Is John Kerry rooting for America's enemies?

John Kerry has a nuanced position regarding the need for more American allies in Iraq. Kerry seems to think that America needs more "real" allies, like the nation of France, which sold weapons to Saddam's military as recently as 2002, but not "bribed and coerced" allies like Australia. According to the Kerry campaign, allies like Australia are needlessly exposing themselves to the anger of terrorists by helping to build democracy in Iraq, because Zarqawi and his fellow head cutters are offended by the democracy concept. Maybe that's why Mark Steyn isn't totally surprised to hear that John Kerry rejected a summary of the situation in Iraq pronounced by the Prime Minister of that embattled nation.

What a small, graceless man Kerry is. The nature of adversarial politics in a democratic society makes George W. Bush his opponent. But it was entirely Kerry's choice to expand the field, to put himself on the other side of Allawi and the Iraqi people. Given his frequent boasts that he knows how to reach out to America's allies, it's remarkable how often he feels the need to insult them: Britain, Australia, and now free Iraq. But, because this pampered cipher has floundered for 18 months to find any rationale for his candidacy other than his indestructible belief in his own indispensability, Kerry finds himself a month before the election with no platform to run on other than American defeat. He has decided to co-opt the jihadist death-cult, the Baathist dead-enders, the suicide bombers and other misfits and run as the candidate of American failure. This would be shameful if he weren't so laughably inept at it.

Marni Soupcoff believes that recent terrorist attacks should convince clear thinking people that appeasement isn't a credible option for the civilized world.

As a result of this repeated targeting of civilians from nations that had not participated in--and had even, in many cases, heartily criticized--the war in Iraq, and of Iraqis themselves, people were finally beginning to see that the worldwide network of Islamist terrorists is not motivated by a benign desire to see all future international decisions vetted by the likes of Kofi Annan.

Hat tip to Jamie for pointing out that last column.

Useful Idiots

From the Federalist Patriot's current edition. This is but a small part of the paper (use the link to read the entire piece):

More to the point, Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev said of Roosevelt's "New Deal" paradigm shift, "We can't expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have communism."

Clearly, Khrushchev was onto something. FDR never embraced self-reliance as the essential ingredient of a free society, nor have his Demo-successors Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Why? Perhaps it's because these men inherited their wealth, their privilege and their political office. Indeed, while Kerry's handlers might try to cast their candidate as a man of the people, he is anything but. Remember, this is a man who has twice married multimillionaire heiresses; a man who has multiple mansions on multiple continents; a man who windsurfs (poorly) off tony Nantucket; a man who rides a bicycle that costs more than some new cars; a man who spends, oh, maybe $15,000 to jet his hairdresser cross country for a trim. Yes, John Kerry is the latest in a line of "inheritance-welfare liberals" -- those who were raised dependent on inheritance rather than self-reliance. Is it any wonder, then, that the character and values of these inheritance-welfare liberals are all but indistinguishable from the character and values of those who depend on state welfare?"

Gallup Poll - Trust in Media at New Low

Even this report on a poll about trust of the media has somewhat of a liberal slant to it.

Here is an excerpt from the article (But you really need to read the entire article, not just this one paragraph)....

"Clearly, something new has happened to shake public confidence in the media," Gallup reports, "but whether that 'something' is the recent CBS News controversy is a matter of speculation.

"One might assume that if the CBS News story were the culprit, that this would be reflected in a disproportionately large drop in confidence in the media among Republicans. However, the data on this is not conclusive. Trust in the news media is typically lower among Republicans, but all three partisan groups show a significant decline in confidence in the media since last year. It did drop by a somewhat greater degree among Republicans than Democrats, however."

In other words..... only Republicans lost confidence in the media because of the CBS news story which used forged documents as "proof".

Report from the GOP Issues and Action Conference

Between last weekend's GOPUSA Issues and Action Conference, the pressures of work and other commitments, and migrating to a new computer system, I'm still not quite back to regular blogging. I just got a new Apple iBook so over the next few weeks will move to that system. I've been on a PC for the past few years so relearning the mac way of doing things will take some getting used to.

My summary of the conference can be found here. Suffice it to say for now that it was a smashing success and if at all possible I'm going next year. I'll promote it on my site and here also. I met a lot of great people, from state senators to party officials, to ordinary activist people like me. It was quite a diverse group, with people from all walks of life. The first day we spent discussing issues, and the second day action, or how to actually win a campaign.

One panel (moderator and four panelists) talked about the voting groups, or blocs. Raul Damas discussed Hispanics. These folks can be divided into three groups; the radical left which is beyond hope, the "persuadable", and those who will probably vote against us, so the main objective is to simply not energize them against us too much. The Democrats of course use scare tactics "you will have x, y, and z taken away from you", and Kerry will no doubt open the borders if elected. George Pataki got 40% of the Hispanic vote so it can be done.

