|
What Kerry Said And What You Need To Know
Edward L. Daley
August 02, 2004
On Thursday the 29th of July, 2004, Senator John Forbes Kerry gave his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts. It is my intention to illuminate certain thruths hidden behind Mr. Kerry's speech which might otherwise go unnoticed by the majority of voters in this country. Each statement made by Senator John F. Kerry will be prefaced with the * symbol and will be followed by information that Mr. Kerry would, I suspect, rather you were not privaledged to.
* "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty."
"In a survey of 500 Bay State voters conducted last Sunday and Monday, 59 percent said they ''are concerned" that Kerry ''missed 70 percent of the votes in the Senate over the last two years" and 45 percent say he should resign his Senate seat" - Brian Mooney (The Boston Globe 07/24/04)
* "And I am determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America."
"A Ho Chi Minh City museum that honors Vietnam war protesters features a photograph of Sen. John Kerry being greeted by the general secretary of the Communist Party, Comrade Do Muoi. A snapshot of the display in the Vietnamese Communist War Remnants Museum - formerly known as the "War Crimes Museum" - WorldNetDaily (06/01/04)
* "We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we're true to our ideals - and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As President, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House."
"There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down." - John F. Kerry (Testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 04/22/71)
"I served with these guys. I went on missions with them, and these men served honorably. Up and down the chain of command there was no acquiescence to atrocities. It was not condoned, it did not happen, and it was not reported to me verbally or in writing by any of these men including Lt.(jg) Kerry." - Captain George Elliott, USN (retired)
"I was in An Thoi from June of '68 to June of '69, covering the whole period that John Kerry was there. I operated in every river, in every canal, and every off-shore patrol area in the 4th Corps area, from Cambodia all the way around to the Bo De River. I never saw, even heard of all of these so-called atrocities and things that we were supposed to have done. This is not true. We're not standing for it. We want to set the record straight." - William Shumadine
"In a whole year that I spent patrolling, I didn't see anything like a war crime, an atrocity, anything like that. Time and again I saw American fighting men put themselves in graver danger trying to avoid... collateral damage. When John Kerry returned to the country, he was sworn in front of Congress. And then he told my family -- my parents, my sister, my brother, my neighbors -- he told everyone I knew and everyone I'd ever know that I and my comrades had committed unspeakable atrocities." - David Wallace
"He served four months in Vietnam while I served five years in Vietnam, I think that I had the opportunity to witness any possible atrocities a lot more then him as I was directly involved in the ground action, I saw None! The vast majority of American fighting Servicemen did an Honorable Performance with just a few malcontents who were dealt with harshly and punished accordingly. Kerry on the other hand, came home to portray himself as our spokesman, able to play the "Chameleon" as politics dictated to fit his needs and reinvent himself to satisfied his political aspirations." - Pascual R. Meza
"I strongly believe that the statements made by the Senator were not only false and inaccurate, but extremely harmful to the United States' efforts in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. Tragically, some veterans, scorned by the antiwar movement and their allies, retreated to a life of despair and suicide. Two of my crewmates were among them. For that there is no forgiveness." - Richard O'Mara
* "Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so."
"The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but as I said, it is not new. It has been with us since the end of that war, and particularly in the last 4 years we know after Operation Desert Fox failed to force him to reaccept them, that he has continued to build those weapons." - John F. Kerry (Congressional record10/09/02)
"If you don't believe Saddam Hussein is a threat with nuclear weapons, then you shouldn't vote for me." - John F. Kerry (The Los Angeles Times 01/31/03)
"Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror..." - John Kerry (12/15/03)
* " I ask you to judge me by my record."
John Kerry voted against the B-1 Bomber, the B-2 Stealth Bomber, the F-14, the F-15, the F-16, the AV-8B Harrier Jet, the AH-64 Apache Helicopter, the Patriot Missiles, the Aegis Air Defense Cruiser, the Trident Missile System, the M-1 Abrams Tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the Tomahawk Cruise Missile. - Congressional record
* "And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising, and our great middle class is shrinking."
"Wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose a moderate 0.9 percent in the April-June quarter this year, down slightly from the previous quarter's increase, as price pressures for benefits like health insurance eased significantly." - Associated Press writer Martin Crutsinger citing data from the U.S. Department of Labor
* " We can do better and we will. We're the optimists."
"While the addition of new jobs to the economy is of course welcomed news for America's workers, America is still in the worst job recovery since the Great Depression." - Terry McAuliffe, head of the DNC
* "I am proud that at my side will be a running mate whose life is the story of the American dream and who's worked every day to make that dream real for all Americans."
"When I came back from Vietnam in 1969 I don't know if John Edwards was out of diapers then. Well, I'm sure he was out of diapers." - John F. Kerry (New York Times January, 2004)
"Edwards says he's the only one who can win states in the South. He can't win his own state." - John F. Kerry (New York Times 02/03/04)
* "And what can I say about Teresa? She has the strongest moral compass of anyone I know."
"Mrs. Heinz Kerry called for more civility in politics and added, "We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics." Shortly afterward, she was asked by Colin McNickle, editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, what she meant by "un-American." Instead of clarifying, Mrs. Heinz Kerry denied her statement. The AP reported, "Heinz Kerry said 'I didn't say that' several times to McNickle." When Mr. McNickle asked her again, Mrs. Heinz Kerry declared, "You said something I didn't say. Now shove it." Reuters reported the same series of exchanges." - Washington Times (07/27/04)
* "We fought for this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older now, we may be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country."
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam." - John F. Kerry (Testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 04/22/71)
* "Remember the hours after September 11th, when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran up the stairs and risked their lives, so that others might live. When rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon. When the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation's Capitol."
"Bush is calling on the biggest disaster in our country's history, and indeed in the history of the fire service, to win sympathy for his campaign." - Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters which has endorsed John Kerry for president
* "I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: the United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."
"He (Saddam Hussein) cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this Nation... This should not be a strike consisting only of a handful of cruise missiles hitting isolated targets primarily of presumed symbolic value." - John F. Kerry (Congressional record November, 1997)
Continued on next page
|
