As of last Thursday, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry is the next Democratic presidential candidate.  It is interesting how the party of emotions and feel-good attitudes nominated a man who is utterly incapable of expressing any emotion at all.  His acceptance speech was delivered in the same, basic monotone voice he is known for.  It seems that Kerry’s only capacity to express emotion is by merely raise his voice.

Instead of the lack of inflection in his monotonous speech, it is critical that we also consider what Kerry actually said.  Near the beginning of the speech, he spoke to those in attendance at the Fleet Center and Americans across the country by saying, “I ask you to judge me by my record.”  Given that Republicans have successfully and rightfully painted Kerry as a flip-flopper, perhaps that isn’t the best tact to take.  Looking at his record, it is difficult to tell where Kerry stands on any position.

In his lengthy speech, Kerry insisted, “We can do better.  We’re the ‘can-do’ people.  And let’s not forget what we did in the 1990’s.  We balanced the budget.  We paid down the debt.  We created 23 million new jobs.  We lifted millions out of poverty.  And we lifted the standard of living for the middle class.  We just need to believe in ourselves and we can do it again.”  This is not a part of his record that Kerry should be highlighting since most of these things were only accomplished after Newt Gingrich led the Republicans to the majority in the House of Representatives through 1994’s Contract with America.  In fact, Kerry’s stance on a number of these issues, like his support for minimum wage increases and his opposition to welfare reform, are stances that contribute to the further slide of America into the depths of poverty.

If we continue to judge Kerry by his record, we should also consider some other sound bites from his speech.  Such as when he described his running mate, Senator John Edwards, as “ready to lead.”  Really?  Only a few months back Kerry was blasting Edwards as lacking the experience to be an effective commander in chief.  Interesting how that changes once they team up.  Kerry also spoke of the need to “immediately reform the intelligence system” while ignoring his repeated proposals and votes to cut tens of billions from the intelligence community, effectively eviscerating it.

More brazenly, Kerry even promised to “add 40,000 active duty troops” to help “strengthen American forces that are now overstretched, overextended, and under pressure….  We will provide our troops with the newest weapons and technology to save their lives and win the battle.”  This comes after twenty years of Kerry’s voting against military spending increases and even famously voting first “for the $87 billion before” he voted “against it” – a supplemental spending bill to provide critical resources and supplies to our troops in Iraq.  If he truly wants us to view him based upon his record, it is a terrifying one to look at.

Sadly, Kerry’s support for the military must be questioned farther.  Kerry also promised to “end the back door draft of the national guard and reservists.”  Now, the military hasn’t changed that much since Kerry was in the service.  The National Guard and Reservists, like their active duty counterparts, sign up for their positions knowing the risk of deployment and the risk they are undertaking.  In exchange, they get a check each month from the government for their services.  A draft suggests that the soldiers are going against their will.  If that is the case, then that’s too bad.  They knew the risks when they signed up, and if they aren’t willing to do their duty when called upon, they should not have signed up in the first place and should stop their pathetic whining.

Adding to his insult of soldiers, later in his speech Kerry bemoaned our country’s current energy policy, promising that his “energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels in the cars in the future so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East” [my emphasis].  In one succinct clause, Kerry manages to tell every American soldier that the deposing of Saddam Hussein, the freeing of the people of Iraq, the preventing of further WMD development, and the end of a tyrant’s sponsorship of terrorism was really just about oil.  I can think of no greater insult to the 900 families whose loved ones have given their lives in this war than to tell them that it was just for oil.  This is even more insulting when one considers Kerry’s record and innumerable votes against ANWR and other attempts to invest in energy production domestically.

Kerry asks us to look at his record, but it is downright abysmal.  His speech began by telling all Americans, “We have it in our power to change the world, but only if we’re true to our ideals, and that starts by telling the truth to the American people.”  It was supposed to be a dig against President Bush’s justification for war, a justification supported by every intelligence organization on earth.

Ironically, however, it is Kerry who tells us all to be true to our ideals.  After twenty years of public service, you’d think Kerry would be able to easily tell us what his ideals are.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that he has any.

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