March 7, 2004

SPRING CLEANING:

U.S. SNIPERS FINISH 9 TALIBAN (NY Post, March 7, 2004)

U.S. Special Operations snipers killed nine suspected Taliban militants in the Afghan mountains bordering Pakistan, the military said yesterday, marking one of American forces' deadliest engagements in months.

The military would not say if the clash marked the start of a promised spring offensive to capture Osama bin Laden, although a spokesman said the fighting began when as many as 40 suspected Taliban tried to flank the position held by the Americans and their Afghan army allies.


John Kerry would have done it sooner, with UN permission, and with French assistance. Except that he'd be waiting for the perfect moment to start.

MORE:
Kerry Dots Deliberation With Decision (Laura Blumenfeld, March 7, 2004, Washington Post)

John Kerry cliché No. 1: The single-engine plane plunged toward the Nevada desert. The pilot had tried a barrel roll and miscalculated. Ten thousand feet, six thousand feet, two thousand feet and falling. Young Kerry, sitting next to the pilot, reached for the controls. "Give it to me," Kerry said over the scream of the engine. He pulled the airplane out of the dive.

Kerry cliché No. 2: About 30 years later, in his office at 2 a.m., Sen. Kerry hovered over a dictionary, torn between two words: "Is it 'venal'? Or 'venial'?" Hours before he would deliver his Senate floor statement on President Bill Clinton's impeachment, Kerry was stuck in the V's, trying to decide.

Both stories, though cartoonish, actually happened. They are part of the lore that paints Kerry as alternately too rash or too cautious. Conventional wisdom has tried to reconcile the apparent contradiction with words such as "complex." But a closer examination of his style, based on dozens of interviews, shows that he makes decisions with simple consistency. He researches and analyzes aggressively before choosing. He always deliberates, even if only for a second. What differs in each case is how close he is to the ground.

"It's the deadline thing," said Cameron Kerry, his brother. "He's not going to act when he doesn't need to. He's incredibly decisive when he needs to be."

Kerry's decision-making has drawn both criticism and praise. Republicans and Democratic detractors have portrayed him as a chronic wobbler. In a recent speech, President Bush described a would-be Kerry administration as "uncertain in the face of danger," in contrast to the current administration's "strength and confidence."

Now that Kerry has effectively won the Democratic presidential nomination, strategists say, his executive skills will come under scrutiny in a campaign against an opponent whose seemingly snap decision-making has been noted.

Kerry's supporters say his approach is nuanced and thorough, better for tackling complicated issues such as the economy and the war on terrorism. Far from paralyzing, they say, it is what makes his argument compelling.

"George Bush is, 'I know what's right, and I know what's wrong,' regardless of the nature of reality," said Jonathan Winer, Kerry's counsel from 1983 to 1994. "John takes the opposite approach: 'Don't assume you know where I am. Don't assume I know what I think. We'll talk it through.' It's a deliberate suspension."

Kerry is a man who studies the menu at restaurants, even when he knows what he's going to order. Entering a room, he pauses and looks around, as if to weigh his options. He is so fond of the phrase "tough choices" that Senate staffers routinely inserted it in his speeches because they knew he would say it anyway.

A study of three tough choices -- one military, one political, one personal -- offers a glimpse into Kerry's deciding mind.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 7, 2004 9:43 AM
Comments

"John Kerry -- He'll act fast only after something important happens."

Gee, that's a great post-9/11 campaign slogan. I can hardly wait to hear him extrapolate on it at length during one of the fall debates...

Posted by: John at March 7, 2004 10:37 AM

The one I'm dying to hear more about is "Kerry is a man who studies the menu at restaurants, even when he knows what he's going to order."

Posted by: Peter B at March 7, 2004 10:45 AM

Off topic here....

Does anyone have any news on what I am assuming to be a large scale DOS attack on the blogosphere?

Instapundit (Glen Reynolds), Daily Pundit (Bill Quick), Little Green Footballs, Tim Blair, and Junkyard blog are all off line.

And by the way, BroJudd is DEFINITELY attack-worthy, so I think you're being treated unfairly here. ;-)

But anyone know what's going on?

Posted by: Andrew X at March 7, 2004 11:35 AM

Rottwieler, Prorphogenitus, VodkaPundit, Drezner, and Buzz Machine are all down.

Am I nuts here? Someone tell me they see the same...

Posted by: Andrew X at March 7, 2004 11:50 AM

So which is it, venal or venial?

Posted by: Jed Roberts at March 7, 2004 11:54 AM

Ok, maybe I am crazy, or my ISP is.

Sorry for the trouble. Please go back to your regulary scheduled.... whatevers.

Posted by: Andrew X at March 7, 2004 11:56 AM

I can get into Instapundit, Vodkapundit, and LGF but they look like they haven't been updated in at least a day.

Posted by: rps at March 7, 2004 11:56 AM

"Don't assume I know what I think."

Ummm...ok, I won't assume Kerry knows what he thinks.

But is that really what we want in a President? Or anyone in any position of responsibility?

Posted by: jsmith at March 7, 2004 12:01 PM

Imagine going out to dinner with this guy on a double date?

Posted by: Tom C., Stamford,Ct. at March 7, 2004 1:42 PM

Ms Blumenfeld's article did leave me with a more positive impression of Kerry than I previously had.

However...

If Kerry's experiences in Vietnam convinced him that he must fight against the war when he returned, why did he go so far as to paint his former comrades as raping, pillaging thugs ?
He made it sound as if Vietnam would have been better off being defended by the Mongol hordes, commanded by Vlad the Impaler.

His penchant for "but" qualifiers when voting on legislation seems rather self-centered and vacillatory. It can be easily understood that he likes some parts of certain bills, and dislikes others; But his job is to determine whether the bill is good enough, or not, and vote accordingly. Politics, after all, is all about compromise, a fact which Bush seems to know bone-deep.
If Kerry really wanted perfect legislation, why didn't he sponsor more bills ? IIRC, only three bills bearing his name have been passed by the Senate in 19 years.


Jed:

When regarding the Clintons, both Bill and Hillary are the very definition of "venal", ready to sell honor or principle; It's a matter of public record that they have already taken at least one bribe.

However, Kerry chose to characterize Bill as "venial", or easily forgiven.

Posted by: Michael Herdegen at March 7, 2004 2:42 PM

The spinning reaches 6000 rpm. How about Kerry is a weathervane.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 7, 2004 4:44 PM
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