Decision ‘08

Peretz On Kerry: Trumped Again

John Kerry can be trumped by just about anybody. But today, the titular leader of the Democratic Party was trumped by Mitch McConnell, consummate cynic and the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate. Kerry had announced that he would soon offer a measure requiring the administration to withdraw almost all of the American troops now in Iraq by the end of the year. What was in the tactical side of his brain when he made this pronunciamento before he had figured out the details of his proposal? Well, a way to get headlines, I suppose. But every time Kerry speaks about Iraq you are almost automatically reminded of his seriatim record which shows that he was all over the place on the matter. I was for it before I was against it or I was against it before I was for it. No matter. Well, instead of waiting for Kerry to even file his bill, McConnell engineered a vote on its essence. Ninty-three senators voted against it, showing that a huge majority of Democrats are wary of, if not actually against, a pull-out.

Yes, but their rhetoric would indicate that the majority of Democrats are opposed to the war. What are we to do, then: pull out, or work to win? If the Democrats DON’T support a pull-out, and if we take this vote on face value they collectively don’t, then it’s high time they rally around the effort. I’ll go this far in agreement with Kerry - if we don’t intend to win, we should leave today. If we intend to win, then let’s put the partisanship aside and seize the renewed momentum…

2 Responses to “Peretz On Kerry: Trumped Again”

1 Sean P Says:
June 16th, 2006 at 11:03 am
On the bright side, at least we now know what Kerry’s “secret plan” for winning the war really was.
2 megapotamus Says:
June 16th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
They should LET Kerry draft whatever sort of resolution on this topic he wants and put it on the floor. Just as during the election his “plan”, when not too vaporous to see, was Bush’s plan I suspect his more nuanced resolution would be substantively undifferentiated from McConnell’s. And would receive an even colder reception. To so many of the Reps electoral problems, such as they are, Kerry is the answer. Go JOHN GO!
Of course ultimately the Dems’ instinct of self-preservation will kick in and Kerry will have to be destroyed. A fair airing of the Swifties claims will do the trick. Who will pull the trigger? I used to bet heavily on Hil but now I’m not sure.