As a supporter of Senator John Kerry, I feel it is my duty to address some of the issues brought up by Ken Girardin, chairman of the College Republicans, in his letter featured last week concerning the Democratic nominee. I have seen a lot of press given to the College Republicans recently in The Poly and would like to offer a more liberal view of the current political situation.

I am not at all surprised that a Republican would resort to calling Senator John Kerry a ‘flip-flopper,’ it seems to be in vogue within conservative circles this season. These kinds of attacks seem to be aimed at distracting attention from the issues at hand this election, rather than fostering constructive debate. But I will admit that Kerry is guilty of changing his stance on specific issues from one point in time to another, but does this really constitute ‘flip-flopping?’

Personally I don’t believe this is so. I find it more likely that Kerry is practicing a technique called ‘critical thinking’ in which he forms his opinions based on the information at hand. For instance, his initial support for the Iraq War was based on the information provided to the American people by our President. Anyone paying attention to recent events knows that much of the evidence that the President tried to pass off to the public has largely been discredited. The White House purposely tailored their information in order to get the approval needed to go to war in Iraq, and in the process, deceived the American people. Given what we now know, that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq had no links to Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden, I believe that Kerry is well within his rights to re-evaluate his stance on the war and that the label ‘flip-flopper’ is unjust.

I feel it is far more dangerous for America to have a President who is overly stubborn, such as President George W. Bush, than one who is willing to re-evaluate a stance based on new information.

But at the end of the day, if you are still unsure of who vote for on November 2, you should ask yourself this question: Do you believe you are better off today than you were four years ago? I know I don’t.

Niall Mackinnon