Comparing a senator’s voting record with that of one in the executive branch is entirely bogus, particularly when cherry-picked senatorial votes of a different era are exploited to make a point in the present. Legislators are bombarded with clauses, amendments, and pork when a bill is up for passage, causing exactly the role of the senate which is a deliberative body, leaving little room for the usual gut reaction of the House of Representatives.

Nevertheless, it is perfectly appropriate to criticize ideological driven votes that clearly show in Kerry’s record that he is unquestionably liberal. Nor is there any doubt that Kerry’s vote against $87 billion for Iraq was politically motivated by his consistent record against tax cuts, and the telling need to show that the affluent make the sacrifice to support the troops and the reconstruction of Iraq. The consistency is patent, for instance, in his vote to reduce the original 2001 tax cut proposal by $448 billion so that half of it would go to the support of public education and the rest to paying down the debt. As for questioning in today’s context blank checks for defense and intelligence in the midst of the era of the “peace dividend” when even Cheney as secretary of defense was for holding the war industry complex in check, is to say the least a cheap shot.

Kerry’s liberal record is barely touched on because the administration does not really want to talk from its clear weakness in domestic issues. Kerry has voted innumerable times against taxpayer funds for vouchers that he feels undermines the public system. On the positive side he has since the ‘80s consistently voted for funds to the states for school reconstruction or modernization, after school programs, reduction of class size by hiring more teachers. He has always been outspoken in endorsing health care for disadvantaged children and adults, along with being a strong defender of Medicare and Medicaid, exemplified by voting against proposed cuts in 1995, and being a co-sponsor of the Patients’ Bill of Rights, a forgotten issue until Edwards brought it up last night. Kerry, too, has always been a champion of employees’ rights, such as bargaining rights for first responders in states against it. [I’m compelled to note that the NY firefighters — comfortably secure from bargaining rights — shamelessly support Bush.]

Thus, there is much for conservatives to criticize on the domestic front if they dare go there, rather than engage in arcane innuendos concerning presidential credentials of a legislator who does not have the luxury of administrative decisive actions. Odd that few questioned John Kennedy’s credentials, though he was a relatively nondescript legislator.

Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: October 6, 2004.

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