A conservative columnist finds Kerry a better choice

[techweenie]

Passed along to me:

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VOTE FOR A MAN, NOT A PUPPET

by Charley Reese

Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's
re-election, they are really voting for the architects of war - Dick
Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of
neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers.

I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a
frontman, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his
administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the
world of any president in my memory.

It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague.
Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be
embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently
and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press
conference recently.

John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to
think and who knows that the world is a great deal more complex than
Bush's comic-book world of American heroes and foreign evildoers. It's
unfortunate that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very
intelligence and refusal to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his
presidential election efforts.

But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed
that people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and
never will be.

People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display
their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush.
Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled
me once, but he won't fool me twice.

It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly
increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution
and the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of
American jobs is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits
don't matter, and that people should not know what their government is
doing. Bush is the most prone-to-classify, the most secretive president
in the 20th century. His administration leans dangerously toward the
authoritarian.

It's no wonder that the Justice Department has convicted a few
Arab-Americans of supporting terrorism. What would you do if you found
yourself arrested and a federal prosecutor whispers in your ear that
either you can plea-bargain this or the president will designate you an
enemy combatant and you'll be held incommunicado for the duration?

This election really is important, not only for domestic reasons, but
because Bush's foreign policy has been a dangerous disaster. He's almost
restarted the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race.
America is not only hated in the Middle East, but it has few friends
anywhere in the world thanks to the arrogance and ineptness of the Bush
administration. Don't forget, a scientific poll of Europeans found us,
Israel, North Korea and Iran as the greatest threats to world peace.

I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man
in the White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us
with it. Go to Kerry's Web site and read some of the magazine profiles
on him. You'll find that there is a great deal more to Kerry than the
GOP attack dogs would have you believe.

Besides, it would be fun to have a president who plays hockey,
windsurfs, ride motorcycles, plays the guitar, writes poetry and speaks
French. It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed
people face to face. Killing people has a sobering effect on a man and
dispels all illusions about war.
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[joeclarke]

This man is a genious! I'll let it slide that he's blatantly stealing from my mantra of the last few months.

I too, admit to being one of the unwashed that was initially led astray.

Lord have mercy on my soul, for I have seen the light!

yeah, whatever... just grab a kidney - vote for Kerry.

[Moneyguy1]

I can hardly wait for the outrage and apoplexy.

[RallyJon]

If Kerry did a better job with his message, he might pick up a lot of votes from people who see some truth in that article but are not keen on voting for a liberal, wussy Democrat.

How about:
- I went to Yale
- I'm rich
- I drive an SUV
- Hey, Democrat is just a name--you gotta be a Democrat to get ahead in Massachusetts
- If the situation calls for it, I will not hesitate to kill lots of brown people, too.

Kerry's already got the votes of all the "anybody but Bush" morons. He could convince a lot of us middle of the road undecideds if he'd show his true Brahmin colors.

[techweenie]

Originally posted by RallyJon
How about:
- I went to Yale
- I'm rich
- I drive an SUV
- Hey, Democrat is just a name--you gotta be a Democrat to get ahead in Massachusetts
- If the situation calls for it, I will not hesitate to kill lots of brown people, too.

LOL.

Well, going to Yale sure doesn't mean you can read & write (apparently).

Rich? SUV driver? Still no differentiation from GWB.

I'd say GWB could rightfully claim 'conservative' is just a name. No true conservative would run up the national credit card and grow government that way.

I think he did say he'd kill people. It seems he has personally done so, and that means he knows a bit about the stakes involved. I don't think Kerry would repeatedly make jokes about going to war and the mission while American soldiers were being killed.

[mikester]

I haven't read all of it but the first thing that stands out (and I'm a Kerry supporter) is that this guy claims a drastic disparity in the education of both candidates.

Both Kerry and Bush graduated from Yale - I don't believe one has much over the other. One certainly speaks more intelligently than the other but I'll be the last fella to call President Bush unintelligent.

Back to my reading...

[mikester]

ok, finished.

I agree of course with him but the major point is that I and many others don't think that Bush qualifies as a true conservative.

He doesn't meet the definition of most of the ones I know but a lot of them won't be crossing party lines.

[Moneyguy1]

Mike:

Sometimes I think the label is more important to followers than the deeds.

[Mulholland]

I have never even heard about this guy until now.

It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending.

Can't argue with that one...But it amazes me that liberals have a problem with it.

Something is fishy about this guy. If he was a conservative I would think he would pick a couple things like amnesty to illegals, campaign finance, Rx handouts, to criticize...But this guy has taken the whole ultra-left party line and spewed it in one article...Most not even half true.

[MAS]

Originally posted by Mulholland
I have never even heard about this guy until now.

It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending.

Can't argue with that one...But it amazes me that liberals have a problem with it.

You don't have to be a liberal to oppose Bush.


-MAS

[Mulholland]

It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed people face to face.
Interesting...Does he mean the war crimes that Kerry admits to?

Something fishy I say.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by MAS
You don't have to be a liberal to oppose Bush.


-MAS

I think communists agree with you brother.

[MAS]

Originally posted by Mulholland
I think communists agree with you brother.

