On another board I frequent, a group of women were saying, "The president deserves respect because he is the president." This is my answer to them.
When Bush was appointed president, I did not get terribly upset. I thought, "You know, if he does what he said he was going to do, most of it won't be so bad." Then he went on vacation. I wasn't impressed, but figured he'd do less damage that way. Then 9-11 happened, and I thought, "He'll either shine, or he will flop..." And it seemed, for a moment, like he might shine. He said mostly the right things.
More....
Then they passed the Patriot act, and what, on the face of it, seemed to be a good idea ballooned overnight into a 492 page snatch-and-run money-grab that severely eroded civil rights. The pork in those 492 pages is astonishing. I was bothered by this, but unlike people around me who got really upset, I said, "Well, let's see how they enforce it."
That wasn't great either. Locking people up, American citizens, no less, for months without a lawyer or a trial? That's not right.
Then Bush started talking about Saddam and WMD and Iraq and I thought, "Wait a minute...we haven't got Osama yet...." But the argument for WMD seemed persuasive enough--we were not told that the administration was busily ignoring any word to the contrary and grabbing only the thinnest rumors to support their position for their desired end: war with Iraq. I supported the Iraq war at first... because I tried to give the President some respect, some benefit of the doubt.
He blew it.
It's not that he was wrong... being wrong is one thing. It's that he cannot admit he was wrong, continually seeks to find other justifications after the fact, and refused then and refuses now to pay attention to any advice that doesn't fit his world-view.
In my universe, respect is earned.
Our "President" is behaving like a petulant child, a bully, and no, he does NOT deserve my respect. He's done more to damage the volunteer military than any "anti war" protester ever could. His policies have killed thousands of people in Iraq, both our people and Iraqi citizens, and now we know that not only weren't there WMD, but the Iraqis weren't behind 9-11 either. 20,000 Iraqis have died... we lost less than 3,000 in 9-11. Do you wonder why they want us gone? Do you wonder why they hate us now more than they did 3 years ago?
How about the fact that I know several qualified, good people who have been unable to find jobs for more than 2 years in this rotten economy? We're talking highly trained college grads, some with years of experience, being told that there just arent' enough jobs to go around.
How about the fact that I am paying more money for less health coverage this year than ever before? How about the fact that my daughter's school only had 4 teachers for 5 grades, despite class sizes in the range of 30 per class, in a school which always before had a cap at 24 kids per class and 5 teachers for 5 grades? Parents at that school were doing PLASMA drives to raise money. Yes, bleeding for the schools. These schools do more for the kids with less money than anywhere I've seen, but how deep are we supposed to cut education without leaving all the kids behind? If education funding is increasing, we're not seeing it, and after hearing about things like Halliburton's waste and Medicare not being allowed to use buying power to lower drug prices, it's no wonder!
I don't like abortion. I would never have one. I could not imagine having one. I wish no one ever had one. But I will NOT force my beliefs about this on other women, just as I hope they do not force their beliefs about things like epidurals, hospital birth and bottle-feeding on me. I don't think Kerry is "for" abortion--I know no one personally who thinks abortion is a good thing. But being against something is not the same as thinking it should be criminalized. My understanding is that Bush himself paid for a girlfriend's abortion in college. I don't like that either, but should he be arrested for it now as a murderer, even if it was illegal at the time? Just because Kerry refuses to create anti-abortion laws does not mean that he is "pro" abortion personally. It does not mean that he even believes that abortion is "right". But it does mean that he may not see it as an issue that is more important in the national attention than things the government has more interest in, like education, economy, health care, national security, foreign relations.
After each debate, I go to factcheck.org and look up the issues that come up. Kerry and Edwards tend to pick and choose their numbers, but lie? I haven't seen it. Cheney and Bush have both flat out lied. I have no respect for that.
Bush said his "discretionary spending" has risen only 1% per year. A conservative magazine begged to differ--his spending has increased at over 8% per year, compared to Clinton's 2.5% per year and Reagan's -1.3% per year. He accuses democrats of being "Tax and spend" while he gives tax breaks. I don't see it... we'll be paying for his "tax breaks" for years to come. He's giving us money on the credit card without mentioning the high interest rates down the road. Anything he spends now must equal current tax revenue, or it will equal current tax revenue plus future tax revenue plus interest.
