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Kerry Criticizes Bush's Military Policy

R

Riprorin

Banned
Kerry Criticizes Bush's Military Policy

Associated Press/AP Online

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Democrat John Kerry ventured in to Republican leaning Virginia on Monday with a Memorial Day pitch targeting military families and a charge that President Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam."

Kerry joined Virginia Gov. Mark Warner for a Memorial Day parade in Portsmouth, home to naval shipyards and other big military installations, and later promised he could get American troops home from Iraq sooner than Bush would.

"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but with out putting our troops at greater risk," he said

Kerry flashed a big grin at one local fan carrying a sign promoting no CARB diet- no Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld or Bush.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt, shot back: "John Kerry never misses an opportunity to deliver a political attack. Sadly, that even seems to include Memorial Day, a day of remembrance that should be above politics."

The Kerry campaign is displaying new interest in Virginia, hardly typical territory for a Democratic presidential candidate.

"I don't care what's usual or not usual" Kerry said. "We are going after a lot of places this year."

Kerry offered himself as a "Navy guy" and promised a Kerry administration would "do better" by veterans and military personnel than has Bush.

"I think this administration has overextended our military" he said in an interview with a local TV station.

"It has turned the Guard and Reserve into almost active duty. ... even while they are creating more veterans, they are not taking care of the veterans we have the way they ought to be" he said.

Warner said the fact Kerry chose to spend Memorial Day here indicates "Virginia is going to be very competitive in this election."

Warner said Democrats have made recent inroads in the state legislature and he said Kerry should have particular appeal among high-tech voters in northern Virginia, military families in the Hampton Roads area and even among textile, tobacco and other workers in southern Virginia - people coping with a changing economy.

"I think Sen. Kerry's message of economic rival will do very well," he said.

Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, began his day with a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial , where he crouched to slowly rub his thumb over one of the newest names to be added.

"So young," Kerry mused as he looked at a photograph of William Bronson, who died in 1976 from a seizure caused by a head wound he received in combat eight years earlier.

The Massachusetts senator worked with the Navy to have Bronson's name added to the wall- panel 52, line 46. Kerry was joined by Bronson's mother, Barbara, and other family members as he surveyed the new names.
 
"Can't even give it a rest on Memorial Day"

Would you give it a rest when the Fearless Liar can do nothing but run a smear Campaign because he can't stand on his own actions and disastrous results??? 😕
 
Originally posted by: sMiLeYz
I saw Bush ads running the whole M day weekend. Can't Bush give it a rest?
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Here's what he was doin today:

Bush Hails U.S. War Dead and Veterans

Associated Press/AP Online

ARLINGTON, Va. - President Bush declared Monday that "America is safer" because of its fighting forces while Sen. John Kerry went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in somber but historically asymmetrical Memorial Day tributes.

"Through our history, America has gone to war reluctantly," said Bush, speaking at Arlington National Cemetery after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. "In places like Kabul and Kandahar, in Mosul; and Baghdad, we have seen their decency and their brave spirit," he said.

A charcoal sky and light mist hung over the remembrance as if to underscore the solemnity of Bush's speech, Kerry's visit to the Vietnam monument and a parade along historic Independence Avenue. A smattering of World War II veterans marched with people, in some cases, three generations younger, capping a weekend highlighted by the formal opening Saturday of the National World War II Memorial.

Frances and John Carter, both 82, were separated by an ocean during World War II; he was a paratrooper and she was a "Rosie the Riveter," one of the thousands of women who went to work at home to support the soldiers abroad.

It was a day when political rhetoric was somewhat muted, eclipsed here by public tributes and the playing of Taps. Bush did take a moment to praise Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld for "your great leadership," however. Rumsfeld has heard calls for his resignation in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal. And Kerry resumed his political campaign in earnest later Monday in Virginia.

Traditional Memorial Day observances including picnics and parades were played out coast to coast - half a world away from U.S. fighting forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But overseas, the conflict raged.

