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Hugh Hewitt - Principal Contributor

Mr. Hewitt is senior member of the CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial board. [go to Hewitt index]

'Scary John Kerry'
Lying to Americans?...
[Hugh Hewitt] 3/10/04

On Monday, John Kerry shocked the reporters in attendance at a Florida fund-raiser when he declared to the audience that "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy they look at you and say, 'You've got to win, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,' things like that."

CNN did a search of the available records of Kerry meetings over the course of his candidacy and could not find any meeting with any foreign leader. The generous want to credit possible phone calls, but look at Kerry's phrasing – he says he met with foreign leaders, and the leaders "look at you and say" stuff like what a godsend you are, John Kerry.

It seems clear to me that John Kerry made this up – is lying, in short. An Al Gore-like move eight months out. Why would he do such a stupid thing? After all, it is easily checked, and reporters were in the room.

My guess is this: John Kerry knows two things: The election will turn on the war, and on the war, John Kerry is incredibly weak, having flip-flopped and back-flopped and never stopped talking about it from every direction. He is to defense and national security what heterosexuals are to gender – blurring the lines and all things to all people.

And that's not going to fly in the election. Any more than his opposition to the first Gulf War, to the B-1 and B-2, the Aegis cruiser, the M1-Abrahms tank, the Patriot missile or all land-based missile-defense systems. John Kerry would be a disaster for the defense of the United States, and his record of weakness on these issues is long and detailed. Just Monday, in fact, President Bush highlighted Kerry's strange legislative proposition of 1995 calling for a $1.5 billion dollar cut in the funding of the intelligence agencies --a bill that failed to attract the support of even one other senator. Not even Boxer would sign on to that crazy proposal.

So Kerry knows his own record and knows his vulnerability. His response is to create out of whole cloth mythical "foreign leaders" who support his election. Like Harvey the Rabbit, John Kerry has Harvey the "foreign leader" whispering encouragement to him.

That's troubling. Very troubling, and the press doesn't quite know what to do with this odd duck from Massachusetts, but are reluctant to see him implode the week after locking up the nomination. So they aren't pressing very hard.

Here's a suggestion: Just track the "foreign leaders" story with half the energy you tracked the "yellowcake" story. That'll do.

Scary John Kerry. Next thing you know he'll be making up defective voting processes in Florida and hiring lawyers to stake out the Sunshine State. CRO

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CaliforniaRepublic.org Principal Contributor Hugh Hewitt is an author, television commentator and syndicated talk-show host of the Salem Radio Network's Hugh Hewitt Show, heard in over 40 markets around the country. He blogs regularly at HughHewitt.com and he frequently contributes opinion pieces to the Weekly Standard.