#28 - He Fails the Scientific Terminology Litmus Test

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- President Bush said Saturday that under a "Kerry Doctrine," Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry would require the permission of foreign powers before launching military action.

The inflammatory charge, leveled here by Bush and in a new campaign commercial, was immediately denied by Kerry's advisers. The accusation is based on a partial reading of Kerry's remark in Thursday's debate that he would have a "global test" to prove the legitimacy of U.S. military action; Kerry also said he would reserve "the right to preempt in any way necessary to protect the United States."

Kerry "said something revealing when he laid out the Kerry Doctrine," Bush said at a convention of home builders here. "He said that America has to pass a global test before we can use American troops to defend ourselves. . . . Senator Kerry's approach to foreign policy would give foreign governments veto power over our national security decisions." (AP)

And Bush says something revealing when he wrongly assumes "global test" means deferring to foreign governments: it's a scientific term that refers to the validity of a statistical model (a Google search on "global test" statistics -Bush -Kerry yields more than 3,000 articles, most of which are, like this one, related to science and technology).

When Kerry says we need a "global test" to prove the legitimacy of U.S. military action, he's not talking about getting permission from the U.N., as the Bush campaign has either ignorantly or disingenuously suggested. He's using an established term to describe methodically testing assumptions against reality.

At the debate President Bush said, "I’m not exactly sure what you mean, 'passes the global test,' you take preemptive action if you pass a global test." National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I heard Senator Kerry say that there was some kind of 'global test' that you ought to be able to pass to support preemption, and I don't understand what that means."

No kidding.