John Kerry has come the full circle. He famously told a Congress inquiry into the Vietnam War:
Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, "the first President to lose a war." We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?More than three decades later and in the aftermath of the Iraq debacle, his quote becomes the inspiration for a Bruce Springsteen song. England's synthpop wizards, the Pet Shop Boys, are never slow to employ either irony or a good tune to their own ends and have included the track on their new, and excellent, Electric album.
In a further update to the tale, a Republican Senator, Rand Paul, has asked Kerry how he can ask 'a man to be the first to die for a mistake'. While the Republicans, or some at least, are cock-a-hoop at the chance to kick a black president when he's down, Paul's quotes are nevertheless spot on.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Paul pressed Kerry, who’d appeared just before him, on his anti-war past, saying, “I wish he’d remember more of how awful war is.”Kerry becomes a hawk and a Republican becomes a peacenik. Who'd have thunk it?
Springsteen and the Pet Shop Boys - both versions are worth a slot on your playlist - are the soundtrack of Autumn.
"The Last To Die"
(Bruce Springsteen)
We took the highway till the road went black
We'd marked truth or consequences on our map
A voice drifted up from the radio
Some other voice from long ago
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?
The last to die for a mistake?
Whose blood will spill?
Whose heart will break?
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?
The kids asleep in the back seat
We're just counting the miles, you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door
Who'll be the last to die for our mistakes?
The last to die for our mistakes?
Whose blood will spill?
Whose heart will break?
Who'll be the last to die for our mistakes?
The sun it sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the evening turns
And I hold you here in my heart
as things fall apart
A downtown window flushed with light
and faces of the dead at five
I see her martyr's silent eyes
petition the drivers as we pass by
Who'll be the last to die for our mistakes?
The last to die for our mistakes?
Whose blood will spill?
Whose heart will break?
Who'll be the last to die?
Who'll be the last to die for our mistakes?
The last to die for our mistakes?
Tyrants and kings both meet the same fate
strung up at your city gate
Who'll be the last to die for our mistakes?
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