October 02, 2004

BUSH IS NO DEBATER--BUT KERRY STILL HAS THE WRONG IDEAS

When the good fairy came to bless Georgie W. Bush at his birth, she did not give him the gift of gab. But she did leave him with an abundance of the common virtues—the common touch and common sense, neither easily found within the Beltway.

It’s true, John Kerry ran rings around George W. Bush in the first debate, centering on foreign policy, the area of discourse in which Bush was supposed to shine. Kerry rattled off facts, factoids, half-truths, errors, and lies with a smoothness and éclat that is the product of a native gift for speechifying honed by twenty years of senatorial argumentation. It didn’t really seem to matter to him whether it was the truth he was uttering or not, so long as he sounded and looked good. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t true that the New York Subways stopped during the Republican Convention. It didn’t matter that the name of the KGB prison was Lubyanka not Treblinka. It didn’t really matter that he lied about whether he said that George W. Bush lied. So long as it all came off the tongue trippingly, it didn’t matter.

But if you’re looking for a smooth operator—the best in the business was Bill Clinton. And Clinton was smart to boot. But, unfortunately, Bill didn’t make a very good president. And neither will John Kerry.

What America needs these days—since 9/11—is a man who can lead in a war against Islamic terror. There is no other country with the means to stand up to the unleashed forces of terrorism but the United States. There is no such thing as collective security anymore—the dithering nations of old Europe don’t have the stomach for any kind of confrontation more challenging than their morning croissants. We cannot depend on support from abroad or the good opinion of the United Nations as Kerry wants to do. It is America that is the main target of this war and other nations like the townsfolk in “High Noon” want nothing more than to distance themselves from the fight.

John Kerry knows how to talk the talk all right, but can he walk the walk? His words say yes but his life says something different. It is no accident that he can only find women to marry who are extremely rich and who can provide him with the finest clothes and wines. It is no accident that he has his skin burnished and his nails manicured for his confrontation with George W. Bush, while Bush visited with and consoled victims of the Florida hurricanes. It is no accident that John Kerry has six houses and rides an $8000 bicycle. It is no accident that he enjoys $300 haircuts. It is no accident that he never had to meet a payroll and never had a job in the real world. It is no accident that John Kerry never cared to hold a job in which he had to take ultimate responsibility. He never sought an executive position—mayor or governor—a leadership position, not even in the Senate. He enjoys the polite discourse and refined life of a senator. And he was happy to remain in that position for twenty years. This is not the profile of a leader.

At a time when America must have all options available in its fight against terrorism and nuclear proliferation, John Kerry—the moralist, the man who would do anything before going to war—would get rid of our programs to develop nuclear bunker-buster bombs, bombs that would have the capacity to destroy enemy states’ nuclear facilities hidden deep within bombproof bunkers. He would get rid of such a weapons program on the principle that America should be a model and set an example for rogue states.

There are some men who are born senators and love refined discourse and polite debate, like John Kerry—and some who enjoy taking on challenges and responsibility, men who like to comfort people in stressful situations and to get their hands dirty doing a job that has to be done, like George W. Bush. Which do we want to finish a tough, dirty job—a talker or a doer?