Saturday, October 16, 2004

Random Thought of the Week

Is it a coincidence that we haven't received a "color-coded" terror alert since the administration took a lot of heat several months ago for using the alerts for political gain?

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Thursday, October 14, 2004

We Could Hire Our Own Midget, Even Shorter Than His

Thank god those are over. While ED enjoyed the first debate (probably b/c Kerry had a good showing) the final two presidential debates and the vice presidential debate accomplished absolutely nothing. Both candidates are taking quotes completely out of context, exaggerating claims and are accusing the other of charges that are just not accurate.

The one positive is that if a person is able to dedicate enough time to reading a wide variety of media outlets, along with listening to the candidates’ rhetoric, a picture can be derived of what exactly the differences are between the two candidates.

Bush believes that the only way to rid the world of terrorism is to forcefully push democratic ideals on those in predominantly Muslim nations, with Iraq being the first such encounter. Kerry believes that the use of force will only stand to further agitate the Muslim world, so we need to secure the nation domestically while searching for less aggressive means to reduce the risk of terrorism. That’s not to say Bush isn’t securing the domestic front as well, but a fairly solid argument could be made that the $120 billion spent in Iraq to date could have been much more wisely used securing our ports, energy facilities, bridges, tunnels, etc.

Bush believes that providing large tax breaks to corporate America and the wealthy will result in those entities and individuals spending more money, which will eventually lead to growth. Kerry believes in a nation that has a smaller margin between the nation’s richest and poorest and that America’s middle class has enough spending power to charge the economy. Bush has no concern for the deficit and believes that we can spend our way out of it by increasing revenues and thus increasing tax dollars. Kerry believes that growth can be better managed by cutting the deficit and reducing the highs and lows in the economy by maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Bush believes in an “ownership society” in which every American is fully responsible for managing their own healthcare, retirement, etc. Kerry believes that’s a recipe for disaster because large chunks of society would be left at risk in the case of a stock market correction, such as that which happened early in this century, or for the millions of Americans which have not had access to adequate education or economic means.

To ED, when you boil it all down, Bush is for aggressive actions that have the potential for big gains, but also have the potential for catastrophe. Kerry is for moderation, with a view that our nation has been highly successful and that small modifications should be made to existing programs, not complete transformations.

Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Oh Brother Where Art Thou
Character: Pappy O’Daniel campaign staff member
Setting: Pappy O’Daniel, the incumbent governor of Mississippi, is getting trounced in the polls at the hands of a populist candidate whose utilizing a midget to sweep away the corruption of the current regime. Pappy’s staff, running out of ideas, suggests that they get their own midget, but this one shorter than the competition… “We could hire our own midget, even shorter than his.”
The quote is relevant to this story how?: The campaign from both parties has turned in to which candidate can demonstrate the shorter midget. No longer is policy the central theme (although it probably was never the central theme), but instead who can succeed best at one-upping the opponent with a sound bite that’s not relevant or accurate.

Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Quote of the Day

"We threw everything but the kitchen sink at the economy. But, you've got to believe there's a Santa Claus to believe there's no cost for the gifts under the tree."
Diane C. Swonk, chief economist at the Bank One Corporation in Chicago, referring to the Bush administration's spending ways

Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Debate Thoughts III

The Bush team is in full attack and spin mode post G-Dub’s abysmal showing last week. The crux of the messaging, that Kerry is soft on terror because he sees the need for international support, isn’t new, but it’s definitely become the central anti-Kerry theme. Dare I say that it’s replaced “mixed message” and “flip-flopper”?

I just don’t get the reasoning behind this attack. But if the Bush administration has shown us anything in the past four years, it’s that nearly any message can be communicated and accepted by the general public if that message is repeated enough times. The “liberal” media was and continues to be a primary driver in the Bush communication machine, having been primarily responsible for the labeling of Kerry as a flip-flopper, when in reality Bush has been just as guilty, if not moreso, of changing course on a number of topics.

Anyhow, back to the point, can someone explain to ED why it’s a negative that Kerry believes the international community should be used as a litmus test? Afghanistan is a perfect example. The administration asked for and presented compelling evidence that suggested Afghanistan was harboring terrorists. By convincing and working through the international community, all parties were happy and the interim results were exceedingly successful, at least until we lost focus.

Bush is presenting this view of the world as being completely anti-American and adversarial, which just isn’t the case (or at least it wasn’t until he took the helm). The fact is that other Westernized countries are facing the same terrorist fears as the United States and have just as much to lose by not supporting American policy as ourselves. The point is that the countries that didn’t support an invasion of Iraq are our allies (so much so in fact that he’s now on a first name basis with his friend Vladimir in Russia – one of the funnier moments of the debate) and were clearly very under-whelmed by the arguments we made to invade. A global litmus test would’ve prevented what will soon be $200 billion in spending, a tarnished international reputation and most importantly the lives of more than 1,000 American soldiers.

ED personally found Kerry’s comments on a global litmus test one of the better moments of the debate. Here’s specifically what he said in the debate:

“No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to preempt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America. But if and when you do it, Jim, you've got to do in a way that passes the test—that passes the global test—where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.

Here we have our own secretary of state who's had to apologize to the world for the presentation he made to the United Nations. I mean, we can remember when President Kennedy, in the Cuban missile crisis, sent his secretary of state to Paris to meet with [French President Charles] de Gaulle, and in the middle of the discussion to tell them about the missiles in Cuba, [the secretary of state] said, "Here, let me show you the photos." And de Gaulle waved them off, and said, "No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me." How many leaders in the world today would respond to us, as a result of what we've done, in that way?”

Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Debate Thoughts II

There wasn’t a single question regarding Israel, Palestine and the rest of the Middle East. How can that be!? I have no idea of Kerry’s views on the subject, but would say it’s a fairly important topic, especially after Israel commented that they’d pre-emptively attack Iran if the country proved to have atomic weapons.

Coincidentally (okay, not coincidentally), the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is yet another conflict that has worsened in Bush’s time in office. His “roadmap” has completely disintegrated and Israel has basically decided to act unilaterally by withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Many arguments can be made from many different views that Israel’s actions are just, but that doesn’t change the fact that the US has been made to look foolish in the process as Ariel Sharon has consistently not listened to anything Bush has to say.


Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.

Initial Debate Thoughts

- How could anyone older than 10 really have thought that Bush “won” the debate last night. He said being president is “hard work” like 100 times… ummm, you’re the PRESIDENT! We KNOW it’s hard work. That doesn’t excuse yourself from making mistake after mistake. And by saying it’s hard work, isn’t that Bush basically saying that he knows he’s screwed up?

- The television and print coverage that’s resulted from the debate is another indication that this so called “liberal media bias” is complete crap. Bush made about three good points the whole night, while the rest of the time he sputtered over his words and re-iterated the same phrases about hard work and Kerry flip-flopping. The broadcast media generally pulled one of the handful of five second clips when Bush wasn’t fumbling for words or repeating himself. While the print media just re-gurgitated the debate and the talking points from both the Republican and Democtratic post-debate speakers.

- “He forgot Poland!” My favorite Bushism of the night. The statement was in response to Kerry’s comment that Bush didn’t develop a true international coalition for Iraq despite his statements to the contrary. Kerry noted the United Kingdom and Australia were really the only countries that provided meaningful support, which elicited the Poland comment from Bush. No offense to Poland, but its not exactly a superpower that acts as a proof point for Bush in defense that he did create a true coalition.

Stay tuned for more thoughts…


Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.