A Record Of Voting Against The Weapons That Are Winning The War On TerrorI

n 1993, Kerry Introduced Plan To Cut Numerous Defense Programs, Including: cutting the number of Navy submarines and their crews, reducing the number of light infantry units in the Army down to one, reducing tactical fighter wings in the Air Force, terminating the Navy's coastal mine-hunting ship program and forcing the retirement of no less than 60,000 members of the Armed Forces in one year. (S.1163, Introduced 6/24/93) In 1996, Kerry introduced a bill to! slash Defense Department funding by $6.5 billion. Kerry's bill had no co-sponsors and never came to a floor vote. (S. 1580, Introduced 2/29/96) In 1995, Kerry voted to freeze defense spending for 7 years, slashing over $34 billion from defense. (S. Con. Res. 13, CQ Vote #181: Rejected 28-71: R 2-51; D 26-20, 5/24/95, Kerry Voted Yea) Running for the Senate in 19 84, Kerry proposed defense cuts as his "overall defense strategy. ("Kerry Asks $54 Billion Cut In Reagan Defense Budget," Berkshire Eagle, 5/30/84)

A Record Of Voting Against Funding For Our Troops In The Field

Kerry Voted Against Senate Passage Of Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Funding. The bill provided "approximately $65.6 billion for military operations and maintenance and $1.3 billion for veterans medical care."

Supplemental Funding Bill Kerry Voted Against Providing "Extra Money For Body Armor For Soldiers " ("Highlights Of Iraq, Afghanistan Measures," The Associated Press, 10/17/03; S. Rept. 108-160, Conference Report On S. 1689, 10/2/03)


Supplemental Funding Bill Kerry Voted Against Provided Increased Combat Pay For Troops. ("Highlights Of Iraq, Afghanistan Measures," The Associated Press, 10/17/03; S. Rept. 108-160, Conference Report On S. 1689, 10/2/03; "FY 2004 Supplemental Request For Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), And Operation Noble Eagle (ONE)," U.S. Department Of Defense, 9/03)


Supplemental Funding Bill Kerry Voted Against Provided Health Benefits For Reservists And Guardsmen Called To Active Duty, As Well As Support For Their Families. ("Highlights Of Iraq, Afghanistan Measures," The Associated Press, 10/17/03; S. Rept. 108-160, Conference Report On S. 1689, 10/2/03; "FY 2004 Supplemental Request For Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), And Operation Noble Eagle (ONE)," U.S. Department Of Defense, 9/03)


A Record Of Obstructing The Department Of Homeland Security

Kerry Led The Fight Against President Bush's Department Of Homeland Security, Voting Against It Six Times.

Senate Dems Stalled Homeland Security For 112 Days.


In 2003, Kerry Skipped Vote On $29.3 Billion Homeland Security Appropriations.

A Record Of Proposing Cuts To Intelligence Funding

Not Long After First World Trade Center Bombing, Kerry Proposed $7.5 Billion In Across The Board Intelligence Cuts. In 1994, Kerry proposed rescinding $1 billion in the FY 1994 Intelligence budget and freezing the budget at that level through at least FY1998, which would cut $5 billion from Intelligence funding during that period. Kerry's proposal was defeated by a vote ! of 20 to 75, with even Sen. Ted Kennedy voting against the measure. Then in 1995, Kerry proposed a bill to, "[r]educe the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000." This bill had no co-sponsors and never reached the Senate floor for a vote. (Sen. Dennis DeConcini [D-AZ], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, p. S1360)

A Record Of Voting For Higher Taxes

Kerry Has Voted At Least 350 Times For Higher Taxes.
Voted Against 2001 And 2003 Tax Cuts.
Voted Twice For Largest Tax Increase In U.S. History.
Voted Against Major Tax Relief At Least 29 Times.
Voted Against Marriage Penalty Relief At Least 22 Times.
Voted Against Expanding Child Tax Credit At Least 18 Times.


A Record Of Supporting Higher Gas Taxes At Least 11 Times

Voted Twice For Clinton/Gore Btu Tax, Increasing Gas Prices 7.5 Cents Per Gallon.

Voted For 1993 Clinton/Kerry Tax Plan That Increased Gas Taxes Twice. The 1993 Budget Resolution conference report included a 4.3 cents-per-gallon increase in the gas tax.

Voted To Kill An Amendment That Would Have Eliminated Gas Tax Increase From Budget Resolution.

