Dishonoring JFK

In his inaugural address in 1961, facing possibility of a war that could end life on earth, John F. Kennedy refused to back down and concede the liberty of free peoples to communists behind the Iron Curtain, stating memorably:

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning—signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge—and more.

The Center for American Progress, USAction, MoveOn.org, VoteVets.org, Service Employees International Union, Americans United for Change, and MoveOn.Org, led by John Edwards, have decided that they will not honor the pledge of John F. Kennedy, and that they will spend $20 million in order to prove JFK's words hollow.

These chocolate bunny Democrats—sugary and smooth on the surface, melting under the slightest heat and pressure to expose a void inside—will spend this money trying convince Americans that we are not noble, that we are selfish, shallow, weak and untrustworthy, and that we should turn our backs on Kennedy's famous pledge:

...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

They want you to be like them: without honor, without substance, and without hope.

John Edwards and Barack Obama want you to know that they will not pay any price, bear any burden, meet the slightest hardship, support new democracies, or oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Perhaps Barack Obama can explain how the generation-defining call-to-action of John F. Kennedy was "just words."

And that he can put a price on liberty.

Update: Did Senator Joe Lieberman drop by today before speaking in the Senate?

"I have thought a lot about this war, and I cannot help but wonder at a moment like this what some of the political heroes of my youth who are Democrats would think if they were here and could see and listen to this debate and read this resolution.

"I think of President Kennedy who declared: 'We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.'

"In my opinion, that is exactly what we are doing in Iraq today.

"I ask my colleagues: Do these words have meaning, have significance? Or are these just words?