Another missed opportunity (Kerry on N. Korea)

Phil Skayhan · Post by **Phil Skayhan** » 2004-09-13 01:58pm

Selections from NYT article wrote: In an interview, he argued that President Bush's preoccupation with Iraq let the North Korean crisis fester to the point that there were now indications that the country might be preparing to test a plutonium bomb. He presented his charges in a 15-minute telephone call he made to The New York Times.

It is also highly unusual for Mr. Kerry to seek out a reporter on a Sunday, when he had no public appearances scheduled, to attack Mr. Bush. This comes as Mr. Kerry and his aides, during this final 50 days of the campaign, have promised to draw more consistent and sharper contrasts to Mr. Bush in response to criticism from supporters that their message has been too weak.

When Mr. Kerry was pressed about how he would handle the threat of a North Korean nuclear test if he was in the Oval Office, he declined to be prescriptive, other than to say that the issue would probably have to be taken to the United Nations Security Council. "Hypothetical questions are not real," he said, arguing that North Korea was a case for preventive diplomacy, and that Mr. Bush's "ideologically driven" approach had kept him from truly engaging North Korea. "The Chinese are frustrated, the South Koreans, the Japanese are frustrated," he said.

No wonder people are frustrasted with Kerry and his campaign. He takes the time to personally call the New York Times to critisize Bush's handling of N. Korea but declines to say what he would do differently. Didn't it occur to Kerry that they might ask him that very question?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-09-13 02:04pm

Kerry's "Not Bush" platform needs serious improvement, and fast. Unfortunately, a career of backroom deals in the Senate and power lunches with his wife's rich friends have apparently neutered him.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-09-13 02:11pm

I am seriously begining to think that Bush is living a fucking charmed life. He spends his early years snorting coke, drunk and high, his business dealings run every company he is involved with into the ground and becomes a born again Christian which of course naturally leads to the White House. UGH.

Then he has a slew of opponents that can clearly elucidate a veritable litany of reasons why the man is a horrible president and what the other side can deliver on and what does the opposition give us: Dukakis Mark II.

The man MUST make a fucking stand on something, anything for fuck's sake. Dean with all his insane bellowing had some very brightline distinctions between him and Bush and was willing to stick to his guns on it. The so called opposition played it fucking safe including their vapid lackluster convention and we pay the price for it.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2004-09-13 03:04pm

Take Korea to the Security Council. Yeah, that will do something. Just like it's fixed the situation in Sudan.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-09-13 03:18pm

Well, how should North Korea be dealt with, then? I don't see any way of dealing with the problem besides multilateral diplomacy, since military force isn't an option.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2004-09-13 03:20pm

Stravo wrote:I am seriously begining to think that Bush is living a fucking charmed life.

Wasn't it Napoleon who required his generals to be lucky?

Sudan is perfect, just as all his opponents scream about the value and importance of the UN along comes a little chrisis for the UN to demonstrate its impotence and incompetence on. It wasn't long ago that Sudan was placed on the UN human rights comity IIRC...

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-09-13 03:23pm

Bush is leading no more of a charmed life than any other mega-rich spoiled brat. The world is filled with rich spoiled brats who live off the spoils of their fathers' work and get away with things that would ruin the life of a normal person.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-09-13 03:56pm

Darth Wong wrote:Bush is leading no more of a charmed life than any other mega-rich spoiled brat. The world is filled with rich spoiled brats who live off the spoils of their fathers' work and get away with things that would ruin the life of a normal person.

Like Paris Hilton?

Back on topic, though, Kerry needs to start DOING something. I'm tired of his promises to bring openness to the government while simultaneously refusing to state his positions on the important issues.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2004-09-13 04:28pm

Darth Wong wrote:Bush is leading no more of a charmed life than any other mega-rich spoiled brat. The world is filled with rich spoiled brats who live off the spoils of their fathers' work and get away with things that would ruin the life of a normal person.

Like marrying into money and refusing to show the least amount of backbone in what should be a slam dunk election?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-09-13 04:36pm

Falkenhayn wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Bush is leading no more of a charmed life than any other mega-rich spoiled brat. The world is filled with rich spoiled brats who live off the spoils of their fathers' work and get away with things that would ruin the life of a normal person.
Like marrying into money and refusing to show the least amount of backbone in what should be a slam dunk election?

How rich were Kerry's parents?

PS. Actually, if a normal person married into money and then played it safe from then on, that wouldn't ruin his life. Far from it, in fact. So Kerry's not a very good example of the "get away with shit that would ruin a normal man's life" rich-kid syndrome.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2004-09-13 04:41pm

Stravo, Dukakis Mk. II?

That's simply too fucking funny to be real!

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-09-13 06:53pm

Joe wrote:Well, how should North Korea be dealt with, then? I don't see any way of dealing with the problem besides multilateral diplomacy, since military force isn't an option.

