The myth of Republicans keeping America safe

[realFedUp]

Someone should do an essay on the above mythical talking
point that Republicans are using in this election period.

9/11 happened on Republican's watch and many say
there was much evidence to forcast it. Americans
are less safe now that Bush has angered most of our allies
and the Arab world. There has been no peace brokered
by this administration. We are less safe in this country
and not only from "terrorism".

[Coldgothicwoman]

1. Does anyone know where this began?

The myth that the Republitards were somehow 'better at National Security'?

Just because you're a warmonger doesn't mean you know how to defend better... Isn't it almost a complete opposite, in reality?

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. For "better at National Security" read...

..."more apt to slaughter lesser breeds without the law to the cheers of the multitudes and the for the vicarious satisfaction of the dickless".

It doesn't actually mean "better at National Security".

[SheilaT]

2. It's right up there with the myth

that Republicans are good for the economy. I think it's simply a matter of they do a better job of propagandizing.

[realFedUp]

3. I hope Dems start using some counter language soon- n/t

[wakfs]

6. We need a coordinated and simple attack

The Repugs have been demonizing "liberal" policies for more than twenty years with a simple if misleading message: "Tax and Spend Liberals." It may be a lie but it has worked.

Democrats need to do something similar to the GOP. Get a simple message, stick to it and get it out all over the country. Alas, this requires a level of party discipline, media coverage and think tank involvement that the Democrats seem to lack.

What would such a message targeted at the GOP look like? How about "Reckless and Elitist Republicans"?

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Many good essays are needed, and lettters to editors

I am not trying to get overly partisan here, but if you read the text of any of Clark's stump speeches, he is hitting on each and every one of those points: The buck stops here accountability of the President for what happens on his watch is a staple. Clark talks about the Report Sandy Berger left for the incoming Bush administration stressing Terrorism being the major security threat facing the nation. Clark punds on the fraying of our international alliances. He points out that the United NAtions was an American initiativein the first place. He contrasts the use of NATO in Yugoslavia with the bogus Coaltiton of the willing in Iraq. He talks about the importance of a brokered peace agreement for Bosnia. He talks about the waste of economic resources in Iraq while homeland security is underfunded. And he says. "I'm not attacking the President for attacking the terrorists, I'm attacking the President for NOT attacking the terrorists." Yesterday on Wolf Blitzer's CNN show Clark said this:

"I think the country has to understand: we're not winning the war on terror. We are not winning the war on terror," Clark said. "This administration took us into Iraq. It's a world-class bait and switch."


"We are not winning the war on terror."

[kentuck]

7. The terrorist attack on WTC was the beginning and the end...

There was no plan to continue attacking the US. We left ourselves vulnerable - actually the airline industry.

(posted this comment elsewhere)
How many people are seriously worried about a terrorist attack? I do not personally think the WTC attack and the attack on the Pentagon was any long planned out strategy to battle our country in a drawn out war. I think it was a one time shot. That doesn't mean they wouldn't do it again if we let our guard down and invited them with our lax airline security.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. I don't think it is the end

Not by any stretch of the imagination. After bombs blew up in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in the early 90's, and the plot to blow up a tunnel was uncovered, and then nothing else happened, people slipped into thinking they had seen the end. Wrong.

There is more hatred towards America now, not less. Three are more people willing to be suicide bombers now, not less. There is more "glory" in being a martyr against America, not less. There are more people trained in use of Explosives etc., not less. Training is going on all the time.

[kentuck]

10. You are probably correct....

Bush has created many more terrorists by the way he has handled this "war". Initially, I do not think it was state-sponsored terrorism. I think we were on the right track by tracking down the criminals that did the act, by going into Afghanistan.

However, by invading Iraq, we antagonized most of the Middle East and have created many more terrorists than would have been if we had continued the course.

[dkamin]

8. Also on the economy

I've read too many conservative losers (don't their pictures always indicate someone who was beaten up too much as a kid?) describing the massive failure of "socialist" liberal policies.

The greatest years in American history have been at the heyday of liberal policies: from the New Deal up to Nixon, this country was considered greatest. The shortcomings in America, which the conservatives all warn us about, such as increasing crime, poverty, debt, worse education, economy, values, etc. are all recent developments (since Reagan), and can be directly traced to the destruction of the social compact under the new conservative movement.

[rasputin1952]

11. Start with the obvious...

The first WTC bombing was solved under the Clinton Administration. Good police work and a few lucky breaks got convictions. Where are we with WTC2...nowhere.

As far as "tax and spend liberals", what about "borrow and spend conservatives"? These guys are thieves, plain and simple. Say what they will about dem admin's, GOP admin's have been rife with corruption, there were more convictions during the Reagan years tahn any iother period in history, such is the way of things.

O8)

[KensPen]

12. I HATE

How well the republican promise of "lower taxes" has worked in elections.

It is a fucking shell game.

I can't say I love paying taxes but I am willing to do so when the programs they fund have merit. ALL republican promises of reduced taxes come WITHOUT telling us where they will cut spending. Like Taxes are just some arbitrary dollar amount that gets dumped down a hole.

Too often cutting a taxes leads to increased taxes elsewhere.

So I have 10 dollars more in one pocket, but less in the other.

And what truly scares me is the neo cons building a deficit so huge that their only solution would be gutting programs like Medicare, and Social Security.

Bottom line, Democrats and their habit of taxing the money they spend show a more "conservative" fiscal policy than the Republicans who borrow their way to economic growth.

[realFedUp]

14. Too often cutting a taxes leads to increased taxes elsewhere.

You are right KensPen...and welcome to DU.

[wakfs]

13. Borrow and Spend is not bad

We would need to continually hammer away at the message "Republican thieves" who are "looting your hard-earned wealth of the nation" and "killing the American dream."

I hate 'em.