Politics: Kerry attacking Bush for honesty

I've blogged about this situation before after the infamous Matt Lauer interview in which Bush said he didn't think the war on terror could be won. Once again, Bush made the 'mistake' of being honest by saying (on Hannity and Colmes, mind you):

Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up -- you know, is up in the air.

Sounds honest, prudent, based in reality. Things that Bush rarely ever sounds to me.

Of course, our newest hawk, John Kerry, jumps on the political opportunity to punish his opponent for not sticking to the dishonest rhetoric of politics:

George W. Bush doubts whether he can make America safe. Well, I give you this pledge: As president, we will find, capture and kill the terrorists. It's not 'up in the air.' We will win the war on terror, and we will make America safer.

That's great, John. Way to play by the other guy's rules and pull the quote completely out of context and distort it for political gain. I guess you've learned from the best, but still. And I really shudder every time Kerry uses the word "kill the terrorists." That rhetoric seems manic to me, uncontrolled. Is killing them our goal? How about neutralizing their threat, how about putting them behind bars? How about just breaking their kneecaps? Now, don't think I'm being soft on the war on terror, that's not my point. My point is that this sort of hawkish rhetoric raises the expectations of the American people to a violent fervor and encourages a shoot-first, ask-questions-later sort of mentality.

And we all know where that's taken us.