By Marlow W. Cook – a former Republican US Senator from Kentucky
source
I shall cast my vote for John Kerry come Nov 2.
I have been, and will continue to be, a Republican. But when we as a party send the wrong person to the White House, then it is our responsibility to send him home if our nation suffers as a result of his actions. I fall in the category of good conservative thinkers, like George F. Will, for instance, who wrote: “This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and having thought, to have second thoughts.”
I say, well done George Will, or, even better, from the mouth of the numero uno of conservatives, William F. Buckley Jr.: “If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war.”
First, let’s talk about George Bush’s moral standards.
In 2000, to defeat Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — a man who was shot down in Vietnam and imprisoned for over five years — they used Carl Rove’s “East Texas special.” They started the rumor that he was gay, saying he had spent too much time in the Hanoi Hilton. They said he was crazy. They said his wife was on drugs. Then, to top it off, they spread pictures of his adopted daughter, who was born in Bangladesh and thus dark skinned, to the sons and daughters of the Confederacy in rural South Carolina.
To show he was not just picking on Republicans, he went after Sen. Max Cleland from Georgia, a Democrat seeking re-election. Bush henchmen said he wasn’t patriotic because Cleland did not agree 100 percent on how to handle homeland security. They published his picture along with Cuba’s Castro, questioning Cleland’s patriotism and commitment to America’s security. Never mind that his Republican challenger was a Vietnam deferment case and Cleland, who had served in Vietnam, came home in a wheel chair having lost three limbs fighting for his country. Anyone who wants to win an election and control of the legislative body that badly has no moral character at all.
We know his father got him in the Texas Air National Guard so he would not have to go to Vietnam. The religious right can have him with those moral standards. We also have Vice President Dick Cheney, who deferred his way out of Vietnam because, as he says, he “had more important things to do.”
I have just turned 78. During my lifetime, we have sent 31,377,741 Americans to war, not including whatever will be the final figures for the Iraq fiasco. Of those, 502,722 died and 928,980 came home without legs, arms or what have you.
Those wars were to defend freedom throughout the free world from communism, dictators and tyrants. Now Americans are the aggressors — we start the wars, we blow up all the infrastructure in those countries, and then turn around and spend tax dollars denying our nation an excellent education system, medical and drug programs, and the list goes on. …
I hope you all have noticed the Bush administration’s style in the campaign so far. All negative, trashing Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Democrats in general. Not once have they said what they have done right, what they have done wrong or what they have not done at all.
Lyndon Johnson said America could have guns and butter at the same time. This administration says you can have guns, butter and no taxes at the same time. God help us if we are not smart enough to know that is wrong, and we live by it to our peril. We in this nation have a serious problem. Its almost worse than terrorism: We are broke. Our government is borrowing a billion dollars a day. They are now borrowing from the government pension program, for apparently they have gotten as much out of the Social Security Trust as it can take. Our House and Senate announce weekly grants for every kind of favorite local programs to save legislative seats, and it’s all borrowed money.
If you listened to the President confirming the value of our war with Iraq, you heard him say, “If no weapons of mass destruction were found, at least we know we have stopped his future distribution of same to terrorists.” If that is his justification, then, if he is re-elected our next war will be against Iran and at the same time North Korea, for indeed they have weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, which they have readily admitted. Those wars will require a draft of men and women. …
I am not enamored with John Kerry, but I am frightened to death of George Bush. I fear a secret government. I abhor a government that refuses to supply the Congress with requested information. I am against a government that refuses to tell the country with whom the leaders of our country sat down and determined our energy policy, and to prove how much they want to keep that secret, they took it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Those of you who are fiscal conservatives and abhor our staggering debt, tell your conservative friends, “Vote for Kerry,” because without Bush to control the Congress, the first thing lawmakers will demand Kerry do is balance the budget.
