Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea- Bush or Kerry?

Well, I have made up my mind. A ten minute discussion with my brother clinched it for me.

I have posted these links before. If you haven't seen them, I think that it might prove illuminating:

http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/4th_gen_war_gazette.htm

http://www.antiwar.com/lind/index.php?articleid=1702

OK- Here it is.

I do not care very much for Bush, as a human being. I dislike Bush's stand on social issues intensely. I think that he is spending as recklessly as any diehard Democrat. I question some of the actions that he has taken on the war on terrorism. I am suspicious that many of the judgments that he has made were motivated more by cronyism and personal agenda, than rational concern for the country.

I like Kerry's stand on social issues, although I am not crazy about his "take" on the economy..

I believe that we have been, and are now in the midst of World War III. The problem is, that not very many people have recognized what is going on in the world as such. The reason is that this war is unlike any that we have ever fought before. It is no longer these countries fighting those countries. It is a worldwide war of idological differences, fought in a much more defragmented fashion than previous wars. Our sophisticated technology is ultimately ineffective against a terrorist who can wreak havoc with a box cutter on a plane.

So, bottom line, I believe that we need a leader who will stand up to the terrorists, and destroy them. People are crying about jobs and the economy. Those issues ARE important. But, to me, the most important issue is keeping America safe.

We have a bumbling president, who has made many errors in his term of office. The important thing though, is that he is hell bent on destroying this octopus that is terrorism. I do not get the same sense of urgency from his opponent.

So that is why I am voting for Bush.

We have a bumbling president, who has made many errors in his term of office. The important thing though, is that he is hell bent on destroying this octopus that is terrorism. I do not get the same sense of urgency from his opponent.

So that is why I am voting for Bush

I am convinced that we can prove to the American people that we know how to make them safer and more secure - with a stronger, more comprehensive, and more effective strategy for winning the War on Terror than the Bush Administration has ever envisioned.

... we all know America cannot rest until Osama bin Laden is captured or killed.

And when that day comes, it will be a great step forward but we will still have far more to do. It will be a victory in the War on Terror, but it will not be the end of the War on Terror.

This war isn't just a manhunt - a checklist of names from a deck of cards. In it, we do not face just one man or one terrorist group. We face a global jihadist movement of many groups, from different sources, with separate agendas, but all committed to assaulting the United States and free and open societies around the globe.

As CIA Director George Tenet recently testified: "They are not all creatures of bin Laden, and so their fate is not tied to his. They have autonomous leadership, they pick their own targets, they plan their own attacks."

At the core of this conflict is a fundamental struggle of ideas. Of democracy and tolerance against those who would use any means and attack any target to impose their narrow views.

The War on Terror is not a clash of civilizations. It is a clash of civilization against chaos; of the best hopes of humanity against dogmatic fears of progress and the future.

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Next, whatever we thought of the Bush Administration's decisions and mistakes - especially in Iraq - we now have a solemn obligation to complete the mission, in that country and in Afghanistan. Iraq is now a major magnet and center for terror. Our forces in Iraq are paying the price everyday.

And our safety at home may someday soon be endangered as Iraq becomes a training ground for the next generation of terrorists.

It is time to return to the United Nations and return America to the community of nations to share both authority and responsibility in Iraq, and take the target off the back of our troops. This also requires a genuine Iraqi security force. The Bush Administration simply signs up recruits and gives them rudimentary training. In a Kerry Administration, we will create and train an Iraqi security force equal to the task of safeguarding itself and the people it is supposed to protect.

We must offer the UN the lead role in assisting Iraq with the development of new political institutions. And we must stay in Iraq until the job is finished.

In Afghanistan, we have some NATO involvement, but the training of the Afghan Army is insufficient to disarm the warlord militias or to bring the billion dollar drug trade under control. This Administration has all but turned away from Afghanistan. Two years ago, President Bush promised a Marshall Plan to rebuild that country. His latest budget scorns that commitment.

We must - and if I am President, I will - apply the wisdom Franklin Roosevelt shared with the American people in a fireside chat in 1942, "it is useless to win battles if the cause for which we fight these battles is lost. It is useless to win a war unless it stays won." This Administration has not met that challenge; a Kerry Administration will.

But nothing else will matter unless we win the war of ideas. In failed states from South Asia to the Middle East to Central Africa, the combined weight of harsh political repression, economic stagnation, lack of education, and rapid population growth presents the potential for explosive violence and the enlistment of entire new legions of terrorists. In Saudi Arabia and Egypt, almost sixty percent of the population is under the age of 30, unemployed and unemployable, in a breeding ground for present and future hostility. And according to a Pew Center poll, fifty percent or more of Indonesians, Jordanians, Pakistanis, and Palestinians have confidence in bin Laden to "do the right thing regarding world affairs"

We need a major initiative in public diplomacy to bridge the divide between Islam and the rest of the world. For the education of the next generation of Islamic youth, we need an international effort to compete with radical Madrassas. We have seen what happens when Palestinian youth have been fed a diet of anti-Israel propaganda. And we must support human rights groups, independent media and labor unions dedicated to building a democratic culture from the grass-roots up. Democracy won't come overnight, but America should speed that day by sustaining the forces of democracy against repressive regimes and by rewarding governments which take genuine steps towards change.

