May 07, 2004

Famous last words
Posted by McQ

More from Kerry:

"As president, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command," Kerry said. "I will demand accountability for those who serve and I will take responsibility for their actions. "

As my father taught me early in life, "never make absolute statements if they can be avoided as there is no way anyone can live up to them with any consistency". I might add its far less likely others will live up to them for you either.

Its a bit like saying, "my child would never do that". Heh ... yeah and as soon as you utter those words they bite your right in the kiester.

So I'd say to Mr. Kerry, sir, you have no idea or way to ensure you won't be the "last to know' what's going on in your command. And to pretend you would is akin to pretending you're precient and know the outcome of the election. Obviously that's not true.

BTW ... by definition the president will always be the "last" one "to know" ... given how a chain of command works and all.

But then its election season and politicians are prone to overstatement, useless promises and just plain nonsense ... but you rarely see a trifecta such as Kerry has given us here.

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Comments

Re your post "Famous Last Words." I found this story to be revealing:

From yesterday's WSJ Today:

"In December, The New Republic's Lawrence Kaplan notes, John Kerry gave a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in which he 'recommended dispatching Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, or former Secretary of State James Baker to Israel as special envoys--a tone-deaf proposal, given Carter's and Baker's reputations as vituperative critics of Israel.' Realizing that this is no way to win Jewish votes, at a February meeting with Jewish leaders, Kerry backpedaled in remarkable fashion:

"One of the first things Kerry did at the meeting was to blame his aides for the mention of Carter and Baker as possible envoys in his December speech--a claim that several participants double-checked as soon as they walked out the door...."

So, Kerry cannot even fulfill the promise that you disussed in your posting in his dealings with his campaign staff...which I am sure is not numbered (as is the military) in the millions. Instead of accepting responsibility, Kerry immediately blames his staff. The WSJ article then goes on to show how he attempted (unsuccessfully) to bend the facts to suit!

Posted by: RAZ at May 7, 2004 03:13 PM

Well, if he's so fired up and passionate about taking responsibilty for his actions, maybe he should be punished for those war atrocities he said he committed??

Posted by: shark at May 7, 2004 04:27 PM

Here's another example of Kerry not taking responsibility, this time for the words of his speechwriters:
When interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and asked about his now famous "Benedict Arnold" line about CEO's whose companies outsource to foreign countries, Kerry said:
"But the Benedict Arnold line applied, you know, I called a couple of times to overzealous speechwriters and said 'look that's not what I'm saying.' Benedict Arnold does not refer to somebody who in the normal course of business is going to go overseas and take jobs overseas. That happens. I support that. I understand that."
Source: Jerry Seib, John Harwood and Jacob Schlesinger, "Excerpts From An Interview With John Kerry," The Wall Street Journal, 5/3/04)

Posted by: Another Thought at May 7, 2004 08:59 PM