Kerry Drapes Himself In Red, White And Blue

[Solidarity]

Kerry drapes himself in red, white and blue

Minnesota rally's patriotic display geared to veterans, but anti-war voters feel a chill
By ALAN FREEMAN

The Globe And Mail
Saturday, June 5, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS -- On one side of the Williams Arena, a giant banner emblazoned with the words A Stronger America was draped across the rafters. As the political meeting began, a soldier just back from Iraq led the crowd in reciting the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance facing a giant flag draped on the other side of the hall.

The display of patriotism could have been taken straight out of a Republican rally. But the 5,000 people who gathered at the University of Minnesota yesterday were there to express support for John Kerry, the probable Democratic presidential candidate.

Mr. Kerry may be a much-decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, but nevertheless, he feels vulnerable to oft-repeated accusations from George W. Bush's campaign that as a Massachusetts liberal, he's somehow soft on terrorism and can't be trusted to protect the United States against enemy threats.

He never misses an opportunity to praise the sacrifices of U.S. soldiers present and past, and to remind voters of his own military record. But he risks alienating anti-war voters by calling for more defence spending and an increase of 40,000 in U.S. troop levels, as well as failing to map out an alternative strategy for dealing with Iraq.

Meg Sirianni, a 41-year-old part-time yoga teacher who home-schools her four children, is such a voter. She had a John Kerry button pinned on her 'Neighbours for Peace' T-shirt yesterday but is worried about the candidate's strong pro-military position. "It's impossible to vote for him and know exactly what you're voting for," she complained. The Democratic candidate is "a real veteran versus a would-be veteran," said 58-year-old Vietnam veteran Michael Rose.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040605/KERRY05/TPInternational/Americas

[xchrom]

1. any body but bush?

yes i'm voting for him -- but i'm anti-pentagon/military industrial complex.
kerry doesn't make it easy.

[dawg]

2. Like it or not ....

No one can get elected in this country by running against the flag, God, Mom and apple pie.

[crossroads]

46. Right... He can drape himself in anything but yellow! Bush has to go!!!

:shrug:

[zmdem]

58. But doesn't that suggest a problem ?

If the bulk of public opinion is as you suggest, then shouldn't progressives running for office attempt to change that opinion. What are the options ? Run to the right, win the election, then govern in a progressive manner - but that would be a lie an a subversion of democracy. Of course one could run to the right and then govern in that manner, but then one is a conservative.

In the end, doesn't the progressive movement need to sway the electorate 's political view to the left ?

In the end isn't that why the Republican's enjoy power, i.e., they changed the political landscape in their favour .

[Cocoa]

3. think about Bush

that should make it easier. Carlyle Group, Bechtel, Halliburton, etc.

[progressivebydesign]

16. Perhaps you're piling too much on..

I agree, I'm anti military/industrial complex, I'm against the way Bush is using the military now. I'm against first-strike mentalities.. but I am not against the majority of people serving their country now, or not against those that served or died serving in the past. Kerry is not specifically indicating that he supports the specific things you dislike.. but he is rightly showing that patriotism is okay for Democrats. He's showing that the GOP does NOT own our flag. Unlike the chickenhawks, Kerry has been to war and has a right to support the military. I don't fault him on it.

Howard Dean, whom I supported vehemently, would not hesistate to do the same things.. I believe. Like many Democrats, he strongly opposed the Iraq War, but still supports the flag, the military, and the country. I have no doubt he'd do the same things...

[Tellurian]

4. Why shouldn't Kerry drape himself in Red, White and Blue?

he's earned the right to do so. Amazing the press hasn't picked up on the perpetual deferments of Cheney and Rumsfeld, or in cruder words, the draft dodgers running the country are chastising a decorated Vietnam hero accusing him of not capable of protecting the country. I wish Kerry would pose the question: "When have I ever stopped protecting the country?" And draw them into the discussion.

Apparently they fear his service overseas is his strongest point and are hoping the press won't notice the elephants sitting in the middle of the living room have never fought in a War...

