Candidates and Cowards
Primary tabs
NO GUTS WHEN IT MATTERED
Presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, challenges George Bush with a defiant, "Bring it on!" And fellow candidate, Senator John Edwards, chimes in with a feisty, "I am so ready for this fight!" But the fact is both men lacked the guts to stand up and fight George Bush when it mattered.
When Bush began his assault upon civil liberties by proposing the Patriot Act, Senators Edwards and Kerry supported him. When Bush demanded the unrestricted ability to wage war on Iraq – or any other country in the Middle East – Edwards and Kerry supported him. And when Bush sought to consolidate his power over the American people via the Homeland Security Act, Edwards and Kerry supported him.
Both Edwards and Kerry failed to ask the tough questions when tough questions should have been asked. Instead they remained silent out of fear of being labeled "unpatriotic."
Worse yet, they failed to honor their oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" -- especially domestic -- which begs the question, why would any true opponent of the Bush Administration want either of these cowards to be their president?
####
Walter F. Wouk is the director of The Thomas Paine Project and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War