The rest of the world are cowards. Look at the vote in Spain, directly influenced by terrorism. Only we have the moral fortitude to root out evil and take care of business. Thank God for America. We can assure our own safety...otherwise....why the hell do we have the most powerful military ten times over? For window dressing? We defend ourselves and everyone else, yet ours is a thankless task.
Yes we are so brave and the Spanish are "cowards" ---- this is why Al Qaeda ran us out of Saudi Arabia without a fight.
Our military compared to the rest of the world's measley militaries is well, great. But in comparison to our needs, our military needs a great deal of expensive modernization and a new organization scheme, especially when it comes to the Army. Our USAF fighter fleet is old, we need more than 12 carriers, the Marines need a real transport helicopter (not that godawful V-22 Albatross) and we could always use more precision weapons, etc.
The description of the Spanish as a group of cowards if their government decides to pull troops out of Iraq can be leveled against the US for pulling troops out of Saudi Arabia. One of Al Qaeda’s main goals was to get our troops out of Saudi Arabia. They attacked us around the globe and at home and our troops were pulled out of Saudi Arabia. How can one consider Spain to be cowardly when the same argument whether right or wrong can be brought against our country? Do you see my point?
Spain just had the worst terrorist attack on it's soil since the Spanish Civil War and an incredible 11,000,000 Spaniards took to the streets of their cities immediately afterwards in protest, in the pouring rain... not cowering in their homes, but in the streets in their millions with the wreckage still smoldering. And they are cowards?? God help us... is this the best discourse we can come up with?
Hmmmm _____________ XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON MARCH 15, 2004 21:16:28 ET XXXXX GLOBE REPORTER CLAIMS TAPE RECORDED KERRY 'MORE' LEADERS NOT 'FOREIGN' LEADERS; TRANSCRIPTION 'SCREW-UP' A BOSTON GLOBE reporter at the center of a growing controversy over comments made by John Kerry last week in Florida now claims he "screwed-up" -- and John Kerry never bragged how "foreign leaders" privately backed his presidential bid! "I mistranscribed a key word," explains Patrick Healy, a political reporter for the BOSTON GLOBE who covered the event in a pool capacity. "Listening to the audio recorder now, in the quiet of my house, I hear 'more leaders' and I am certain that 'more leaders' is what Senator Kerry said." MORE Healy claims in an e-mail correction: "Transcribing on the bus in Florida, and again on the plane ride to Tampa, I heard 'foreign leaders' rather than 'more leaders'. I am very sorry for this screw-up, and please feel free to hold me accountable to your editors and higher-ups." It was Healy's pool reporting of Kerry's "I've met foreign leaders" quote that ignited the original firestorm, and resulted in a dare from Secretary of State Colin Powell to name names! BOSTON GLOBE reporter's email correction: Subject: FW: Senator Kerry's remark at fundraiser about foreign leaders wanting him to beat Bush Poolers, Given the growing attention to Senator Kerry's remark at the Fla. fundraiser about foreign leaders wanting him to beat Bush, and Kerry's subsequent statements that he'd merely "heard from" leaders, I went back to my recording of the event to re-confirm his remarks and put them in context. I wanted to provide that for all of you as well as CORRECT the record on a key word that I mistranscribed. When Kerry concluded his stump to the Florida fundraisers and donors, Milton Ferrell, Kerry's Florida finance chair, piped up: MILTON FERRELL: "This is more than just the 50 states. You travel around outside the states, the people are still [inaudible] Europeans and elsewhere, they're counting on the American people. They hate Bush, but they know we're going to get rid of him. They're counting on us. [inaudible] It's a lot more than just [inaudible]-" KERRY: "I've been hearing it, I'll tell ya. The news, the coverage in other countries, the news in other places. I've met more leaders who can't go out and say it all publicly, but boy they look at you and say, you gotta win this, you gotta beat this guy, we need a new policy, things like that. So there is enormous energy out there. Tell them, whereever they can find an American abroad, they can contribute," a reference to donations, prompting laughter from the crowd. Transcribing on the bus in Florida, and again on the plane ride to Tampa, I heard "foreign leaders" rather than "more leaders." Listening to the audio recorder now, in the quiet of my house, I hear "more leaders" and I am certian that "more leaders" is what Senator Kerry said. I am very sorry for this screw-up, and please feel free to hold me accountable to your editors and higher-ups. -- Patrick
The Bush administration cast doubts on John Kerry's credibility Monday, strongly suggesting that the presumptive Democratic nominee lied when he said some foreign leaders privately backed his presidential bid. Kerry denied the White House's assertion, saying "I stand by my statement." "I'm not making anything up at all," Kerry told The Associated Press. "They're just trying to change the subject." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20040316/ap_on_el_pr/kerry "I'm not going to betray a private conversation with anybody," he said Sunday. "I have heard from people, foreign leaders elsewhere in the world who don't appreciate the Bush administration and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040315/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_20
I don't doubt that there are foreign leaders who would prefer Kerry to Bush, but this whole thing is starting to sound like Brian Johnson's talk of having a girlfriend in Canada. "She lives in Canada, met her at Niagra Falls. You wouldn't know her."
moreover, kerry claims the leaders "looked him in the eye," and he hasn't traveled outside the US since he began his campaign, and there's been no opportunity to meet with any foreign leaders who were in the US in that time span. clearly kerry just made this up for political effect. kinda makes you wonder what else he's made up, perhaps some of those stories about atrocities in vietnam?
Minor point... Kerry never said the eye bit. Again, here's the quote... KERRY: "I've been hearing it, I'll tell ya. The news, the coverage in other countries, the news in other places. I've met more leaders who can't go out and say it all publicly, but boy they look at you and say, you gotta win this, you gotta beat this guy, we need a new policy, things like that." The way he uses look sounds more general, as we might use to "look" at the Spanish election. Still, even though the transcript is revised, it's not clear as to the full context... I take it to mean he could be talking about leaders like Ambassadors and such. Regardless, it's a silly case the GOP is trying to make on the surface. Beneath the surface, we see from some here they are trying to do the same thing with Kerry that was tried with Clark... make him out to be some conspiracy loon when he actually tells the truth. As an aside, in 2000, the GOP did a good job of keeping the fringe silent. A little controversy like this doesn't really hurt Kerry, but inflames the lunatics who suspect everyone not in Delay's pocket is a Manchurian candidate. The more vocal they are, the more it helps push those moderates to the Dems.
i couldn't disagree more. some of us on the right are actually open to ideas outsideout natural ideological bent, and are quite frank about the shortcomings of the bush administration. the more i see kerry tho (note, not "read about", but actually watch and listen to him), the more i become convinced he's the wrong guy for the dem party and the country in general. he'll say anything for political effect, the proverbial loose canon, and he's utterly bereft of original ideas. this is in fact what attracts many of us to the neocon side, fresh ways of lookinng at old, seemingly intractable problems. kerry is mcgovern-esque on foreign policy and buchannanesque on trade. not an attractive combination. and he combines all that with the personal warmth of al gore at his most hectoring. as the electorate gets to know him the will quickly tire of his bullying style. you see combative, but reference what that style did for gore in the 2000 debates.
when dean went off on one of his paranoid rants, you got the sense that he'd actually convinced himself his darkest imaginings were true. with kerry it's so transparently politically calculated that his charges ring false. voters will pci up on this and punish him, or at least not reward him, for it in the long run.
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