The wonderful thing about this country is its gift of citizenship, then it’s freedom to register as one sees fit. For me, as a Republican, I feel that when my party gives me a dangerous leader who flouts the truth, takes the country into an undeclared war and then adds a war on terrorism to it without debate by the Congress, we have a duty to rid ourselves of those who are taking our country on a perilous ride in the wrong direction.
If we are indeed the party of Lincoln (I paraphrase his words), a president who deems to have the right to declare war at will without the consent of the Congress is a president who far exceeds his power under our Constitution.
I will take John Kerry for four years to put our country on the right path.
The writer, a Republican formerly of Louisville, was Jefferson County judge from 1962-1968 and U.S. senator from Kentucky from 1968-1975.
Pure-Essence.Net 
That article was quite surprising. I wonder if it’s all true. If it is Bush is more of a ass than I thought (here’s hoping…).
This sounds just like more propaganda to me -_- It’s hard to tell what’s correct and what’s wrong these days.
Personally, I don’t like Kerry or Bush. Kerry does say he will make America better, but he never says how he will do it. And IMO, Bush’s stances and ways of doing things are obviously wrong.
I see people voting for Kerry for the sake of keeping Bush out of office, but considering he never says what he will do exactly, he could be worse.
Although my vote is still for Bush, I’m beginning to like Kerry more and more each day (as a person, not a politician). I don’t think he’s as bad as I originally thought hehe 🙂
I don’t live in the states, but I found this post interesting as I’ve been watching from the sidelines. I don’t particularly like Kerry, but I’m not overly fond of Bush either. I’m so glad I won’t have to cast a vote on this one, I’d be completely lost!
lol, people treat this like its a popularity contest. Everyone claims that they don’t like Kerry but they can’t ever give good reasons to back up why they feel that way. It shouldn’t even matter if you “like” him or not. He’s not auditioning to be your best friend, he’s running to be the president of our country. This country is full of gullible idiots. They’re so easily fooled and tricked. I think it’s because Bush is simple minded and not very bright and that some Bush supporters connect with him on that level. If people made their decision strictly on job performance, credibility, and experience no one in their right mind would vote for Bush. Why is it that the rest of the world can clearly see what half of this country can’t.
Wow, another person who believes that anyone who disagrees with him/her are ‘gullible idiots’ … and I thought the liberals were the ‘open-minded’ ones in the country LOL Thanks for informing me that since I support Bush that I’m out of my mind.
I don’t think it’s about ‘disagreeing’, I think it’s about Bush supporters not seeing how he’s f’d us. “IMO”
Exactly, it’ isn’t about disagreeing. They can’t or for what ever reason choose not to see what sitting right in front of their face. Leads me to believe that the only reason they support Bush is because of his religion, his political affiliation, and because he’s from the Midwest. They couldn’t possible support him because he is a good president with a good record. Any business/company who has an employee who has blundered or fail as miserably has Bush has would immediately fire the person and would give the next logical applicant a chance. For some unknown, un-rational, and un-logical reason Republicans think that a failure would do better than a guy who clearly is more promising and more suited for the job. Bush had four years and has a record that’s worse than any other president in US history and they still “claim” that they trust him. If that’s not being gullible and being an idiot I don’t know what is. Republicans are idiots. The whole world and Liberals can see that Bush re-electing Bush would be a big mistake, so why can’t they see it?
nicely put.
It’s about disagreeing. Your politics are clearly different than mine. Just because we differ, I’m an idiot. It’s really sad you think this way. *shakes head* I’m not even going to give you my reasons for supporting Bush because I’m sure that you’re too close-minded to even take my views into consideration. I would never call someone an idiot just because they had different political views than I.
And if their stances and opinions won’t make you like/hate a person, what will? Personally if I don’t find a person credible or fitting for a job he insists on getting, I don’t like him.
