HUH? (via Steven W.)

Senator Kerry Speaks in D.C. at Unity Conference (CNN LIVE TODAY, Aired August 5, 2004)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go from there to another part of Washington, D.C. and President Bush's challenger, Senator John Kerry speaking today at something called the Unity Conference. This is a gathering of minority journalists from all over the country. Senator Kerry is taking questions. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) [...]

QUESTION: If there is a clear line in the minds of many of the voters who are straddling the fence right now, it is on the issue of terror.

The question is, how would you lead as a president in the age of terror?

Specifically, what would you have done if you had been caught in a Florida newsroom -- or, I'm sorry, a Florida classroom on September 11, 2001? Would you, given the power of hindsight, have taken the nation to war, as President Bush has said he would, given hindsight?

And lastly, what would you do to get the nation out of Iraq, specifically?

KERRY: Great question. And I appreciate...

(APPLAUSE)

I'm going to take a minute on this question, because it's one of the most important questions facing the nation, obviously.

First of all, had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, "America is under attack," I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to...

(APPLAUSE)

... and I would have attended to it.

(APPLAUSE)

Secondly -- and this is important, ladies and gentlemen, because Americans want to know that the person they choose as president has all of the skills and the ability, all of the mental toughness, all of the gut instinct necessary to be a strong commander in chief. I'm asking you to trust our nation, our history, the world, your families in my hands, and I understand that. It's a big ask, and it's a tough judgment you have to make. But I believe, in this case, there is a very clear choice.

I come to the job of commander in chief with the rare, gratefully, but important experience of having fought in a war. And the war that I fought in was a war where we saw America lose its support for the war, where the soldiers came back having had to do what our soldiers are doing today, carry an M-16 in another country, try to tell the difference between friend and foe.

I know what it's like to go out at night on patrol and you don't know what's around the next corner.

KERRY: I know what it's like to write home to your family and tell them, "Hey, everything's OK," even though in your gut you're scared stiff and you don't know if it is OK.

And I believe we need a commander in chief who understands the test before you send young people to war. You got to be able to look parents in the eyes if they lose their son or daughter and say to them, "I tried to do everything in my power to avoid this, but we had no choice as a nation, as a people, because of the challenge to our country, to our fundamental values from a threat that was real and imminent."

I believe in my heart of hearts and in my gut that this president fails that test in Iraq. And I know this because I, personally, and others were deeply involved in the effort with other countries to bring them to the table. I met with the Security Council of the United Nations in the week preceding the vote in the Senate.

Anybody have any idea what he's talking about? Did a bunch of anti-war senators really go to the UN and it was under-reported?

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 7, 2004 11:40 PM