Voted At Least Four Times Against Repealing Clinton 4.3-Cent Increase In Gas Tax. In 1996, the Senate Republican Policy Committee estimated the 1993 increase in the gas tax cost consumers $5 billion per year. (Senate Republican Policy Committee, "White House Unjust Firings/Gas Tax, Minimum Wage, T! eam Act," 5/9/96)

1994: Backed Half-Dollar Increase In Gas Tax. "Kerry said [the Concord Coalition's scorecard] method did not accurately reflect individual lawmakers' efforts to cut the deficit. 'It doesn't reflect my $43 billion package of cuts or my support for a 50-cent increase in the gas tax,' Kerry said." (Jill Zuckman, "Deficit-Watch Group Gives High Marks To 7 N.E. Lawmakers," The Boston Globe, 3/1/94)

In 2000, Kerry Voted Against Suspending The 18.4 Cent Gas Tax For 150 Days.

A Record That's Out Of Step With AmericaKerry Has Voted At Least Six Times Against Banning Partial-Birth Abortion.

While Senator Kerry Has Skipped A Majority Of Senate Votes This Year, He Made A Point Of Coming Back To Vote Against The Unborn Victims Of Violence Act.

Kerry Voted To Allow Federal Money To Be Used To Distribute The Morning-After Abortion Pill In America's Schools.

Kerry Has Voted At Least Three Times Against Requiring Parental Consent Or Notification For A Minor's Abortion.

Kerry Has Voted At Least 25 Times In Favor Of Using Taxpayer Dollars To Pay For Abortions In The United States.

Kerry Was One Of Only 14 Senators To Vote Against 1996 Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), Which Banned Federal Recognition Of Gay Marriage And Same-Sex Partner Benefits.

A Record Of Few Accomplishments

Kerry Has "A Short List Of Laws That Bear His Name." "Asked what he has accomplished during his 19 years in the Senate, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry gives a lengthy answer but has a short list of laws that bear his name. .... Kerry has been the lead sponsor of eight bills that have become law. Two are related to his work on the Senate panel on oceans and fisheries - a 1994 law to protect marine mammals from being taken during commercial fishing and a 1991 measure for the National Sea Grant College Program Act, which finances marine research. In 1999, President Clinton signed his bill providing grants to supp! ort small businesses owned by women. The rest of the laws he saw passed were ceremonial - renaming a federal building, designating Vietnam Veterans Memorial 10th Anniversary Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and World Population Awareness Week in two separate years." (Nedra Pickler, "Kerry's Senate Career Marked By Investigations, Not Legislation," The Associated Press, 7/21/03)

"[O]n Education And Health Care, Two Of The Most Important Domestic Battlegrounds Between Democrats And Republicans, Kerry Has A Thin Record." (David Nather, "Kerry's Complex Record And His Pursuit Of The Presidency," CQ Weekly, 4/24/03)

Read what some other liberal Dems said about what Kerry tried to do:

"Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) Said Kerry's 1994 Amendment To Cut Intelligence Would "Close Our Eyes And Ears" To Gathering Threats. "We have to stay ready. It makes no sense for us to close our eyes and ears to developments around the world which could ultimately save U.S. lives and resources." (Sen. Dennis DeConcini [D-AZ], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, p. S1360)

* Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Said Kerry's Proposed Cut "Would Severely Hamper" Intelligence Efforts. "Madam President, the intelligence budget has already been cut by almost 18 percent over the past 2 years. An additional reduction of $1 billion would severely hamper the intelligence community's ability to provide decision makers and policymakers with information on matters of vital concern to this country." (Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-HI], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, pp. S1330-S1332)

* Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Said Kerry's Amendment Would Leave Our Troops Vulnerable To Attack. "Madam President, if we expect the 1 percent of our Nation to risk their lives and stand in harm's way, the least we can do is to provide them with all of the resources necessary so that they can carry out their mission and get home to their loved ones. We cannot do any less. This amendment would take away their protection, and I am not prepared to do that." (Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-HI], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, pp. S1330-S1332)

In 1995, Kerry Voted To Slash FBI Funding By $80 Million. "Kohl, D-Wis., amendment to add $80 million for social crime prevention programs and offset the cost by cutting FBI funding by an equal amount." (H.R. 2076, CQ Vote #480: Adopted 49-41: R 9-40; D 40-1, 9/29/95, Kerry Voted Yea)



What gets me is John Kerry sat on the Intelligence Committee for 8 years....from 1992 through 2000. Did he NOT look at the Intelligence Reports which showed al Qaeda a gathering threat? How could he have missed it? How could he, then, have sought to weaken the inteligence and national security. What the h-e-l-l was he doing all that time??????

