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Edited on Tue Apr-27-04 09:48 PM by bigtree
With all of the nation's problems they choose to focus on the difference between medals and ribbons and what Kerry did with his. It would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic for our nation to have the leader of the free world satisfied to tear down a former soldier over something so trivial. Bush and Cheney represent a class of people who have never concerned themselves with the effect of their actions on others. Deferments would be fine if not for the cheer leading of a war one tries to avoid. Alternate duty would be fine if one made some effort to either help fight or help end the conflict. But the actions of these two men suggest nothing but outright indifference, and worse, a willingness to have others make all of the sacrifices while they assume all of the glory.
Look at the ads that glorify Bush as the commander of our military. Watch, if you can, the sneering Cheney as he makes the claims that John Kerry is a risk to our nation's security, presumably implying that he has fulfilled his obligations to our nation's security. No matter that soldiers are dying every day. No matter that more young Muslims than ever before are willing to tear their bodies apart to reek vengeance on a mindless America who indiscriminately assaults their homeland, and murders their innocent countrymen.
There is no concern from either of these men for the divisions they create and exploit in our nation between men and women who live different lives than their own, outside of their own narrow political interests. There is no concern from either Bush or Cheney for those who fall ill and can't fathom the costs of prescriptions and maintain their homes, although they work as hard as they can and still fall short of supporting their families.
The vicious, mindless, personal attacks on the character and commitment of John Kerry to our country, on and off of the battlefield represent the pinnacle of their hypocrisy. Over and over the ads, "approved of by President George Bush" yell out that Sen. Kerry voted against body armor for our troops. But the Bush cabal had no concern for such protection for our soldiers when they sent them into war on their political timetable. They have yet to get the necessary armour to our soldiers despite achieving the record $87 billion defense appropriation, a mere $11 billion earmarked for Iraq. But they have no concern for the lives of our soldiers. The injuries and deaths of our service people are rarely mentioned by our president and vice-president.
Grandstanding and performance are the main concerns of this Bush cabal, and nothing they do involves any benefit for anyone outside of their own power hungry confederation. The longer their power play is allowed to run the more Americans will sacrifice, and they expect us to acknowledge their success: Their success in feathering corporation's bottom lines, their success in inflating our defense industry, their success in denying basic rights of association between same-sex individuals, their success in dividing Americans over their patriotism. They have no concern for others outside of their own narrow political agenda to cling to power.
They have no concern for children's education as they attempt to penalize teachers instead of nurturing and supporting their efforts. They have no concern for children as they refuse to fund their own education proposals which they wrapped themselves in glory during the fight in Congress for these funds. They have no concern for the poor as they fight to funnel tax money into private school vouchers and 'faith-based' funding as they propose to take the money out of the public schools and welfare's bottom line.
They have no concern for workers as they funnel money into tax schemes that give aid and comfort for companies who ship jobs overseas. They have no concern for lost manufacturing jobs as they cut job training programs and fight to weaken unions with replacement workers and maintain a 'Labor Relations' Board packed with industry shills. They have no concern for those injured by indifference or neglect as they seek to limit individual's rights to take corporate offenders to court.
I believe that on every issue that deeply concerns Americans- and there are many more issues than I have described here- Bush and Cheney have shown that they have no concern for the plights of average Americans. Moreover, these negligent men seek to wrap themselves in the victories that they have achieved for their narrow constituency. I sense a landslide of support for the Democrats because this is the party that has shown throughout, our concern for issues that affect the majority. It is sophistry to pretend that this same desperate class of Americans will be impressed by the Bush cabal's false pride in their own political puffery.
I sense a landslide for our party in the next election.
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