There is an article in the Boston Globe this morning, Study finds lawmakers invested $165m in defense. I expected this article to be more of the same old, same old about Republican conflicts of interest, Halliburton, Betchtel, ad nauseum. But to me chagrin, it was reveled that
Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and the House minority whip Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri.
Lieberman, of course! But John Kerry? What gives?
Now you might suspect that Kerry was singled out, but a closer look at this study reveals exactly the opposite.
Kerry tops the list at $28,872,067 - $38,209,020 invested in companies with defense contracts.
Call me naive but I think this is a disgrace to the Democrats. No member of Congress should have such a conflict of interest in defense funding, especially somebody who had symbolized the opposition to the unwise application of military power.
We are asking here in Washington for some action, action from the Congress of the United States of America which as the power to raise and maintain armies, and which by the Constitution also has the power to declare war.
We have come here, not to the President, because we believe that this body can be responsive to the will of the people, and we believe that the will of the people says that we should be out of Vietnam now....
John Kerry, you should be ashamed of yourself.