The statement that Kerry voted against a long list of mainstream weapons is misleading. He didn't vote against those weapons specifically, and though he did vote against the entire Pentagon budget on occasion he voted for weapons spending far more often than not. Furthermore, Republicans including Bush's father and Vice President Cheney also proposed cuts or elimination in several of the same weapons at around the same time Kerry supposedly "voted against" them.

And while it's true that Kerry voted to cut intelligence spending in 1994, he did so as part of a much larger deficit-reduction bill at a time of massive federal deficits and growing agreement that military spending could safely be scaled back in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.

Kerry voted for Pentagon money bills in 16 of his 19 years in the Senate. By that measure, Kerry was much more a supporter of "weapons systems our troops depend on" than he was an opponent.

Furthermore, Bush's own father, who was then President, and Richard Cheney, who was then Secretary of Defense, proposed to cut or eliminate several of the very same weapons that Republicans now fault Kerry for opposing. In his first appearance before Congress as Defense Secretary in April 1989, for example, Cheney outlined $10 billion in defense cuts including proposed cancellation of the AH-64 Apache helicopter, and elimination of the F-15E ground-attack jet. Two years later Cheney's Pentagon budget also proposed elimination of further production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and targeted a total of 81 Pentagon programs for termination, including the F-14 and F-16 aircraft. And the elder President Bush said in his 1992 State of the Union address: "After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down further production of the B - 2 bombers. . . . And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles." So if Kerry opposed weapons "our troops depend on," so did Cheney and the elder President Bush.
...

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=209

Bush campaign falsely accuses Kerry of voting 350 times for tax increases. Bush’s own words mislead reporters.


The President misled voters and reporters in a March 20 speech when he claimed that Kerry “voted over 350 times for higher taxes on the American people” during his 20-year Senate career. Bush spoke of “yes” votes for “tax increases.”

But in fact, Kerry has not voted 350 times for tax increases, something Bush campaign officials have falsely accused Kerry of on several occasions. On close examination, the Bush campaign’s list of Kerry’s votes for “higher taxes” is padded. It includes votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged (when Republicans proposed cuts), and even votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that Bush aides characterized as “watered down.”

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=159

Stop running old RNC lines..Get some new material..

http://slate.msn.com/id/2096127

You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Trying to pull an "ED GILLESPIE" on us!!

Try the truth sometimes..It will set you free..

http://slate.msn.com/id/2096874

Like I said: TIRED OLD RNC Talking points..

THe problem with congress, and trying to jusge a person by their voting recoed is that very rarely does a bill concern just one issue...theres always stuff added to it, so that sometimes you vote no on something you wanted, because if you voted yes, you would be agreeing to things you did not want to do. SOmethings you compromise on, some you dont. ITs not surprising they dont get much accomplished in congress.

[quote="JP5";p="49527"]Read what some other liberal Dems said about what Kerry tried to do:

"Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) Said Kerry's 1994 Amendment To Cut Intelligence Would "Close Our Eyes And Ears" To Gathering Threats. "We have to stay ready. It makes no sense for us to close our eyes and ears to developments around the world which could ultimately save U.S. lives and resources." (Sen. Dennis DeConcini [D-AZ], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, p. S1360)

* Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Said Kerry's Proposed Cut "Would Severely Hamper" Intelligence Efforts. "Madam President, the intelligence budget has already been cut by almost 18 percent over the past 2 years. An additional reduction of $1 billion would severely hamper the intelligence community's ability to provide decision makers and policymakers with information on matters of vital concern to this country." (Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-HI], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, pp. S1330-S1332)

* Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Said Kerry's Amendment Would Leave Our Troops Vulnerable To Attack. "Madam President, if we expect the 1 percent of our Nation to risk their lives and stand in harm's way, the least we can do is to provide them with all of the resources necessary so that they can carry out their mission and get home to their loved ones. We cannot do any less. This amendment would take away their protection, and I am not prepared to do that." (Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-HI], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, pp. S1330-S1332)

In 1995, Kerry Voted To Slash FBI Funding By $80 Million. "Kohl, D-Wis., amendment to add $80 million for social crime prevention programs and offset the cost by cutting FBI funding by an equal amount." (H.R. 2076, CQ Vote #480: Adopted 49-41: R 9-40; D 40-1, 9/29/95, Kerry Voted Yea)





Kerry may be trying to sell himself to Americans, that he is a MILITARY man, but he's not. Read below article from the Los Angeles times, 8/14/2004.
Kerry-froze on any miltary action after Viet Nam Sun Aug 10, 2004 5:10 pm


Los Angeles Times


August 10, 2004

Commentary
In the Cold War, Kerry Froze
Ever since Vietnam, he's been a dove

By Joshua Muravchik
Suddenly, the presidential race has devolved into a debate about young John Kerry's actions in Vietnam. First, Kerry made his military service the central theme of the Democratic convention. Now some anti-Kerry veterans have issued a book and television ads that impugn that record.

