by James Glaser
October 6, 2004

I was at a Democratic picnic in Duluth this last Saturday and was surprised by all the union people with "No War" buttons right next to their Kerry/Edwards button. Worse than that, I saw "Veterans for Peace" buttons on people with Kerry signs. What don't these people understand?

Oh, I think it is fine if you are voting for Kerry because you like his Labor votes or you think he might somehow be better for the environment than George Bush, but don't try and fool the uninformed public into believing that somehow, a vote for John Kerry is a vote against war or worse yet, a vote for Peace.

During the "Debate," John Kerry said about Iraq, "Now that we are there, we have to succeed. We can't leave a failed Iraq." Then a couple of days later on the campaign trail, he talked about Bush's criticism of him on Iraq and said, "Well, Mr. President, nobody's talking about leaving, nobody's talking about wilting and wavering. We're talking about winning and getting the job done right."

To that I have to ask, what job are we trying to get right? What is the job Senator Kerry? Neither John Kerry nor George Bush has defined what the heck we are doing over in Iraq. Every day scores of people in that country, innocent people, are getting killed and maimed. Every day more American Soldiers and Marines are dying and losing limbs.

John Kerry has said that the War in Iraq is, "The wrong war, the wrong place, and the wrong time." Yet the man now says we must succeed. How do you succeed when you are fighting the "Wrong War?"

John Kerry is the only candidate who thinks we have to increase our Army with two new combat divisions. That is 40,000 new soldiers. John Kerry also wants to double the number of Green Berets we have, in his words, "so we can attack terrorism in more countries."

Yet there I was at the Democratic Farmer Labor picnic, seeing all sorts of staunch DFLers wearing "NO WAR" buttons and Kerry/Edwards buttons and seeing nothing wrong with either.

Wake Up! You people in the Democratic Party. No matter how much you wish it was true, John Kerry is not a Peace candidate. Right along with George Bush, Kerry believes that War can be used as a tool for America's foreign policy. Vote for the man if you want to, but quit kidding yourselves and quit trying to foist this Kerry Peace label on an uninformed public.