No, this assumes that the French were inclined to help us combat terrorism, which they certainly were. Disarming Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with fighting terrorism, since he wasn’t supporting any U.S.-directed terrorism in the first place.
The self-imposed blindness of many republicans is an absolute disgrace to this country and to those who have served and died to both maintain the integrity of our constituional values, and who have fought and condemned regimes worldwide for using the same attitude and tactics our president insists is our “right”.
Shame is a sad thing to feel for ones country.
Which constitutional values would these be, Quint Essence. The Second Amendment values many Democrats would gladly toss away, leaving my rights as a gun owner at the whim of a judge or an ATF regulator. How about First Amendment values like truly free speech that doesn’t pass PC codes at liberal run universities. How about true freedom of religion, also guaranteed by the First Amendment. Do you also condemn the recent instances of people getting fired for refusing to remove their crucifixes at work?
These threats to liberty, and our constitutional values that our fighting men and women have defended, are shameful indeed.
I’d vote for nearly anyone over Bush. My preference would be for Wesley Clark as I think he’d do better with the southern voters. I will give Dean credit for having the guts to call a spade a spade and telling us that Emperor Bush has no clothes. How the angry schtick plays in November is anyone’s guess. If the Republicans continue to respond as they have with the infamous “Volvo-driving latte-drinking New York Times-reading…” ad, then the Dems have a real chance to win the White House and the House.
I like Dean primarily because he has the nuts to actually have opinions and positions and stick to them. Democratic politicians have been getting more and more meek and non-confrontational, unwilling to say anything that could be interpreted negatively by someone, somewhere, and it pisses me off. It’s not a victory to get a Democrat in office if they have to become a Republican to do it. I want to be represented by a politician who actually stands for something beyond just getting elected and re-elected, or not being a Republican.
I like that Dean will confront Bush on foreign policy, the economy, the environment, and his constant giveaways to the richest of the rich. If he loses, that’s democracy. But I actually think he has a better chance than the other Democratic candidates, even if some of his positions are not exactly the same as those of the polls. People vote based on their gut reaction as much as anything else, and I think that’s been a big problem for the Democrats – if you’re slippery and evasive and change your opinions with the wind, you don’t come across as trustworthy.
I can’t stand this mentality. You can at least find someone who you think will be good in office, rather than someine who wouldn’t. There are enough candidates out there, and I’m sure that you could find one who would work.
Getting back to the OP, why Dean? I have two main reasons.
First, our country faces a serious long term problem: terrorism. Large number of people in the Muslim world hate us and are willing to go to war against us. The root of the problem is what these people see as unjustified interference by the United States in their affairs. We station troop in Saudi Arabia, back up Israel, support governments that are frequently abusive to their own people, and now we’ve started a fullscale war without any justification.
Arab terrorists to not “hate democracy” or any such nonsense. Have you seen any terrorists attacking Norway, Canada, or any of the dozens of other peaceful democratic countries in the world? What they hate is being pushed around by people who they view as infidels. The obvious solution is to stop pushing them around. Withdraw our troops, end our involvement, and don’t give their governments and propaganda sources any more material to use against us. Candidates who approve of invading Arab countries for unclear reasons and with ambiguous goals are only guaranteeing that more terrorists will be recruited and that the problem will persist.
Second, our country faces another serious long term problem: the budget. In the upcoming decades, we’ve guaranteed that the government will pay out far more money through Medicare and Social Security than it can take in. We need to solve this problem. But before we can solve it, we need to stop making it worse. The current Congress has approved the largest new entitlement in decades and given massive handouts to any industry that asks for them. Dean is the only candidate with a proven record of financial responsibility.
What I’m afraid of is that the Democratic nominee will pull his punches with Bush. Dean has indicated he will hit hard and keep hitting. Clark, belatedly, has started saying so too.
There are many reasons for Al Gore’s loss in 2000, but one of them must be that he kept the gloves on. How can a Democrat win who will not fight?
Combine that reality with Dean’s fundraising prowess so far and he’s starting to look pretty good.
Notice I haven’t mentioned policy, character, etc. yet. That’s because I plan to vote for whatever life form the Democrats nominate, even the useless Lieberman. Such is the extent, in my opinion, of the damage Bush has done, and would continue to do if reinstalled, to my beloved country.
Yeah, Lieberman actually has some principles. I guess that would be rather useless in the Dem camp nowadays. Sorry for the kind of cheap shot, but, wow, even as a libertarian, what I see nowdays coming out of your party disgusts me.
ITR, where have you been the last 20 years? After reading your comments, I find it hard to believe you’ve missed all that’s happened in that time.
I have an answer to the budget and how to solve those problems, though. Put a libertarian in.
For those of us who haven’t really kept up with the news, what is Deans stance on other things, like Israel and MidEast peace? North Korea and it supposed nukes? The school system?
I like Dean for a lot of reasons, but assuming he becomes the next Democratic candidate, I think the American public will have a real choice come November.
Bush and his cronies have finally come forth and admitted the whole premise for going into Iraq was bogus…there was no Iraqi connection with Osama, there were no weapons of mass destruction. In other words, the American public was conned. Now we are stuck in a mutli billion dollar per year war that has done nothing but get rid of one, of many, idiot despots…but ruined the international reputation of the USA and made us the bully enemy of not only a few Arab countries, but a large percentage of the populations of “friendly” countries.
Would anyone reading this travel anywhere in the world with a big old USA flag on their backpack? Only if you were suicidal. We used to be able to do that in the past.
Dean has tapped into my (no longer) silent rage of Bush ruining the reputation of America.
I have an American flag on my car, and soon I will be plastering a Dean For President bumper sticker right next to it. May I suggest other Dean fans do as well. Don’t let American flags become a de-facto Republican emblem.
I’ll be damned if I let the Republicans continue to ruin America’s reputation and run their little bully-pulpit.
You hush up and get back in your place boy!
cracks the cat-o-nine-tails at the local dems