Hey, I know John Kerry has to say something to convince people to vote for him, and so far, all he's had to say was that he hates George Bush, Bush is evil, Bush is inept -- well, things like this:

"This president has in fact created terrorists where they didn't exist," he said. "And I believe this president has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country. And we need to hold him accountable."

Hugh Hewitt notes tonight that Kerry apologist Joshua Micah Marshall insists on validating that ridiculous notion on Hugh's show, so apparently this will be the catchphrase up through the convention, and perhaps beyond. Let's test this by looking at highlights of the past 40 or so years, which I assume would satisfy Kerry's "modern" qualifier.

1961 - President John F. Kennedy implements a leftover plan from the Eisenhower adminstration of supporting a native insurgency in Cuba, but at the last minute and without warning the insurgents, Kennedy withdraws American Air Force support for the attack on the Bay of Pigs. The resultant disaster destroys any basis for improving US-Cuba relations and pushes Fidel Castro to seek protection from the Soviet Union. The USSR begins installing ballistic missiles in Cuba, leading to the worst crisis of the Cold War and almost touches off a nuclear war between the US and Soviets. The solution requires the dismantling of missile bases in the Near East and may have contributed to the building of the Berlin Wall.

1962-3 - The Kennedy administration tries several fruitless and laughable methods of assassinating Fidel Castro. They manage to stage a coup in South Vietnam, getting a government that is more inclined to fight the Communists than the preceding Diem government, which was more inclined to negotiation with Ho Chi Minh.

1968 - The Johnson administration, up to its eyeballs fighting a proxy war in South Vietnam to stop the spread of Soviet Communism, fails to respond to the Soviets spreading directly into Czechoslovakia to put down the "Prague Spring" uprising for democracy.

1978-9 - Based on human-rights concerns, Jimmy Carter withdraws political support for Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, creating a vacuum into which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini steps, dislodging Pahlavi in February 1979 and starting the Islamic Revolution. Despite Khomeini's fiery diatribes against the American "Great Satan" and demands for the West to return the Shah to stand trial for his "crimes", Carter allows the former Shah asylum in the US, ostensibly for medical treatment, and then expresses surprise when the Iranians overrun the American Embassy. Despite this overt and humiliating act of war, Carter refuses to use military force to drive the Iranians off of American territory (the embassy) and instead involves the US in a degrading, 444-day-long negotiation for the return of dozens of diplomatic personnel.

1980 - After declaring that the foreign policy stance on Communism changed from 'containment' to peaceful co-existence and famously kissing Leonid Brezhnev on the cheek, Carter is shocked (again) when the Soviets march into and occupy Afghanistan. Carter's response: boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.

1979 - 2000 - America either retreats in the face of successive attacks by Islamofascist terrorists or attempts to negotiate with them, instead of attacking them outright. Incidents include the Teheran embassy hostages, the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, a string of hostage-taking in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center bombing, Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, simultaneous attacks on two American embassies in Africa, and a suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

In contrast:

2001 - 04 - After sustaining the worst attack on American soil with almost 3,000 civilians killed, Bush warns the Taliban government -- almost universally considered one of the most oppressive regimes -- to turn over all al-Qaeda operatives within their country. After they refuse, Bush attacks the Taliban with UN political support and overthrows their government, freeing 25 million people from a brutal tyranny. Within two years, the Afghans create and ratify a constitution establishing a democracy, and do so unanimously. Later, Bush attempts to resolve a twelve-year Iraqi quagmire by insisting that either the UN enforces its sixteen resolutions requiring Saddam to verifiably disarm or warns that America will build a coalition on its own to bring the situation to an end. When Saddam refuses to comply and the UNSC refuses to enforce their own resolutions, Bush and Tony Blair build a coalition that overthrows Saddam, freeing 24 million Iraqis from Saddam's brutal oppression. As a result, Iran negotiates a settlement with the IAEA to finally comply with its non-proliferation agreements and Libya agrees to get rid of its nuclear and biological weapons programs.

If this is John Kerry's idea of inept, it speaks loudly and unpleasantly to his suitability for the White House.

UPDATE: Welcome to Hugh Hewitt readers! Also, check out Slings 'N Arrows for a good assessment of the party-line hack that Joshua Micah Marshall has become.

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Tracked on March 3, 2004 10:02 PM