About Americans being gullible idiots- a president of a democratic country (a supposedly democartic country anyway) is supposed to be a representative of the average person in that country. If the president is an idiot who can’t even speak his own language, what does that say about the people? :p
A lot, unfortunately! 😛
There can’t be a logical reason for supporting Bush over Kerry, it’s not about being close minded. I know nothing about you other than who you’re supporting for president. So when I say ‘stupid’, I’m referring to that choice and all the stupid reason that I’ve heard Bush supporters give for supporting the man. Yet again you don’t get the point, like Dianna said, “I don’t think it’s about ‘disagreeing’, I think it’s about Bush supporters not seeing how he’s f’d us.” You’re entitled to vote for who you want to and for what ever reason you want too, but I still think that after all that bush has done to this country that anyone who supports him lacks good judgement.
I don’t think so. Depending on the type of person you are, there are many reasons to support Bush. If I were Christian and wanted everyone to follow my religion, I’d worship Bush for blending the government and religion and trying to ban abortion, regardles of constitution. If I were rich or running a large business, I’d probably be kissing Bush’s ass for all the tax cuts and support he’s given companies and rich people and how he made layoffs so easy. If I working in oil, I’d probably be calling him my father right now because of the way he made it easier to buy SUVs.
^To us ‘little people’ these reasons are stupid, but if we were one of these people, voting for Bush isn’t just logical, it’s also the right thing to do.
LOL, you disagreed with me, but then went on to prove my point. It might be their reason for voting for him (that’s ok), but it’s still isn’t a good reason. America is made up of many religions. It wouldn’t be seen as ok to vote for a Muslim or Jewish person just because he/she shares your religion. Just like it wouldn’t be ok for people to vote simple because someone shares the same race and customs. It wouldn’t be ok to vote for a Jewish person because he/she will make laws to try to force others to follow their religious beliefs. Just as it wouldn’t be ok to vote a black person into office because we think they will force the rest of us to follow their customs. When you vote you have to think about what’s good for the country as a whole. Not caring about the millions of middle class, the hundreds of thousand that lost their jobs, the hundreds of thousand that lost their health care, children, small business, people who have other religious belief, minorities, our standing in the world, and the people who are losing their lives in Iraq all because you’re worried about paying higher taxes and want to force others by law to follow your religious values is just plain wrong, selfish, and shows poor judgement. To me that’s being stupid. Voting for and supporting a billion of dollars a month war and then not wanting to pay higher taxes to support that war is stupid. Making under two hundred thousand a year and supporting Bush because of his tax cuts that you didn’t get is stupid. Believe that the war in Iraq was a success for the president is being senile. Voting for bush because he’ll try to force his religion on others is anti-American and goes against everything that this country was built on. That’s why many came to this country in the first place, because they weren’t free to follow their religion in England. etc, etc, etc. I could go on for days. There isn’t a good and logical reason to vote for the man over Kerry.
To add, Conservatives, Republicans, and some Christians are Hippocrates, they want to make laws and want to vote people into office who will make laws to force their values on others and then turn around and chastise Muslim nations who have already done this very same thing for doing it. This is another reason why Bush needs to go.
Wow…. I’m an idiot AND a hippocrite. Gee, thanks. I’m sure you’re quite the perfect American yourself. Good for you!
You don’t know one single thing about the Christian faith so quit talking like you do. Arguing this with you is pointless, so I’m out.
Bub you seem to be missing my point all together or just refuse to pay any attention to it. I made valid points that supported what I said. You pay no attention to the facts and you don’t even give any reasons to rebut anything that I said…. You’re so stuck on one word and refuse to comprehend my argument as a whole. I now see why you support Bush. It isn’t a personal attack on you. It’s an attack on the reason why people say that they support Bush. As I said earlier, “I know nothing about you other than who you’re supporting for president. So when I say ‘stupid’, I’m referring to that choice and all the stupid reason that I’ve heard Bush supporters give for supporting the man.” I guess that went over your head or you missed me saying that. You also don’t know what I know or don’t know about the Christian faith. I have preachers and ministers in my family. My family runs a churchs. I didn’t go to public schools, I grow up going to private Christian schools. I may know more about the Christian faith than you do.
