I had a back and forth on the Presidential Poll thread, and I think one point that got made is worth a diary entry.
Firstly - I was very pleased to see that Wes Clark is winning the dailykos poll hands down, nearly 3 - 1 over his nearest rival. You dailykos folks are really smart!
One poster wrote an extended comment about why Edwards is his choice, and I strongly questioned Edwards' credibility on national security. He (or she) in turn strongly questioned the importance of national security in presidential elections and also strongly downplayed (in my judgment) the threat that really does face us. Maybe the fact that I live in NYC and used to work in the World Financial Center, across the street from the World Trade Center, has an influence on my views, but I really don't think so, I just think I'm a realist.
Anyway - this is what I wrote and I think it's an important topic for all kossacks to consider:
With all due respect, I don't believe you really understand the threat that is posed to our nation by terrorism in the least. It is not accurately measured by taking the number who died on 9/11 and weighing that against the number who died in other wars, that's for sure.
Let me lay it out for you. There are thousands and thousands of people around the world whose only goal is to kill as many Americans as possible, and they have no problem in dying doing so - many would welcome it. And they are trying very hard to get weapons that would make 9/11 like like a Sunday school picnic. Many people who have studied these issues believe there is a VERY real possibility that they will succeed in exploding a nuclear bomb in one of our cities in the not very distant future. In addition to the hundreds of thousands that they would kill if they do that, they will destroy our economy - we would have a second great depression - and it would almost surely be the end of virtually all civil liberties in this nation for many years if not for all time.
National security was not as big an issue in earlier decades because there were not major differences between the two parties in those days. Americans didn't question the Democrats' committment to national security until 1972. How many Presidential elections have we won since 1972? 3 out of 9. Which 3? One in the wake of Watergate, and Clinton twice in the era between the fall of Communism and 9/11.
If you don't believe that national security is why we don't win the White House, with all due respect, you are part of the problem.