More than words

Sen. John Kerry's attempt to remodel his liberal likeness to that of a lovable centrist was a well calculated, but predictable, political ploy. You see, Kerry has the luxury of being able to alienate his liberal base to appeal toward the middle because the far-left's unified hatred of President Bush compels them to vote for their only legitimate shot at retaking the presidency: Sen. Kerry himself.\nThe central issue of the 2004 presidential campaign has been shown time and again to be the war on terror, which, despite what some believe, includes the war in Iraq. And also, time and again, liberals, including Sen. Kerry, have been historically opposed to an increase in funding for military and intelligence agencies.\nSo it is no wonder that Sen. Kerry wants to distance himself from this perceivably weak position. \nAnd how has the Democratic Party attempted to do this?\nIf you watched the Democratic National Convention for only a couple of minutes, there is no way you could have missed the prevalent use of the word "strength."\nIt seems that the Democrats are subscribing to the idea that if someone hears something repeated enough, they will generally accept it as truth.\nBut I believe this attempt to mask the true principles of Sen. Kerry will not be as effective as former Miami Dolphins' star Ricky Williams' marijuana masking agent.\nHistory has shown that American voters have traditionally seen through this sort of façade, with former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis as the poster boy. Americans look beyond candidates' rhetoric regarding what they are going to do and how they are going to act, and they look at what the candidates have actually done.\nIn other words, actions speak louder than words.\nSo while Sen. Kerry did little to reveal the actual results he has produced in his almost 20 years as a senator, the Republican Party's objective for the next three months will be to exploit his record in the Senate to the fullest extent. And rightfully so.\nThroughout his years in the Senate, Kerry has continually voted against measures that would improve our military and national security. These votes are well-documented on a Web site called Project Vote Smart, www.vote-smart.org, which has all the voting records of all members of Congress. I would suggest taking a look at that site to become familiar with not only Sen. Kerry's voting record, but also to get educated on any congressional member's actual voting record. \nThe Democrats are going to do everything in their power to keep you from looking at what Sen. Kerry has actually done. This includes promoting Sen. Kerry's distinguished service in Vietnam. While I applaud and thank him for his service, it by no means qualifies him to be commander in chief of our armed forces. This is their principal diversion from Kerry's voting record.\nAnother diversion they use is to label any mention of Sen. Kerry's record as a "personal attack." This is done to mislead voters into thinking the Bush campaign is using negative campaigning. If Kerry's campaign actually views the presentation of their candidate's record this way, you know there has to be a problem with it. \nBut they don't want you to know that, so they divert attention to other insignificant matters, usually of low significance.\nWhat is of great significance, however, is the actions a President Kerry would take to make our country safer. If his record is any indication, that prospect does not look very promising.\nPut best by Sen. Kerry himself in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention: "Strength is more than tough words."\nI couldn't agree more.