Two Americans died Monday as U.S. troops clashed with Shiite militiamen in fighting that strained a cease-fire called last week around the holy cities of Kufa and Najaf. And in Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near U.S. coalition headquarters, killing four people and injuring 25. Two other American soldiers died over the weekend in separate attacks, the U.S. military said.

Still, American soldiers took time to remember their slain comrades during holiday ceremonies across Iraq.

"When we return to our home stations, we must ensure that we never forget those fallen comrades that deployed with us that will not return to their loved ones," Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer here, said during a ceremony at Baghdad's Camp Victory. "They must not have died in vain," Sanchez said.

A year ago at this time, more than 160 American soldiers had been killed in Iraq. The total since has risen to more than 800, and last week the Pentagon reported that the number wounded in action is approaching 4,700.

Bush took time out in the afternoon to call Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and express condolences over the loss of life in the attack by militants in the kingdom's oil industry hub. Bush expressed support for the Saudi government's handling of the shooting rampage and hostage standoff that killed 22 people, White House spokeswoman Pamela Stevens said.

Bush also called German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to urge support of a strong United Nations resolution for a new Iraqi government. Bush urged that the two nations work together to back the new government.

In his speech, Bush singled some of the dead from Iraq for special commendation:

-Capt. Joshua Byers, a West Point man and South Carolina native. "When this son of missionaries was given command of a 120-man combat unit, he wrote to his parents, 'I will give the men everything I have to give,' " Bush said.

-Pfc. Jesse Givens of Springfield, Mass., had written to his wife, Melissa: "Do me a favor after you tuck the children in - give them hugs and kisses from me," the president noted.

-Master Sgt. Kelly Hornbeck of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote his parents saying, "I am not afraid and neither should either of you be," Bush said.

"Because of their fierce courage, America is safer, two terror regimes are gone forever and more than 50 million souls now live in freedom," Bush said to a warm applause.

Bush's appearance, by dint of tradition and practice, was a generic tribute to people who have fallen in all U.S. wars past and present, although he particularly cited Iraq. For Kerry, a decorated veteran, it was a day to focus on that conflict of the 1960s and early 70s - one he would ultimately march and speak against.

Bush gave a speech; Kerry said little as he walked somberly along the shiny black granite wall where the names of the more than 58,000 who fell in Vietnam are etched in time and remembrance. He rubbed his thumb over one of the newest names to be added to the memorial.

"So young," the Massachusetts Democrat mused, as he looked at a photograph of William Bronson, who died in 1976 from a seizure caused by a head wound he had received in 1968. Kerry had worked with the Navy to have Bronson's name added to the wall, and he was joined there by Bronson's mother, Barbara, and other family members.

Kerry waited until he got outside the Capital Beltway to resume normal politics, telling an audience in Portsmouth, Va., that Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam."

"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish, but without putting our troops at greater risk," he said in a speech to relatives of servicemen in an area that his home to a host of military bases.

Countered Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt: "John Kerry never misses an opportunity to deliver a political attack. Sadly, that even seems to include Memorial Day, a day of remembrance that should be above politics."
 
This is a " very " important election so I would think 24/7 campaigning would be in order the rest of the way weather it's TV ads / radio ads / appearances ect.
 
Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it.

It's amazing how many people here are buying the "new" John Kerry. All this fluff is for the November election. The history I'm talking about is Kerry's Senate record. It is arguably one of the most liberal in American history. Factor in what he said about his compatriots fighting in Vietnam, and its very hard for a non-liberal American to believe him.

Supporting Kerry is akin to the legendary phrase uttered by the Egyptian Im-Hotep: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die.. Sure it's easy to bash Bush for a just and overdue war. But putting into office a man who is unapologetically liberal, utterly fantasmo, and spent all his Senate days contradicting himself and doing investigations, can only lead to an opaque morass at the best. The worst can be a reversal of fortune for the US/global economy.
 
