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"John Kerry...
Artificial Intelligence"
John Kerry political cartoon.

July 23, 2003  … “Kerry’s defense would be outright laughable if offered for, say, a budgetary issue.” – sentence from Daily Iowa (University of Iowa) editorial. Headline from the DI editorial: “Kerry, Dems passing the buck like Bush” Editorial excerpts: “It seems everyone is eager to cut bait from the exaggerated and manufactured evidence concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. As more evidence surfaced destroying the veracity of the Bush administration's fear-inspiring intelligence on the Iraqi threat, President Bush and his staff began passing the blame to the British intelligence and CIA Director George Tenet. And during last weekend's Eastern Iowa campaign stop, Democratic candidate John Kerry told members of the DI editorial board that he stood ‘100 percent’ by his vote in support of military action in Iraq earlier this year but qualified it with his own passed blame by saying his vote was ‘based on the information I had at the time.’ Kerry's defense allows him to retain his now seemingly antiwar campaign message while defending his middle-of-the-road and politically safe actions earlier this year. Other Democrats, including Rep. Dick Gephardt, D- Mo., have similarly talked out of both sides of their mouth to fault the Bush administration while defending their own actions. The Bush administration's haphazard acceptance of questionable information is understandable, because the faulty information forwarded its agenda. Even if all members of the upper echelon in the Bush administration knew the intelligence information regarding Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium was questionable at best, they had reason to stand behind it and hope real evidence surfaced before the faulty was revealed. While that kind of manipulation and deception is inexcusable, it is understandable. If the motivation behind Kerry's vote lies squarely on the same bad information for which Bush is bucking all responsibility, he has actually done a greater disservice than those who deliberately deceive. Kerry is a four-term senator and a member of the opposition party that lacked cohesion and credibility leading up to the war. He owed it to his colleagues and constituents to examine the credibility of the information before giving the go-ahead for military force. By passing off responsibility for that to ‘the information I had at the time,’ he fails in his duty to his party and his constituents. In electing our leaders, we put a great deal of responsibility as well as faith in the people sent to public office. Kerry and his staff should have done more research and proceeded more thoughtfully before casting such a crucial vote. Kerry's defense would be outright laughable if offered for, say, a budgetary issue. It is difficult to imagine him saying, ‘I voted for tax relief for the wealthy because the president said it was a good idea, and I trusted him. He misled me and the American people.’ It seems to be a contagious political plague lately for our leaders to want their cake and eat it, too. Kerry abandoned his party during a crucial turning point and later jumped on the anti-Bush and antiwar bandwagon. Either Kerry needs to clarify his campaign message, or he owes his constituents an apology for voting before thinking.”