[Barkley]

6. I agree with you but...

Kerry needs to SAY what you wrote:

'draft dodgers are running the country'
and sending our kids off to war to fight and die.

[Tellurian]

8. He can't- it would be a diplomatic faux pas

on his part and not very presidential of him to issue
a personal attack for a direct hit at the Bush colonic.

But...that shouldn't stop the people around him from doing it..
In fact, a statement like that coming from Clark would sound
the death knell from ever hearing about it again.

[GaryL]

56. He actually did say it.

I believe it was quite a while back when the GOP was questioning his patriotism. Her made mention of the fact that none of our fearless leaders ever left the safety of the US borders.

[IndianaGreen]

31. Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel

I spit on patriotism and its accompanying jingoism that has been at the root of every imperialist war and adventure that nations have engaged in since time immemorial.

Emma Goldman's words on patriotism still ring true today nearly a century after they were penned:

PATRIOTISM, A MENACE TO LIBERTY
by Emma Goldman, 1911

What, then, is patriotism? "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels," said Dr. Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our times, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment for the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities of life as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the average workingman.

Gustave Herve, another great anti-patriot, justly calls patriotism a superstition -- one far more injurious, brutal, and inhumane than religion. The superstition of religion originated in man's inability to explain natural phenomena. That is, when primitive man heard thunder or saw the lightning, he could not account for either, and therefore concluded that back of them must be a force greater than himself. Similarly he saw a supernatural force in the rain, and in the various other changes in nature. Patriotism, on the other hand, is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.

Indeed, conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.

<snip>

But, then, patriotism is not for those who represent wealth and power. It is good enough for the people. It reminds one of the historic wisdom of Frederick the Great, the bosom friend of Voltaire, who said: "Religion is a fraud, but it must be maintained for the masses."

http://www.spunk.org/library/writers/goldman/sp000064.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

36. One should love one's country like one's family.

You'll stand by it at all times, but if they do wrong, you'll not block justice. If your teenage son stole the neighbor's stereo, you will, at the very least, make him give it back. And then work a lot on his moral problem.

[IndianaGreen]

38. "I never saw the state comin' around with a spare tit. ... "

Johnson: Virginia needs all of her sons Mr. Anderson.

Anderson: That might be so Johnson, but these are my sons! They don't belong to the state. When they were babies I never saw the state comin' around with a spare tit. We never asked anything of the state and never expected anything. We do our own living and thanks to no man for the right.

Jimmy Stewart in the 1965 antiwar film Shenandoah, quoted here by John T. Kennedy.

http://www.strike-the-root.com/columns/Kennedy/kennedy3.html

[egalois]

51. Your post sounds like a

Radio Havana Cuba editorial from 1973.

[IndianaGreen]

53. Speaking of Cuba, Guantanamo should be returned to the Cubans

and Puerto Rico should be made independent.

Your post sounds like a Radio Havana Cuba editorial from 1973.

Are you speaking of Radio Reloj? I have been to Cuba and I know people there. They don't want to end up being "liberated" like Iraq was by our glorious imperial armies.

BTW, I'll take Cuba's free universal health care over the crap we have in America any day!

[bvar22]

5. Elect Kerry!

I'm willing to give him a pass on the flag wrapping for now.

Nov 3rd, I will be working to get Representatives to address the issue of our obscene and immoral Defense Spending.

Kucinich, Sanders, and Dayton are my preferences. They speak for me, but in November my vote will go to Kerry.

http://www.progressivevote.org/

[wicket]

11. I've met Bernie Sanders several times :)

He's so cool! :)

[PassingFair]

30. Stupid question here...

Don't we usually vote on Tuesdays? Is Nov. 3 (a wednesday) really the election date? Wanna know, cause that happens to be my birthday.
Could be the greatest birthday ever, could be the biggest bummer ever!

[jaded_old_cynic]

39. Yes we still vote on Tuesday....

The election this year is on Nov 2. Which happens to be MY birthday! And I'm hoping for a happy one. I'll either be packing or partying! Cheers!

[IndianaGreen]

33. Don't think!

Thinking is dangerous for you, for it may lead to unclean thoughts that may threaten the established order.

