Writing in the Weekly Standard today, William Kristol quoted remarks made by John Kerry on the subject of troop withdrawals from Korea and Europe before and after the recent announcement by President Bush that such withdrawals will be implemented, to document yet another Kerry flip-flop:
"On Monday, during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, President Bush announced that he intends to modify the configuration of American forces in both South Korea and Europe. On Wednesday, Sen. Kerry, speaking before the same audience, sharply criticized the president's decision.
Appearing on ABC's This Week on August 1, however, Sen. Kerry responded to a question by host George Stephanopoulos on Iraq. Stephanopoulos asked Kerry whether, as president, he could "promise that American troops will be home by the end of your first term?" Kerry's answer:
"I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. . . . I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has very little imagination."
Apparently, Sen. Kerry wanted to appeal to the "get-the-boys-back-home" sentiment in the country when he spoke on This Week. Yesterday, addressing a convention of veterans, Kerry was busy burnishing his credentials as a hawk by suggesting that cutting our forces in Korea "is clearly the wrong signal to send" at this time.""
Kerry's comments raise the legitimate question, does he believe in anything other than a politics of convenience.
Posted by publius at August 19, 2004 03:18 PMThats what they get for picking Anybody But Bush. At least Dean had a seemingly consistant point of view.
Posted by: Jane at August 24, 2004 12:03 AM