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Home Front: Politix
Kerry Voted Against Body Armor for U.S. Troops
2004-03-09
EFL
Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry slammed President Bush over the weekend for not supplying U.S. troops in Iraq with enough body armor to protect them from attacks.
Put...foot...in...mouth.
But, it turns out, Sen. Kerry actually voted against supplying the troops with more body armor in 2002.
Start handing outt that rope.
Addressing a Texas audience on Saturday, the Massachusetts Butt Weaval Democrat said it was "shocking" just shocking, I tell you! that "tens of thousands of other troops arrived in Iraq to find that – with danger around every corner – there wasn’t enough body armor."
Given just the rite amount of rope...
But Bush campaign press secretary Scott Stanzel told WABC Radio’s Steve Malzberg on Sunday that Kerry "voted against supplying body armor to our troops when it mattered most" – when President Bush included the request as part of the $87 billion appropriation for the Iraq war in 2002.
...wrap that rope around one’s own neck and...
Posted by:Dragon Fly

#17  After reading Highlander's message, I had a strange image in my head of Mojo Jojo as a presidential candidate.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2004-3-9 7:46:30 PM  

#16  I don't want to rain on the party but the GOP Election Committee better start soon on exposing something more than this guys dismal voting record. Where are the questions about his highness Kerry's real war record. That punk McAwful had no problem dizzing the prez. Time for that committee to GET OF YOUR ASSES and kick some.
Posted by: dataman1   2004-3-9 5:50:42 PM  

#15  #14 "If elected he would sponsor".Why wait?But that would mean Kerry would actually have to do something.Won't hold my breath.
Posted by: Stephen   2004-3-9 5:42:35 PM  

#14  Kerry voted against a Nov 2003 supplemental defense spending bill that would have funded the body armor; the bill passed anyway although with some changes, which GWB signed. Part of what was changed was funding to fully update & equip troops with the latest light-weight body armor. (see www.gop.com for details) Perhaps related, Kerry's web site (www.johnkerry.com) announced on Mar 7 that if elected he would sponsor a bill to reimburse those military members or their survivors who bought their own body armor.
Posted by: Sofia   2004-3-9 5:25:13 PM  

#13  Dan, the article posted by Dragon Fly is from NewsMax and the paragraph in question now reads 2003. GW signed that appropriation bill on Nov 6, 2003. What other fact should I check? I Googled "Kerry is an asshole" and got 28,700 hits.
So,there's plenty to bitch slap Kerry about about, but let's do it right. Bush's campaign press secretary Scott Stanzel could have made a better argument using some of the points made by RBers in in this thread.
Posted by: GK   2004-3-9 1:31:44 PM  

#12  To me, the point is that Kerry was a US Senator in 2002. If the mistake was that we didn't provide top-of-the-line body armor for all the troops, why didn't Kerry do something about it in 2002, before he voted for the war resolution? Especially considering that he's running on his combat record. Hindsight's a wonderful thing.

Highlander, LOL. The scary thing is I almost understood that. I've got to stop reading the NYT.
Posted by: Matt   2004-3-9 10:48:51 AM  

#11  newsmax - my god man
Posted by: Dan   2004-3-9 10:40:53 AM  

#10  what the hell is higlander saying.......GK go back and recheck your facts.
Posted by: Dan   2004-3-9 10:39:46 AM  

#9  Jack - I was speaking (typing?) of the news media and morning talk shows. You know the ones who accepted (an repeated as gospel truth) Hillary's 'vast-right-wing-conspiricy' BS without question? Hell they still worship the toilet Hillary shits in....

You ARE right in that the networks will take money from Bush. So Kerry gets a free ride on their news hours and morning shows while Bush has to pay for pretty much every second of airtime.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-3-9 10:32:56 AM  

#8  #2,#6 Ptah, the NewsMax article reads when President Bush included the request as part of the $87 billion appropriation for the Iraq war in 2003. not 2002. See link.
Chuck Simmins,#3, makes a better argument.
Posted by: GK   2004-3-9 10:03:04 AM  

#7  Don't hold your breath waiting for this to be reported..... Kerry's media lapdogs at BBCCNNABCCBSNBCMSNBCetc... will never report it. But they will gleefully repeat whatever lies Kerry and the gang make up. Its enough to make you sick.

But....they will willing, falling over themselves actually, to take the Bush campaign adverstising bucks that will point all this out! Another reason I can no longer trust the media to even be slightly biased but actually promoting visibly anything that is left-wing, anti-captitalist, eastern establishment elitist. Name one major media outlet that is not anti-American virtue, pro-gay and pro-abortion culture? There ain't any!
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2004-3-9 9:37:25 AM  

#6  Read carefully, GK. The REQUEST was made in 2002, approved in 2003....
Posted by: Ptah   2004-3-9 9:32:32 AM  

#5  Oh, come on, people. Kerry's logic is irrefutable. He didn't vote again body army by voting against a bill that contained provisions for body armor because the body army provisions in the bill that he voted against were not the body armor provisions that were billed as the armor provision that certain bodies provided for in the bill. In other words, it's all Bush's fault.
Posted by: Highlander   2004-3-9 9:19:08 AM  

#4  Don't hold your breath waiting for this to be reported..... Kerry's media lapdogs at BBCCNNABCCBSNBCMSNBCetc... will never report it.
But they will gleefully repeat whatever lies Kerry and the gang make up. Its enough to make you sick.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-3-9 9:13:26 AM  

#3  They're going to ride this dead horse forever.

The Army had purchased enough of the advanced body armor for the troops that it was planned for, combat troops. As we got into the liberation of Iraq further, the decision was made to purchase it for all the troops. That created a shortage that took some time to fix.

Making ceramic body armor plates requires a little more quality control than making your average toilet. The German manufacturers of the Stryker armor found that out.

Body armor was available, just not the newest, lighest version.
Link 1
Link 2
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-3-9 8:40:47 AM  

#2  As much as I would like to see Kerry exposed as the double-talking fraud that he is, I have trouble with the argument in this article.
The $87 billion appropriation bill referred to here was voted on in October/November 2003 -- four/five months ago.
Posted by: GK   2004-3-9 7:57:17 AM  

#1  Part of the reason I'm no longer a Democrat, after having been one for 31 years, is what Bill Clinton taught his party: that it's perfectly OK to lie; that truth has no intrinsic value; that the notions of "character" and "honor" are meaningless; and the only thing that matters, EVER, is that Democrats must win.

It's a lesson they've learned all too well- to the point, I suspect, where many of them simply no longer know what truth is. They appear to think that you can say whatever you want, and if people end up believing it, then it must be true.

This is what gives Kerry the ability to blame Bush about a situation for which he himself, and others of his ilk, are far more to blame.

And I doubt that he has even the slightest pang of conscience for doing it, either.

So help me God, I'll never vote for another Democrat so long as I live. How the hell could I have ever been one?
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-3-9 7:17:52 AM  

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