Kerry Unleashed: US a Pariah Nation Under Bush; Authoritarian Right Upset

Photo 

Kerry has always been at his best when concentrating on fighting for American against the reactionary forces who threaten to do so much harm to this country. When free of the constraints of political handlers Kerry can speak truth to power and say what so many realize but few dare to say out loud. Speaking in Davos, Kerry spoke out against a major problem of the Bush foreign policy, that the United States has become “a sort of international pariah.”

Kerry was asked about whether the U.S. government had failed to adequately engage Iran’s government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.

Kerry said the Bush administration has failed in addressing a number of foreign policy issues.

“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy,” Kerry said.

“So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East — in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”

Kerry said the government needs to use diplomacy to improve national security.

“We need to do a better job of protecting our interests, because after all, that’s what diplomacy is about,” he said. “But you have to do it in a context of the reality, not your lens but the reality of those other cultures and histories.”

Kerry criticized what he called the “unfortunate habit” of Americans to see the world “exclusively through an American lens.”

He also criticized President Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to Baghdad to help secure Baghdad from rampaging sectarian violence.

“I don’t care how many troops are put in — Iraq is not going to be pacified,” Kerry said. “Now, we are partly responsible. The absence of legitimate significant diplomacy is a disgrace. Quick flights in by a secretary of state are not diplomacy.”

“There should be a special envoy, maybe a joint bipartisan special envoy. Why not a President Clinton together with a Republican of high ability, and bring them together and really work the process?”

Webcast and podcast are available here

Needless to say, the authoritarian right, who would lead this country to disaster before admitting that their leader is in error, is outraged. Little Green Fascists Footballs calls this “appalling blast at his own country,” having no understanding of the difference between one’s country and its leaders when wrong–a common trait among authoritarians.

The right wingers resort to their usual tactic of both distorting what Kerry is saying and presented a warped view of Bush’s record. After all, their views cannot hold up to reality, with its well known liberal bias (to paraphrase Colbert). Several conservative blogs try to refute Kerry with exaggerated claims about Bush’s efforts to fight AIDs in Africa. They ignore inconvient facts such as that Bush has regularly been criticized by international organizations, including the UN secretary general’s special envoy for HIV/AIDs in Africa, for his actions such as pandering to the religious right causing a shortage of condoms which would assist with reduction of transmission of the HIV virus.

6 Comments

  1. 1
    Probus says:

    Senator Kerry is right in his criticisms of the administration. They have had 6 years to get their Iraq war foreign policy right, and they haven’t done so. This is why we have a democratic controlled Congress today. The problems in Iraq can only be solved via diplomacy. No administration has ignored diplomacy the way this administration has and we are paying the price for their actions as we have lost our moral authority in the world.

  2. 2
    Jan says:

    Oh, right. And what has Kerry ever done? What does Kerry know about “diplomacy” or “Iraq?” Nothing. What does he know about how to go about the diplomacy of the Middle East? Nothing.

    He’s been a junior senator for 25 years and he’s never filed a bill. He has no thoughts, ideas or vision. He’s just a carper and a whiner who has managed to marry two very wealthy women. Without them and their money he would be dust. His opinions are worthless. But Theresa’s money, that’s priceless.

  3. 3
    Ron Chusid says:

    For someone who supposedly knows nothing it’s amazing how many public statements he has which have been proven to be right, while Bush has been wrong all the way. For someone who supposedly knows nothing, its amazing how events in Iraq have played out just as he predicted before the war.

    Before posting such nonsense you might look at Kerry’s actual record in the Senate, not the fictitious talking points of the far right.

  4. 4
    Carl says:

    That’s a nice link to a 2005 article about a lack of condoms in Uganda. Lets stay on subject here. Congress, both parties including kerry, killed Kyoto and the current Administration has sent more money for AIDs than any in the history of the WORLD. Pull you heads out and see a traitor for what it is.

  5. 5
    Ron Chusid says:

    You have a strange way of staying on subject–cherry picking the information which supports your case, regardless of how weak your argument is.

    AIDs in Africa is part of Kerry’s statement and is definately part of the subject. Regardless of how you try to spin the truth, Bush’s actions have worsened the problem, and not helped. It is also George Bush who has been repeatedly denied that global warming is a problem until he finally began to back down slightly this year.

    Typical of someone who parrots the talking points of the authoritarian right to consider criticizing the President’s policy to be a traitor, even when Kerry has been right and Bush has been wrong every step of the way with regards to both Iraq and dealing with terrorism.

  6. 6
    Probus says:

    Senator Kerry has told the truth. That is something this administration has not done even after the defeat of the repug party in the midterm elections Mr. Bush refuses to see what the whole country sees that the Iraq war was a mistake. This administration started a preemptive invasion that had nothing to do with 9-11. This was the wrong war in the wrong place and at the wrong time Senator Kerry said this more than 2 years ago and he told the truth. I applaud Sen. Kerry for speaking the truth. Sen. Kerry knows that you can’t end a civil war between the Shiia and Sunnis by adding more troops. This is not a new strategy but more of “stay the course” a strategy that failed and cost us American lives. This administration has set the Middle East process back by choosing sides for the first time. They pushed for elections in Palestine when every Middle East expert told them not to and now Hamas is in control and the Fatah party fights to survive. It is their short-sightedness that they didn’t anticipate this whereas Sen. Kerry and other democrats did. Senator Kerry’s vision is one that does not thrust our sons and daughters into a civil war with no exit plan to leave a country we never should have gone into.

4 Trackbacks

Leave a comment