Heed The Warning Signs About Kerry

February 18, 2004

Oh, it's starting to get very interesting, this Democratic primary race. Allegations of illicit affairs with interns, the front-runner's overbearing wife. Sounds like the Clinton years again, doesn't it? It's also humorous that Kerry touts his military career when it's the popular thing to do with his base supporters but ran from it for 30 years. According to the post-Vietnam Kerry, Bush was really more honorable than he. Kerry, back then, claimed the U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were raping, pillaging and plundering. The honorable thing to do, according to young Kerry, would be to serve your country but find a way to do it without having to go to ‘Nam. That's exactly what George W. Bush did.

 

Now, President Bush is being attacked by the same vermin on the left who tried to convince us 30-some years ago that Ho Chi Min was a nice guy and we were the villains. Back then, anyone who went to Vietnam to fight for the “imperialist” United States was a criminal, according to Hanoi Jane and Hanoi John. Today, they're heroes. Here's a news flash. They were always heroes. Heroism isn't something gauged by the political vogue of the day. The cause in Vietnam – to prevent the communist in the North from enslaving the people of the South – was an honorable cause. The problem was in our lack of resolve to get the job done. Certainly, there was no shame in having fought for that cause. There was certainly no shame in having served stateside either.

 

Kerry now slips on his military persona like Monica slipped on her blue dress, in hopes of seducing the American people into letting him into the Oval Office. Surely we're smarter than that. Kerry served his country admirably then came home and turned his back on that service and all others who had served with him, some dying in the process. That's no small youthful indiscretion.

 

I was looking at some photographs of a very young John Kerry on the presidential yacht with JFK. He was born into high society and rubbed elbows with the Kennedys from a very young age. He boasted that he and the former president shared the same initials and there's no secret that JFK is his central political hero. I can already see those photos on the big screen at the Democratic convention. Images of Camelot will dance through the delegates' heads. Does that sound like someone else we know?

 

In my book, Right From The Heart , I wrote of Bill Clinton that “Jennifer Flowers was the proverbial canary in the coal mine for this nation.” That little scandal foretold so much about that particular candidate. As Yogi Berra once said it's “déjà vu all over again.” We're starting to see the same patterns of deceit. The fact that Kerry reached in his pocket and threw someone else's war medals over the Capitol fence for a photo op gives us a not-so-flattering glimpse into the soul of the new JFK.

 

George W. Bush may be a little rough around the edges but he's genuine. What you see is what you get. It's refreshing to have some dignity back in the White House. More important, it's comforting to have someone who isn't afraid to stand up and fight when he needs to. We're winning the war on terrorism. The economy is roaring back. Life is good. There has to be a good reason to change horses in the middle of the stream. I trust the American people won't make the foolish decision to leap to Kerry's horse and find themselves face down in the water.