The Senator From Leftville

One can only wonder what the heck Sen. John Kerry is thinking these days. He again changes course and decries that we ever got involved in Iraq. He's now back to being the original anti-war Senator before he stuck his finger in the air and said that he would vote for the war.

What a maroon.

And Don Imus tries to help Kerry out of his US troops terrorize comments, but to little success:

IMUS: Here's Senator John Kerry on "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer last Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY: And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night , terrorizing kids and children, you know women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of historical customs, religious customs, whether you like it or not. Iraqis should be doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

IMUS: So let me make a couple of observations. And then before you respond...

KERRY: Go for it.

IMUS: First of all, far be it for me to be offering you advice. But let's think -- think these things through before we start talking.

KERRY: OK.

IMUS: Because we want to get (INAUDIBLE). We'd like to.

Second of all, what did you -- what do you mean by that? You don't mean American soldiers are terrorists?

KERRY: Obviously -- obviously not. You know, the only people who are making, trying to make anything out of that, to be honest with you, is, you know, Rush Limbaugh and a few people on the right.

Well, it's fun. After three years, almost three years, Iraqis ought to be capable of searching a home. And, you know, I've been over there a number of times, I just -- I've talked to the troops over there, as all of us have. It's inexplicable that when the biggest killers in Iraq are suicide bombers and IEDs, improvised explosive devices, that we're still on the front lines going into homes and going out in the dead of night, and it scares people.

I mean, our own General Sanchez, who was the first commander in Iraq, said the same thing. The U.S. Institute of Peace, which, you know, the entire board of the U.S. Institute is made up of Bush appointees, says the same thing.

This has a very negative impact on our soldiers and on our presence in Iraq. So what I want to do is redeploy our troops in a way that accomplishes the goal, but does it without needlessly putting troops at risk and incurring greater difficulties in feeding the insurgency in the country.

General Casey told the Congress about, gosh, a couple of months ago -- you know, he said that our large troop presence feeds the insurgency and delays the willingness of the Iraqis to stand up on their own. Now, if you listen to the commanding general in Iraq, as I do and others do, then you've got to respond to that. And the way you respond is by pushing the Iraqis out, pulling the Americans back into a more rear garrison position, and hopefully being successful.

IMUS: Well, I understand that all that. And not to belabor this point, but what it sounded like you said was that American troops are going into Iraqi homes and terrorizing women and children. And I took the liberty of explaining what I thought you meant.

KERRY: Well, you understood it. And most reasonable people, Bob Kerrey, and others, reasonable people understood it. People who, you know, wanted to make something out of it do. But, look, the bottom line...

Are you calling me unreasonable? Quite a few people understand that words have meanings, and you called US troops terrorists in acting the way they do. And never mind the fact that the only kind of rear garrison that Kerry would like US forces to see is the kind where all the troops are in their barracks in the US and threats around the world run amuk.

Perhaps Kerry would like to explain for the general audience where the front lines are in Iraq. Is there a DMZ? A line that says this area is okay, and another line that says you're in enemy territory? I didn't think so. He knows it. We know it. Everyone knows it, but Imus wont call him on that one.

We have had to rebuild Iraq's military apparatus from the ground up and that takes time. Iraqis are taking a large role in conducting security operations, and Kerry omits the fact nighttime operations are the safest way for US forces since we have overwhelming tactical superiority at night due to technology that the enemy simply doesn't have. It minimizes collateral damage, and gives us the edge of surprise. Kerry wont mention that either.

And nowhere does Kerry actually say that the US isn't terrorizing troops. In fact, he repeats that the US tactics terrorize locals (we scare them).

I wish I had time to fisk the whole appearance, but it's littered with nonsensical ravings (Spain's battles with Basque separatists and the Troubles in Northern Ireland comes up).

And he calls Bush a liar once again. Misleading = lies according to Kerry. So, that would mean that Kerry is a liar as well. Since he said one thing, then another contradictory thing, he misled people into thinking that Kerry knew what he was talking about. He didn't mislead. He lied. And he continues lying.

Go figure.

UPDATE:
Are some backbenchers finally having enough of their leadership's full tilt defeatist, anti-American nonsense? Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota basically told Howard Dean to STFU. That's a pretty courageous thing for a Democrat to do these days. It's the kind of thing that would get you ex-communicated from the party. Or get some bigwig to say that they're gunning for your seat (like Weicker did to Sen. Lieberman of CT just a few days ago). If only a few more could grow a spine and take on the defeatists leading the Democrats, the party may have a chance.