truth (no irony intended).

So let's just take a moment to debunk one of the more prevalent talking-points. Nothing big, nothing fancy, we'll simply disprove that Kerry is "running on his military record" (or, alternatively, running on "not being Bush") by taking a moment's glance at his website, of all things.

Let's have us a little look-see at whether or not we can unearth some sembalence of a plan behind the man.

Everything is pulled from johnkerry.com, chiefly from the little taskbar which says "Plan For America".

Upon first glancing at the "National Security" page, it appears to be little more than platitudes and vague promises. But when you click on "Winning the Peace in Iraq", what do you get? Why, a plan, by God!

Persuade NATO to Make the Security of Iraq one of its Global Missions and to deploy a significant portion of the force needed to secure and win the peace in Iraq. NATO participation will in turn open the door to greater international involvement from non-NATO countries.

Internationalize the Non-Iraqi Reconstruction Personnel in Iraq, to share the costs and burdens, end the continuing perception of a U.S. occupation, and help coordinate reconstruction efforts, draft the constitution and organize elections.

Launch a Massive and Accelerated Training Effort to Build Iraqi Security Forces that can provide real security for the Iraqi people, including a major role for NATO. This is not a task for America alone; we must join as a partner with other nations.

Plan for Iraq’s Future by working with our allies to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion dollar debts and by supporting the development of a new Iraqi constitution and the political arrangements needed to protect minority rights. We will also convene a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors in order to secure a pledge of respect for Iraq's borders and non-interference in Iraq’s internal affairs

Now, you may agree or disagree with that, but that's certainly a rather firm outline of a plan. Now let's compare it with George Bush's "Agenda for America" (and we'll turn off the annoying music).

Let's see..."safety and security"...vague promises and platitudes, no different from Kerry's frontpage, now let's go indepth with "Bush's Plan For Defending America"

Ok, so here we have something resembling a plan, with such ideas as "Push ahead with missle defense," "Combat spreading of WMDs," and "Restructure the military,". No solid ideas about Iraq, though. So it seems like Kerry *does* have a plan for Iraq, and it's more concrete than the President's. And let's not forget that while Bush has but one page with a number of outlined ideas, Kerry has 7 (seven!) pages of various plans on various subjects relating to security. Some, like the Energy page, offer little substance, but some are more like the Iraq page.

A quick perusal of the rest of Kerry's "Plans" yield similar results. Some are simply "we will do this, and damn the means!", but others seem fairly well-thought out and organized. And I could see nary a mention of his military record.

So, can someone tell me why he's "running on his military record" again? Is it because he's mentioned the fact that he's a Vietnam vet on numerous occasions (something, which, incidentally, should not entirely be taken amiss considering the fact that we are currently in a *war*, and he is a former *soldier*)? Or is it because Karl Rove is a fucking genius?

[HemlockGrey]

Now, it can be said that Kerry is at fault for not really getting these messages out, but, frankly, considering how completely successful the GOP has been at putting him on the defensive with a variety of dishonest tactics I don't think that that's evidence of a lack of ideas.

[Glocksman]

But how much is he talking these things up? The only one I've heard him discuss (and I confess I don't follow it that closely) was getting NATO involved in Iraq.

In most of the clips I've seen of Kerry, he managed (especially during the primaries) to slip a mention of Vietnam in somehow.

My question is why isn't he running on his Senate record as a counterpart to GWB's record as President? He's had 4 terms in the Senate. Why is there almost no mention of it from his campaign except when the Bushies bring up a particular vote?

Is he hiding from it?

Could it be that a Senator with a lifetime 'liberal quotient' of 92 from the Americans for Democratic Action liberal lobbying group is perhaps too liberal for voters outside of the Northeast and California?

[HemlockGrey]

Didn't Jon Stewart demolish that "liberal quotient" claim?

Frankly, I wouldn't expect to see him running on his Senate record, since the Republicans could distort and destroy the hell out of it. Look at what they managed to do with one defense bill. Of *course* he's hiding it; if he brings out his Senate record the Republicans are going to have a field day distorting it, ala Paul Wellstone and the "seaweed" ad.

[Glocksman]

In fact, on his site, his 20 year Senate service only has a couple of nonspecific paragraphs devoted to it while his military service has detailed pages devoted to it.

My problem with Kerry isn't so much him running on his military record, but his running away from his Senate record.

[HemlockGrey]

And, of course, his Senate record has absolutely no bearing on whether or not he's "running on his military record" or not.

[Glocksman]

Didn't Jon Stewart demolish that "liberal quotient" claim?

Stewart attacked the rating from some other group, not the ADA.
The ADA not only gave him a rating of 92, but is endorsing him for President.

Kerry/Edwards ADA voting record ratings

Oh, and the term 'Liberal Quotient' comes from the ADA itself. It's not a made up term from some O'Reillyesque pundit.

[Glocksman]

And, of course, his Senate record has absolutely no bearing on whether or not he's "running on his military record" or not.

Taken in isolation no, but the amount of space his site gives to his military service as compared to the space devoted to his 20 years in the Senate is telling.

[HemlockGrey]

Combining 20 key votes on a wide range of social and economic issues, both domestic and international, the Liberal (LQ) provides a basic overall picture of an elected official's political position.

