IT'S JUST A DIFFERENCE ON GEOGRAPHY:

Kerry shifts right on security: Despite campaign barbs, he and Bush share key positions. (Liz Marlantes, 8/19/04, The Christian Science Monitor)

As Sen. John Kerry criticizes President Bush's sweeping redeployment plan for US troops - and surrogates for both campaigns trade increasingly harsh attacks over the candidates' service during Vietnam - this latest round of sparring belies a fundamental reality: When it comes to defense and foreign policy, Senator Kerry and Mr. Bush agree on far more than they disagree on.

To an extent unusual for his party, Kerry has closely aligned himself with many of Bush's basic positions on national security, often quibbling more over matters of style and execution than the goals themselves. Unlike campaigns of past decades, such as the 1984 race between Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan, Kerry is not questioning the Bush administration's enormous ramp up in military spending - and, in fact, says he wants to increase US troop levels. He stands by his vote to authorize the Iraq war, and while he would aim to start bringing some troops home from Iraq within six months, he also says he will keep them there until the job is done.

In fact, when Kerry challenges Bush, it's often from the right...

So the big difference is that the President wants to fight Middle Eastern terror in the Middle East while the Senator wants to fight it in the Alps?

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 18, 2004 5:25 PM