[Longhorn]

7. The flag is NOT conservative!

I fly an American and Lone Star flag every day. The flag belongs to all of us, no matter how often the Republicans, the military complex, the religious right, and other groups try to claim it for their own.

What does it mean to be "pro-military?" The military is made up of sons (like mine) and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, who choose to join for a variety of reasons, most of those reasons honorable and self-sacrificing. It's time we quit condemning "the military" for what some leaders have chosen to do with it.

I view the American flag as a symbol of individual rights and freedoms as delineated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Has it been soiled by the actions of some? Yes, it has, but don't blame the victim!

Kerry has every right to claim the flag as a symbol in his campaign -- more right, in fact, than most. He was brave to fight when he certainly could have dodged or deferred and he was brave to speak out against the war at a time when he was -- and by some, still is -- called a traitor.

[Tellurian]

15. right on, Longhorn!

keep us posted about your son..

He must be a brave lad indeed.
he comes from good stock, I'd say!

[Longhorn]

19. Thanks!

What a kind thing to say! We're certainly proud of him, though his decision to join the Marines sort of came out of the blue! We were afraid he would be brainwashed but it turns out, he is not alone in his liberal beliefs. He's training on computer network systems at 29 Palms, CA, and we should find out later this month what's next. Thanks again for your caring and support!

[Tellurian]

45. Any time- Longhorn..

and please forgive the tardyness of wishing you welcome..

where are you in Texas?

[salonghorn70]

18. Great Post

And by the way, HOOK 'EM HORNS!!!!!!

[playahata1]

28. This is the most articulate statement on the flag I have read at DU.

You should consider publishing it as a Letter to the Editor in your local paper. And welcome to DU.

[llmart]

35. I agree wholeheartedly with you!

The Conservatives are trying to co-opt the flag and everything "patriotic" for themselves and Dems must NOT let this happen. We must fly our flags proudly when Kerry becomes President. We must go to his rallys and fly out flags and wear the red, white and blue.

[crossroads]

47. Hear Hear! Well Said!

I fly the flag too! Good post!
:kick:
Bush can wear yellow like the coward he is!
:eyes:

[Rebellious Republican]

48. Well said Longhorn, spot on!

The people that have soiled the flag are the chickenhawks that have never had to worry about loosing their limbs or Life to protect it.

[emulatorloo]

9. Zogby Poll has Kerry FAR ahead of Bush on every issue but Natl Security

That is Kerry's job right now, to show that Bush is wrongheaded and he can do a better job. Bush is wrongheaded. GWB won't protect our ports, cuts funds to first responders, has inadequate security in Iraq so we can finish repairing the crap we blew up and get the hell out. GWB thinks fighting terror is about invading countries (LOL) JK thinks it is about intel and law enforcement.

The Republican Party has spent years pounding the drum that Dems are weak on Natl Security.

GWB has spent 75 million saying that Kerry is weak on nat'l security.

Repugs in congress have spent the last few years (decades) saying that Dems are unpatriotic.

This Kerry's challenge right now - to counter that BS.

Zogby numbers from poll released May 21:

“Jobs/Economy” Kerry Leads Bush 52%-37%;
“War In Iraq”, Kerry Leads Bush 52%-39%;
“War on Terrorism”, Bush Leads Kerry 64%-26%

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=829

[Tellurian]

13. Yes, I agree..

Kerry can say this with great authority.

In just a few words..

"Bush has already proven himself a FAILURE at National Security.
He allowed 911 to happen."

Placing the onus where it belongs.
And let them scramble to prove it isn't so.

[qwertyMike]

10. Take Back the FLAG !!!!

ABB

[Longhorn]

12. Exactly! n/t

[progressivebydesign]

14. OMG! What do people WANT??

The problem with the Democrats.. is that unlike the Republicans, we all expect the candidate to reflect our own personal political tastes down to the nth degree. The Republicans are easy.. they have a candidate. You support him. Done.

John Kerry is damned either way. He can't appeal to the moderate, the patriotic, the military, and the swing voters by wearing a Bush sucks t-shirt, and denouncing our military, and he can't please the uber left, who thinks he should be avoiding any signs of patriotism or respect for the military.

