Kerry gets dirty with Dubya

(10/6/04)

Well, the first debate was last Thursday night and nothing tremendously earth shattering took place. John Kerry had his smug mask on and my man, George W proved his speaking ability is not that of the mighty Gipper. The media and Fox News (since they seem to be separate in the eyes of most people) each agreed that Kerry 'won' this debate, but those in the know weren't surprised by much in Miami.
Aside from the implementing of stoplights at the podiums, the night ended up being par for the course. This debate was focused on foreign policy, which means Iraq. Democratic patsy John Kerry rattled off his shaky exit strategy for Iraq that included more troops and a more 'global' presence. Kerry also emphasized his plan to make executive decisions based on the opinion of the, oh so important, Global Community.
And remember, friends, this morally omnipotent club consists of countries like France and Russia, who were opposed to the Iraq war because they were illegally skirting the UN sanctions on Iraq in order to get deals on Saddam's oil.
The president reacted in true cowboy fashion by forcibly pointing out to Kerry and the 61 million viewers that the needs of the world and the needs of the United States are considerably different. While other members of the global community may not like our actions, they have no say and should continue to have no say in the protection of our country. Much to the contrary of popular liberal beliefs, every other nation in the world has its own agenda. We are not the only country with an agenda and we should realize that we're going to do things that are seen as unfavorable to other countries in order to maintain and meet that agenda.
As an American, I am more faithful to a fellow countryman to lead my country than I am to a bunch of second-rate nations who haven't had any real political pull in 200 years. I'll be damned if I have Jacques Chirac, who his own people consider a filthy gangster and unscrupulous thug, determining the actions of my own country. John Kerry, owner of the most liberal voting record in the senate during his [absence filled] tenure, is a champion of this insane loyalty to the global community.
We can't solve the world's problems with hugs and smiles, people. George W. Bush knows this and the man has dealt with the leaders of other nations and tried solving problems diplomatically, but turned to military action AFTER other routes had been exhausted.
Note that John Kerry voted FOR the war in Iraq. This was when Kerry was unaware of his upcoming run for W's job in 2004 and when Mr. Kerry was, like the rest of us, a true patriot in the wake of September 11th. Thursday?s debate was loaded with slogans and sound bytes to be aired on network news, some of these were sharp personal attacks and some were campaign rhetoric. Bush's most repeated points during this farcical debate were that we are 'working hard' at everything we're involved in, specifically Iraq and trying to spark a democracy in the country, and that John Kerry is simply unreliable due to his very public 'flip-flops' of opinion on campaign issues. Kerry came out of the debate looking very presidential and as one columnist or news anchor put it 'just like straight A student in class that no one can stand.'
What Kerry did not do, however, was clearly define why he keeps changing his mind on such important issues. Kerry could not clearly account for why he voted for the Iraq war, while voting against funding that same war. John Kerry was filled with an ugly sense of self-righteousness on this night and truly thought he was doing the work of the Everyman. All John Kerry succeeded in doing was showing how unstable he is in his opinion of foreign policy issues.
When mediator, Jim Lehrer (of the PBS news program 'The Jim Lehrer News Hour') asked Kerry about his views on the nuclear issue in North Korea, Kerry stated that bilateral talks were what would solve this increasingly dangerous situation. Wait a minute, Ketchup-boy, aren't you the champion of the great Global Community? Why is it John Kerry is for these bilateral talks with Kim Jong-Il but for a global solution to terrorism and the war in Iraq? And for the 70 percent of the audience who doesn't know what 'bilateral' means, its just fancy political jargon for 'one on one.'
This seems to me to be a pretty significant difference of policy from one situation to another. What would the rest of our beloved global community think if we just started talking with North Korea without including other nations in the process? It is this kind of 'flip- flopping' that W was showing the American public last Thursday night.
Bush, the alleged warmonger, has taken an approach to North Korea that involves its neighboring countries, most important of these being China. Bush was correct in his assessment that neighboring countries such as China would hold a better chance of getting Pyongyang to listen than a bunch of American diplomats would. The involvement of China, Japan, South Korea, and others are what Mr. Kerry likes to forget about when he tries to sling mud at the president's foreign policy decisions.
Other topics briefly covered in the 90-minute debate were the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan, the nuclear capability of Iran, and the alarming actions of President (or King) Vlademir Putin in Russia. Both men gave satisfactory answers to questions about these situations, but their brevity suggested these topics were merely short respites from the main topic of Iraq.
Overall, we saw that this race is going to be closer than some had originally thought. Kerry and Co. had been slipping steadily for the past couple months and his seemingly intelligent showing in the first of three debates (the next is Friday, 10/8) has brought him right back into contention. Look for Bush to give a stronger performance in the next debate.
Bush will probably be coached on showing his temper, he winced more than a few times at Kerry?s spinning during the last showdown and the polls show he lost points for it, so look for him to be a bit more patient and wait his turn. I urge all of you to go the route of the noble Mr. Nader and watch the debate this Friday. Try and see through the layers of rhetoric and political spinning and then decide who you want running your country