My day

Who's Watching Out for Us?

When John Kerry voted on October 10, 2002, to authorize the use of force against Iraq and Ted Kennedy did not, many Massachusetts voters may have wondered if there were other issues where the two held differing views.

A look at their voting records yields some surprises. Some Kerry votes are truly quixotic for a senator from liberal Massachusetts, but, like the Iraq war vote, perhaps understandable  in light of Kerry's presidential aspirations.

Discerning these differences is not always easy because Kerry is fond of coming out for both the "pro" and "con" positions. Three Boston Globe reporters write in their bio of Kerry that within days of the vote on Iraq Kerry, who faced re-election that November with little opposition, was "suggesting that it was a vote for peace, not war."

His actions toward the odious "Partial Birth" Abortion Ban yielded another surprise. Although absent for a March 2003 vote, Kerry took pains to announce he was against an amendment that would have tempered the harshness of the ban by allowing the procedure if two doctors agreed that continuing the pregnancy would present a "risk of grievous injury" to the woman's life or health. When the bill came up for a final vote in November with the proviso that the procedure would be allowed if it were needed to save the life of the mother, he voted NO along with Kennedy. Did he vote NO because of the proviso? Or had he decided that the ban was wrong altogether? Or was he trying to cover a certain part of his anatomy?

There is a history to Kerry's wanting to have it both ways. In 1991, a Newton constituent contacted the Boston Globe to relate that he had received two letters from Senator Kerry in response to his January 9^th letter that had asked Kerry to support President George H.W. Bush's request for approval to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.  Kerry's first letter, dated January 22^nd, erroneously stated the constituent's position as one that opposed the war and stated Kerry's agreement with it and why he had voted on January 11^th to oppose it, which he had. Then a second letter arrived, dated January 31^st, erroneously stating that Kerry had "strongly and unequivocally supported the President's response to the crisis."

A vote that Kerry may have regretted was made in March '01 against an amendment that would have required broadcasting stations to give equal time at no charge to candidates for federal office who were attacked or opposed in political advertisements by independent groups. Three years later, Kerry's war record in Vietnam was attacked by Swift Boaters during his presidential campaign. Robert Shrum wrote in his book, "No Excuses," that the decision to not respond to these attacks was a mistake and "was forced, in part, by the campaign's need to conserve money for the fall."

In 2001 Kerry supported an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that was proposed by Jesse Helms, the arch conservative from North Carolina. The amendment prohibited ANY cooperation by the US with the International Criminal Court except for assistance to defend US or allied citizens. It also prohibited transfer of intelligence or law enforcement information to the Court or to any government that is a party to the Court. Clinton had signed the agreement to establish the Court but did not send it to the Senate for ratification because it was flawed: US military personnel could be brought before the Court on charges of war crimes.

In the present debate about health care Kerry does not support single payer, a plan that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Does the fact that Senator Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry have holdings worth at least $5.2 million in companies such as Merck and Eli Lilly influence his decision-making on this issue?

Kerry has proposed a ten-year delay in implementation of the "public option" that would give people the opportunity to buy into Medicare, a government-run plan. Kerry wants to give the parasites, euphemistically known as private health insurance companies, a chance to show how well they can do in covering all Americans with quality health care plans.

If you support a single-payer plan, go to http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm and let him know.