Bush:

The Taliban no longer exist.

In fact, unless Bush is completely living in a bubble protected from bad news, he has to know that his own intelligence is reporting that the Taliban have regrouped, control large swaths of Afghanistan, and are on the move.

The U.S. has trained 100,000 Iraqi police.

The number of trained police personnel is closer to 50,000, and even they are so poorly trained and equipped that it is doubtful that they could be counted on to do anything of significance to prop up the puppet regime of Ayad Allawi if the U.S. were to leave.

We’re winning in Iraq.

See the Taliban statement above. Bush’s own generals, secretary of state and intelligence services all say the opposite, that the war is lost or in the process of being lost, with little hope of things being turned around.

We’re installing a missile defense system.

Only if you call setting up a few rocket launchers and missile interceptors that have never worked even under test conditions with rigged targets carrying homing devices on them. What he has installed is a boondoggle.

The U.S. has allies.

One of our allies, Costa Rica, had to sue to have its name taken off this honorable list. Others, like Spain, have pulled out their troops, while Britain, which only has 7000 soldiers in Iraq, is already making plans to pull a third of them home. Most of the other “allies” are only there because they were paid to be there or threatened if they didn’t sent a few token troops.

We will win the war on terror.

Right. Maybe the president should talk with folks in Israel, Spain or Russia about “winning” such a war. Al Qaeda is bigger and wider-spread than ever, and still plotting, and new groups are springing up all the time.

Every life is precious.

Except for Afghani, Iraqi and Sudanese lives, not to mention the lives of Americans in uniform under my command.

Kerry:

I have always been consistent.

Except that he voted for the war authorization which everyone knew at the time was being treated by Bush as a signal to go ahead with his plan to attack Iraq, and except for the fact that during the primaries Kerry defended the war on Iraq and his support for it in the Senate, trashing those like Howard Dean who opposed it, except that he voted for Antonin Scalia for Supreme Court Justice though he claims to be a supporter of women’s rights, except that he voted for the Patriot Act while claiming to be a defender of freedom, except for the fact that he endorses the death penalty for terrorism after saying that he was against the death penalty because it can’t be fairly administered. Except…

Keeping Dissent Invisible (Oct. 16, 2003)