Amen.

It astounds me when I hear people saying they don't know if they can support Kerry.
As opposed to whom??!
Bush? Nader? Badnarik?
Kerry is far and away the best man out there, and people aren't seeing it!

Well, if what you and Jo 961 say is true, that makes 52% of the country wrong.....
It's not fair for John Kerry to be on four sides of two wars!!

Damn, that was a righteous rant.

Preciate the tip, DV.

I like the Rude Pundit's site.

But does he have to be so rude?

General Clarke,
Four sides of two wars?
According to the Bush Administration, the is only one war...The War on Terror.
However, it is obvious that even you can see (as they sing on Sesame Street) "One of these things is not like the other...One of these things just doesn't belong...etc."
Kerry was NEVER against the war in Afghanistan, so that leaves only one side to be on, as far as "The War on Terror" goes.
Now on to this other war we all seem to agree on...if you look up Sen. Kerry's speech that he gave before he voted to give the President "the authority to use military force" (which isn't the same as a pat on the back and "go git 'em"), you'll find statements like:

When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security and that of our allies in the Persian Gulf region. I will vote yes because I believe it is the best way to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. And the administration, I believe, is now committed to a recognition that war must be the last option to address this threat, not the first, and that we must act in concert with allies around the globe to make the world's case against Saddam Hussein.

As the President made clear earlier this week, "Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable." It means "America speaks with one voice."

And you know how log-winded Kerry gets, so I won't take up more space by posted more of the points he thought out before the vote...the proof that he was thinking ahead, but you can read the speech and see for yourself how he "saw into the future" and dropped little hints to this administration on "hey, you might want to thik about this before you...".
And he did it all BEFORE the war.
Here's the link, Wes:
http://john-kerry.tonyspencer.com/kerry-speech-10-9-2002.htm

So now you can clearly see that Kerry was on one side of that war, but only for ONE reason...the reason the administration gave us. I don't think that was too much to ask, do you?
Kerry is only against the Iraq war because the Bush Administration put us in a war that now is NOT about WMDs, but about .
Now that we are there, we need to stabalize the situation...on a Global scale.
But he already pointed that out...BEFORE the war started.

I disagree with one point: "What people forget about Kerry's protest days is that he was defending the lives of soldiers and that he was right."

I'm a vet and I have not forgotten.

Kerry's courage in standing up against the war in Vietnam was as heroic as his service in it. It was an act of profound loyalty to his country and to his brothers-in-arms.

Between Rude Pundit, Jo's pictures, Bolt,and Dave's comments I got a little misty eyed.
I'm getting too old to be this sentimental.
Its come down to the wire and so much depends on the outcome.
There's been a rash of interviews of undecided voters, I can't imagine what they're thinking.
Al this Kerry isn't perfect stuff is crap. The word perfect should be banned from all political discussions. The choose is between
a good man and a scroundel. Easy really.

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
Make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner.
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Bolts, the military had many of it's best people thinking ahead in the intel and ops plans business. Senator Kerry did not say one thing that had not been considered already. He has a long established pattern of windbagging everything to the point people
who don't agree with each other think he is agreeing with them. Kerry voted to give the President the authority to do whatever he(The President) decided was necessary. Kerry's grandstanding is just that. Dave, Lt Kerry could just as well have marched in support of the Vietnam War and it's troops and ended the ordeal sooner rather than later. If you think his going to Paris in '70
and meeting with the VC Madame Binh, and then returning to the US to call for withdrawal and reparations for North Vietnam was ok with you...we are lucky to still have our country!

General Wes,
The military had many of it's best people thinking ahead in the intel and ops plans business...but did the administration listen to them? Did we deploy the troops needed to secure the situation?
It is amazing how Bush can say that Kerry derides our troops by mentioning things like the 380 tons of explosives missing as being a sign of incompetence, and then turns around has Gullliani blame the troops for the snafu, not to mention court martial a few low levels for Abu Ghraib, cut their benefits, under equip them, and extend their tours (nothing like a captive audience, huh?). This administration has ignored military direction from the git go...this is war profiteering, cronyism, a GRAVY TRAIN. The CEOs has been running this thing and the military has taken a backseat. This is all about money, the war was just a "cool" way to package it. Why do you think they call it "theater"?
Kerry foreshadowed in his speech:

"Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the President is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies.
In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days--to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out.
If we do wind up going to war with Iraq, it is imperative that we do so with others in the international community, unless there is a showing of a grave, imminent--and I emphasize "imminent"--threat to this country which requires the President to respond in a way that protects our immediate national security needs."

He said one reason and one reason ONLY...now we rationalize why we are there, he stated the need to exhaust sanctions and UN involvement, he stated the need for allied force involvement, etc.
You can spin it all that you want, but his speech (if you read it for the first time today) sounds like armchair quarterbacking.
THAT...is vision! THAT is planning! THAT is a Leader!
But cash is king at BushCo. And they are racking it in. Blair will be voted out of office in England a year from now. The Bush administration told the opposition party leader that he was NOT welcome at the White House. England has had their very own, very personal "War on Terror" going on for quite some time now, and frankly, they're tired of it being put on the back burner. England will remove a significate portion of their troops from the coalition and the U. S. will have to take that offer of 3,000 monkeys that Burma or whomever offered it.
This administration and its cronies are just like the flock of seagulls in "Finding Nemo" (watch it even if you don't have kids...Ice Age is good too...Scrat is a riot).
Hardline Republicans need to "step into the strike zone and take one for the team", but we all know, that gets you blacklisted economically, or if your in Iraq...you're the unfortunate vitcim of a roadside IED.
Dissent is not tolerated...that alone is a warning sign.
I know that none of this will change your vote, but its great to be able to discuss these things with you.
But next time you see that "Wolves" commercial, remember those 3,000 monkeys we turned down. Because Al Qeada bought them and strapped RDX to every one of them.

Bolts, if I can soldier for LBJ and Jimmah, you can soldier for Bush.....bless us all.

YKW,
I'm sorry if I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I don't get the meaning of your post (except for the "bless us all").
Could you explain that for me, please?

1. Timely
   
2. Strategery
   
3. Webb wins
   
4. Huh?
   
5. Bunnypants in Bagdad
   
6. Outage
   
7. Filthy Lucre Watch
   
8. Playing the numbers
   
9. My letter to Countdown
   
10. Jefferson's Nigerian Scams