Kerry Calls for New Military

[sandnsea]

Kerry's speech he gave today is up.

http://kerry.senate.gov/high/record.cfm?id=232098

My commentary, which I post because I'm like Faye, Pay Attention To Me!!! lol (kidding ya Faye)

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=375

[New Earth]

1. heheheh

:P :cry: hey at least i just come out and say it.....:D

[sandnsea]

4. lol

I didn't really hurt your feelings did I? :hug:

[karynnj]

2. Hope Kerry finds a way to get emails of this speech

to veterans and the active military. I never read the military bill of rights on the Kerry web site, so I now see what some people were saying about Kerry being more pro-military (not pro-war) than he was pictured. Why would anyone in the military really think Bush cares more about them or is better for them? Now in addition to being sorry he's not President, I'm sorry he's not CIC.

His proposals on taking care of the veterans needs seem like the logical extension of the concern he had for veterans in 1971. Reading it it reminded me of TAY TAY's post on how his 1971 protests were out of concern for the veterans and how that was misinterpreted. It has the same feel of real real concern about the soldiers and their families and the anger for where we're failing in this.

[sandnsea]

3. Fits with my vet friend

Who had probably never head of this Bill of Rights either. But that's what he said the other day, he was looking for Kerry to say he still supported the vets, just like he did in '71. Kerry was just exactly precisely what we needed at this point in time. How often do you get a true internationalist who also understands the importance of defense, has respect for the troops and knows exactly what we need to do for all of it. Many times I said the bottom line in my support for John Kerry was that there was nobody else who I would trust with the life of my 18 (now 19) year old son, should military service ever be required. It's still just beyond belief that people didn't see all of this.

[TayTay]

5. I posted this on DU:GD, but I just wanted to reiterate

Kerry's statement and proposal today is consistent with what he said in the last debate. He is worried about troop strength and about our reserves. I like it. See here:

SCHIEFFER: All right, let's go to another question. And it is to Senator Kerry.

You have two minutes, sir.

Senator, the last debate, President Bush said he did not favor a draft. You agreed with him. But our National Guard and Reserve forces are being severely strained because many of them are being held beyond their enlistments. Some of them say that it's a back-door draft.

Is there any relief that could be offered to these brave Americans and their families?

If you became president, Senator Kerry, what would you do about this situation of holding National Guard and Reservists for these extended periods of time and these repeated call-ups that they're now facing?

KERRY: Well, I think the fact that they're facing these repeated call-ups, some of them two and three deployments, and there's a stop- loss policy that prevents people from being able to get out when their time was up, is a reflection of the bad judgment this president exercised in how he has engaged in the world and deployed our forces.

Our military is overextended. Nine out of 10 active-duty Army divisions are either in Iraq, going to Iraq or have come back from Iraq. One way or the other, they're wrapped up in it.

Now, I've proposed adding two active-duty divisions to the armed forces of the United States -- one combat, one support.

In addition, I'm going to double the number of Special Forces so that we can fight a more effective war on terror, with less pressure on the National Guard and Reserve. And what I would like to do is see the National Guard and Reserve be deployed differently here in our own country. There's much we can do with them with respect to homeland security. We ought to be doing that. And that would relieve an enormous amount of pressure.

But the most important thing to relieve the pressure on all of the armed forces is frankly to run a foreign policy that recognizes that America is strongest when we are working with real alliances, when we are sharing the burdens of the world by working through our statesmanship at the highest levels and our diplomacy to bring other nations to our side.

I've said it before, I say it again: I believe the president broke faith to the American people in the way that he took this nation to war. He said he would work through a real alliance. He said in Cincinnati we would plan carefully, we would take every precaution. Well, we didn't. And the result is our forces today are overextended.

The fact is that he did not choose to go to war as a last result. And America now is paying, already $120 billion, up to $200 billion before we're finished and much more probably. And that is the result of this president taking his eye off of Osama bin Laden.

[sandnsea]

6. And failed nation and overall strategy

This is not primarily about Iraq. I had hoped my little piece would make that clearer, maybe I missed. So frustrating that people can't separate Iraq from the realities of the rest of the world.

This isn't directed at you, just a frustrating little rant from having been in GD.

[TayTay]

8. AGreed, but

The point also is that this is nothing new. Kerry mentioned in the campaign how the current deployment levels are 'breaking' the military and that this is unfair to the troops and their families. This is a totally consistent position.

That said, I just read the speach and I am glad I wasn't there to see it. (I will have a hard enough time seeing the excerpts on the news tonight.) The callous way that this Admin has treated our people in the military breaks my heart. (No joke, real tears.) I am so glad that Sen. Kerry said this, but I think of that wonderful woman from my town who put up the big cardboard display at last Memorial Day's parade filled with pics of her husband in Baghdad. I talked with her for a while about how hard the deployment has been on her family and how proud she was of her husband and so forth. Who is speaking for these people? Well, at lest one person is and I am grateful to him for that.

(I thinkI sense an e-mail to the Senator's office from a constitutent tomorrow. This really touched me.

[sandnsea]

10. Absolutely

After I read the speech, I realized he wasn't just talking about the military families which is what I had read in all the print articles. I also knew he was going to be blasted by the left and his words would be distorted again. In focusing on that, I guess I missed the fact that he's always been promoting all of this.

Anything Bush proposes comes as an afterthought and a con. This is from Kerry's heart and you can tell by how well thought out all the little details are. In those 99 cuts, one of the things Bush proposed cutting is a small business program for vets, a program that Democrats have been trying to get for ten years at least. I think it finally passed in 1999 or so, and now Bush wants to cut it. Real troop support.

[elshiva]

7. It was a really great speech, but

very sad. If anyone's going to understand PTSD, it's JK. Again, health care issues are important to address, statistic mentioned 1 in 5 military families without health care is sad part of 42 million without, 11 million of them children. Sad figures, but at least JK is trying to address it with his bills. It's depressing that Dubya would never give such an intelligent speech. It's not simply a matter of good speechwriters...

Happy Valentine's Day Senator Kerry you did us proud!
I'm so saddened by that speech I'll post the Boxer and Roses picture:

[JI7]

9. you guys are wonderful

in the discussion politics forum one of the regular Kerry bashers made some ugly attack on him on a thread about this speech, and some of you quickly posted Dean calling for something similar and it seemed to shut down the person right away.