He talked about being a uniter... we have never been so divided.
He talked about a "humble" foreign policy, working with other nations, avoiding nation building. I dont' believe he ever meant it.
He talked about "no child left behind"... yet I've never seen the schools so strapped for resources, struggling so hard to meet mandates that there's no money to pay for...
He talked about a drug benefit for seniors... yet turned it into a drug company windfall and made it so confusing that half the people eligible don't currently use the benefit.
He talked the talk... he has never walked the walk. How can I respect the man when I don't trust a single word that comes out of his mouth? I can't rely on what he says, because he has lied, exaggerated, glossed, so often that even if he told the flat out truth I would not believe it. Heck, when he said, "There will not be a military draft while I am president", I pretty much assumed that it meant that there will in fact be a draft while he's president. If not a military one, a skills draft or a medical draft.
He is good at mocking people....but when he mocks Kerry, it falls flat. Who is more fiscally conservative? A man who wants to balance the budget, or the man addicted to the national credit card? Tax and spend liberal? What about squander and spend Republicans? I don't use credit cards, personally, and it pisses me off that the government is putting us in debt. I'd rather pay it down now than pay the interest later. He's good at blaming everything but his own policies--I'm tired of it. Really tired of it.
When I look at Kerry, I see a thoughtful, intelligent leader. I see a man who is willing to admit if he is wrong, who is willing to consider new information, who is really amazingly good at reaching out and doing what is RIGHT the best he knows how. I see a decisive survivor. And the attacks leveled at him have not rung true. Far from it, they reflect strongly on the people doing the attacking. When it comes down to it, I trust Kerry. I trust his judgment, I trust his leadership ability, I trust his experience, and yes, I even trust his record. It's easy to attack any senator based on a voting record if you do not look at the context of why they voted a specific way on a specific measure. If there is a measure that contains good things, but it also contains so much pork and so many bad things that you cannot support it, it does not mean you do not support the good parts of that measure. But Kerry has shown a consistent concern for others, and I trust 100% that he cares about our troops and will do everything he can to make their job more do-able, and to bring them home with the least loss of life possible. I do NOT trust Bush to do the same.
Bush has said "Bring it on" to those who would attack our troops or use weapons of mass destruction. Those are the words of a posturing macho man, NOT a leader who cares about his people, his troops. I want a commander in chief who understands both the pressures of being in combat AND the importance of having leadership truly support our troops. Bush seems to see the military as his toy, not as real people, with real lives, doing their best to do a good job without the resources they need to really get the job done.
If you want some insight into Kerry's character, I strongly recommend the film "Going Upriver". Where F9-11 created a lot of anger and lobbed a lot of stones at Bush, "Going Upriver" explained a lot about Kerry's service record. Watching, the thought kept coming into my head, "We need this man."
Even in 1970, he showed a remarkable presence and ability to communicate clearly, persuasively, and in a way that reduced potentially volatile situations while still accomplishing the goals at hand. And I don't care what anyone says about bullets versus shrapnel, it takes guts to go into fire and do it again and again. It takes even more guts to go against pressure and say, "We were wrong, we need to fix this, this was a mistake, and we need to bring our people home." He is EXACTLY what this country needs right now.
If Bush wins the next election, I'm afraid for this country. I'm even more afraid for this country if a repeat of 2000 happens and the election ends up decided in the Supreme Court. I gave Bush a chance... several chances...the benefit of the doubt.... and he blew it. Never again.
Much of what I have learned about this election and these issues has come from www.dailykos.com. www. factcheck.org is another (less biased) source. But much of what I've said here comes from simply reading the news day after day.
I don't ask that you agree with me... but PLEASE look beyond the Republican talking points. Please look beyond the issue of abortion. The issue to me right now is not whether yet-to-be-born children are lost, but whether the kids we've got here and now are going to die, whether the good that we've created in this country over the years is going to disintigrate even farther. When I think about 9-11, I cry...when I think about the outpouring of international support we had then, I am moved... and when I think about how hated we are in the world now, I want that man GONE. He had his chance. He blew it.
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BTW... you'll notice I reiterated a whole lot of points from people here on Kos... Thank you all for providing such potent talking points!