Originally posted by: Gaard
But putting into office a man who is unapologetically liberal
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Ah, I see. Being liberal is something to apologize for.
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It's all relative. An economic liberal is a good thing while a Massachussettes (sic?) liberal is the very worst of liberalism in this part of the world. In Europe, John Kerry would be a conservative. Now isn't that scary?
 
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
"Can't even give it a rest on Memorial Day"

Would you give it a rest when the Fearless Liar can do nothing but run a smear Campaign because he can't stand on his own actions and disastrous results??? 😕
Click to expand...

Are you talking about Kerry?
 
"Through our history, America has gone to war reluctantly," said Bush. . .

That fscking liar. He didn't seem very reluctant to me.

G.W. Bush on Saddam: "He tried to kill my dad." <-- There it is, right there. Thug justice straight outta DC.
 
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
"Through our history, America has gone to war reluctantly," said Bush. . .

That fscking liar. He didn't seem very reluctant to me.

G.W. Bush on Saddam: "He tried to kill my dad." <-- There it is, right there. Thug justice straight outta DC.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that must've been it:roll:
 
Gotta love it- Bush makes this statement-
"Because of their fierce courage, America is safer, two terror regimes are gone forever and more than 50 million souls now live in freedom," Bush said to a warm applause.
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Then one of his alter-orifices attacks Kerry for politicizing the current conflict in Iraq. And people actually fall for it.

No matter what else was being flung around today, this remark is too true, and goes straight to the heart of the matter-
President Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam."
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Those who fail to learn from History are doomed to repeat it.
 
Originally posted by: Dari
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
"Through our history, America has gone to war reluctantly," said Bush. . .

That fscking liar. He didn't seem very reluctant to me.

G.W. Bush on Saddam: "He tried to kill my dad." <-- There it is, right there. Thug justice straight outta DC.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that must've been it:roll:
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, I forgot, it was the OIL--Operation Iraqi Liberation. (Mmm. . . OIL. . . Haliburton. . . Contract. . . Dick. . . Condie. . . Dick. . .)

Sarcastically slaps forehead three times: Stupid, stupid, stupid!
 
"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but with out putting our troops at greater risk," he said


WTF does that crap mean????

"without putting our troops at greater risk"...WTF????????

greater risk that what??

the current risk??

this is a guarantee of absolutely nothing, but it's worded to make you believe he can do the job better. the actual meaning of the words is that he "believes" he can do the job at the same risk!!! HAHAHAHA

worthless
 
"Sure it's easy to bash Bush for a just and overdue war.

A just and overdue war. God help us all if people really do believe this is the case.
 
Originally posted by: heartsurgeon
"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but with out putting our troops at greater risk," he said


WTF does that crap mean????

"without putting our troops at greater risk"...WTF????????

greater risk that what??

the current risk??

this is a guarantee of absolutely nothing, but it's worded to make you believe he can do the job better. the actual meaning of the words is that he "believes" he can do the job at the same risk!!! HAHAHAHA

worthless
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should go back to school and take a few English courses? I understood it perfectly.

I fail to see how you COULD NOT understand that. I guess Bush has brainwashed you into only understanding words that come out of a neocon's mouth.
 
Unfortunately, HS, the realization that GWB has us stuck to the tarbaby in Iraq is slow to dawn on many, but it's the truth. Nobody with more sense than the village idiot is going to make any extravagant promises wrt our eventual exit. The situation is obviously not as the Bushies believed it would be- they made a kind of faith based initiative, if you will, because it's obvious that they really didn't think their way through the possibilities... That's not what we're paying them to do- we're paying them to think, and at great depth, and mindful of the impact their choices will have on the country and the world. When they err, and they all will, it's better to be on the side of caution...

So the question becomes whether we, the electorate, will reward this obvious and arrogant blunder, and encourage more, by giving the perpetrators a second term, or whether we'll reject that option in favor of some other, with the beneficiaries well aware of our consternation...
 
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