Why would anyone make a judgement about a candidates fitness for the presidency concerning what he did or did not do as a 20 year old? Are any of us still the same person we were 30 years ago? Most of us were either consumed by unrealistic idealism or pure hedonism, some us were zygotes. Most negative campaigning is just static. It looks like we will have a pretty clear choice between philsophical approaches. That's really about all that matters. The same staff lawyers will still make the decisions and compromises.
AS for the Post's editorial comment it's misleading(being kind). Kerry urging action with or without foreign support insinuates that Kerry wanted to use troops or move in ala Bush. Kerry believed that something should be done. Clinton bombed and elimminated WMD's according to Bush's man, David Kay. So Kerry was correct. As for whitewashing his ani-war activities, Kerry is under no obligation to do so.
So, basso, the answers to my questions? I'm assuming he was not pictured in the photo, and that he did not take the photo. (Correct me if I'm in error). So, we're agreed? The photo is irrelevant, and it should have no affect on intelligent citizens anywhere in the country. Good. Now, as for all the information you posted, I am actually surprised by it. I'm not kidding, I'm surprised by the eloquence and consistent nature of it, considering the enormous spread in times. Want to take some Bush quotes from a similar spread of years? That could be really fun. So I come away more impressed overall with John Kerry, though I still will vote for Edwards in the primary I think. The negative part of your post, for Kerry, is his voting and support records from Gulf War I through the Clinton years, if those are indeed factual. They're definitely conveyed with extreme prejudice and bias, but I'll be interested in confirming those exact public stands in their full context. Thanks for the info. edit: wonderful post, GeneP. Hope we can all keep such reasonable thoughts in mind for the next number of months.
I'm sure a doctored one will come out soon and be published and spread all over the "liberal" media just like the one with Jane Fonda was.
Totally agreed. I remember reading a book about changing your career and the author asked something along the lines of, "If you needed career counseling today, would you go to an 18-year-old for advice? Of course not. So, why would you expect that your major in college would be the driving force in your career as an older adult?" But, politics is in some ways like crime. If you commit a serious offense at the age of 18, chance are that will be how you are labelled even when you are 60. Hell, Fred Grandy is a Senator but he is still often referred to as "a former television actor who starred on the series the Love Boat, Senator Fred Grandy said..." Of course it is often irrelevant, but that rarely matters when it comes to politics.
basso, can you see why it means that I have a high opinion of you when I believe you are very distinct from the likes of T_J? I think you are more interested in the good of the nation and your fellow citizens than you are some moronic frat-esque reduction of important issues to sports team rhetoric. "Go team! Win at all costs! The other team is a bunch of sissies! CASE CLOSED." Boring. If we want to divide up teams, what does that get us? A lot less intelligent, obviously, and ready to waste a great deal of valuable time and energy.
Campaign officials said in interviews that they plan substantial positive advertising about the president, focused on his proposals rather than accomplishments, Got to love them for the honesty. Recently we saw Bush declare that he has a plan for 2.6 million jobs by election time. Looks like he had to back off of that. He's got a Moon-Mars proposal , but it didn't fly too well. We had the Africa-aids proposal, but it wasn't funded. Same with No Child Left Behind. The guy is shameless. I'm betting Bush will propose something like a monster project to clean up the environment or some such. Such proposal to be funded eventually once he wins another term. Yeah, Right!! It will be interesting to see if the Kerry anti-war bashing helps. I don't really think so. The Nascar dads and Rice Alum- chickenhawks, who love to kill Iraqis and still believe it was so important to have won in Vietnam and that we would have won in Vietnam, except for liberals or the press or John Kerry or whatever, all vote for Dubya anyway. Hopefully Kerry has enough money to hang with Bush in the negative advertising department. If he can, he'll probably wins. To quote what Bush attempted to say once upon a time. "George Bush, fool us once, shame on Bush. Fool us twice, shame on us".
as to the picture's relevance, i totally agree, it shouldn't have any, and no, kerry's not in the shot. however, the juxtaposition of kerry's name w/ the "long haired hippie pinko commie fags" (i'm being ironic) will not paly well in some quarters. not agreeing with it, just pointing out a political fact of life. Gene, i totally agree with your point about what you did when you were 20- hell, i'm not all that comfortable with some stuff i did last month! it shouldn't be an issue. however, kerry, the DNC, and various other democrats (and threads ad nauseum on the bbs) have raised the issue of what Bush did or didn't do 30 years ago. in these circunstances, Kerry's stance on the wars, vietnam, kosovo, cold, GW1&2, are fair game, and the dude's got some 'splainin' to do. the democrats opened this can of worms. now were all going to have to wade through the muck at the bottom.
It does take two to tango. Somehow, one might argue that the president using the word "war" as 25% of his spoken syllables for the last 2.5 years opened the can of worms. He has defined himself as a "war president," so I'm not saying "hey, that started it, man!" but I'm saying all this stuff about the military history of the candidates, in all its irrelevance, was definitely going to come up.
"Um, war, does the counter, war, turnover like, war, an odometer?" "I didn't say 'Vietnam'... very much. Uh, my handlers keep saying Vietnam! They're... over there, saying Vietnam!" "NAFTA NAFTA, the American people have spoken, and NAFTA they have said that NAFTA's in the mirror are being said often enough for me NAFTA to be included in this competition."
Has anyone played that drinking game? Anytime you see a Jr interview, you have to drink every time he says "danger" terror or madman"? It’s dangerous Ah man…
Exactly: I was absolutely amazed. Over 30 years apart and his bottom line is consistent. If anything, it may be too inhumanly steady to vote for! I'm scared.
