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A WILLisms.com MEET THE PRESS Moment, With John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry appeared with Tim Russert this morning on NBC's MEET THE PRESS and he mostly just rehashed his old campaign lines and continued to exaggerate, at best, his war record.

One line that always stands out as typical John Kerry is when he talks about abortion:

"I am actually personally opposed to abortion. But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America."

Why does it have to be an article of faith, opposing abortion? With all the rapid advances in knowledge regarding prenatal development based on science and medicine, why can't one base opposition to abortion upon both faith and science? It takes quite a bit of faith to ignore the emerging research on the subject.

Kerry also continued to externalize his loss, blaming it on Osama bin Laden:

"...we were rising in the polls up until the last day when the tape appeared. We flat-lined the day the tape appeared and went down on Monday."

Looking at the Real Clear Politics tracking chart of the average of polls, Kerry's version of events simply does not match reality. One could even make the case that the bin Laden tape even helped Kerry gain ground at the end of the campaign.

During John Kerry's last appearance on Meet The Press, he promised to release all of his military records, something he never did. This prompted this exchange:

"MR. RUSSERT: Many people who've been criticizing you have said: Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access to all your military records. Thus far, you have gotten the records, released them through your campaign. They say you should not be the filter. Sign Form 180 and let the historians...

SEN. KERRY: I'd be happy to put the records out. We put all the records out that I had been sent by the military. Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record. So when we get--I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?

SEN. KERRY: But everything, Tim...

MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?

SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim--everything we put in--I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports."

Not that it matters. John Kerry is a has-been. Nobody is going to hold him to his promise. But he is on record, now, for the second time, this time specifically promising to sign Form 180. If he does run for office again, he will have to live up to that promise.

On one point, however, Kerry showed a clear understanding of the 2004 race. When Russert grilled him on his leftover money at the end of the race, Kerry rambled for a moment in his typical Thurston Howell III tone of voice, before stating clearly,

"...money was not an issue in the outcome of what happened in this race."

Indeed, the Kerry campaign, Democrats, and their unofficial auxillary groups vastly outspent Bush and Republican groups. Democrats went overkill on spending at nearly every level, so each additional dollar spent would have produced miniscule, perhaps negative, marginal utility. An additional campaign commercial or two, extra flyers, extra signs, more campaign staff, it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, as Democrats already had more than they needed, at nearly every level. They were swimming in money provided by individuals like George Soros and Peter Lewis.

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But just when he started to make some sense, Kerry made the bizarre claim that,

"Karl Rove really had six years to prepare for Election Day. We in many ways had only a few months..."

So Karl Rove was preparing for 2004 back in 1998? But the poor Democrats only had from the summer of 2004, on?

Tim Russert is normally fair, but comments like these require a stern and swift challenge. He failed to do so, here.

The nomination process for Democrats was earlier and longer than any in recent history. The entire primary season was a free anti-Bush infomercial, where, rather than attacking one another, the Democrats staged a "who can be the best Anyone-But-Bush (ABB) candidate?". Because of this, John Kerry emerged from the primaries virtually unscathed.

In the meantime, Republicans expected Howard Dean to be the nominee, so whatever preparation there was, would not have been geared toward John Kerry. Karl Rove, in no way, shape, or form, had 6 years to prepare for 2004, and Democrats had far more than a few months. Kerry's version of history does not even make any sense. Senator Kerry's comment was simply absurd, and Russert should have called him out for it.

On taxes, Kerry showed once again just how out-of-touch he is:

"MR. RUSSERT: You're saying raise taxes by rolling back the top bracket. You're raising taxes on richer Americans to pay for Social Security.

SEN. KERRY: Well, Tim, you can call it what you want. I mean, if you think rolling back to the level that we had in the 1990s, when an awful lot of our friends made an awful lot of money and people did very well in America--if you think that's raising taxes, then you can go ahead and have that definition. I think it's rolling back. I think it's rolling them back to a level of responsibility."

Raising taxes is raising taxes, period. Liberals love to talk about "rolling back tax cuts," as if the Constitution itself ordained a higher rate, and we're currently just at a temporarily lower point. Just because taxes were higher at one point in time does not mean they ought to be higher now. Kerry seems to think the former, higher rate is the reference point against which all other rates are compared. As long as liberals maintain their love for higher taxes, they will be out of power for some time to come.

This has been your MEET THE PRESS Moment, brought to you by WILLisms.com.

UPDATE:

PoliPundit is holding John Kerry to his promise.

Posted by Will Franklin · 30 January 2005 12:45 PM

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