here’s a transcript of a recent interview with john kerry.
please read this, it shows what a remarkable man he is and what a remarkable president he will be.
thanks,
-mobyãŠ
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119902,00.html
transcript: kerry on ‘hannity and colmes’
thursday, may 13, 2004
new york, n.y. – a full transcript of john kerry’s exclusive interview with fox news channel’s “”hannity and colmes”” on may 13, 2004:
alan colmes, host: senator, welcome.
sen. john kerry (d-ma), presidential candidate: glad to be here. thank you.
colmes: what are the one or two issues this election revolves around?
kerry: leadership, trust. i believe that there is a more honest brand of leadership to offer america that will put people back to work, that can reduce our deficit, balance the budget, create better jobs for americans, provide lower cost, affordable, accessible health care to americans, clearly, fix our schools and do a better job of living up to the promise of no child left behind, and frankly, wage a far more thoughtful and capable war on terror that actually makes america safer and stronger.
i think this administration has misled america, broken its promises and regrettably, not made the world safer. and i will change that.
colmes: i — why should americans believe the world will be safer, will be more protected if john kerry’s president?
kerry: i ask people to simply measure my 35 years of experience and the battles that i’ve fought in an effort to try to raise america’s safety standard and to promote our interests in the world, versus what the bush administration has done.
i certainly admire the president for standing up and deciding that we needed to take on terror. we all believe that. and i thought he gave a great speech to congress and the country immediately afterward.
but i think the president has led in a sort of steadily wrong direction, that he’s been stubborn in his leadership, not recognizing what you need to do to bring other countries to the table, not recognizing what you need to do to restore america’s relationship with allies and friends so that they, too, are sharing the risks of this war on terror.
we shouldn’t be alone. the united states isn’t alone in having an interest in beating back terror. the huge question is why, if other countries have an interest in not having a failed iraq — middle eastern countries, european countries — why are they not at the table?
the reason is this administration has had an arrogant policy that has pushed people aside, that has not invited them to share in the reconstruction, that has not permitted them to share in the decision-making, and so they stand back. and that is not in the interest of our troops. it’s not for the interests of our nation.
colmes: what makes you think that, all of a sudden, if there’s a john kerry presidency france and russia suddenly will decide they want to participate?
kerry: they won’t suddenly decide it, alan. that’s not what’s going to happen. but statesmanship and leadership are the art of persuading people who might otherwise have reservations of their interests.
europe — i’m sure you would agree with me, europe has an interest in not having a failed iraq at its doorstep. the arab countries certainly have the primary interest in not having a failed iraq, a theocracy, a shia state or any other number of variations. a vacuum with an al qaeda terrorist launching pad.
they all have an interest in not having that happen.
so the huge issue is why are they not more involved in helping to make something change? the reason is this administration has proceeded so unilaterally and so arrogantly, without a sense that they could, in fact, participate in a legitimate decision making way.
the president’s had any number of opportunities to bring people to the table. first when we went to the u.n. originally, and then he rushed to war without a plan to win the peace. he rushed to war so fast that our troops have told