The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
 

Vol: 35 Issue: 16 - Monday, August 16, 2004
The Prosperity of Fools
by Jack Kinsella

Three polls conducted by the Washington Post this year asked Kerry
supporters if they were planning to vote for John Kerry because they
wanted him to be president, or if they planned to vote for Kerry in order
to defeat George Bush.

The first poll, conducted on March 7, found that 61% of voters who planned
to vote for Kerry were doing so simply because of their opposition to
George Bush.

A second poll, conducted in mid-May, asked the same question, and found
that number unchanged at 61%. By June, those who opposed Bush more than
they supported Kerry dropped to 55%.

Not wanting their pro-Kerry bias to show too broadly, the Post also put
the same question to Bush supporters.  Only 13%, 11% and 16%
(respectively) of Bush supporters said they were going to vote primarily
to prevent Kerry from winning the election.

What these results indicate is that most Kerry supporters would vote for
ANY candidate other than Bush, regardless of his/her policy positions,
political record or personal history. With that in mind, it's easy to
understand why none of Kerry's supporters are particularly troubled by
accusations surrounding Kerry's Vietnam War experiences, post-war
escapades, and notably unproductive political career.

John Kerry's background has already produced enough radioactive
information to sink the campaign of any Republican candidate. More than
enough.  Republican Jack Ryan's Illinois senatorial campaign was destroyed
by a single accusation that came to light with the release of Ryan's 12
year-old California divorce records.

It seems that, during the divorce, Ryan was accused by his then-wife,
actress Jeri Ryan, of suggesting they to go to some kind of 'sex club'.
They didn't go, and, (obviously) the suggestion was enough to torpedo the
marriage.

Evidently, that was it. Now that's not to say I support either sex clubs
or Jack Ryan. Put that thought aside for a minute, since it is a 'straw
man' argument to begin with.

The relevant issue here is that all it took was a SUGGESTION of immorality
emanating from records of a DIVORCE. Accusations from a spouse seeking a
divorce are not exactly on the same category of reliability as a deathbed
confession -- in divorces, sometimes, people lie.  And in any case, a
spouse seeking a divorce seldom frames the other spouse in the most
favorable light.

Within days of Ryan's 1992 California divorce records going public, Ryan
was forced to drop out of the race, allowing his Democratic challenger to
run for office unopposed.  (The GOP has since imported Alan Keyes to run
as their candidate, but he hasn't a snowball's chance in you-know-where of
winning)

Assessment:

The Washington Post polls explain why Kerry could survive the SWIFT Boat
Veterans for Truth, his past voting record in the Senate, issues about his
character and even divorcing his wife to marry the wealthier Teresa Heinz,
while the details of Jack Ryan's twelve-year-old divorce struck a
deathblow to his candidacy.

Democrats don't care. They truly, madly, deeply, despise George Bush --
Howdy Doody, Bozo the Clown, John Kerry or Rex, the Wonder Horse -- it
doesn't really matter who wins provided that it is anybody but Bush.

Watch the talking-heads programs -- any Democrat who makes an appearance
to defend Kerry's background ends up doing it by focusing exclusively on
what they perceive to be the trouble with George W. Bush.

Anyone who dares to question Kerry's background, from his admission that
he himself committed war crimes, to his subsequent antiwar activities, to
his various lies and misrepresentations (where was John Kerry on Christmas
Eve, 1968, anyway?) is immediately subjected to a barrage of insults and
an organized campaign of character assassination.

In the case of the SWIFT boat veterans, their credentials, including their
own Silver Stars, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, not to mention the
impressive number of admirals and senior Navy officers among their number,
etc., are dismissed out of hand.  Instead, they are cast in the role of
right-wing fanatics that are either motivated by partisanship or are still
angry with Kerry for labeling them war criminals and baby killers.

Among those "fanatics" that leftists have derided, and whose scandalous
assertions about John Kerry they've dismissed out of hand, are: Rear
Admiral Roy Hoffmann (commander of Kerry's task force in Vietnam), Grant
Hibbard (Kerry's former commanding officer), George Elliot (another of
Kerry's former commanding officers), John O'Neill (the commander who
replaced Kerry on his swift boat), and almost all the officers who
appeared in a Kerry campaign photograph claiming them as Kerry's 'band of
brothers'.

Of the 19 officers in that photograph, one supports Kerry, four have no
opinion, and the rest are members of the SWIFT Boat Veterans for Truth. In
fact, less than ten percent of all SWIFT Boat Veterans contacted by the
group failed to join.

In all, the organization has some 250 members who oppose Kerry's
candidacy, compared with eight who support him. (And travel with him on
the campaign trail at Kerry's expense)

It seems extremely unlikely that EVERY ONE of these veterans is a
Republican. It is even more unlikely that they would all be such staunch
supporters of George Bush, (since Bush never even went to Vietnam in the
first place.)

The suggestion that they would all conspire to spread false allegations
typifies the view from the Left.  As far as the Left is concerned, 'honor'
is a commodity to be bought and sold, so why would these men be any
different?

The Left had already sacrificed whatever honor it had during the Election
2000 debacle. In their own eyes, the only way to regain it will be by
defeating Bush this time around.  For that reason, they've turned a blind
eye to the history of a man who might well be the next leader of the free
world, and whether or not he may prove to be pathological liar, a war
criminal or a traitor is of no interest to them whatsoever.

The collective win-at-any-cost mindset of these people is as shameful as
anything John Kerry may have done, and the hatred they exhibit toward
George W. Bush is more than just substantial, it's practically
pathological.

The Left has taken a page right out of Scripture and adopted it as their
campaign strategy:

"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners
delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at My
reproof: behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known my
words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched
out My hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all My
counsel, and would none of My reproof:" (Proverbs 1:22-25)

So far their strategy appears to be working, but only if one is completely
oblivious to the ongoing war against Islamic terrorism, as the Kerry
campaign appears to be.  In that context, the rest of the passage takes on
even greater significance.

"I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me
early, but they shall not find Me: For that they hated knowledge, and did
not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of My counsel: they
despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their
own way, and be filled with their own devices.  FOR THE TURNING AWAY OF
THE SIMPLE SHALL SLAY THEM, AND THE PROSPERITY OF FOOLS SHALL DESTROY
THEM." (Proverbs 1:26-32)