We're a damn picky bunch! Far be it from us to unite behind the guy... Umm.. it's either Kerry or Bush at this point. I am NOT offended by Kerry embracing the military or the flag. While I think the Iraq war is a deadly mistake, and I detest the abuses at the hands of some of our soldiers, I think the military does not deserve to be treated badly. We are our military. It's our families, our neihbors, our students, etc. They are the ones there to defend us if we need them, they chose to do that. I'm anti-war, but NOT anti-defense. It's seems ridiculous for people to expect a veteran to be anti-military. That's ludicrous.

These types of stupid articles are further proof that our Party needs to pull their collective heads out of our asses, when we further perpetuate the myth that our Party is anti-America. Hey.. guess what.. we're Americans, too. Democrats can be patriotic, too. We're allowing the GOP to steal our flag, our military, and the idea of patriotism. We hand the elections to the GOP when we keep up this me! me! me! attitude, and demand that our candidate be our carbon copy, and whine publicly that they aren't. Oddly enough, the GOP of all people could teach us a thing or two about UNITY!

p.s. Good morning! :donut:

[mmonk]

17. I am both patriotic

and against the war in Iraq or any others that are done on a lie, for reasons other than terrorist activities, while saying that is what its all about. Being for this war for the militrary industrial complex and global forced hegemony instead of defense of the constitution WILL NEVER BE APPEALING to me nor do I consider it "moderate". And I'm not a far lefty (except maybe in the new America).

[progressivebydesign]

20. I agree on all points. It's not all or nothing and I don't blame Kerry.NT

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. Well said!

:yourock:

[curse10]

42. Yeah!

:dem:

[Randomthought]

21. I was there

What Kerry said was "America should only go to war when we HAVE to not when we WANT to."
He was speaking to a group of veterans; they would not have been receptive to an anti-war message.
Kerry was very clear about Iraq being a war of choice rather than necessity.
Meg Sirianni needs to understand the difference between being anti-war and anti-warrior. Most mature peace movements such as WAMM condemn war for profit or imperialism but honor the soldier and the veteran.
The message I got from Kerry's speech was that the military should not be used to protect oil company profits. The addition of more troops was to prevent the so called 'back-door' draft where tours of duty in Iraq are extended indefinitely.
Also the Peace groups in the Twin Cities are stanch Kucinch supporters and refuse to acknowledge that Kerry is almost certainly the nominee.

[IndianaGreen]

34. A bullshit speech from someone that voted for the war!

What Kerry said was "America should only go to war when we HAVE to not when we WANT to."

Kerry also wants to "stay the course" in Iraq which is not what the Iraqis want.

[robbedvoter]

22. Better red, white and blue than Green (with envy). Your anti-Kerry

propaganda only strangthens my committment. I've been lukewarm in my support but every time you are dumping your extremist Nader nonsense here I realize how important is to support Kerry and how much saner he is than EVERYTHING you stand for. So, keep it up. Fling extremist feces here - the effects are not what you expect.

[Pastiche423]

23. W/each passing day

Kerry is demonstrating that he doesn't give a shit about the anti-war voters.

Keep it up, Kerry! But don't be surprised when volumnes of anti-war voters stay home in November.

For and "intelligent" guy, he sure acts stupid a lot.

[robbedvoter]

24. You were never supporting Kerry, so your vote is not lost. Mine is gained

and a lot of people who really want W out rather then the privilege if a lifetime of bitching.

[Randomthought]

27. Stay home and help Bush

In January the US will inaugurate a President. It will be John Kerry or George Bush. It's your choice. Kerry is better than Bush fro advicing the cause of peace but if he doesn't say exactly what you want him to say then you will not vote. Thanks for helping the Bush team.

[IndianaGreen]

37. Let's become the Stepford Voters!

Don't think!

This reminds me of how the Democrats used to chide us about our opposition to segregation. We were told by the party hacks that if we pushed for desegregation that we would split the Southern Democrats from the party and give victory to the GOP.