Hey... Mulholland what kind of Porsche to you drive? I don't think I've seen you on any of the other forums (although I could be wrong). I assume it's not a 911... So what's your P-car?


-MAS

[Mule]

Conservative compared to who? You tech?

[techweenie]

Hell, Mule, everybody's conservative compared to me. Except real conservatives -- but they are few and far between.

No, look the guy up. He's definitely a conservative columnist, even though he is not in favor of the Iraq war.

An archived column:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese94.html

[Mule]

I just did. Most of the responses were on left wing web sites. Regardless of that , the guy is either A. ill-informed or B. so eaten up with ideaology that he is confused. His column can be ripped to shreds by anyone with a cursory knowledge of current events.

Example:
"it would be fun to have a president who plays hockey,
windsurfs, ride motorcycles, plays the guitar, writes poetry and speaks French."

I would hope that voters would choose based on a candidate's competency & integrity over their hobbies.

"It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed people face to face."

It appears that from a number of folks who were there, JFK shot a wounded guy in the back so Kerry would not fit his bill here.

This guy is a clown.

[Mulholland]

Originally posted by MAS
Hey... Mulholland what kind of Porsche to you drive? I don't think I've seen you on any of the other forums (although I could be wrong). I assume it's not a 911... So what's your P-car?


-MAS

Subaru WRX -- 4.2 second 0-60...320 to the wheels

Am I disqualified from your critique of a country not your native as a result?

[speeder]

Originally posted by Mulholland
Subaru WRX -- 4.2 second 0-60...320 to the wheels

On this board we do not measure our dorks starting at the tailbone, that's a ricer thing.

[MAS]

Originally posted by Mulholland
Subaru WRX -- 4.2 second 0-60...320 to the wheels

Am I disqualified from your critique of a country not your native as a result?

Why would you be disqualified? ... you're entitled to your opinion.

As for the WRX... nice car. I take it you have had some mods done to get 320 at the rear wheels. Chipped, higher boost, etc.?

-MAS

[techweenie]

Originally posted by Mulholland
...Something is fishy about this guy. If he was a conservative I would think he would pick a couple things like amnesty to illegals...

I guess that you need to have heard of somebody for them to be credible? You've heard of Barry Goldwater? The socialist liberal?

Well, anyway, here's an essay on one of your pet topics:

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Bush Betrays Border Patrol
by Charley Reese


The Christian Science Monitor recently published a report that noted that U.S. Border Patrol agents are demoralized and feeling betrayed by their own government.

This is because President Bush – the Enron Kid, as I call him (Enron had contributed more than $600,000 to his political aspirations) – has increased the incentive for more illegal immigrants to cross our borders with his proposed stupid guest-worker program.

No wonder the agents are down in the dumps. They literally risk their lives and work long and hard hours trying to protect our borders while Mr. Know-Nothing tells people the world over that we are prepared to reward law-breakers by giving them legal status. Of course this is the same Know-Nothing who recently signed an official economic report that said the loss of American jobs to cheap-labor countries was a good thing.

We need to do three things. One, Congress must reduce the number of legal immigrants admitted to the United States. The number (around 600,000 a year) is way out of kilter in the year 2004. Two, the Border Patrol should receive 100-percent support from the U.S. government, which is not likely with the Bush administration. Instead of support, it is scheming to gut the Patrol's union, now that the Border Patrol is part of the so-called Department of Homeland Security. And, three, the United States needs to get tough with Mexico.

The ruling elites in Mexico have for decades failed to provide opportunities for the great mass of the Mexican people. It's no surprise. These relatively few families own practically the whole country and live the luxurious lives of the old conquistadores. The Mexican government encourages its poor to cross the U.S. border. Better they violate American laws, change our culture and send money back to Mexico than fester in Mexican poverty and perhaps one day rebel against their exploiters.

Instead of speaking out against this wrong policy on the part of Mexico, the U.S. government has insanely rewarded it. First, it established the maquiladora program, which encouraged American companies to put their factories on the Mexican side of the border and distribution facilities on the U.S. side. This allowed corporations to exploit Mexican workers and pollute the Mexican landscape while laying off thousands of American workers.

As if that weren't bad enough, the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. This allowed the American big three in the grain-export business to impoverish what was left of the small Mexican farmers as well as encourage more American corporations to move their jobs south, where, for the price of a few bribes, they need not concern themselves with such bothers as decent wages and health, safety and environmental regulations.

Americans should not worry about terrorists. Our own corrupt politicians and greedy corporations are gutting the nation from within, while much of the corporate media do a poor job of informing the American people, except of course in the area of entertainment.

The Enron Kid likes to talk about national security. Well, the first and foremost task of national security is to protect the borders of the United States. This he is miserably failing to do. And the Congress, so riddled with lobbyists' influence, is failing with him.

If you've never seen a great nation commit national suicide, stick around. You're watching it. The United States today is already unrecognizable from the United States I grew up in, and I fear it will be even more so, in a negative way, for my grandchildren.

Everything that made America great – a government people could trust, the work ethic and frugality, high moral standards, a fine education system, and patriotism based on America's historic values – is being undermined by the present-day corporate and political elite.