We Need Someone Serious

On Larry King Live, Thursday, July 8.

KING: News of the day, Tom Ridge warned today about al Qaeda plans of a large-scale attack on the United States. Didn't increase the -- you see any politics in this? What's your reaction?

KERRY: Well, I haven't been briefed yet, Larry. They have offered to brief me. I just haven't had time.

Based on the above exchange, do you feel more confident, or less confident that John Kerry takes his responsibilities as a Senator and possible future responsibilities of Commander in Chief seriously?

In sooth, there are more than one obvious bad way to interpret this. The obvious bad way is that Kerry has time to sit in an audience while Whoopi Goldberg makes bawdy comments about the president's last name, but not to sit in on a briefing on the current terror threat. But hey, how can a brother raise money to get rid of an incompetent, out of touch president if he's running around taking terrorism briefings?

On the other hand, this could very well be an indication that Kerry has more confidence in the way the President is handling things than his campaign rhetoric lets on. Kerry may say the Bush administration is the biggest bunch of crooks and liars he has ever seen, but he must think enough of their ability to put the thump on our nations' enemies to pass on offered briefings, meetings that surely would have been made at his convenience.

Were I a liberal, I might argue that Kerry wasn't interested in taking a meeting from a bunch of crooks and liars. Fair enough, but that's not what he said. I might argue that Kerry was being polite, but then when did this start? He wasn't shy about calling the administration crooks and liars.

My view of this is that Kerry's pursuit of the White House isn't serious. I mean, he's serious about wanting to be President, but he is considerably less so about the actual job of president.

When I was a kid, I loved to play soldier. I liked to march, to mimic the heroics I saw in the movies. It wasn't until I became a soldier that I understood that the trappings of being a G.I. were mere dressing to the responsibilities. You have to clean your rifle. You have to know your job. People's lives just might depend upon how seriously I took my job (might being the operative word. A quarrying specialist is unlikely to have the fate of the world resting in his hands).

The Left has been barking-mad critical of the President, and Larry King gave Kerry an opening to imply that the current administration's discussion of a pending terror attack was political. Kerry, clearly not taking the time to clean his rifle, couldn't comment due to "not having time" to get up to speed. Either he thinks things are under control, or he couldn't be bothered. Neither are a ringing reason to vote for him.

Tim McNabb