Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The Kerry Press Conference

Well, he spoke. What does it mean? He is living in the past. I think some of these politicians do not realize that the Internet has a very long memory.

He fails to realize that we have all heard his comments. He was not taken our of context.

He learned the wrong lesson from how he handled the Swift Boat veterans and their efforts to block him from the White House. He chose to ignore them. He thinks he should come out swinging now, which he failed to do then. I am sure some misguided fool advised him to "fight" back. A few people might be persuaded by this shabby performance, but then they probably suffer from BDS anyway. (I have met one.)

Kerry's True Colors:
Arrogant
Elitist
Smug
Rude

More colors:

John Kerry, Criminal

Just as Fonda’s critics turned out to have been correct about their gut feelings regarding her treasonable actions in North Vietnam, so, too, Kerry’s critics—who feel strongly that his trip violated the law, without quite knowing why—are correct.

The explanation of Kerry’s criminal behavior in Paris is some thirty-four years overdue.

Our major premise—the legal one—is that one federal statute makes it a crime for American citizens to have “intercourse” with the “enemy,” while another federal statute similarly prohibits “intercourse” with “any foreign government.”

Our minor premise—the factual one—is that John Kerry confessed to engaging in exactly that proscribed conduct.

Therefore, John Kerry is a criminal.

Kerry’s Logan Act
Then on Tuesday, during his grilling of Dr. Condoleezza Rice at her confirmation hearing, Kerry repeated the story, but peppered in an assertion that Arab nations wanted in, as well.

"Every Arab leader I asked, do you want Iraq to fail, says no. Do you think you will be served if there's a civil war? They say no. Do you believe that failure is a threat to the region and to the stability of the world? Yes; same with the European leaders. But each of them feel that they have offered more assistance, more effort to be involved, want to be part of a playing field that's more cooperative, and yet they feel rebuffed."

Bear in mind this was not an official trip to Europe and the Middle East. Kerry was not visiting as a representative of the United States Government. He was in no way commissioned by the executive branch to negotiate alliances with foreign countries. So what was he doing there? In an e-mail to 3 million political supporters in which he also calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Kerry said, "After several months consumed by the campaign trail, I wanted to make contact with our soldiers on the ground there."

In short, his trip was, essentially, a very public vacation. One in which Kerry seems to have run afoul of the Logan Act, which reads:

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

Kerry, Bush

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