Category: Politics

How many of Senator John Kerry’s grandparents are ethnically Irish?
WINNER: The Poster Formerly Known As Anonymous Coward, in 23 minutes. Like Saint Patrick, Kerry is 0% Irish.

A short summary of Senator Kerry’s military experience: he commanded a vessel in Vietnam, and was decorated for valor. He received three non-life-threatening wounds during his four months in Vietnam. Because of these wounds, he abandoned his comrades by petitioning the Navy to let him leave a combat zone (there was a rule allowing three-times-wounded servicemen to leave).
That landed him in a cushy desk job working for an admiral. Then he got the Navy to release him before his committment was over, in order to run for Congress. He then testified before Congress about war crimes he never saw, committed by men he never knew (and who were later proven liars.)
Sen. Kerry is the kind of officer that enlisted men loathe — working the system for his own benefit instead of theirs, advancing his own interests with no loyalty to those underneath him. His haughty demeanor would have only exacerbated their dislike. Maybe he was a different man back then, but I doubt it. I’d be curious to see what his former subordinates really think of him. They’re probably too classy to denounce their former commanding officer in public, but it would be great to get them into a bar and see what they say after a few drinks.
Men are willing to fight and die for a flawed, arrogant, and even cruel leader if they sense he shares their struggles and believes in their cause. They despise self-serving careerists, because they know that selfish men will often endanger their lives for no good reason, and think of the people around them as merely means to an end.

An actual license plate, seen in a northern Virginia parking lot:

The Left is always accusing conservatives of being “haters,” motivated by animus and little else. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is what the psychologists call “projection.”

The going rate for ousting a pro-American European government: 200 dead Spaniards.
The cliché is right this time: the terrorists did win. They might not have been on the ballot, but they managed to turn mass murder into an effective political tool.
UPDATE: David Frum voices the same opinion at NRO today. “Lesson: terrorism can work. Prediction: therefore expect more of it. Expect more terrorism aimed at the United Kingdom, against Australia, against Poland, and – ultimately – against the United States. For the terrorists must now wonder: If murder can influence elections in Spain – why not in the United States?”

I have a social-justice question for Senator John Kerry: how can you be for “international cooperation” and against “Benedict Arnold CEOs” who “outsource” American jobs?
Translated, that means we aren’t going to let Indians compete for American IT contracts or allow the Chinese to sell us Happy Meal toys. So you’re going to simultaneously deny those countries access to American markets, and then expect they’ll support your foreign policy?
How will that work, exactly?