When Kerry did the “I voted for the 87 million right before I voted against it� he turned himself into a laughing stock.

No doubt this was really, REALLY dumb of Kerry to say. But as you rightly point out, the average American doesn’t want to think about it. If they dug into the issue, they would have understood what he was talking about. I did when I got to the heart of the matter, even though it made me cringe.

Basically, consistently inconsistent wasn’t Kerry’s sin. Consistently nuanced was and will continue to be for many on the left. But let me put it to you this way, if Kerry let one provision change his mind about whether or not to fund the war, then maybe he should take a look at whether a nuanced approach is valid during wartime. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but understand that you may have a tough time becoming the leader of the free world with such an approach.

“Even if you look back at Kerry, you can find a clear line of consistency with what he’s talking about. Sure, the appearance is bad, but Kerry’s logic can be seen as sound if you really dig into the issues. Maintaining consistency is tough because it means you have to ignore the outliers of the argument (and potential supporters), but some are not willing to do that and may suffer as a results of it.”

I tried but couldn’t come up with a clear line of consistency…. I was never sure which Kerry was going to speak…. How were you????
Making a decision is tough, there are going to be people that are not happy with you either way, but you have to draw the line in the sand and make a dicision…. you have to work with whatever you have available at the time of the dicision.

When Kerry did the “I voted for the 87 million right before I voted against it” he turned himself into a laughing stock. the average American doesn’t follow politics closely enough to understand his position on that one, they are too busy trying to work and raise families. I’m not even sure that I understood that one, I had problems with voting to send troops and then voting against funding for the same troops….

I don’t think so either, but does that make his statement any less true? I’ve mulled over this for a couple days and I find a lot of these guys are partisan, but they truly believe what they’re saying. Even if you look back at Kerry, you can find a clear line of consistency with what he’s talking about. Sure, the appearance is bad, but Kerry’s logic can be seen as sound if you really dig into the issues. Maintaining consistency is tough because it means you have to ignore the outliers of the argument (and potential supporters), but some are not willing to do that and may suffer as a results of it.

I, for one, hope Hagel doesn’t run for prez because it could mean the vital center is emerging in American politics. At least if you look at recent polls that query people about the Iraq war and its prosecution, you may see a trend.

In any event, thanks for the comment!