Wow. I've read this part before, but I'd forgotten who had said it and never made the connection:
"...how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?
How do ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
This is the testimony that changed the collective mindset of
this country, making it basically a requirement to say
"support the troops, bring them home" along with "no war."
Stunning indeed.
Every now and then, we get a glimpse of what I keep hoping is
the real Kerry -- the one who "hates" (if he was quoted
correctly) that it takes so much money to win in politics, and
who gave this testimony thirty years ago.
"As someone who ran for office for 3 1/2 weeks, I am aware of
many of the problems involved, and in many places, you can take
certain districts in New York City, the structure is such that
people can't really run and represent necessarily the people.
People often don't care. The apathy is so great that they
believe they are being represented when in fact they are not. I
think that you and I could run through a list of people in this
body itself and find many who are there through the powers of
the office itself as opposed to the fact they are truly
representing the people. It is very easy to give the illusion of
representing the people through the frank privileges which allow
you to send back what you are doing here in Congress.
Congressmen insert so often.
You know, they gave a speech for the Polish and they gave a
speech for the Irish and they gave a speech for this, and
actually handed the paper in to the clerk and the clerk submits
it for the record and a copy of the record goes home and people
say, 'Hey, he really is doing something for me' But he isn't."
I could vote for THAT Kerry happily, with a clear conscience,
but I'm not confident (even though I'll vote for him) about the
polished politician we see so often.