We cannot be deterred by letting America be held hostage by energy from the Middle East. If I am President, we will embark on a historic effort to create alternative fuels and the vehicles of the future - to make this country energy independent of Mideast oil within ten years. So our sons and daughters will never have to fight and die for it.

Finally, if we are going to be serious about the War on Terror, we need to be much more serious about homeland security. Today, fire departments only have enough radios for half their firefighters and almost two-thirds of firehouses are short-staffed. We should not be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them down in New York City. We need to put 100,000 more firefighters on duty and we need to restore the 100,000 police on our streets which I fought for and won in 1994 but which the Bush Administration has cut in budget after budget.

We need to provide public health labs with the basic expertise they need but now lack to respond to chemical or biological attack. We need new safeguards for our chemical and nuclear facilities.

And our ports - like the Port of Los Angeles - need new technology to screen the 95 percent of containers that now enter this country without any inspection at all. And we should accelerate the action plans agreed to in US-Canada and US-Mexico "smart border" accords while implementing new security measures for cross border bridges. President Bush says we can't afford to fund homeland security. I say we can't afford not to.

One thing I'm known for is a lack of a sense of humor. I've learned to accept it.

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

One thing I'm known for is a lack of a sense of humor. I've learned to accept it.

I think we have learned to accept that as well.

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

One thing I'm known for is a lack of a sense of humor. I've learned to accept it.

I think we have learned to accept that as well.

I believe that we have been, and are now in the midst of World War III. The problem is, that not very many people have recognized what is going on in the world as such. The reason is that this war is unlike any that we have ever fought before. It is no longer these countries fighting those countries. It is a worldwide war of idological differences, fought in a much more defragmented fashion than previous wars. Our sophisticated technology is ultimately ineffective against a terrorist who can wreak havoc with a box cutter on a plane.

So, bottom line, I believe that we need a leader who will stand up to the terrorists, and destroy them. People are crying about jobs and the economy. Those issues ARE important. But, to me, the most important issue is keeping America safe.

We have a bumbling president, who has made many errors in his term of office. The important thing though, is that he is hell bent on destroying this octopus that is terrorism. I do not get the same sense of urgency from his opponent.

So that is why I am voting for Bush.

Phoenix32890 wrote:

I believe that we have been, and are now in the midst of World War III. The problem is, that not very many people have recognized what is going on in the world as such. The reason is that this war is unlike any that we have ever fought before. It is no longer these countries fighting those countries. It is a worldwide war of idological differences, fought in a much more defragmented fashion than previous wars. Our sophisticated technology is ultimately ineffective against a terrorist who can wreak havoc with a box cutter on a plane.

So, bottom line, I believe that we need a leader who will stand up to the terrorists, and destroy them. People are crying about jobs and the economy. Those issues ARE important. But, to me, the most important issue is keeping America safe.



We have a bumbling president, who has made many errors in his term of office. The important thing though, is that he is hell bent on destroying this octopus that is terrorism. I do not get the same sense of urgency from his opponent.

So that is why I am voting for Bush.

OK, so help me to understand how committing to a long occupation of Iraq, thus stressing ourselves both financially and militarily, while alienating us from our allies even remotely helps the fight against militant Islamic terrorism.

Phoenix32890 wrote:

I believe that we have been, and are now in the midst of World War III. The problem is, that not very many people have recognized what is going on in the world as such. The reason is that this war is unlike any that we have ever fought before. It is no longer these countries fighting those countries. It is a worldwide war of idological differences, fought in a much more defragmented fashion than previous wars. Our sophisticated technology is ultimately ineffective against a terrorist who can wreak havoc with a box cutter on a plane.

So, bottom line, I believe that we need a leader who will stand up to the terrorists, and destroy them. People are crying about jobs and the economy. Those issues ARE important. But, to me, the most important issue is keeping America safe.



We have a bumbling president, who has made many errors in his term of office. The important thing though, is that he is hell bent on destroying this octopus that is terrorism. I do not get the same sense of urgency from his opponent.

So that is why I am voting for Bush.

OK, so help me to understand how committing to a long occupation of Iraq, thus stressing ourselves both financially and militarily, while alienating us from our allies even remotely helps the fight against militant Islamic terrorism.