John Kerry returns to the fever swamps, although not in Vietnam or Cambodia this time, and not with the SwiftBoatVets
May we all agree that these are serious times? If John Kerry believes what he says, he is not a serious man. This from his ill-advised remarks (at a midnight “rally”) 45 minutes after President Bush delivered his acceptance speech:
“Let me tell you in no uncertain terms what makes someone unfit for office and unfit for duty,” Mr. Kerry said, turning to Mr. Bush. “Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead our country. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this country. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care for four years makes you unfit to lead this country.
“Letting the Saudi royal family control the price of oil for Americans makes you unfit to lead this country. Handing out billions of dollars in government contracts without a bid to Halliburton while you’re still on the payroll makes you unfit lead this country.
“That, my friends, is the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney – and that only begins to scratch the surface.”
Scratch the surface? I’m scratching my head. Does Kerry really believe this nonsense?
Employment
Almost 4 million jobs have been created in the Bush administration, according to the household survey:
Total employment as of December 2000 = 135.836 million
Total employment as of August 2004 = 139.681 million (hat tip: Polipundit)
And even if you use the incorrect establishment survey, which is an anachronism, you would see a loss of only 400,000 jobs. So Kerry’s just talking nonsense.
Halliburton and Saudis
I don’t know where to begin. Kerry must have some understanding of the world oil market, whose pricing is heavily influenced not only by supply and demand, but by the OPEC cartel. So bringing up the Saudi royal family must be some kind of Michael Moore conspiracy suggestion, as the Halliburton nonsense obviously is.
And while we’re on the subject of Halliburton, please go read the company’s 10-K before you blather. Halliburton has been around for over fifty years, it has over $16 billion in annual sales, and it does business in over 100 countries. I think probably 15% or so of the company’s current revenue comes from Iraq because of all the activity there. I’m sure the Iraq business is good business, but that’s all it is. Oh, perhaps you’d prefer that the Iraq business go to Halliburton’s biggest competitor. Why that would be Schlumberger, the French company (NV corporation), itself an $11 billion sales corporation. Do you prefer your conspiracies with a French or Texas accent?
A Practical Question
Who is John Kerry talking to? The audience for economic doom and gloom is quite small. The economy is doing very well indeed. Employment is at record levels, as is home ownership, and so many other statistics. Who is the audience for economic doom and gloom? Statistically I can’t find it. On Kerry’s foreign policy comments, again who is he talking to? What segment of the population actually gets revved up and will vote on Halliburton and the Saudi Royal family?
Alas, for both Kerry and the Democratic party, we know who sees an America of conspiracy theories and economic repression: it’s the same people who were protesting in the streets in NYC (via the Sun and PardonMyEnglish).
Um, that’s not an electoral majority.