All these rumors about a Gephardt VP bid are really setting my teeth on edge. I'm no fan of Kerry--he somehow manages to be simultaneously too leftist and too pro-Bush for my taste--but Gephardt would make the ticket truly stink.
1. Gephardt is dishonest.
During the primary fight in Iowa, Gephardt attacked Dean for having the same health care position as Newt Gingrich. Now, I live in Vermont, and I know that Dean's signature issue was universal health care, whether Vermont wanted it or not. He practically jammed it down our throats. You can certainly complain about Dean's health care plans--I know I did, to anybody who would sit still--but you could never have mistaken his positions for anything out of the Contract with America.
Gephardt employs oppo researchers; there was no way Gephardt wasn't aware of the truth. He lied outrageously for the sake of getting power. This is why I respect Lieberman far more than I respect Gephardt--Lieberman has always been perfectly up front about being a protege of the ultra-convervatives.
2. Gephardt is unqualified to defend this country.
In 2001, I was an independent. It was apparent to me that a unilateral Iraq War risked a strategic disaster in hope of highly improbable benefits. Saddam was contained, some of the WMD evidence appeared to be fabricated, and the Bush administration was clearly too corrupt to rebuild an oil-rich country without making a pig's breakfast of it.
Gephardt, in hopes of improving his Presidental bid, wrote the Iraq War Resolution and fully supported Bush in this strategic disaster. He's either incompetent, or he sold out our soldiers and our strategic alliances for his personal political gain.
3. Kerry really does flip-flop.
The Friday before Saddam was captured, Kerry was travelling around the country defending his Iraq vote by arguing that he only wanted to give Bush more negotiating leverage. On Sunday--after Saddam was captured--Kerry was crowing with pride about his Iraq vote.
4. Kerry breaks his solemn word.
In his race against Bill Weld, Kerry promised to hold himself to a $5 million dollar spending cap. Kerry then proceeded to break that limit by 1.7 million dollars.
This kind of thing matters immensely to me--Bill Weld was a pretty decent guy, for a Republican, and Kerry simply cheated.
...
In a perfect world, neither of these two men would be anywhere near the presidency. And my dislike has nothing to do with politics--if anything, I'm historically to the right of both men. Instead, my concerns have everything to do with character. Kerry and Gephardt hang around with too many slimy operatives, and do too many dodgy things.
Even though I often disagree politically with the Democratic left, I do respect their desire for better government. Even though I theoretically agree with the Democratic establishment on many issues, I am continually appalled by their corruption.
Still, even after reviewing all of Kerry's and Gephardt's negatives, they're still preferable to Bush, who is astonishingly corrupt and incompetent.
Kerry can still have my vote--if he actually needs it in Vermont--but if Kerry chooses Gephardt, I'll definitely be re-registering as an independent and paying closer attention to the better of the local Republican candidates.
The Republican wingnuts can live in their happy little delusional universe; I refuse to do the same with respect to the Democratic candidates.