Friday, July 30, 2004
Russert Gets it Wrong on MTP
Here is an e-mail I sent to Russert over the weekend. If why Kerry voted for it after reading this confuses you, please stop the Media Koolaid drinking and go back and read my posts from November.
Mr. Russert, I was surprised during your Obama interview on Sunday that you badly misrepresented John Kerry’s statementson the Iraq War. Like Howard Dean did, you confused future threat with being an imminent threat. I hope you would reexamine his speech to the floor of the Senate and correct your statement on next Sunday’s show.
Your Sunday show with Barack Obama:
"The nominee of your party, John Kerry, the nominee forvice president, John Edwards, all said he was an imminent threat."
From Kerry’s IWR speech (9/02):
“In voting to grant the President the authority, I am not giving him carte blanche to run roughshod overevery country that poses or may pose some kind ofpotential threat to the United States. Every nation has the right to act preemptively, if it faces animminent and grave threat, for its self-defense under the standards of law. The threat we face today with Iraq does not meet that test yet. I emphasize "yet."Yes, it is grave because of the deadliness of SaddamHussein's arsenal and the very high probability thathe might use these weapons one day if not disarmed. But it is not imminent, and no one in the CIA, no intelligence briefing we have had suggests it is imminent. None of our intelligence reports suggest that he is about to launch an attack.”
Kerry then went on to articulate why the resolution was important even without imminent threat.
Thanks, Daniel Dennison
Evanston, IL
One of Whouley’s Iowa 500
Mr. Russert, I was surprised during your Obama interview on Sunday that you badly misrepresented John Kerry’s statementson the Iraq War. Like Howard Dean did, you confused future threat with being an imminent threat. I hope you would reexamine his speech to the floor of the Senate and correct your statement on next Sunday’s show.
Your Sunday show with Barack Obama:
"The nominee of your party, John Kerry, the nominee forvice president, John Edwards, all said he was an imminent threat."
From Kerry’s IWR speech (9/02):
“In voting to grant the President the authority, I am not giving him carte blanche to run roughshod overevery country that poses or may pose some kind ofpotential threat to the United States. Every nation has the right to act preemptively, if it faces animminent and grave threat, for its self-defense under the standards of law. The threat we face today with Iraq does not meet that test yet. I emphasize "yet."Yes, it is grave because of the deadliness of SaddamHussein's arsenal and the very high probability thathe might use these weapons one day if not disarmed. But it is not imminent, and no one in the CIA, no intelligence briefing we have had suggests it is imminent. None of our intelligence reports suggest that he is about to launch an attack.”
Kerry then went on to articulate why the resolution was important even without imminent threat.
Thanks, Daniel Dennison
Evanston, IL
One of Whouley’s Iowa 500
# posted by AB @ 9:01 AM 
