Don't care for Kerry as president in '04

The Son of Thunder

By John Brannon

Want to know why you should not vote for John Kerry ?

• He never can figure out what he believes. He votes for $87 billion to help fund the Iraq war, then he votes against it. He protested the Vietnam War, then he tries to use his service in it to help his image.

In a speech on Feb. 25, 2003, Kerry said, “I believe that the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq poses a real threat to the security of the region and of the United States and that he must be disarmed.” But now he criticizes Bush for disarming him.

He wails about the evils of out-sourcing jobs, yet his wife is the heir to a company that out-sources 70 percent of its labor. He claims to support environmental conservation, yet he owns several SUV’s, owns five mansions and has a private Gulf Stream Jet which costs nearly $1,000 per hour to operate. (“Guardian Unlimited,” April 23) He voted 11 times to increase gas taxes, now he wants to lower gas costs; which leads me to my next point.

• If you like to drive your car, then beware of John Kerry. He has voted 11 times to increase gas prices—even as much as 50 cents per gallon. He also refuses to consider drilling at numerous oil rich sites in the United States yet still manages to complain about our lack of oil independence.

• He has zero personality. While I hated what Bill Clinton did to this country, I must say that he had a charming personality and was a great speaker. But watching Kerry try to fire up a crowd is like watching a pothead try to light a wet joint. It’s amusing for a while—then sad—then you can’t change the channel fast enough.

• Kerry has voted countless times to increase taxes, including a vote for the biggest tax increase in United States history under the Clinton administration.

• You think the United States should make its own decisions. John Kerry has this wonderful habit of claiming that the United Nations has all of the answers to life’s problems. He blames Bush for not following the requests of some U.N. nations when it comes to Iraq.

Well, though you probably haven’t heard much about it because it’s been hidden in the mid-section of every paper, the U.N. is being investigated for accepting kickbacks from Saddam Hussein during the ‘90’s. And guess where Saddam was keeping the money that he was setting aside for himself (as much as five billion dollars according to the BBC)? You guessed it, a French bank.

• Bush is reliable. Love him or hate him, you rarely see opponents of George W. Bush complain about his constant shifting of views. Why? Bush is not a politician. He doesn’t make all of his decisions based upon shifting popular opinion. He does what he feels is best for the country.

Democrats have blasted Bush over the past two months about the war in Iraq, yet he has stayed steady in his resolve and in the polls. And democrats have and continue to blast the Bush tax cuts, yet the economy continues to grow (4.2 percent GDP growth in the first quarter) and Bush continues to promise more tax cuts in the future.

• Kerry seriously looks like a Basset Hound. Don’t be shocked if the campaign theme at the Democratic National Convention is “Take a Bite out of Crime.”

• Kerry runs his life by the polls. There is a reason that nearly two-thirds of Americans think Kerry doesn’t really believe what he says (Gallup). Every time a hot topic comes up, he is always on the “popular” side of the isle, even if that means changing seats from time to time.

This explains the rampant flip-flopping that has become prevalent in his voting record. We don’t need a president that runs the country by what polls say; we had eight years of that in the ‘90s. We need a president who is going to do what is right, even if that means doing what’s unpopular with the rest of the world.

• He’s weak on defense. No matter how hard someone tries, they can’t run from their record. Kerry was a leader for “Vietnam Veteran’s Against the War.” He introduced a bill in the ‘90s to cut defense spending by $6 billion (that’s right—billion).

He voted for a nuclear freeze in the ‘80s—good thing we didn’t follow that one. And he apparently can’t make a decision without the French on his side. But if the French are essential to making decisions about war, then let’s go ahead and replace the Joint Chiefs with the leaders of Green Peace.

• He’s not the democrat’s first choice. Democrats wanted Howard Dean to win until his campaign imploded. So they went to Kerry, their fallback guy. It really makes one wonder who else they were holding out for. Maybe they’re wishing they had another fallback—Hillary perhaps?

— Responses to this column may be sent to collegian@csufresno.edu