The let them collapse internally option has been working quite well for the last decade. The best way to deal with them is simply to ignore the issue. We can never be sure of ending there nuclear program, so any political deal to that end will just result in the world throwing oil and other resources at them which will only prolong the end. We can just wait, and be prepared in a multi megaton/PAC-3 way in case the nutjobs in power decide to push the button before it falls apart from a lack of maintenance. Thats basically whats being done right now.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-09-13 07:39pm

Darth Wong wrote:Kerry's "Not Bush" platform needs serious improvement, and fast. Unfortunately, a career of backroom deals in the Senate and power lunches with his wife's rich friends have apparently neutered him.

Most definitely. Despite giving what was a fairly strong nomination speech at the convention, once back on the campaign trail he went back to speaking to crowds in Senatorial mode. And looking at the way he's conducted his campaign and his unwillingness to do or say anything remotely controversial, the portrait is of a man so obsessed over not losing the race that he hasn't a clue about how to actually win it. Instead, he's trying to play percentages and banking on winning enough key states to gain the electoral vote margin. Kerry just doesn't seem to understand that a presidential race —especially this one— is a brutal jungle struggle with winner-take-all stakes. Either that or he really doesn't want the presidency bad enough to do whatever it takes to beat Bush to a pulp.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-09-13 07:46pm

My problem with Kerry isn't that he flip-flops, although that's part of it. My problem with him is that flip-flopping is part of a larger trend. Kerry has consistently refused to make his views on issues clear (which is kind of ironic, since that's what he criticized so often about Bush's federal judge appointments). His plans range between farcically vague and totally undefined, and he hasn't presented a genuine platform at all. Not being Bush is not a platform. There are LOTS of people running for President who are not President Bush, and even if Kerry is the best candidate he hasn't been presenting a case that's good enough to justify my vote.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-09-13 08:04pm

My father isn't a political man (in contrast to me) but said he'd vote for Bush because he had no idea what Kerry would do if he was President.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-09-13 08:13pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:My father isn't a political man (in contrast to me) but said he'd vote for Bush because he had no idea what Kerry would do if he was President.

I wouldn't advocate voting for Bush because Kerry has no stance on anything, but I will say that I personally am looking for a sane third party candidate because NEITHER candidate has made an acceptably strong case to me.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2004-09-13 09:32pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Falkenhayn wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:Bush is leading no more of a charmed life than any other mega-rich spoiled brat. The world is filled with rich spoiled brats who live off the spoils of their fathers' work and get away with things that would ruin the life of a normal person.
Like marrying into money and refusing to show the least amount of backbone in what should be a slam dunk election?
How rich were Kerry's parents?

PS. Actually, if a normal person married into money and then played it safe from then on, that wouldn't ruin his life. Far from it, in fact. So Kerry's not a very good example of the "get away with shit that would ruin a normal man's life" rich-kid syndrome.

Richard John "Dick" Kerry (July 28, 1915 – July 29, 2000), the father of Senator John Forbes Kerry, volunteered as a test pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, flying DC-3's and B-29's stateside in Alabama. After a bout with tuberculosis, he was mustered out of the military. He was raised as a Roman Catholic.

Kerry attended the Phillips Academy as a youth, and then graduated from Yale University in 1937. He received a degree from Harvard Law School in 1940, and then joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. In his adult career, he was assistant district attorney for the southeastern district of Massachusetts In 1949, Kerry moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the office of the General Counsel for the Navy Department. In 1951, Kerry joined the U.S. Department of State where he served in the Bureau of United Nations Affairs and the Office of Legal Advisor. He was a legal advisor to the U.S. High Commissioner of Germany, James B. Conant, as well as U.S. Attorney for Berlin.
In 1956, he joined the Foreign Service and was assigned as executive assistant to U.S. Senator Walter F. George, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He taught at the NATO Defense College in Paris in 1958 before being named Chief of the Political Section of the American Embassy there.

Kerry met his wife, Rosemary Forbes, in 1937 while taking a course in sculpture in the French coastal town of Saint-Briac. The couple married in Montgomery, Ala., in January 1941.

http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/R ... Kerry.html

Playing it safe, yes. Good way to demonstrate the courage in your convictions. But hey, if you stick your neck out, somebody may just take a swing at it, and that is far too great a risk.

Then again, having the only instance of passion in your life percieved to be an "un-patriotic, America bashing hippy rant" in conjunction with a very much debunked report is far from playing it safe. Maybe he could not forsee such a perception of his conduct in the future?

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2004-09-13 09:46pm

Wong:

I concede that I can't currently find the pay rate for a legal aide to an occupational authority on the Chief of a political section of an Embassy.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-13 09:52pm

Master of Ossus wrote:Back on topic, though, Kerry needs to start DOING something. I'm tired of his promises to bring openness to the government while simultaneously refusing to state his positions on the important issues.

That assumes he has any positions. Right now he seems to be the worst sort of focus group driven politician. Like Bill Clinton with out the balls and charm.