A Conservative Journalist's Case Against Bush

[bobbcat]

This piece does offer some food for thought:

Vote For A Man, Not A Puppet
By Charley Reese

Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's re-election,
they are really voting for the architects of war, Dick Cheney, Donald
Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative
ideologues and their corporate backers.

I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a front
man, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration.
Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president
in my memory.

It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take
away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed
that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately
in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently.

John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to think
and who knows that the world is a great deal more complex than Bush's
comic-book world of American heroes and foreign evildoers. It's unfortunate
that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very intelligence and refusal
to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his presidential election efforts.

But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed that
people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never
will be.

People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their
stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far
from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he
won't fool me twice.

It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly
increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution and
the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of American jobs
is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits don't matter, and
that people should not know what their government is doing. Bush is the most
prone-to-classify, the most secretive president in the 20th century. His
administration leans dangerously toward the authoritarian.

It's no wonder that the Justice Department has convicted a few
Arab-Americans of supporting terrorism. What would you do if you found
yourself arrested and a federal prosecutor whispers in your ear that either
you can plea-bargain this or the president will designate you an enemy
combatant and you'll be held incommunicado for the duration?

This election really is important, not only for domestic reasons, but
because Bush's foreign policy has been a dangerous disaster. He's almost
restarted the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race. America is not
only hated in the Middle East, but it has few friends anywhere in the world
thanks to the arrogance and ineptness of the Bush administration.

Don't forget, a scientific poll of Europeans found us, Israel, North Korea
and Iran as the greatest threats to world peace. I will swallow a lot of
petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man in the White House with
brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it.

[telos2000]

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Charley Reese
For Wednesday, June 9, 2004

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No Real Choice

Once more, Americans will be forced to vote for a man instead of a policy. It doesn't say much for self-government that the American people are almost never given a chance to vote on major policy issues.

The trouble is that Sen. John Kerry, as his campaign has developed, is saying essentially this: I support the same goals as President Bush, but I can pull them off better than he can.

What about those Americans who don't share President Bush's goals? What about those who don't think we should have a policy of pre-emptive war? What about those who think we should just pull out of Iraq now? What about those who think free trade is a fraud? What about those who think America's borders should be sealed? What about those who believe we should be fair-minded in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue instead of giving Israel a blank check? What about those who believe that outsourcing American jobs should be brought to an abrupt halt?

Well, too bad. You can stay home. Once more, the Democratic Party is proving that it is not really a party of opposition, but rather a tweedledee to the Republican tweedledum. I had some hope and faith in Howard Dean, but unfortunately Kerry has decided to run on the platform "I am not Bush."

That might be OK for fanatic partisans who hate Bush personally and lust to get their hands on all of the presidential patronage. It is, however, a slap in the face to true self-government. The American people are entitled to decide the major policy issues of the day via elections. When both candidates are virtually interchangeable, the people are denied this opportunity, and for all practical purposes, we no longer have a truly democratic country.

In regard to the Iraq War, Kerry has put himself in the position of a prosecutor who says to a murderer, "Well, now that you've already killed this guy, we have no choice but to make sure you get away it." Kerry says the method of going to war and the reasons we went to war were wrong, but since we went to war we have to continue the occupation. To keep jobs in America, he wants to give tax breaks to corporations that already pay far, far less than their fair share of the tax burden.

Kerry says the Europeans will like him better than they do Bush. Well, as often as I have criticized Bush for his blunders, I really don't give a hoot whether the Europeans like our choice of presidents or not. It's none of their business. If we wish to elect a party boy who would no doubt get lost on a guided tour of Europe, that's still our choice to make, not theirs.

I'm disappointed in Kerry. He is making the mistake intellectuals often make. He thinks he can win with laborious explanations of the nuances of differences he has with Bush not over policy, but over the implementation of that policy. Somebody in his campaign had better tell him quick that the American voting population is not into nuances. They want a choice between bourbon and scotch, not a choice between brands of scotch.

At the present, his message is muddled. He seems to be hoping that Bush will defeat himself or be defeated by events. That is a shaky basis for a presidential campaign. God knows he needs a new speechwriter. He has a tendency, like most senators, to drone on and on long past the time his audience's eyes have glazed over. In the meantime, the Bush campaign is spending about 75 percent of its ample funds on attack ads, most of them composed of lies or deliberate distortions.

But politics is not based on truth or on facts. It is based on perceptions. Lies take their toll. It is said that Kerry is a strong closer and a good debater. Maybe so. We'll have to wait and see. Right now, except for the Bush haters, he's not giving us much reason to vote.


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© 2004 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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Does he flip-flop too or what?

[bobbcat]

He does not appear to be a flip-flop to me, but someone who belongs on the list who might vote for "none of the above."

[luvmetender]

I think we may see more of a Kerry swing when he finally announces his VP choice. And, IMO, Kerry will trounce Bush in the debates. I don't care about party lines, I care about who is leading this country, and Bush, CLEARLY, isn't a leader. Is Kerry? Dunno... but I think our country deserves a chance to find out.

[prism68]

I agree with some points in the original article; especially when it comes to spending by this administration.
However, I can think of nothing scarier than a Kerry presidency. His desire to dance with the devil (also known as the U.N.) will bring certain disaster to our country, I fear.

[bobbcat]

His desire to dance with the devil (also known as the U.N.) will bring certain disaster to our country, I fear.

Yep, that is the thought that always brings me back to my resolve to "pull that lever" for Bush this fall. National security is a top priority, and although I think Bush needs to pass out a few pink slips, one never has to worry about Bush slipping into the back pocket of the UN. Thank goodness.