EJ Dionne in the WaPo 9/12 give Kerry praise (& Biden)

[TayTay]

Dionne is talking about how Dems are fighting back and changing the political climate from what it was in 2002, much to Dick Cheney's dismay.

Back then, Democrats were petrified. They desperately wanted to change the subject from foreign policy to . . . well, anything else. Cheney loved it when tormented Democrats failed to see that they could never win the electorate's confidence if they left national security to the other party.

Yes, there were honorable exceptions proposing alternatives to the administration's approach, including (from somewhat different points of view) Sens. Joe Biden, Carl Levin, Richard Durbin and the late Paul Wellstone. But far more than was healthy, the foreign policy debate back then was largely a Republican and conservative affair.

That's changed. As the administration's failures have become obvious to an American majority, Democrats have begun to play the opposition's essential role of offering alternatives. Voters trying to get beneath slogans such as "cut and run" might usefully consult two speeches given in the past week, one by Biden, the other by Sen. John Kerry. These days Biden is seen as a bit more "hawkish" than Kerry, but what's striking is that both speeches focused on ending the impasse Bush's policies have created.

Both emphasized what should be a central element in the debate, the potential disaster looming in Afghanistan. The administration, Biden said last Thursday, "has picked the wrong fights at the wrong times, failing to finish the job in Afghanistan, which the world agreed was the central front in the war on radical fundamentalism, and instead rushing to war in Iraq, which was not a central front in that struggle."

On Saturday, Kerry condemned the administration's "stand-still-and-lose strategy" and called on the administration to send 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan to quell the Taliban insurgency.

More at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091100881.html

[Blaukraut]

1. Interesting how Biden gave a speech two days before

John Kerry on the same subject...Was he trying to preempt Kerry's speech, or was it merely a coincidence? Regardless, they are both to be commended for speaking out and if Cheney doesn't like it, he can go 'cheney himself'.

[TayTay]

2. You know LevK, you are awesome

You give great (brief) commentary that is just right to the point. I love this and envy you your brevity. (Honest. I am too wordy sometimes and should just say it. You do a great job!)

[Blaukraut]

3. Are you kidding??

I envy YOU! Every time write a post that I think is finally more detailed and longer than my usual three sentences I am sorely disappointed when I click 'post' and it still ends up less than a paragraph. lol The only time I ever manage to get any length to anything I write is my short (notice 'short') stories and journal. :-)

[wisteria]

6. Yes, it would appear Biden tried to upstage Kerry, but who 's

speech do you think got the most attention? This is the first i heard about Biden's.

[blm]

4. In 2002 Kerry worked his ass off to get media to notice Tora Bora and

other failures of Bush's strategy.

I get focking PISSED that so many opinionists get that part of history so WRONG - and yes, I get pissed at our "left" journalists for misleading the public even in their columns where other points are sound.

[karynnj]

5. ZKerry also was a leading voice in the summer and fall of 2002

The WP seems to like Biden a lot better.

[wisteria]

7. Biden is moderate and IMO, is not as honest a politician as Kerry.

They feel they would get more from Biden than Kerry.