Kerry's strategy was not hard to understand. In normal times, the Democrats' strong suit-domestic policy-counterbalances the GOP's advantage on national security issues. With the country at war, however, national security trumps. So Kerry promised a "more effective war on terror," and he labored to make the case, as columnist E.J Dionne put it, that he" was actually tougher than Bush."

The detractors may only be playing into his hands by focusing on what he did or did not do on the Mekong 35 years ago. The more telling point is that nothing he has done since then sustains the claim that he would be an effective leader in the war we face today-any more than George McGovern's 35 combat missions in World War 11, which won him the Distinguished Flying Cross, qualified him to lead us in the Cold War.

The Cold War also provides our best measuring stick for estimating how Kerry might perform as commander in chief, and in that conflict Kerry's instincts were always awry. Had the country heeded his counsel, we might not yet have won it.

Many leaders had a hand in Washington's Cold War triumph, but Ronald Reagan's contributions were pivotal, and Kerry opposed every one of them. Reagan's defense buildup disabused Soviet leaders of any hope that they could ultimately come out ahead of the United States. Kerry derided these military expenditures as "bloated" and "without any relevancy to the threat." In particular, Reagan's plan to seek a missile defense system against Soviet ICBMs and NATO's decision to station new missiles in Europe to counteract the new Soviet deployment there rendered futile the Kremlin's vast investment in nuclear supremacy. Instead of these measures, Kerry advocated that we adopt a one-sided "nuclear freeze."

Reagan also showed the Soviets that history was not necessarily on their side by ousting the erratic communist regime in Grenada and arming anti-communist guerrillas to challenge the leftist oligarchs of Nicaragua. Kerry condemned the U.S action in Grenada as "a bully's show of force," and he opposed our support for guerrillas in Nicaragua as vociferously as anyone in the Senate, even traveling to Managua to try to cut a deal with Sandinista strongman Daniel Ortega to thwart Reagan's policy.

Reagan also put the U.S on the ideological offensive when he branded the Soviet Union an "evil empire." But Kerry's harshest words were reserved for our own country, which he accused-during his years as an antiwar leader-of "crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Not only in the Cold War but also in other events that foreshadowed today's challenges. Kerry consistently got it wrong. In 1986, Reagan bombed Moammar Kadafi's residence when intelligence intercepts showed that the Libyan dictator was behind the terrorist bombing of a nightclub full of American soldiers in Germany. Kerry denounced the U.S retaliatory strike as " not proportional." And when Saddam Hussein swallowed Kuwait in 1990. Kerry opposed using force to drive him out, calling instead for reliance on economic sanctions.

All in all, in his 20 years in the Senate, Kerry ranks as one of the five most dovish or liberal members on foreign policy if you tally up the key votes selected by the liberal advocacy group, Americans for Democratic Action. Is it any wonder that Kerry is seeking to focus voters' attention on his courage as a Navy officer rather than his judgment as a political leader?

Since 1972, when McGovern jettisoned the tradition of Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and made the Democrats the party of dovishness, only two Democrats have won the White House. Both of them Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, presented themselves as more hawkish than their Republican opponents. In 1976, Carter targeted the détente policies of Gerald Ford. In 1992, Clinton lambasted George H. W Bush's refusal to defend Bosnia or criticize Beijing. Once in office, each pursued softer foreign policies than the Republican he had defeated.

That Kerry comes from Massachusetts- the only state that opted for McGovern in 1972- makes his projection of hawkishness a harder sell. The military veterans with whom he surrounded himself at the convention, and the reminders of the honor with which he himself served, make the claim more plausible. Until you look at the political record.

It's his votes, Munko. I've included the dates and the details. You can look them up.

I gather you cannot explain them, eh?

Semantics. So....let's say you're right and that the figure is padded a bit. So.......it's 100 times instead of 350 times that he voted for tax increases. I don't know about you....but that doesn't make me feel any better about John Kerry.

BTW, this is the way it's done on both sides. When a Democrat says that the Bush administration is "cutting" a program, what they usually are doing is cutting the increase. In other words, it's still an increase. More semantics.

Bottom line is John Kerry has voted many, many times for increased taxes. There's nothing untruthful about that. And he says he'll do it again if he becomes president,