We met a another nice fellow, not a Kiwi, but an Englishman, on what was supposed to be a Dolphin Swim; it rather wound up being a boat tour of the Bay of Islands, watching dolphins swimming away from us, very quickly. Anyhoo, somehow we got on the subject of the War in Iraq (every extended conversation we had there with anybody eventually touched on Iraq, I might add), and found that we were all in agreement: A travesty. When bidding him safe journeys as we left the boat, his parting words to us were “Vote for John Kerry…please!” I suppose that was rather presumptuous of him, but it never occured to me to be indignant; I was too astonished by the request. There was a sincere urgency in his voice, and I don’t doubt he really felt strongly about it. It’s rather humbling to realise your own politics can have such an impact on other people, enough that they would themselves be impolitic and request you vote their preference. He was such a pleasant and polite person, again, it was just astonising to hear.
hehe… yep I agree with the “more BS”… but BS under control doesn’t do much damage. Remember that Bush has been running amuck since 9/11. Seems that the idea of the division of powers between the 3 branches was totally forgotten…
So maybe Kerry's presidency will be a bit slow on the approval of projects front... but you won't see the spend free ways of the current gang.
Worst case scenario under Bush administration:
They’ve already said that, in the face of the threat of terrorism, certain constitutional rights can/should be abrogated, like rights to a speedy, fair, impartial trial; like rights not to imprisoned without being charged; and like freedom of speech. Hence, under Bush, we can expect a worst case scenario is that, to combat terrorism, all constitutional rights are set aside … except the right to bear arms.
Under that scenario, it will soon be apparent that there will be internal rioting and choas, so the right to bear arms will be limited to people who can prove they voted for Bush, and we’ll lose secret ballot, too.
Worst case scenario under Kerry:
We might wind up with a government-sponsored health care program (“socialist medicine”) that would ensure that everyone in the country can have access to affordable health care. And, horror of horrors, this would probably mean that the richest 5% of the population might have to pay more taxes.
Whooooo. I come from another thread where someone said he believed that the bulk of this board is fairly centrist, with extremists on each side occupying a minority position. This was stated in counterpoint to another poster who said the board has a reputation for being absolutely filled with leftists, with a small hardcore rightist block.
Anyone wanting the answer as to which is right should simply come to this thread.
Honestly. Bush supporters must be willfully blind and deaf not to realize the sheer incompetence of their Boy Wonder and the position he’s put us in on the international stage. I simply cannot even imagine anything Kerry could do that would make that position worse. Period. The mind boggles.
On the other hand, I can easily see how Bush’s current policies continued could plunge us even further down the scale. And the turn in world opinion about Americans (as opposed to the American government) should we decide to put the First Chimp back into office.
Doggy Knees, 'luci, Reeder, ElvisL1ves, Alricthegoth et.al., jump off their respective bridges and we won’t have any more conspiracy theories to amuse and amaze us.
Sly, you don’t have to be a “leftist” to expect horrible, disastrous things of a second Bush Administration. Some centrists, even some conservatives, feel the same way.
John, do you really think a second Bush term will mean the end of conspiracy theories, here or anywhere else? I think you’ve got it backwards.
I think you need to be careful to judge based on who posts to what thread – a “what’s the worst that could happen” will attract far more anti-Bush people (who think a lot of the worst has already happened) than anti-Kerry people (who don’t see Kerry as a “danger”, just as wrong-headed.)
I also think that these boards tend to attract people who think – I hate to say “intellectuals”, perhaps I just mean people with intellectual curiousity. We’ve got a much higher proportion of college-educated, independent thinkers here than the mainstream population. And such people tend to be “progressive,” looking for innovation and change, and hence, left-leaning; rather than “conservative” and comfortable with status quo.
We also get very few top business leaders, for instance, who don’t have time for such frivolity, and we get lots of lower-level employees. That also tends to be more Democratic than Republican.
I think that’s a very good point, and I may even be one of those non-leftists who agrees with the horrible disastrous things from Bush prophecies (although not to the raging nutso level I see on here, where some seem to be coming close to advocating the end of the world in rolling fire with Bush riding the whore of Babylon into battle).
I think, however, that were the people truly typically centrists or even conservatives with bad things to say about Bush, that you would get far more comments regarding Kerry. Instead, it for the most part is a Bush bash, and in a very gruesome and petty way.
There’s clearly a big hatred agenda here. These people are not centrists; if you played a “Barbara Streisand or Doper quote” game with a good chunk of the stuff that’s said on these boards, I’m not sure you’d guess better than 50/50 for most.
There are plenty of conservatives who despise the Bush Admin. Plenty of conservatives who are on the anybodybutBush bandwagon.
The Bush Admin deserves the loathing it generates.
Maybe, but I have no idea how this was responsive to my post. Does anyone read what people write anymore? I said in my very post that it is a good point that conservatives may dislike Bush, but were their truly a fair number of centrists and conservatives on this board, you would also see more people bashing Kerry. How is this responsive to that, other than skimming my post and assuming I would simply respond with “Bush good, no conservative dislike Bush?”
On what basis? Aside from muckraking from folks like the Swift Bullshitters For Bush, Kerry’s political career has been mostly low-profile, unglamorous stuff. Expecting an equal number of “centrists” to “bash Kerry” just to have numbers equal to Bush after four years as POTUS is silly; Bush draws the lion’s share of criticism because he’s had the lion’s share of responsibility between the two.
Funny, when I read that the first time, it looked more like this:
“I think, however, that were the people truly typically centrists or even conservatives with bad things to say about Bush, that you would get far more comments regarding Kerry.”
This phrasing implies that “the people” referred to were not “truly typically centrists or even conservatives” because there were not “far more comments regarding Kerry.”
Especially when it is coupled with this:
“These people are not centrists…”
It certainly seems as if you were impugning people’s self reported political leanings as unreliable because they did not generate “far more comments regarding Kerry.”
So I replied to let you know that even though the quantity of comments regarding Kerry were not what you had expected these people actually can be conservatives.
How was I to know you actually meant the something else you just now posted?
You’re getting all tricksy, are you?
As I mentioned it was not responsive to that. It was in response to this:
“I think, however, that were the people truly typically centrists or even conservatives with bad things to say about Bush, that you would get far more comments regarding Kerry.”
“These people are not centrists…”
Yes, **Sly ** - do you think that all criticism comes down to “bashing”, motivated only by partisan affiliation? That’s the only basis for expecting or even desiring some foolish numerical parity. Or is at least some of the criticism you encounter here the result of analysis of the facts, in relation to thought-out principles of citizenship and democracy and responsibility to each other and the world?
John Carter, you brought my name up as a “conspiracy theorist” - what have I “theorized” about that hasn’t checked out as true? Or does that just hurt too much to contemplate squarely?
If a Bush/Kerry ticket were elected? Well, let’s see, John Edwards would be in the Senate, I guess, & Dick Cheney in private life–my only problem is that it wouldn’t be Kerry/Bush.
It doesn’t hurt at all. I just feel it will be a terrible loss if Bush wins and you dudes of the Brotherhood of Bush Bashers[sup]TM[/sup] deep six yourselves.
I guess I should have included a smiley face. If one enters the domain of the lefties, is it required that a sense of humor be checked at the door, like a raincoat?
