Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review March 15, 2004 / 22 Adar, 5764

Diana West

Diana West
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Pinning one on Kerry

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | A blogger on the official John Kerry campaign Web site has offered a telling insight into the Kerry campaign in her account (since removed) of a December campaign party.


"We had 200 guests eating, drinking, and watching the MoveOn documentary 'Uncovered,' featuring Joseph Wilson and Rand Beers from the Kerry campaign," wrote blogger Pamela Leavey, describing a Kerry event that did not include John Kerry himself. "When Theresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: 'Asses of Evil' with 'Bush,' 'Cheney,' 'Rumsfeld,' and 'Ashcroft.' surrounding it."


Asses of Evil — get it? And how fitting that 60-year-old Mr. Kerry, who finds a charge in likening America's 54th presidential election to "regime change," and in turning George W. Bush's words for America's enemies ("Bring 'em on") into a derisive campaign slogan, would have a wife who mocks both the Axis of Evil and the President of the United States with equal parts malevolence and vulgarity.


But the Asses of Evil button shows voters more just than a magnified glimpse of a potential first lady, it symbolizes the fundamental flaw of the Kerry doctrine: that the greatest threat the United States faces is not Islamic terrorism, Islamic totalitarianism and rogue nations, but rather ... George W. Bush. I guess what Kerry calls "Benedict Arnold companies that ship American jobs overseas" rank a nasty second. Can't wait to hear candidate Kerry denounce H.J. Heinz, his and his wife's own Benedict Arnold company. As columnist James Glassman has written to inexcusably scant notice, "Of the 79 factories that the food-processor owns, 57 (felicitous number!) are overseas." That ships plenty of "American jobs" to Botswana, Thailand, China, India and elsewhere.


Supposing Kerry were to vanquish Bush at the ballot box, eliminating what he (and the missus) deem Public Enemy No. 1. Would a President Kerry simply vault the old Axis of Evil and land in a vat of world peace?


Take Iraq. According to Time magazine this month, Kerry says that as president he "might have gone to war" or he "might have avoided war."


When asked whether removing Saddam Hussein was worth the cost, Kerry replied: "If there are not weapons of mass destruction — and we may yet find some — then this is a war that was fought under false pretenses." "So," asked Time, "if we don't find WMD, the war wasn't worth the costs? That's a yes?" "No," said Kerry. "I think you can still — wait, no. You can't — that's not a fair question, and I'll tell you why. You can wind up successful in transforming Iraq and changing the dynamics, and that may make it worth it, but that doesn't mean (transforming Iraq) was the cause (that provided the) legitimacy to go."

Donate to JWR

Right. Moving on to Iran, where Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and even Al Qaeda have found support and safe haven, Kerry's position is a bit clearer. In fact, on Feb. 8, the Tehran Times published in full an e-mail sent by the Kerry campaign to a government news agency promising that a President Kerry would try to restore relations "at risk" due to "the actions and attitudes" of the Bush administration. "Disappointment with the current U.S. leadership is widespread," the e-mail said, "extending not just to the corridors of power and politics, but to the man and woman on the street as well."


If that's not giving aid and comfort to an enemy, it's certainly meddling with U.S. diplomacy in a time of war. The Kerry communique drew a response from Iran's brave Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy: "Senator, by sending such a message directly to the organs and megaphones of the dictatorial Islamic regime, you have given them credibility, comfort and embraced this odious theocracy. You have encouraged and emboldened a tyrannical regime to use this as propaganda and declare 'open season' on the freedom fighters in Iran." Did the Kerry campaign outreach on Feb. 8 affect Tehran's decision to close reformist newspapers and bar some 2,500 reformist candidates from elections on Feb. 20? Such a question is hard to dismiss.


Nothing so dramatic has happened in North Korea (yet), although Kerry, who has promised bilateral talks with Pyongyang, has nonetheless become the darling of the ultra-repressive dictatorship. According to the Financial Times, Kerry's campaign speeches are being blared over Radio Pyongyang "and reported in glowing terms by ... the official mouthpiece of ... (Kim Jong-il's) communist regime."


All of which is something to remember about which foreign leaders would like to see John Kerry in power.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

Diana West Archives

<

© 2003, Diana West