Bush Uses The Dead of 9/11 As Involuntary Campaign Workers

While watching the Republican convention, I was genuinely startled to see how frightened they are. With most of a 4-year term behind them, they spent an extraordinary amount of valuable time desperately trying to scare the electorate into thinking that their opponent is weak. Zell Miller became a joke when he said that John Kerry will take foreign policy advice from Paris. How did THAT every get past the Bush administration. If they want us to take them seriously they had better get their facts straight. What was even more troubling was their capitalizing on the 2001 terrorist attacks to, once again, try to galvanize support for the Bush administration. Back then, they had that support -- and squandered it -- and their ensuing war on terror has been botched by lack of planning, horrendous international diplomacy. You can’t go home again, they say, and they should leave the 9/11 dead to rest in peace and not become ghostly campaign workers for Bush.

Restore Dignity to the White House: Vote Kerry

It is clear that Republicans will stop at nothing to undermine constitutional process. From the moment Clinton took office, Republicans have been diligent in trying to destroy him. The fact that Republican power mongers cannot abide challengers and must dehumanize them is a detriment to the republic. To allow the far right, a savvy minority, to dig its claws any deeper into the control of a much more diverse America reminds me of the stranglehold that another minority had upon apartheid South Africa. My vote for John Kerry will be a vote to restore honor, integrity and maturity to the White House. Such leadership will be essential to stop blind, manic swashbuckling of the Bush administration.

An Insecure Buck Passer

Why would anyone be surprised that President Bush steps aside and lets the disingenuous swift boat veterans do his dirty work for him? He had no qualms about letting them do it back in 1968, nor did he have any qualms about hiding behind his chaperone, Dick Cheney, at the hearings conducted by the 9/11 committee. Set aside partisanship, and imagine the 27-year-old George W. Bush bravely speaking to a Senate panel about his firsthand experiences in war. Set aside partisanship and imagine a 40-year-old George W. Bush working side-by-side with fellow members of Congress where consensus and cooperation are required.

The U.S. Presidency is too important of a job for someone who passes the buck or needs chaperoned and is so out of his depth that he relies on trigger-happy cowboy B-movie dialogue to establish the national discourse. Nor is it a position for anybody who lets other people do his work for him.

Yes, The Bush Administration DID Have A Post Invasion Plan for Iraq

Shame on those who claim the Bush administration had no plans in place for after they invaded Iraq. That is hardly true. Companies like Halliburton have likely known for a long time that they would get first dibs on contracts to rebuild the ravaged nation. If that isn’t a plan, what is?

Conservatives Like to "Feel Good." Liberals Like to "Do Good."

When Reagan was challenging Carter in 1980, a friend said, “Ronald Reagan makes me feel good.” I’ve never forgotten this because I hear it so much now among Bush supporters who say their candidate makes them feel good. That, I believe, is the difference between the left and the right. The right seeks out images and platitudes that make them “feel good.” The left seeks out ideas and dialogue that inspire them to “do good.” For instance, the self-congratulatory “No Child Left Behind” was begun -- but underfunded by $27 billion (according to the Ohio Department of Education) -- by the conservative Bush Administration. The Democratic challenger, Senator Kerry, proposes a Medicaid plan that will give more children eligible for health care. The policies proposed and established by Democrats over the years actually put into practice the adage “love they neighbor.” If the recent Republican convention is any indication, then the political right is more interested in the puffery of turning George W. Bush into a demi-god just because he hollered into a bullhorn and threw out a baseball at Yankee stadium, which is the political equivalent of ribbon-cutting at a new building. It is self-congratulatory imagery that feeds the egotism of the insecure.

Bush's "Cute" But Aggravating Word Games Lie About Kerry's Record

It’s cute how President Bush loves to repeat how Senator Kerry voted for -- then against -- the spending package for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a popular stump speech item for him. But I think a closer look at Senator Kerry’s decision will remove the sneers from many people’s faces.

It will interest many to know that this bill included a provision to permit companies such as Halliburton to win no-bid contracts. It is the height of cynicism on the part of the White House and the Republican Congress to lace this important funding with pork for their pals in big business. Let us applaud Senator Kerry for his support of fair capitalism and his vote against cronyism.

Another thing that Bush-Cheney accuse Senator Kerry is flip-flopping on his support of the war. Barely a week after the 9/11/01 attacks, Senator Kerry told interviewers that we should not use this as an excuse to attack Iraq if Iraq was not involved. He has been resolute from the start about why -- and why not -- Iraq should be attacked. Like a child who betrays his parents’ trust, George W. Bush is to blame for betraying the confidence of every representative in Congress who gave him the authorization to wage war in Iraq

Nothing Will Stop Us, Says Bush. (Not Even Ethics.)

“Nothing will stop us,” President Bush said over and over in his convention speech. This pretty much sums up his administration’s greatest flaw. It requires international cooperation to probe deeply into the caves and crannies of the world where Al Quaeda operatives patiently plan their havoc.

A bullheaded, unilateral approach to dismantling Al Quaeda requires a process a little more savvy and sophisticated than “full speed ahead -- and we’ll think about the aftermath later.” The Bush administration has shown us clearly that nothing will stop them -- even facts that prove false their rationale for war.

Nothing will stop them from dehumanizing their perceived enemies abroad and at home, like when they endorse the dehumanizing of John Kerry and the fearsome tactics of chilling American citizens to the bone with their promise that, under Kerry, we will be more prone to attack.

Nothing will stop them -- and we’ve seen that in action when the Republican party imported thugs to Florida to bang on doors and shout in protest with such intimidation that the recount workers could not finish their vote-counting and Bush toadie Katherine Harris, with her Wicked Witch egg timer run out of sand, would not permit the recounting to continue.
“Nothing will stop us,” he said. And that is chilling -- not to America’s enemies -- but to its own citizens.

Garrison Keillor and the Mayor of Akron, Ohio

I just picked up the book "Homegrown Democrat" by Garrison Keillor at the public library (another institution that Republicans would love to get rid of!) and on page 20 he echoes what why so many people who don't bother to stay well-informed can still claim the mantle of Republicanism. Keillor writes, "I am a liberal and liberalism is the politics of kindness. Liberals stand for tolerance, magnaminimity, community spirit, the defense of the weak agasinst the powerful, love of learning, freedom of belief, art and poetry, city life, the very things that make America worth dying for. The people who call themselves conservatives stand for tax cuts, and further tax cuts, annual tax cuts, the only policy they know."

Akron mayor Don Plusquellic said in a recent speech: "No tax cut ever rebuilt an old bridge." See what I mean: Tax cuts = selfish, because tax cuts lead to funding cuts, funding cuts lead to elimination of safety and educational programs, which then cause parents like you and me to have to pony up extra so our kids can be in music and sports programs. And guess what, we end up paying in fees, inconveniences and new levies more than what we gained in any friggin' tax cuts.