Karl Rove in August before the ‘02 election keenly held back his president’s talk of war until October when voters pay attention to elections, particularly since the administration had dropped the ball in Afghanistan which no longer made the headlines, cooling the hot image of Bush as a wartime leader. Rove also knew that dread implanted in the social consciousness above all else in politics is the primary drive and would dwarf the Democrats’ calculation that it was the economy most in ...
Either we choose a strong federation or we depend on divisive states to do what is right for themselves. Either we are Americans first or primarily Texans, Montanans, or New Yorkers — try to imagine an interstate highway without federal cohesion and revenue. As the Europeans are trying to unitize in the face of a thousand years of divisiveness, we with the exception of defense, strive to dismantle our united spirit. It is a matter of arrant pride that Las Vegas is the capital of g...
Indicative of a people in denial is that this, let alone all, presidential campaigns inevitably sidetrack issues. One There is clear cut denial that terrorism is feared at home now that the US has “taken” the war on terrorism to enemy soil. This leads to not taking intelligence and home security seriously as though terrorism has been safely exported. Two Uncontrollable deficits are not ...
A president cannot create jobs, but he can encourage new directions that lead to them. Millions of dissatisfied part-time workers who want to work full time should be deflected to other areas, such as defense against hurricanes by making wind-proof windows and shudders for general construction along our shorelines where demand would be intense, subsequently the prices would become reasonable and replace the mad dash for plywood. Architects and engineers could blueprint roof structure anchorag...
Reagan began a revolution in this country wherein the mythology of conservatism and rugged individualism took over the land driven by the manifesto that big government was the enemy and the only cure was big business unregulated. The Reagan honeymoon cannot continue for much longer; indeed, to some degree it suffered a setback during the Clinton years. Although it was resurrected in 2000 and seemingly its illusory system has reached a crescendo today, there are ominous signs that the manifest...
If girlie-men economics means that it is flexible and not musclebound, I’m all for it. Bush’s economic policy on the other hand is on steroids, which is another way of saying it will collapse from its dead weight of debt. … I wonder if Schwarzenegger in front of Marie Shriver has the guts to call the all the male Kennedys girlie-men. … Afghanistan is ostensibly doing well — tell that to the charitable organization Médecins Sans Frontières that withdrew from there because the new government fa...
Hello? … Either I 've been sleeping for thirty years or there is indeed a nasty war going on today and that Vietnam was finally over. Nevertheless, the war in Iraq does tie in with the war that ended thirty years ago. No, it has no connection with Kerry’s war record or anti-war efforts afterwards; nor, has it anything to do with Bush’ s national guard service. Yet it is certainly connected with the political aspect of the war in Vietnam: come hell or high water, President Johnson was going to...
What with journalists of late relying on dour imagination, hearsay and foggy memories, it does not astonish me that CBS would also engage in selective reporting without carefully checking documentation. [I sound like Draginol now.] Dan Rather, who clearly has no love for ‘41 and ‘43, the CBS executives should have been particularly suspicious. I am not saying that Rather deliberately joined in a conspiracy of fraudulent documentation, but because of his leanings, he probably enthusiastically ...
The current median income for a family of four is about $55,000 or approximately three times that of the poverty line at $19,000 for a family of four. The problem with these statistics when trying to arrive at a “living wage” that often is juxtaposed to the horrific rate of $5.15 an hour or $10,500, which if adjusted for inflation should be at $7.50 or $15,000, is in the difficulty of determining how much of the median and the poverty line owe to two salaries. If those at the four-family pove...
Political analysts are in agreement that presidential campaigns are too long and should be shortened to, say, two months; I maintain that campaigning is continuous from one election to the next. … If there is such a thing as illegal immigrants, what’s to prevent the native American from kicking all of us out? … In the ‘60 presidential debate, pundits claimed that Kennedy won because of Nixon’s five o’clock shadow; this time you can bet the Crawford Ranch that Bush wins on shadowy remarks that...
Will wonders never cease? … With the aid of 22 Republicans, the Democrats shot down the bill to mess with overtime — is hope really on the way? … Apparently it really is because FCC ruled that digital channels, even though their analog channel complies, are also required to air three hours a week of children shows. … The much ballyhooed “Owner Society” ignores the facts that most “ownership” is in the hands of bankers, much like the government is in the grubby hands of foreign lenders. … Look...
Truman was widely criticized for labeling the Korean War a “police action,” which he meant by that was not to equate the criminal incursion over the southern border with a major war, particularly when fresh in the mind was World War II. … Now there is the inference that a more “sensitive” president would turn to policing terrorism throughout the globe, suggesting that he would not unleash total war on terrorism. … Well, I have news for Cheney, without the clear and bold harboring of Al Qaeda ...
What most forget is that the war on Afghanistan was not preëmption but a justified war of vengeance in reaction to 9/11, not unlike the declaration of war following Pearl Harbor. … Preëmption came later under the extraneous guise of a clear and present danger unrelated to terrorism — in fact, it diverted attention from what mattered most. … The overuse of “war” actually relegates it to an effectual “war” on drugs, on poverty, on crime. In reality it should be perceived as an intensive strateg...
Whether near or in Cambodian waters the fact remains Kerry was in a theatre of war — and write it off as youthful exaggeration. … It is clear that Bush’s national guard tour is spotty. … but give him his credit due for not fleeing to Canada. … That said, let us now forget the past and concentrate on the campaign concerning the next four years. … Both candidates are fantasizing if they think that within five years they can balance or even reduce the deficit in face of mounting costs of war and...
When dealing with Senate votes, there is indeed a multilayered beast that lurks in the halls and closets of flip-floppers. Voting against the B1 bomber may be because you object to $800 toilet seats buried in the bill; or that the B52 bomber has performed magnificently for half a century. Voting for body armor could entail the omission of explosive-proof steel plates for humvees nor more tanks against the insurgents. When President, however, there is the luxury of taking on the appearanc...