Debate Questions and tactics
The four Bush arguments on foreign policy issues: (i) the Straw Man argument; (ii) the Virtual Reality argument; (iii) the Caricature argument; and (iv) the Slippery Slope argument.
The Straw Man Argument.
Bush: My opponent thinks we'd be better off with Saddam Hussein in power. Well I think that's preposterous. You can't possibly defend America if you're going to allow dictators who hate America to remain in power and do nothing while they grow stronger. Not after September 11th. `Ya see, 911 changed everything! And I was left with a choice, do I trust the word of a madman or do I defend America?....Given that choice I will defend America every time!
Kerry: The President has no grasp of reality and even less of the truth. As I said before, Saddam Hussein deserves a special place in hell and we are all glad that he is gone. But that was not by itself a justification to go to war. The President told us he was a threat to America. He wasn't. The President told us Iraq had connections to 911 and a collaborative relationship with Al-Qaeda. They didn't. The President told us there were WMD in Iraq. There were none. 1,050 soldiers are dead. Insurgents control large sections of the country. Reconstruction is almost at a halt. He has created a mess in Iraq for the wrong reasons and doesn't want to tell us the truth about it. That's a failed policy. That's failed leadership.
The Virtual Reality Argument:
Bush: `Ya see I believe Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. My opponent doesn't. He...he....ahh...ahhhh ...he just doesn't get it. He thinks all we need to do is make nice with them and hope they go away. They won't. They can't be persuaded. They can only be confronted by force. That's...ah.... why I went to Iraq: to...ah.... get the terrorists before they get us. My opponent is mired in old thinking; the kind of thoughts that people had before 911. Oh you know, terrorists, let's just ignore them and they'll go away. Well we know where that got us. We saw what happened on that September morning when those planes crashed into the buildings in New York and Washington. We saw how brave Americans sacrificed themselves to stop even further tragedy......All because people who shared my opponent's views were asleep while the evil ones plotted. `Ya see, we have a saying in Texas, fool me once...shame on.... (me).....but ah we can't get fooled again. My solemn duty is to protect the American people and I will do so every time.
Kerry: Once again, the President isn't being straight with you. There were no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before we invaded. Iraq had nothing to do with 911. The real terrorist is Osama Bin Laden who was, and remains, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, not in Iraq. Despite all his tough talk, when our military had Bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, he didn't "smoke him out of his cave" as he often liked to say. Bush let him get away. That's the real George W. Bush. He talks like John Wayne, but he doesn't back it up. If anyone was asleep before 911, it was Bush. He spent more time at his Texas ranch than in Washington, and took almost no action on intelligence reports that warned of direct threats on the homeland for months prior to 911. That's bad judgment and failed leadership. We can do better.
The Caricature Argument.
Bush: Leadership requires clear vision, strength and resolve. A leader cannot vacillate or waver. A leader cannot shift with the winds. A leader doesn't cast votes for political reasons. A leader makes the tough decisions come what may. I make tough decisions to protect the American people. My opponent does not. He takes multiple positions on every issue and you don't know where he stands. He was for the $87 billion before he was against it; against the death penalty before he was for it; for the Iraq war before he was against it; and against traditional marriage before he embraced it (twice). That doesn't show us a core. That doesn't show us vision. That's not how a leader leads. I am a steady leader in a time of change. He vacillates. America can't afford to put an unsteady hand at the helm of our country in this war on terror.
Kerry: The President talks a good game, but he has made the biggest flip-flops of all time. He was against Homeland Security before Democrats forced him to embrace it; he was against the 911 commission before the 911 widows and Democrats forced him to accept it. He said he would smoke Osama Bin Laden out of his cave and then he let him get away and hasn't mentioned his name since. He gave 14 different rationales for the Iraq war, and never told us the truth about any one of them. Now he says if he had to do it over again, knowing that Iraq had no connections to Al-Qaeda, 911 and no WMD he would invade again. How can he be serious? He can't talk straight to you because he has failed as a leader. It's time for a new direction.
The Slippery Slope Argument
Bush:
My opponent says he wants to bring our troops out of Iraq in 6 months. Well that tells the terrorists, just wait 6 months and 1 day, and you can win. And what message will that send? If we do not show resolve in Iraq, our enemies will take it as a sign that America doesn't have the strength or character to win the war on terror. They hate us for our freedom, and they will stop at nothing to destroy our freedom and values. The war will spread to our doorstep and other nations. They will be under threat and unsure of what to do, because they don't know if America will be strong enough to undertake the challenge of defending freedom. So they will appease the terrorists, and the terrorists will claim victory. Freedom itself will be threatened.
Kerry: The President says he will stay the course. Well the course he has set is headed straight for the iceberg. If we don't change direction rapidly in Iraq, we will be mired in a quagmire for years. All the while Al-Qaeda will grow stronger, and plot even greater attacks. Time is against us in the war on terror because Bush took his eye off the ball and attacked Iraq while letting Al-Qaeda get away and regroup. I have a plan to stabilize Iraq, withdraw our forces and go after Al-Qaeda. We will crush terrorist cells wherever they are. We will find Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice. We will not allow any rogue state to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction. That's the right way to fight the war on terror. Bush's way has been a failure.
Bush: My opponent and his friends criticize our conduct of the War on Terror. They offer nothing positive. When they say Iraq is a failure, they are saying that our troops have been a failure. It hurts morale. It provides aid and comfort to the enemy. It's not supportive of the brave men and women in the military.
Kerry: The President says that anyone who criticizes him is unpatriotic. That's absurd in a Democracy such as ours. The President's policies have put our nation and our troops at greater risk. It is a patriotic duty to point out where the President is wrong, so that we can correct the policy and do our best to enable those brave men and women to succeed in our mission. Many prominent Republicans, like John McCain and Dick Lugar, have leveled the criticisms of the Administration's Iraq policies. Does that make them unpatriotic too? Are they giving aid and comfort to the enemy? I don't think so. It is the President who has failed our troops because he didn't tell the truth about why he went to war, and has not leveled with us about the conditions in Iraq today.