March 18, 2004

Kerry backpedals...

Brian writes...

You know what my feelings are right about now, regarding the Spain debacle?

I'm thinking, Good. Go ahead and give up. You see what you morons get.

Is that wrong of me? Does that make me a bad person?

I'll decide later whether I regret saying this. But right now, my gut's telling me something, and I'd better just get it out before it gives me heartburn. It's telling me that If Europe is determined to play this role, let 'em play it to the hilt. It makes things easier, and it might shorten the war....

Might. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. Before the brave muster their courage.

Since I'm finding Brian's grim mood congenial this morning, I will add, if there are any who are brave. Maybe the brave died at Verdun. And maybe Europeans who love liberty moved to other places long ago...

One advantage of a war of terrorist bombings is that, unlike conventional battles, they don't tend to eliminate the most courageous from the gene pool...But it may be too late for Europe.

But the US is different. I take a nasty satisfaction in this, by Deborah Orin in the NY Post:

DEMOCRAT John Kerry yesterday woke up and realized he was in danger of morphing himself into anti-war fanatic Howard Dean - so he began backpedaling as fast as he could.

Kerry hastily repudiated Dean's bid to blame President Bush for the al Qaeda-suspected Madrid bombings. "It's not our position," Kerry declared shortly after his spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, had defended Dean's remarks.

Then Kerry issued a surprise plea to Spain's newly elected Socialist prime minister to "reconsider" his decision to yank Spanish troops out of Iraq.Kerry probably felt a special need to distance himself from Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who's the only foreign leader to publicly say he's rooting for Kerry to beat Bush - because of Iraq.

Until now, Kerry has tried to draw a distinction between the battle against terror, which he backs, and the Iraq war, which he blasts. Kerry's problem is that the Madrid bombings link the two and make Spain look as if it's appeasing terrorists.

"As if?" They are appeasing, Kerry is appeasing, but now realizes that, although voters in SF or Boston are probably just as abject as those of Spain, he's already got their votes—They can smell appeasement on his breath, and recognize a fellow tippler. But, he also needs some votes by Americans to win.

Posted by John Weidner at March 18, 2004 8:48 AM
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