This is why it took an outsider to the 2-major parties to lead the fight for integration: Dr. Martin Luther King.

Why do you think that it was a Democratic Attorney General that ordered FBI wiretaps on King? BTW, that Attorney General was Bobby Kennedy.

[Voltaire99]

41. "Anybody But Bush" is an abrogation of responsibility. . .

...performed by those either blind to or unable to understand how our system has produced the Iraq debacle, the abusive Patriot Act, and the self-destructive appeasement of corporations embodied in our insane tax and regulatory schemes.

Clue to the ABB'ers: Bush couldn't have done it without the votes of people like Kerry. Kerry enabled these failures.

I appreciate your historical reminder, IndianaGreen. In this connection we might also recall the enthusiasm of JFK and LBJ for the imperial project in Vietnam. Then, too, the party scolded critics of the war. Today, as the inheritor of that tradition, and with his views repackaged for post-911 genocidal tastes, Kerry refuses to hear a critical word about US war crimes in Vietnam.

Kerry has made himself is a very bitter pill to swallow. Too bitter? Let's see if he can be budged from his terrible right wing positions before November.

[Old and In the Way]

32. Stay home and support Bush.

That's the "intelligent" thing to do.

[Voltaire99]

40. I agree with you.

It's sad to see this slobbering right wing display.

Wrong on Iraq, the central issue of our time, Kerry continues to sustain the illusion that the war is morally correct.

If he succeeds in alienating progressives, he'll have only himself to blame.

[curse10]

43. oh please

we all know that you never have and never will support Kerry.

and the only place there are "volumnes" of anti-war voters are here on this message board. In the real world most people will get their asses to the polls. Those that don't? They have their heads up their asses.

[sandnsea]

44. The anti-war voters don't give a shit about peace

If they did, they'd understand their choice is war after war with Bush; or stabilizing Iraq so we can get out and moving back towards peace centered international relations. Which doesn't automatically mean no war ever, because that's just not realistic.

[IndianaGreen]

54. Typical DLC-type smear

Wasn't it Kerry who embraced Sharon? Didn't he said "stay the course" in Iraq? Was that Kerry who aligned himself with the Venezuela oligarchs against democratically elected President Chavez? Wasn't Kerry the one who has endorsed CANF's views on Cuba as his own?

Only in an Orwellian world would a warmongering PPI imperialist like Kerry be called a peacemaker!

[onehandle]

26. Want one war, vote Kerry.

Want many wars, vote Bush.

Want no wars, You're dreaming.

We are not pulling out of Iraq any time soon.

Bush made the mess. Kerry will clean it up. And help our troops survive and come home.

[IndianaGreen]

29. There is nothing like reciting the "Under God" phrase in the Pledge

There is nothing like reciting the "Under God" phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance while ignoring the fact that this sectarian phrase was written into the Pledge by a rightwing Republican Congress in 1954.

I prefer the original Pledge that doesn't mention God at all and that was written by a Socialist to stimulate unity. The current Pledge only divides us.

If we adopt the symbols and the language of the Fascist Right, we will become the Fascist Right.

[latebloomer]

49. I prefer no pledge at all

I do not pledge my allegiance either to the flag or to the republic, but to the planet.

[lucky777]

50. I'm voting for him but I don't have to like it . . .

He's boring as hell and totally sanctimonious. This is the alternative to Bush?

[goforit]

52. Yep....He is pretty bad. Doesn't know if he's coming or going.

Never can trust a skull n Boner.

[DUJunkie]

55. I got this smart advice from a DU member back in the winter of 2002.

As we rally around the flag, take care to distinguish between it and the idiot who has wrapped himself in it.- JUSTFRED

[Kimber Scott]

57. Kerry is an American running for the highest office in the land.

He better drape himself in the flag. If he's going to win this thing, he needs as many votes as possible. That includes Republican votes. He can't win this thing with just the "anti-war vote," or the "vegan vote", the "gay vote" or the whatever the special interest of the day is. He needs to show he can lead AMERICANS, not just Democrats and not just Republicans - Americans. Period.