What makes John Kerry a good Candidate?

There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.

JW, if you're talking about this, it doesn't sound so bad to me. Is he guilty of committing atrocities just because he went to Vietnam and did what all those who went were ordered to do?

FreeDuck (typed that VERY carefully LOL) -

Sorry you're sick, but the truth is this election will most likely be about national security. If it makes you feel better, perhaps some who are still on the fence will realize the economy is indeed improving, unemployment is down, the tax cuts ARE working, etc.

But...once in the voting booth, my feeling is most will ask themselves who makes them feel safer.

By the way...that mountain you're on must really be isolated if you truly haven't heard of the atrocities Hanoi John has admitted to.

Some of the reasons he's a good candidate:


- Ability to work with foreign leaders.

You have anything empirical to back up that button of yours, JW?

What I've seen indicates that at least Osama would much prefer Bush stick around and keep up the stellar recruitment efforts... and the others, like Kim, have as much if not more to fear in practical terms from Kerry than Bush.

Some of the reasons he's a good candidate:

- Experience. - At what?
- Intelligence. - He is intelligent, but so are a lot of people.
- Ability to work with Republicans as well as Democrats. As evidenced by what? I hope you're not suggesting that his relationship with McCain is proof positive of this assertion.
- Ability to work with foreign leaders. As evidence by what? His ability to speak French? His willingness to make the UN a partner in US foreign policy?

re: the latter two, he has a history of making quite an impression on the sort of old boy's club types that actually get things done -- Nixon was well and truly spooked by him.

- Ability to combine strength with wisdom (apologies to B.C.) As evidenced by...?

- Holds positions I personally agree with on the environment, abortion, education, homeland security, and a host of other issues, and has a voting record to back it all up. Now we have it! Still, a worthy reason to vote for him.

- Gravitas vs. Bush the party hearty nicknaming frat boy. Perhaps you are confusing constipation with gravitas.

That's just a quick list. He got my vote the minute it looked like he had the best chance of beating Bush, but I've done a lot of research on him and am happy to vote him INTO the presidency, not just vote Bush out.

Good for you - seriously. It's always more healthy to vote for rather than against.