Another panelist discussed the religious bloc. The single biggest determinant in whether someone will vote GOP is whether they attend church regularly. Of those who go to church once per week, 70% vote Republican. No big surprise there, so the objective is turnout, not persuasion, with these voters. Just the opposite as with Hispanics. The caveat is to not imply that to be a good Christian you need to vote Republican.

Black voters are something of a contradiction. On the one hand Blacks vote Democratic in overwhelming numbers. On the other, they (the ones who actually vote) are overwhelmingly conservative in their social views. Thus, they vote for the Democrats even though they are at odds with them on some core principles. How to convert them? Talk issues not parties. When they tell you what they hate about the GOP or George W Bush, flip it around and say "ok, that's fine, not tell me what you like about where the GOP or Bush stands on the issues?" and "It's ok to split your vote. If you want to vote Democratic in your local city election that's fine, but please consider Bush for president." That sort of thing.

According to the panelists there are a lot of "recovering Democrats" out there who would consider voting GOP, we just need to push them over the edge. With Blacks we have to overcome groupthink and disinformation. With Hispanics, different groups need to be approached differently.

Bush sounds more like the original JFK

Tony Blankley writes that as John Kerry drifts from one position to the next, sounding adamant no matter which position he currently espouses, President Bush sounds like Churchill and John Kennedy.

Jack Kennedy would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe." For John Kennedy: "Only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility --- I welcome it."

It is ironic that in this time and in this place, the direct descendent of those words, and the virile passions they convey, can be found coming from the mouth and heart not of the Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, but of his opponent, the Texas Republican George W. Bush.

Yesterday, addressing the den of jackals, thieves, petty dictators and other international flotsam --- which goes by the name of the United Nations General Assembly --- President Bush echoed the brave, necessary words of the once Prince of Camelot.

My guess is that Americans will not choose an uncertain and indecisive leader in a time of national danger such as this.

Kerry campaign seeks fewer allies in Iraq

John Kerry has often berated President Bush for a supposed failure of diplomacy, a perceived inability to persuade more nations to participate in America's efforts to stabilize Iraq. Now, in another apparent flip-flop, the Kerry campaign seems to be criticizing Australia for assisting America in Iraq.

Diana Kerry, younger sister of the Democrat presidential candidate, told The Weekend Australian that the Bali bombing and the recent attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta clearly showed the danger to Australians had increased.

"Australia has kept faith with the US and we are endangering the Australians now by this wanton disregard for international law and multilateral channels," she said, referring to the invasion of Iraq.

Ms Kerry, who taught school in Indonesia for 15 years until 2000, is heading a campaign called Americans Overseas for Kerry which aims to secure the votes of Americans abroad -- including the more than 100,000 living in Australia.

My Confession

It was great fun being a teenager in the late sixties. With radical changes in music, fashion, civil rights, sex, drugs, and hair (when there was more of it), I had a wide assortment of issues to sort through. Conservatism, to me, seemed out-dated. I saw it as being tired, out of touch, closed minded, mean-spirited, and brainwashed. I believed our generation was ushering in a whole new “enlightened” way of living.

At this time, most of the awareness I received about world affairs came from music, movies, headlines, placards, and bumper stickers. At eighteen I wasn’t seriously interested in politics or current events other than believing that war in general was wrong and all drugs should be legalized. The lottery ball didn’t quite give me a high enough number to avoid the draft so I entered the army with 1-AO (non-combatant) status. I went through boot- camp then completed AIT (advanced individual training) as a field medic. I believed as long as I didn’t carry a weapon I’d be morally exempt from participating in war. The medic’s motto “To conserve the fighting power” eventually forced me to reconsider my initial status (I didn’t want to be a cog in the “war machine”). So consequently I attempted to change my draft category to class 1-O, (hell no, we won’t go), unsuccessfully. Long story short—After some antics such as impersonating a five-star general (for dramatic effect), refusing direct orders, going AWOL, and some time in the stockade, I was finally discharged as “Undesirable” which I wore as a medal of honor…(wincing). During this process I consumed an abundance of radical left material and became involved with anti-war activism both on and off the base.

I hated Nixon, loved Carter, was aghast when Reagan called The Soviet Union “the evil empire”, and voted for Dukakis (although I would have preferred Jesse Jackson!). The first small pang of conservative influence I remember experiencing was when the Berlin Wall came down. The second was probably during the first Gulf War. Where I observed the necessity, resolve, and principle of military force against what I reluctantly considered a true evil dictator. During the ’92 elections I was somewhere in the center moving right.

As conservative thought started gaining ground within the various media sources: talk-radio, cable news, and the press, there were more angles of perspective available. The more opportunity I gave conservative philosophy to make its case before me, the more I realized it was time to leave all my cynical baggage and rebellious inclinations behind. Today I’m a crazed and raving neo-conservative, but still can be warm n’ fuzzy. This could all come back and kick me in the ass if I ever ran for president…Then again, maybe not.

However, I still reminisce a little whenever I get a whiff of patchouli oil, incense, or marijuana.