The Reagans

[strandinthewind]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/....ap/index.html

Fire Away from both sides - those of us in the middle will take cover

[strandinthewind]

Another article. This one addresses what I was saying about Kerry not looking like he has any passion!!

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news...1214kerry.html

[dissention]

Originally posted by strandinthewind
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/....ap/index.html

Fire Away from both sides - those of us in the middle will take cover

He seems to be the only "touting" the accomplishments this year.

Words fail me when it comes to what he said in that address. Words fail me.

He actually seems to wholeheartedly believe that the war in Iraq was a war on terror. Excuse me while I .

[dissention]

Originally posted by strandinthewind
Well, I just got back from the luncheon. E. Cummings (sp.?) head of the black Congrssional caucas (sp.?) indicated they were going to endorse Dean later today or tommorow at another speech. Impressive.

Dean is very short. He spoke well and went after the Bush Admin failure to prosecute Ken Lay of Enron which pleased me greatly. I also briefly spoke with Dean. He seemed like a nice enough guy but you could tell he was exhausted (who ouldn't be). He looked me in the eye and was forthright. So, I can say I liked him.

But, we shall see about the vote!!!

Feel free to ask questions.

See, he is inviting the Republicans to eat him alive. He's incredibly stupid if he thinks he can speak about Ken Lay/Enron and not have it brought up that he turned his state into a tax shelter for them.

Did he make any comments about his sealed records, Strandie?

Glad you had a good time, though. But...go to a Kerry fundraiser and you'll have an even better time.

[strandinthewind]

Originally posted by dissention
Words fail me.

Let us hope this is a recurring event



No - Dean did not discuss the records. He was a good speaker. We shall see what happens in the next few months. Whatever the outcome, it at least will be interesting.

[dissention]

Originally posted by strandinthewind
Let us hope this is a recurring event

What has Bush done, though? He hasn't done anything except makes situations worse and it all started the day he took office. What has he done? He's opposed an increase of $6,000 in benefits to the families whose relatives die in combat, he's gone from having $127 billion in budget surplus to having $374 billion in budget deficit, has worked to downgrade 200 health laws, nine of his Defense Board members sit on the board of a defense contractor, has done nothing to help the 43 million without insurance, cut $300 from federal programs that provide heat to the poor, andhe ignored the Geneva Convention on warfare. Who can say that the "good" outweighs the bad???

And yes, it will be very interesting to see what happens with Dean.

[strandinthewind]

Originally posted by dissention


What has Bush done, though? He hasn't done anything except makes situations worse and it all started the day he took office. What has he done? He's opposed an increase of $6,000 in benefits to the families whose relatives die in combat, he's gone from having $127 billion in budget surplus to having $374 billion in budget deficit, has worked to downgrade 200 health laws, nine of his Defense Board members sit on the board of a defense contractor, has done nothing to help the 43 million without insurance, cut $300 from federal programs that provide heat to the poor, andhe ignored the Geneva Convention on warfare. Who can say that the "good" outweighs the bad???

And yes, it will be very interesting to see what happens with Dean.

I disagree they ignored the Geneva Convention regarding POW's because Al-Q did not really fall under most of the provisions, unless you consider Al-Q as the official army of Afganistan, which Afganistan denied, which changes the situation drastically. In any event, the distinction is without a difference to me because we are the "good guys" and should rise above any situation like Gitmo. But, we did not.

Also, Dean said an interesting thing, that was something to the effect of the new Medicare plan is so good and thought out, it makes you pay like 1,200 before costing you $1,500" or something like that. It was pretty jarring.

[Rob67]

Originally posted by dissention
He seems to be the only "touting" the accomplishments this year.

Uh...has any president acted any differently?

Words fail me when it comes to what he said in that address. Words fail me.

He actually seems to wholeheartedly believe that the war in Iraq was a war on terror. Excuse me while I .

That would be the difference of ideologies of the parties. Bush and the Republicans feel they are combating terrorism by liberating Iraq. By removing one of the most oppressive regimes in the heartland of terror, they are hoping that the resulting economic and media freedoms will allow a democratic state to prosper there. These freedoms counter the very foundation on which terrorism is based. Hopefully, the resulting prosperity will put pressure on the surrounding nations to follow suit. Much like what happened in Eastern Europe after the Soviet Union collapsed.

This is at least a new policy. Appeasing and coexisting with the regimes in this region was not working as we have seen with both WTC attacks in '93 and '01 along with the hundreds of attacks around the world. At least this administration is trying to do something different and stabalize the region.

So while you are entitled to disagree with those efforts, I haven't heard or seen a better alternative to dealing with terrorism in the long run. I hope it leads to peace. Only history will tell if they were correct.

Rob

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by dissention


And yes, it will be very interesting to see what happens with Dean.

Especially now.

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by Rob67

. Bush and the Republicans feel they are combating terrorism by liberating Iraq. Rob

That's a lie. Maybe now that they have Mr. Hussein in custody they can ask him where the weapons of mass destruction are hidden and also about his alleged attempt to purchase uranium from Niger. Meanwhile, all we have is a fallen powerless dictator and the guy who killed 3000 of our citizens is still running around out there and his organization is regrouping and growing stronger by the day. You'll forgive me if I don't jump up and down about this recent development. How many people will die in Iraq today? Tomorrow? Next week?

[Rob67]

Originally posted by gldstwmn
That's a lie.

That's an opinion.

Are all Liberals gloom and doom?

[Rob67]

Originally posted by gldstwmn
How many people will die in Iraq today? Tomorrow? Next week?

Hopefully not that many. But the ones that do will hopefully be sacrificing themselves for the greater good of humanity and the stability of the region. You have to look at this in regards to the long term effects. Again, no better plan to combat terrorism has been presented, only naysaying, so I support the present one as the best answer so far.

Rob

[strandinthewind]

I have to agree that post 9/11 and IMO, it was too dangerous to leave SH as the leader of Iraq. Here is why I think that.

SH had had WMD and had used them un the past on other countries as well as his own people. As I mentioned before, the world gave him 11 years to prove he did not have the WMD the world thought he had. The burden was on him, not us. I think it is important to remember SH had to present the inspectors with the evidence of the destroyed WMD. For 11 years he never did. Instead, he sent us on an 11 year cat and mouse game, which was in clear violation with the many mandates and resolutions of the UN over an 11 year perios. Also, all US intelligence and intelligence from pther countries (excluding the nuclear stuff that is false) indicated for the last 11 years that SH had WMD. So, I think once we knew that people who hate us (which SH clearly was) were willing to come over here and blow us up, I think that was enough to say to SH after 11 years enough is enough. The world via the UN said that and SH still did nothing and continued his games of come over here and inspect, but in defiance of the UN, I will show you nothing you ask for. So, the world and we had two choices, let SH stay in power and take a chance on whether he had these WMD or remove him. I think the risk of leaving him in power was too great. So, I say we did the right thing by removing him and SH has no one to blame but himself because he defied the world for 11 years.

Having said that, I think the Bush adminsitration blatantly lied to us to make their case of exigent circumstances (nuclear weapons) and they have made a post-war mess (although capturing SH is a great happening).

My $0.02

[gldstwmn]

Strand, did you watch Tim Russert this morning? If so what was all the hullabaloo concerning Rumsfeld and Tenet?

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by Rob67
That's an opinion.

Are all Liberals gloom and doom?

Yes it is my opinion and yes death kinda makes me gloomy.