A few thoughts...
Kerry has held some very nuanced positions and has made some blatantly bad explanations of his positions at times, but when you look into the details of his position and logic, you find that his positions are typically very reasonable and responsible...whether or not you agree. Nuanced positions are not necessarily bad, but they don' t make for good sound bites and are easily manipulated. This is what the Bush campaign has taken advantage of and blown WAAAAAAY out of proportion. Unfortunately, the perception sticks with some people.
KERRY'S GUN CONTROL RECORD
For the record, Kerry's voting history does not indicate that he's some "scary" sociopath who's out to ban everyone's guns as some might have us believe. Futhermore, some of the underlying implications made by his opponents make Kerry's votes seem much more prohibitive and ominous than they really are. When you look at Kerry's voting record at
Project Vote Smart you find that he's only voted for a firearm ban ONCE...and that was on semi-automatic assault weapons. All other votes of support were for very responsible, rational gun control bills often supported, if not introduced, by Republicans such as the Brady Bill (requiring a waiting period before taking possesion) and other bills requiring a background checks (for violent criminal activity) before buying a gun.
I spent a minute (or 90) doing a little research to verify this before I made the claim. The one firearm ban bill that Kerry voted for was S.1607/H.R.3355 in late-1993/early-1994. Here is a link as well as a summary of that bill with some of my comments:
H.R. 3355 (S. 1607)
SEC. 4502. RESTRICTION ON MANUFACTURE, TRANSFER, AND POSSESSION OF CERTAIN SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS.
- Section 4502 of this bill, as the title suggests, restricts the manufacture, transfer and possession of certain semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices. But the bill also had several restrictions...
SEC. 4503. EXEMPTION FOR FIREARMS LAWFULLY POSSESSED PRIOR TO DATE OF ENACTMENT.
This section exluded anyone who possessed an affected firearm before the date the bill was passed.
SEC. 4504. EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN HUNTING AND SPORTING FIREARMS.
3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to--
``(A) any of the firearms, or replicas or duplicates of the
firearms, specified in Appendix A to this section, as such
firearms were manufactured on October 1, 1993;
``(B) any firearm that--
``(i) is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or
slide action;
``(ii) is an unserviceable firearm; or
``(iii) is an antique firearm;
``(C) any semiautomatic rifle that cannot accept a
detachable magazine that holds more than 5 rounds of
ammunition; or
``(D) any semiautomatic shotgun that cannot hold more than
5 rounds of ammunition in a fixed or detachable magazine.''.
SEC. 4505. EXEMPTIONS FOR GOVERNMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL USE.
- Reasonably self-explanatory.
WM69: Section 4503 would have certainly excluded your grandad's firearm, if not section 4504 as well, and that's provided that it came under the restrictions of Section 4502 in the first place.
I think many accusations that are often innocently repeated and passed along by Bush supporters (or should I say, Kerry-haters) are <u>half-truths</u> originated either by the campaign itself or other more rabid supporters who disregard facts and details since they have the intent of making the opponent look worse than he actually is. This happens in both parties, but this practice appears much more extreme with Bush (which is why I'm weighing-in to counter here).
BUSH & FLIP-FLOPPING
As for flip-flopping, Bush can "flip-flop" with the best of 'em. To quote a few factual sections from a WP article instead of my own words (for convenience):
"In 2000, Bush said he would include carbon dioxide on a list of air pollutants requiring federal oversight, a stand he abandoned within weeks of taking office. A month after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush's spokesman said the president believed a homeland security department that Democrats proposed was "just not necessary." A year after that, Bush had switched course and was lashing some Democrats for not moving quickly enough to approve the agency.
While Bush professes himself a strong free-trader, most other free-trade proponents said he bent on principle in March 2002 when he ordered tariffs on imported steel -- a move that resonated politically in electorally important industrial states such as Pennsylvania. Facing an escalating global trade dispute, he lifted the tariffs at the end of last year. "
And often when his position remains the same, his reasons "flip-flop". Again, a factual section from a WP article:
"He supported tax cuts in 2000 because he said they were affordable in a time of large government surpluses, and once in power he supported them amid rising deficits because he said the economy needed stimulation. The president's principal rationale for the Iraq invasion was to end Baghdad's suspected mass-weapons program and links to international terrorism. In the absence of compelling evidence of these, the main post-invasion rationale has been to rescue Iraq from a tyrant and support democracy in the greater Middle East. "
In cases where someone's position remains the same and their reasons for that position change substantially, whether in government policy or in one-on-one dealings, it is typically that they're pushing a pre-determined position and the facts are being manipulated to make a case for that position. Combined with the fact that many key components of our foreign policy (and some much more subtle ones) precisely follow a disturbing foreign policy outline published by this administration in Sep 2000 is one of many major problems that I have with the Bush adminsitration.
I am not blinding myself with Kerry love but I do think a disproportionate number of mistruths, half-truths and lies being spread are against Kerry and are being perpetuated by certain rabid Bush supporters then naively passed along by others. Most arguments I hear against Kerry are simply based on sound bites...repeated over and over as one loose/distorted accusation is presented in more factual and/or extreme sense than most evidence actually supports...few of those accusations seem to hold up to detailed scrutiny. The crtiques that do remain (and there are some...as there would be with anyone) pale in comparison to the real issues I see with Bush. While I consider Bush's lack of certain cognitive and speaking skills sad, embarrassing, and pitiful for a President, that, in and of itself, is relatively minor among my list of reasons why I think he's been an overall poor--if not dangerous--president over the last four years.
But that's just my 2 cents worth.