John Kerry was interviewed by Wolfe Blitzer on CNN’s Late Edition within the past hour following his speech at Faneuil Hall yesterday. Highlights include Kerry explaining how the Democrats a proposing a foreign policy which can keep this country safe, as opposed to the failed policies of the Republicans. Blitzer tried to play gotcha journalism by cherry picking a small portion of Kerry’s Senate floor statement on the Iraq War Resolution to claim Kerry supported going to war, contradicting his current opposition to Bush’s policies. Kerry pointed out that if Blitzer had played more of the statement it would have been clear that he has been entirely consistent. Kerry supported giving Bush the “big stick” to allow him to get the inspectors back in following a number of promises from Bush as to how he would handle the situation in Iraq. This included going to war only as a last resort and building an international coalition if war became necessary. Kerry warned at the time that if Bush did not keep his word he would oppose him. (Kerry’s position on Iraq was previously discussed here and here).
I wonder if it was coincidence or intentional, but when Blitzer was asking Kerry the usual questions as to his plans on 2008 (interested but no final decision), the crawl on the bottom of the screen reported Al Gore’s statement in Australia that he hasn’t ruled out running for President in the future. I’ve noted that whenever Gore has stated he didn’t plan to run, he’s always left open some wiggle room.
If Gore should run he would bring many of the same strengths as John Kerry, including foreign policy knowledge, early opposition to the Bush’s foreign policy, year’s of experience in government, and experience in a Presidential campaign. It would be interesting to see if any issues should arise to separate the two. I would find both far preferable to the current Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton, and any political debates between Kerry and Gore could be fascinating for those interested in the details of policy as opposed to debating slogans.
Update: Transcript of the interview is now available here. Video available here.
i think that gore has the credibility to be a president in 2008 elections with the experience he learned while he was the vice president from 1993 to 2001.
ZhongHuaRising
I hope the Democrats can choose a candidate that defeats the Republicans in ’08. Eight years is enough for either party to be in charge, ever. I honestly don’t think any of the three you mentioned can win unless things deteriorate in unforseen ways. Kerry is too liberal and a loser, Gore too weird and a loser, and Hillary too Clinton. All three are easy to dislike personally, and that’s a bad quality for potential presidential candidate. (They’re not very charming). Is there a moderate, heavy-hitter waiting in the wings? I hope so, for all our sakes.