"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"Stinger" wrote in message
.. .
Unfortunately, we're debating which guy should lead the whole country as
Commander in Chief, and Kerry's record over the last decade in Congress
indicates that he's simply a "tax and spend" liberal that has the bad
judgement to vote against every major defense program that is currently
in
place. The Stealth Fighter, B1 Bomber, and numerous other assets have
saved
countless American lives in battle, making our fighting forces something
that our enemies fear. Thank God we have these programs in place now!

Actually, I have seen, even on Faux News Channel, that "all those votes"
against those defense systems were but a single vote on a single
appropriations bill, and that he voted against that appropriations bill
because of all the pork in it, not because of those defense systems. The
RNC is spinning it to sound like he consistantly voted against defense,
when
such was not the case.

Sorry, Brenda Ann, but you are mistaken -- these votes, campaigns, and
(thankfully failed) Kerry-introduced bills happened over his 19-year tenure
in Congress.

Here's a quick partial digest from the last decade, taken from multiple
congressional sessions of votes to weaken national security:

1995: Proposed Bill Cutting $1.5 Billion From Intelligence Budget. Kerry
introduced a bill that would "reduce the Intelligence budget by $300 million
in
each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000." There were no
cosponsors of Kerry's bill, which never made it to the floor for a vote. (S.
1290, Introduced 9/29/95)

1995: Voted To Slash FBI Funding By $80 Million. (H.R. 2076, CQ Vote #480:
Adopted 49-41: R 9-40; D 40-1, 9/29/95, Kerry Voted Yea)

1994: Proposed Bill To Gut $1 Billion From Intelligence And Freeze Spending
For
Two Major Intelligence Programs. Kerry proposed a bill cutting $1 billion
from
the budgets of the National Foreign Intelligence Program and from Tactical
Intelligence, and freezing their budgets. The bill did not make it to a
vote,
but the language was later submitted (and defeated - see below) as S. Amdt.
1452
to H.R. 3759. (S. 1826, Introduced 2/3/94)

1997: Kerry Questioned Growth Of Intelligence Community After Cold War. "Now
that that [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence
apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and
essential
priorities fall far short of what is necessary? ." (Senator John Kerry
Agreeing
That Critic's Concerns Be Addressed, Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891)

When His Bill Stalled In Committee, Kerry Proposed $1 Billion Cut As
Amendment Instead. Kerry proposed cutting $1 billion from the National
Foreign
Intelligence Program and Tactical Intelligence budgets, and freezing their
budgets. The amendment was defeated, with even Graham, Lieberman and Braun
voting against Kerry. (Amdt.. To H.R. 3759, CQ Vote #39: Rejected 20-75: R
3-37;
D 17-38, 2/10/94, Kerry Voted Yea; Graham, Lieberman And Braun Voted Nay)

After all the above, he has the nerve to say this, after 9/11

12 Days After 9/11: Kerry Questioned Quality Of Intelligence. "And the
tragedy
is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United
States
of America is intelligence. . And we are weakest, frankly, in that
particular
area. So it's going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this
properly." (CBS's "Face The Nation," 9/23/01)

-- Stinger