Questions for Mr. Kerry

Just a few good questions that need to be answered by Senator Kerry:

--The Washington Times reported today that on CNN's "Crossfire" in 1997, you stated the following: "We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians. We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest." Do you still stand by any portion of that statement?

--Why did you skip Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's speech to the joint meeting of Congress? Seemed like it might have been a pretty significant speech for a man who wants to be President to attend, especially considering the recent liberation of Iraq and the fact that he was the first Iraqi leader to visit D.C. since 1952, didn't it?

--Why would you allow your underlings to even hint, much less declare, that the leader of a newly freed country is merely a puppet of President Bush?

--You claim you would be able to get more allies to come to our side in future conflicts. Do you still believe that, considering your remarks demeaning the support given by our allies for "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and your campaign's treatment of Allawi?

--If you can question President Bush's military service, why can't he question yours (even though he hasn't)?

--You Democrats get really offended when anyone even appears to question your patriotism. Are you prepared to denounce the declaration by one of your fellow Democratic Senators, Fritz Hollings, this week that President Bush is a "damned draft dodger"? (And did you find it as strange as I did that any Clinton supporter would use such a phrase to try to demean a Republican President?)

--Another Democratic Senator, Tom Harkin, has made public statements calling Bush a liar concerning his military service, but the problem is that his claims were based on those fake CBS documents. Are you going to ask him to apologize -- or, at the very least, to zip it?

--In several newspapers today, your talkative wife, Teresa, was reported to have said that she thinks the Bush Administration will announce the capture of Osama bin Laden before Election Day. Apparently, she believes the White House has an October Surprise in mind. Did you tell her to say that, or did she just get it from Michael Moore?

--On the "Regis and Kelly" TV show, you told a story of a couple kids contributing to your campaign:

Kerry campaign donors apparently come in all sizes. He told Philbin and Ripa that a woman in New York gave him $385 that her 8-year-old son had raised selling homemade campaign buttons, and a 6-year-old in Philadelphia handed over a plastic container with $685 he had earned selling homemade campaign bracelets.

Did you return that money, since there was a fair chance they were illegal contributions? Even if they were legal, your campaign isn't in such dire straits that you would take money from children, right?

--Your campaign recently responded to a Bush/Cheney ad accusing you flip-flopping on top of a video of you wind-surfing. Your response ad ripped the Bush team for running a "juvenile" ad during the "Iraq quagmire." Do you see the irony that your campaign offered such a criticism, yet you were the one having photo-ops on your wind-surfing board and while walking around wearing spandex -- all of this done during the "Iraq quagmire"?