|
I did some more research using the references some of you pointed out for me. Here are the summarized arguments ("talking points") I've formulated regarding John Kerry's record, and the myths of his alleged "flip-flopping." I would appreciate any help DUers could give me in making these arguments sound tighter or more informative:
Myth: Bush is stronger on defense than Kerry, due to the fact that Kerry has a long record of voting for defense cuts and military base closures.
The Bush administration has a goal of closing 25% of military bases, which Bush also proposed doing back in September 2001. While Senator Kerry supported military base closures in 2001 (including those proposed by Bush himself, prior to 9/11), Kerry now opposes additional base closures due to present U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Furthermore, many of the defense packages that Kerry has voted against have contained unnecessary pork, including weapons (such as B-1's) that are useless for post-Cold War era warfare.
Any additional information anyone can provide/cite regarding the *obsolete* defense weapons that Kerry has voted against during past administrations would be much appreciated by me.
Myth: Bush has stronger leadership abilities than Kerry when it comes to fighting the War on Terror
On Aug. 30, in an NBC news interview Bush stated that he doesn’t think the War on Terrorism can be won, and the best we can do is minimize global sentiments that are sympathetic to terrorists. This directly contradicts earlier sentiments by Bush that the U.S. must and will win the War on Terrorism.
Myth: Zell Miller's support for Bush is indicative of how Kerry is alienating moderate and conservative voters.
Zell Miller praised John Kerry at the 2001 Georgia Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, calling Kerry “a good friend” and citing Kerry’s work on deficit reduction, balanced budgets, stronger defense, public education reform, economic stimulation, and environmentalism.
Myth: Kerry is a flip-flopper because he voted against funding the war in Iraq after supporting the Iraq War Resolution.
Leaders in the GOP voted against an $87 billion package to fund the war because it would have redirected a large percentage of the money originally allocated for Bush’s tax cut toward funding the war budget instead. Kerry voted against the GOP-proposed resolution that allocated $67 billion for military equipment along with $20 billion in reconstruction though Haliburton. Put Democrats who supported the Iraq War Resolution in the position of being perceived as “flip-floppers” because they voted against the GOP’s package.
Can anyone tell me who in Congress authored/sponsored the original Democratic package to fund military equipment in Iraq? And who in Congress authored/sponsored the Republican driven package (that eventually passed) containing all the pork for Halliburton?
Myth: Kerry will raise our taxes, while Bush is fiscally responsible.
At Okaloosa-Walton College on Aug. 10, Bush proposed replacing the current income tax with a national sales tax.
Bush claimed that Kerry voted over 350 times to raise taxes, but that number includes the times Kerry voted against proposed tax cuts to leave taxes unchanged. Kerry’s current economic plan will raise taxes on people earning over $190,000 per year (approximately 5% of all Americans). This was verified by the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 26.
Gregory Mankiw, Bush’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, advocated cutting the current income taxes in favor of a 50 cent increase on the gas tax.
Myth: There is no significant risk of Bush reinstating the draft, if he gets a second term.
In November of 2003, the Defense Department’s website solicited applicants to fill local draft boards all over the country. The spin is that this is that the request was just part of a cyclical process to renew expired appointments to draft boards leftover from the Vietnam era. The Pentagon is searching for volunteers to train on local draft boards, and Pentagon officials refused to comment publicly on the website soliciation.
Myth: For all his talk about outsourcing and revoking tax breaks for offshore American businesses, Kerry himself reaps the benefits of such overseas entrepreneurship. Will Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, move all of her overseas Heinz factories back to the U.S. if her husband is elected?
Critics blame Teresa Heinz for the fact that a majority of Heinz factories are located overseas, when Kerry has been a vocal critic of outsourcing and giving tax breaks to offshore business. Yet, Teresa Heinz owns less than 4% of the Heinz capital bloc, and has no input in the company’s operation. Furthermore, around 60% of the Heinz empire’s capital comes from overseas, so it is logical that its factories be located in other countries to foster job opportunities for the people overseas who make the company so profitable.
Myth: Kerry has misrepresented his heroism in Vietnam, as evidenced by testimonies from the Swift Boat Veterans.
Many of the Swift Boat Veterans are Bush campaign representatives and advisors, including Benjamin Ginsburg, William Schachte, David Norcross, and Ken Cordier. In fact, none of the Swift Boat Veterans were actually on Kerry’s crew, even though they were stationed in Vietnam during that time.
Myth: Kerry was unpatriotic for protesting the war after he came home from Vietnam.
When Kerry spoke out against the Vietnam War after coming home from having served in it, he spoke of the atrocities reported to him by fellow soldiers. These war crimes certainly were not committed by a majority of Vietnam veterans, but they did happen. Look no further than the My Lai massacres, which involved the rape and dismemberment by U.S. soldiers of Vietnamese civilians. Reporting war crimes such as these is the duty of every soldier.
Myth: Kerry nominated himself or put in a request for the medals he was eventually awarded, in order to pad his political resumee.
In the military, when soldiers are considered for awards due to acts of bravery, the Commanding Officer does the nominating. Suggesting that Kerry nominated himself is an insult to every veteran who has every been awarded for bravery. If Kerry filed a report on his combat actions, which ended up qualifying him for medals, he was simply doing his duty as a soldier by reporting what happened in the line of fire.
Myth: Kerry's health care plan promotes "socialized medicine," and doesn't do much to help single adults.
The Kerry plan involves cutting health care premiums for families, along with tax credits of up to 75% percent for those falling below the poverty line and up to 50% for small businesses.
I'm not sure what to say about how unmarried adults without children can take advantage of the Kerry health care plan - - I've read all the information on his website, but still cannot find an answer to this.
Myth: Kerry says he doesn't support gay marriage, but he also opposed the Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage.
The Federal Marriage Amendment, in the context it was authored by Marilyn Musgrave, implicitely banned civil unions nationwide, taking the decision out of the hands of individual states (which contradicts the intent of the Defense of Marriage Act, which Bush claims to support). Last spring, Bush endorsed FMA (thereby supporting a federal/constitutional blanket ban on same-sex civil unions), even though he'd said in 2000 how civil unions should be an issue left up to each state to decide for itself.
Kerry was completely right to oppose such a blatant attempt by social conservatives to rape the U.S. Constitution - - even though social conservatives are the ones who typically scream about the need to "preserve" the Constitution in its current form.
***********
Keep in mind that these statements/arguments are targeted at swing voters (i.e. wishy-washy soccer moms and the sappy, gullible people who are not necessarily Republicans but are prone to believe negative anti-Kerry statements regurgitated by the media).
Is there anything that I should add to these talking points, or any mistakes or misstatements that I've made when rebutting the myths?
|