After John Kerry's victory in New Hampshire, his next, most formidable opponent is John Kerry.

Jan. 28, 2004: PoliSat .Com's Political Satire/ Commentary Daily Update # 01·· ™©·2004·(Home)·
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After John Kerry's victory in New Hampshire, his next, most formidable opponent is John Kerry.·

Personal courage versus political opportunism. Most pundits think that describes the contrast between the demonstrably heroic John Kerry and the opportunistically erratic Wesley Clark. Personal courage versus ideological pandering. Most pundits think that describes the contrast between John Kerry and the ideological narrowness of Howard Dean's candidacy. Personal courage versus political veneer. Most pundits think that describes the contrast between John Kerry and John Edwards. Personal courage versus Bush Lite. Most pundits think that describes the contrast between John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. Personal courage versus courageous veneer. Most pundits think that will describe the contrast between John Kerry and George W. Bush. As usual, most pundits will be shown to be wrong.

Kerry Versus Kerry.·(Click image at left to view animation.)

Personal courage versus political opportunism describes the contrast between John Kerry's genuine military heroism and his political opportunism. In 1991, expecting Bush 41 to be proven wrong about Iraq (i.e., that it would become a "Vietnam"), Kerry voted against the Gulf War Resolution despite the demonstrably extreme danger to the world if we were to allow Saddam Hussein to accumulate vast wealth to construct a vastly more threatening military capacity by permanently and directly controlling Kuwaiti oil revenues and indirectly (if not directly) controlling Saudi oil revenues. In 2002, having concluded (as had Clinton, Bush, Blair, and virtually the rest of the western world) that Saddam Hussein had WMD capabilities constituting a serious and growing danger (which Bush 43 scrupulously and repeatedly described as "not" an "imminent" threat but a "gathering danger"), Kerry voted for the resolution upon which Bush 43 launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. In both instances, he voted in favor of what he expected to be the "I told you so" side of the post-conflict political spectrum.

Personal courage versus ideological pandering describes the contrast between John Kerry's genuine military heroism and the standard ideological pandering to constituencies that is the stock in trade of all politicians. It was not for being ideologically eclectic that the ADA gave John Kerry a higher (i.e., more favorable) rating than Ted Kennedy on issues dear to the hearts on the left.

Personal courage versus political veneer describes the contrast between John Kerry's genuine military heroism and the thin veneer of non-elitism he tries to project. Elitism isn't intrinsically bad. John F. Kennedy was an elitist (a president purporting to be counseled by the "best and the brightest"), but his elitism was more akin to the elitism of a meritocracy than the paternalistic gentrifitocracy¹ form of elitism to which Kerry (and Ted Kennedy) genuflect and over which John Kerry tries to project a veneer of non-elitism.

Personal courage versus Bush Lite. With respect to foreign policy (an a number of aspects of domestic policy), except for Joe Lieberman's "I would have done it better" criticisms of Bush's war on terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the "versus Bush Lite" portion of this is correct. However, for reasons explained in the following paragraph, the statement of contrast is incorrect to the extent to which it implies Bush Lite to be devoid of courageousness. Lieberman's dogged adherence to his principles regarding what he correctly describes as a "just war" has shown more political courage than the have-it-both-ways positions exhibited by Kerry. In other words, the pre-invasion Kerry was "Bush Lite," but the post-invasion Kerry became "Dean Lite."

Personal courage versus courageous veneer describes the contrast between the heroic, personal courage Kerry demonstrated in Vietnam and the veneer of political courageousness he tries to project to obscure his tendency toward political equivocation to maximize future political options. Kerry's use of this contrast (i.e., his oft-repeated statement that he "knows something" about aircraft carriers to imply Bush has only a superficial acquaintance with the risks of military service) creates a false comparison just as much as it would be a false comparison for Kerry to try to demean the non-medal-winning soldiers who served in non-combat roles in Vietnam. I don't remember Kerry belittling Gore's service as a military journalist despite Gore's occasional efforts to tout the fact that he served in Vietnam as a way to contrast himself with Bush (and Clinton).

No doubt many who joined the National Guard in the Vietnam era did so with the hope they would not be drafted as infantrymen in Vietnam. No doubt many who honorably served on active duty in non-combat branches in the Vietnam era chose non-combat branches because they preferred not to serve in Infantry, Armor or Atillery. Nevertheless, with respect to risks of death while performing a job in the military, a decision to join the Air National Guard to fly fighter planes manifested less aversion to personal danger than the preferences of many active-duty personnel to serve in non-combat branches. This was especially true in the Vietnam era when the rate of attrition of fighter planes and pilots in Vietnam made service in the Air National Guard pose a greater risk of "activation" than most other National Guard branches. This was also especially true in the Vietnam era by virtue of the comparatively greater danger of flying old, less-well-maintained fighters (relative to today's standards) than active-duty service in non-combat roles. (I'm reasonably certain-- although I can't cite the statistical source-- that in the Vietnam era, the risk of death and/or serious injury was, and was know to be, higher among Air National Guard fighter pilots than among those serving on active duty in Vietnam in many of the non-combat roles, such as military journalist.) Thus, I believe Kerry's attempt to attack Bush as a pretend warrior will lack resonance. I would respect Kerry more if he were to abstain from doing so.

Finally, to the extent to which Kerry wants to use deficiencies in our pre-war intelligence to discredit Bush, he should likewise be willing to discredit himself by virtue of his post-cold-war support for "peace dividends" that included, inter alia, significantly cutting our intelligence-gathering resources. Kerry deserves respect for having served his country and for having exhibited genuine heroism when the chips were down. His deserving such respect does not entitle him to the presidency nor does it demonstrate that his vision of the future is better than that described by Bush. In fact, I favor the latter.

--Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.·

·¹·I'm coining "gentrifitocracy" to denote the form of elitism founded more on a paternalistic view of "the masses" than on viewing liberty and individual responsibility as the driving forces of a meritocracy.

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