Each year, ADA's Legislative Committee selects 20 votes it considers the most important during that session. ADA's National Board and/or National Executive Committee approves those votes. Each member recieves 5 points if he/she voted with ADA, and does not receive 5 points if he/she voted against us or was absent.

Sorry, that method fails to inspire any great confidence in its accuracy, and, like I said, is totally unrelated to whether or not he's running on his military record.

[HemlockGrey]

The fact that he talks about his military record his not suprising, nor is the fact that he does not talk about his Senate record. However the fact that he outlines *numerous* plans and ideas he is (attempting) to run on quite clearly gives the lie to the claim that he is all about Vietnam.

[Glocksman]

Combining 20 key votes on a wide range of social and economic issues, both domestic and international, the Liberal (LQ) provides a basic overall picture of an elected official's political position.

Each year, ADA's Legislative Committee selects 20 votes it considers the most important during that session. ADA's National Board and/or National Executive Committee approves those votes. Each member recieves 5 points if he/she voted with ADA, and does not receive 5 points if he/she voted against us or was absent.

Sorry, that method fails to inspire any great confidence in its accuracy, and, like I said, is totally unrelated to whether or not he's running on his military record.

Unlike some bullshit rankings by groups that want to slime Kerry, this one does inspire confidence in me simply because all the information on the votes used to determine the score are right there on the ADA's site.

And as a check on the ADA's scoring, look at the American Conservative Union's scoring of Kerry. He scored a 6 from the ACU.

This WashPost article explains it well

At the other end of the spectrum, three senators are often singled out as the most liberal: Barbara Boxer of California, Pat Leahy of Vermont and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Their lifetime ADA scores through 2002 are, respectively, 96, 93 and 90 -- statistically indistinguishable from Kerry's.

In recent weeks, a number of commentators have asserted that Kerry's voting history is complicated to classify. The evidence doesn't bear this out. If you were to take the numbers shown here, cover up Kerry's name and then ask a sample of American political scientists, "I have here a senator who in the past 10 years has had an average ADA score of 92 and an average ACU score of 6. Is he a liberal, a moderate or a conservative?" they would have no difficulty in classifying the 2004 Democratic candidate as, for better or worse, a liberal.

Don't get me wrong. There are liberals I'd vote for (Hell, I supported Dean), but Kerry is just too slimy. It's write in time again.

[Glocksman]

Kerry isn't solely about Vietnam now, but he earned the reputation for saying 'Vietnam' in every other sentence during the primaries.

Why he did this, I'm not certain, but I'd guess he was contrasting his record with Dean's deferment and Bush's AWOL ANG service.

It played well in the primaries but make him the butt of jokes once the primary season was over.

[Durandal]

Kerry isn't solely about Vietnam now, but he earned the reputation for saying 'Vietnam' in every other sentence during the primaries.

Why he did this, I'm not certain, but I'd guess he was contrasting his record with Dean's deferment and Bush's AWOL ANG service.

It played well in the primaries but make him the butt of jokes once the primary season was over.

And you are absolutely correct. He differentiated himself from the other Democratic candidates by making himself out to be a liberal war hero. But for some dumb-ass reason, he hasn't realized that that doesn't fly when competing against the opposing party.

[CJvR]

Persuade NATO to Make the Security of Iraq one of its Global Missions and to deploy a significant portion of the force needed to secure and win the peace in Iraq. NATO participation will in turn open the door to greater international involvement from non-NATO countries.

This is about as "Im not Bush" as you can get. I will get NATO into Iraq where Bush have failed, how do you get them? What price is Kerry willing to pay Paris to get a NATO shield to hide behind?

Internationalize the Non-Iraqi Reconstruction Personnel in Iraq, to share the costs and burdens, end the continuing perception of a U.S. occupation, and help coordinate reconstruction efforts, draft the constitution and organize elections.

How do you internationalise it when terrorists are killing any foreigner they find? How do you end the perception of occupation when US guns are the only thing keeping Iraq from allout civil war with intervention from all her neighbors, I doubt thats the kind of internationalisation he have in mind...

Launch a Massive and Accelerated Training Effort to Build Iraqi Security Forces that can provide real security for the Iraqi people, including a major role for NATO. This is not a task for America alone; we must join as a partner with other nations.

How much more massive than the current operation is it possible to get and what could NATO do that the US isn't doing today, except stopping a few bullets that would otherwise be fired at US troops.

Plan for Iraq’s Future by working with our allies to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion dollar debts and by supporting the development of a new Iraqi constitution and the political arrangements needed to protect minority rights.

This is what Bush have done, but Kerry isn't Bush so he will succed in talking France and Russia out of demanding repayment and compensation for the now void oilconcessions(bribes) granted them by Saddam?

We will also convene a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors in order to secure a pledge of respect for Iraq's borders and non-interference in Iraq’s internal affairs

Turkey, Syria, Iran and the Saudis... LOL! Yeah Kerry telling the generals, baathists, mad mullahs and princes to stop doing what they have been doing for the last decades sounds like a good idea. Why not make it a UN resolution, those guys really respect those...

Kerry might have a plan for Iraq, it is most likely to run away at the earliest possible oppertunity. Bush probably have the same plan but he is more comitted to at least try to resolve the worst problems first.

So, can someone tell me why he's "running on his military record" again?

Perhaps because he never failed to mention it, until it turned a bit sour. His acceptance of the nomination at the DNC reaked of the "old war hero steps forward" angle.