With months still ahead in the 2004 campaign, Presidential hopeful John Kerry is already losing control of his rhetoric. Some partisan Democrats seem to think the fact that John Kerry served in Vietnam over thirty years ago should prevent anyone from questioning his votes during the nearly two decades he served in the Senate since. Now, that ridiculous assertion has come from the mouth of the candidate himself.

While campaigning in Pittsburgh PA, Kerry attacked Republicans for questioning his history of voting against defense funding. This is a legitimate line of questioning which deserves a straight answer. Last year, for instance, Congress voted on an $87 billion package, 75% of which was intended for military expenditures including troop transportation, body armor, armored Humvees and two-week furloughs for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regarding the reaction to his "nay" vote, Kerry told his listeners, "I'm tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had the chance. I went (to Vietnam). I'm not going listen to them talk to me about patriotism."

No one remotely connected with President Bush, of course, has ever actually questioned Kerry's patriotism. In fact, none of them have questioned the patriotism of Democrats in general, or even that of the farthest-left Liberals. The vicious personal attacks have gone in the other direction, with high-ranking Democrats such as Al Gore screaming that President Bush "betrayed this country," or Ted Kennedy accusing President Bush of concocting a war for political gain. The old saying that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," was meant for this situation -- when a person hides behind patriotism, using it as a way to avoid honest questions about his conduct. It's possible (though difficult to see how) a person may love America and still want to disable her defenses. But is a person with that kind of flawed judgement a good candidate for President?

Patriotism is generally understood to mean "devotion to the welfare of one's country", which reducing the military and hobbling the intelligence services is unlikely to improve. Yet John Kerry did, in fact, vote numerous times in favor of reducing the military and intelligence budgets. Just four months after the 1993 bombing attack on the World trade Center, Kerry introduced Bill S.1163, which included the following provisions:

Reduction in the operating tempo of ballistic missile submarines.
Reduction in the attack submarine force.
Reduction in the antisubmarine warfare weapon systems of the Navy.
Reduction in number of light divisions.
Reduction in number of tactical fighter wings.
Limitation on expenditures for nuclear weapons research, development, and testing activities.
Strategic Defense Initiative [reduced to research only].
Termination of the MHC(V) coastal mine-hunting ship program.
Termination of the Kinetic Energy Anti-satellite Attack program.
Required exercise of early retirement authority.

Kerry introduced Bill S.1290 in 1995 in order to "reduce the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000." In 1996, Kerry attempted to reduce the defense budget by $6.5 billion, but Bill S.1580 found no backers. It's understandable that Kerry's distaste for America's involvement in the Vietnam War -- for which many blamed the CIA -- might have led him to want intelligence agencies and the military kept on a short leash and buried in restrictions. But is that the kind of person who should be elected Commander-in-Chief of the military, the person to whom all our intelligence services report? Especially in the middle of a war of worldwide scope?

Worse than the alleged attack on Kerry's patriotism was his implication that Americans who did not serve in the military should not question Kerry's Senate votes. The last time I checked the Constitution, military service was not a prerequisite for asking about a candidate's voting record. Should John Kerry's history, except for what he chooses for his commercials and speeches, be exempt from scrutiny simply because he once served in the military? Is he afraid of making more admissions like that concerning the $87 billion package? "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," Kerry told a West Virgina gathering in March. Unless you served in Vietnam, you'd better not ask for clarification.

Why not just choose a President randomly, if Americans aren't allowed to question the supposedly public records of the candidates?