BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND [KJL]
Don’t be shocked, but John Kerry has taken both sides of an issue: this time it is troop deployment. YESTERDAY, TO THE VFW:
"Finally, I want to say something about the plan that the President announced on Monday to withdraw 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe. Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars. But it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way."
BUT here's what he said at AN APRIL 14 PRESS CONFERENCE:
"The overall effort of a president right now ought to be really to try to find ways to reduce the overexposure, in a sense, of America's commitments," Kerry said then. "A proper approach to the Korean peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s and ultimately, hopefully, could result in the reduction of American presence, ultimately."
What was that he was saying to GQ? “But I don’t have to [pick one]. And that’s the glory of life. I play them both. I do! I play them both." We believe you, Senator, we really do!
Now read those two Kerry quotes again. Are they contradictory? Of course they aren't. The April 14 quote acknowledges that troop withdrawal from the Korean peninsula should be the ultimate goal (that is, in the future) of the U.S.'s Korea policy. The August 18 quote points out that it's not realistic to withdraw those troops right now, as the president has proposed. The rest of the Kerry quote, which Lopez (for some reason...) chose not to include:
Let’s be clear: the President’s vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war against terror. And in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel. And this hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers.
For example, why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea – a country that really has nuclear weapons? As Senator John McCain said, “I’m particularly concerned about moving troops out of South Korea when North Korea has probably never been more dangerous than any time since the end of the Korean War.” This is clearly the wrong signal to send at the wrong time.
The nuance of Kerry's (correct) position shouldn't be that hard to understand, even for Lopez (who's always been a bit slower to the punch than her fellow Cornerites), but it seems that willful obtuseness and aversion to complexity are requirements for conservatives these days. To illustrate this, I've written a short play.
KERRY
We should support research into interstellar travel. Eventually we will be able to explore planets in other solar systems.
BUSH
I'd like to announce that I am building a space ship with a faster-than-light drive, and I am sending astronauts to explore Planet X. It's going to cost $450 trillion dollars, which will be paid for by tax cuts.
KERRY
But we don't currently possess faster-than-light technology, the cost is too high, and tax cuts won't begin to pay for it. I'm saying we should make interstellar travel a goal for the future, and not pimp it out as an election year treat.
LOPEZ (carrying water)
John Kerry flip-flopped again!
THE END
UPDATE: Steve Clemons at the Washington Note has a great post on this issue.
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