Is Anybody Really Surprised?

John F'n Kerry slams the U.S.A. yet again.

"When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don't advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy," [Massachusetts Senator John] Kerry said.

"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East in the world, really. I've never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today." [...]

Kerry criticized what he called the "unfortunate habit" of Americans to see the world "exclusively through an American lens."

Who walked away from global warming and Kyoto, Senator Kerry? Flash back to the First Session of the 105th Congress, well before President George W. Bush was elected to office, and there was a little resolution (S.Res. 98) entitled "A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the conditions for the United States becoming a signatory to any international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change." John F'n Kerry was one of 95 senators who voted for that resolution which:

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997, or thereafter, which would--

(A) mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the Annex I Parties, unless the protocol or other agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period, or

(B) would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States; and

(2) any such protocol or other agreement which would require the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification should be accompanied by a detailed explanation of any legislation or regulatory actions that may be required to implement the protocol or other agreement and should also be accompanied by an analysis of the detailed financial costs and other impacts on the economy of the United States which would be incurred by the implementation of the protocol or other agreement.

Irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa? The current administration has done plenty to help Africa, and not just in regards to AIDS. The Washington Post covered this about four weeks ago.

The president has tripled direct humanitarian and development aid to the world's most impoverished continent since taking office and recently vowed to double that increased amount by 2010 -- to nearly $9 billion. [...]

Although some activists criticize Bush for not doing more to end the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, others credit him for playing a role in ending deadly conflicts in Liberia, the Congo and other parts of Sudan. Meanwhile, Bush has overseen a steady rise in U.S. trade with Africa, which has doubled since 2001.

"He should be known for increasing -- doubling development assistance and tripling it to Africa after a period in which U.S. development assistance was essentially flat for decades," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "He should be known for the largest single investment in AIDS and malaria, the biggest health investment of any government program ever."

Considering that any walking away from Kyoto took place during the Clinton administration, and that a resolution stating that the U.S. should not be a signatory to Kyoto was supported by John F'n Kerry and 94 of his fellow senators in the 105th Congress, doesn't it seem duplicitous and hypocritical (to use Kerry's own phrasing) to try to pin that "failure" on President Bush when, in actuality, any such "failure" occurred during the last Democratic administration, and with Kerry's own vote?

Further, is Kerry not intelligent enough to research what the Bush administration has done for Africa? Heck, even a dum ol' vetrin like me was able to look that up. So, that would really come down to (a) Kerry wasn't smart enough to find the information on Bush's record in Africa, (b) Kerry wasn't diligent enough to verify the accusations of irresponsibility that he was repeating in Davos, or (c) Kerry is intentionally misrepresenting the facts.

In any situation, be it due to Kerry's ignorance or intentional deception, the end result is a disregard for the current administration and the view of America in the world. Worse yet, Kerry describes our country as an "international pariah," and he goes on to lament "the 'unfortunate habit' of Americans to see the world 'exclusively through an American lens.'" That, to me, is a serious lack of love and devotion to one's country.

Of course, by questioning Kerry's devotion and loyalty to this nation, I am, by definition, questioning his patriotism; and for that I make no apologies.

USMC 9971 OUT