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The 7 - Current Events & Politics - Kerry, the warmonger? Register and log in to post!
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Grimis
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#1 Posted on 18.8.04 0909.32
Reposted on: 18.8.11 0909.45
Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit made a very intersting observation:
    Originally posted by Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit.com, 8/18/04
    My dad's a Kerry supporter, an Iraq war opponent, and a rather devoted Bush critic. But when we were talking the other night, he offered his worries regarding Kerry.

    He thinks that Bush will cut and run in Iraq within six months of the election. (I disagree, unless it's via Tehran). But -- though I stress he still supports Kerry -- he says that his big worry about Kerry is that Kerry will be like LBJ, anxious to prove his manhood through greater military involvement rather than risk looking weak by withdrawing.

    When we had this conversation a couple of weeks ago, I was skeptical. And I guess I still am. But lately, I've started to wonder if he isn't on to something. (He often is.) People in the pro-war camp worry that Kerry will pull a cut-and-run. And it's true that Kerry has been known for his anti-war sentiments, and actions.

    But it's also true that Kerry really wants to be known as one badass mofo. Look at the secret hat. ("He pointed his finger and raised his thumb, creating an imaginary gun.... He smiled and aimed his finger: 'Pow.'") The war stories. The combat home movies. The constant photos of Kerry with Harleys, guitars, guns, and soldiers. The military posture of the DNC acceptance speech and salute. If Kerry were a Republican, the bargain-basement Freudians among the punditocracy would be having a field day. (As Joan Vennochi wrote: "Clearly, 'modest hero' will not be his epitaph.")

    So what does this mean? Lyndon Baines Johnson was another President with a silver star and a short combat career who seemed to feel that he had a lot to prove. Might Kerry's rather clear desire to be seen as a tough guy make him a surprisingly resilient warrior? Or might it backfire, as it most likely did with LBJ?

    I don't know. A tough-guy presidency under Kerry seems unlikely to me, but then so did a major George W. Bush commitment to nation-building four years ago. Should people in the anti-war camp be worrying that a President Kerry won't pull a cut-and-run? I don't really think so, but it's just perverse enough to seem plausible....
I think it does make some sense, because often times Presidents get elected and tend to try to disprove some things that were said about them. Look at the Clinton triangulation on welfare reform, Nixon's expansion of Great Society programs, price controls and EPA policies, and the aforementioned LBJ Vietnam issue.

Kerry? If he won and he does this, he would have a primary challenger from the left in 2008, much like Nixon had John Ashbrook in 1972.
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BWT
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#2 Posted on 18.8.04 0936.52
Reposted on: 18.8.11 0942.09
So wait your ripping the guy now because he COULD be a warmonger? I think we have officially ran out of things to rip Kerry for. For me at least I would rather vote for Kerry the possible warmonger then Bush the moron.
Grimis
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#3 Posted on 18.8.04 0943.16
Reposted on: 18.8.11 0948.20
    Originally posted by BWT
    So wait your ripping the guy now because he COULD be a warmonger? I think we have officially ran out of things to rip Kerry for. For me at least I would rather vote for Kerry the possible warmonger then Bush the moron.
I'm not ripping the guy for anything. I'm just leading you to an interesting opinion that was hopefully lead to discourse.

Besides, there are plenty of other reasons to rip Kerry than based on what he could do...
DrDirt
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#4 Posted on 18.8.04 1033.22
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1035.56
I have stated this in other threads here. I don't think Bush would cut and run but I could see Kerry going Rambo on the world to disprove his critics. LBJ did exactly that. I really don't believe that Kerry will downsize in Iraq like he says he will. Once you are elected, a different reality exists that no matter how well briefed you are prior to office, you just can't comprehend.

Plus even Kerry realizes that cutting and running in Iraq would invalidate all the sacrifice and loss we have suffered, as well as the Iraqi people, over the last 18 months.
Roy.
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#5 Posted on 18.8.04 1547.01
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1547.40
During the primaries, and even still now, my father and I were talking about the Democrats, and how they sounded just like Nixon when he was trying to beat LBJ. I still haven't heard a concrete plan on how we're getting out of Iraq, and I feel like Kerry is simply asking for me to trust him, much like Nixon's "secret plans" that America trusted him on. Of course, we know what happened there, and it's one of the big things that worries me about Kerry, simply because I'm close with some people who are over there and am quite worried about them.
asteroidboy
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#6 Posted on 18.8.04 1651.54
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1658.01
A very interesting, if highly speculative point. But it could happen.

As Grimis said, he wouldn't be the first. Clinton's a good example of going the other way. Even the current Bush has expanded government to a point that has greatly pissed off my libertarian roommate who voted for him.

Although with LBJ, wasn't part of his rationale not wanting to be the first president to lose a war? At least with Kerry, that streak's already been broken.

(edited by asteroidboy on 18.8.04 1652)
DrDirt
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#7 Posted on 18.8.04 1743.35
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1743.42
    Originally posted by asteroidboy
    A very interesting, if highly speculative point. But it could happen.

    As Grimis said, he wouldn't be the first. Clinton's a good example of going the other way. Even the current Bush has expanded government to a point that has greatly pissed off my libertarian roommate who voted for him.

    Although with LBJ, wasn't part of his rationale not wanting to be the first president to lose a war? At least with Kerry, that streak's already been broken.

    (edited by asteroidboy on 18.8.04 1652)


When LBJ became President, we weren't "heavily" involved. Vietnam was an example of the containment policy formulated by Truman in the late 1940's and adopted as our response to communist aggression. Throw in the domino theory and SEATO for good measure. And technically, we didn't win in Korea. LBJ's mentality re Nam is extremely complex.

And Roy, Nixon didn't run against LBJ as LBJ announced he wouldn't run early in 1968. He ran against Humphrey.
RYDER FAKIN
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#8 Posted on 18.8.04 1827.17
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1829.01
the beauty about this E-lection is that response to such bombastic charges is almost instantaneous...

Click Here (hedgefundmistress.com)

JOHN IS LOVER, NOT FIGHTER

and we still have two months! C'mon DEBATES!

FLEA
Barbwire Mike
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#9 Posted on 18.8.04 1916.34
Reposted on: 18.8.11 1917.03
    Originally posted by RYDER FAKIN
    Click Here (hedgefundmistress.com)

Heh, she included a nekkid pic. That's great. :)
Roy.
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#10 Posted on 18.8.04 2234.35
Reposted on: 18.8.11 2234.45
    Originally posted by DrDirt
    And Roy, Nixon didn't run against LBJ as LBJ announced he wouldn't run early in 1968. He ran against Humphrey.


Eep. That American History class did me no good. Beer and no sleep kills brain cells, kids. As does packing up your life into a tiny Subaru and driving across state.
Barbwire Mike
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#11 Posted on 19.8.04 1629.34
Reposted on: 19.8.11 1629.37
Hehehe, gg on the website honey.

Kerry 'ex-flame' in web backlash


    She said she hoped it might help publicise her books 'Hedge Fund Mistress' - about a woman who has a relationship with a US state senator - and 'What About the Dead?'

    She said that despite 16,000 hits she had "absolutely zero book orders".

    "I was so sure that I'd sell some books, buy a house, not have to spend the next 20 years in a windowless cube... living paycheck-to-paycheck. Silly me," she wrote.
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