If I proved your point, please let me know how?
Just because you think it’s not a good reason doesn’t mean it isn’t a good reason to everyone else- stating your opinions as fact doesn’t make you smarter than than people you call idiots. It just makes you one of them. After all, don’t you hate them for forcing their belifs on everyone else?
Different people have different values and opinions, and different criteria a president should fit. Obviously some people think religion is the most important of all. Why can’t you just accept that?
Reread my response to you. You all seem like you just want to argue and not lesson to what I’m saying.
“After all, don’t you hate them for forcing their beliefs on everyone else?” Yes I do hate it and you should too. That’s my point. Them voting for someone only because the person shares the same religion and that person will try to make laws to force that religion on the rest of the country is just plain wrong. It goes against what this country was founded on. When we start doing that we’ll end up being like all the other counties where people have limited freedom of religion. We’ll start having religious wars and conflicts. It may be important to them, but it’s not a good reason to vote someone into office strictly based on a persons religion. You vote them into office based on what’s best for the country, their record, their experience, etc. Who said I was smarter? Why do I have to repeat this over and over again, “So when I say ‘stupid’, I’m referring to that choice and all the stupid reason that I’ve heard Bush supporters give for supporting the man.” You all aren’t comprehending a word that I’m saying. I also said that people are entitled to vote for who they want to. But even if my racial customs are important to me, it still isn’t right for me to vote for a guy just because he’s white and disregard any other qualification the man may have or not have. Yes religion my be important to them, but not caring or focusing on anything else other than the religion of a man who is running to be the president of the strongest super power on this planet isn’t smart. To me the rational is similar to being on a jury and making a decision based only on the defendant’s religion, race, and personal beliefs, all the while disregarding all the rest of the evidence. From your responses I take it that you’ll also agree that it would be wrong if I though that my way was right so Bush supporters should think like I do would be wrong. Again that’s my argument and that’s exactly arguing against. People need to understand that this country is made up of different races, religions, customs, and ideas. Just because you think one way doesn’t mean that it’s OK to try to force others to think and act like you think they should. So how can you then agree with people voting for Bush because they believe that he’ll do the very same thing that you’re trying to accuse me of doing? We do agree. It’s their right as Americans. Even though I disagree with who they’re supporting for president it would be STUPID for me to vote someone into office who would do anything to take away or infringe on other peoples rights and values even if they differ from mine.
didn’t proof read, excuse the typos
Right. Wrong to you, but not always wrong to everyone else. Neither should I hate something just because “I should” or because you said so.
I seriously doubt you even get what I’m saying. Oh well.
What the are you talking about now?
LOL
If I were an American citizen I’d probably vote for Kerry. As a brit, I find Bush dangerous.
I’ve been watching Fox News (well, the version we get on Sky here) and while Kerry does seem pretty unclear on solutions, many of his scare tactics to win votes are based on ‘actuals’ such as Social Securty etc rather than the ‘hypotheticals’ which Bush seems to rely on.
My impression, as an average joe over is that, while neither are ideal candidates for office, on the global scale it doesn’t appear to me that Kerry would get away with half of what George W has and would be an all round better bet for democracy and a fairer representation of the US.
Gave me another reason to stand my hate for Bush! Thanks Dodo.. 😀
hmmm… Well as for not being able to trust bush, and feeling Kerry is more trust worthy. You may want to take a look at this. Kerry is very untrustworthy, and here is some info to help you out.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41120
Ok… I read all your comments, and it was all highly amusing. I will refrain from touching them directly, except the last one, That link you posted Mr. Chris; the first add that popped up for it was an Ann Coulter add. This woman has proposed to kill all arabs and convert any that surrender to Christianity… she’s more extreme than Michael Moore. (On the Right)
All credibility of that site flew out the window. It’s like going to the Onion for real news.
Don’t believe everything you read, look into stuff, I am very well read, I travel the world, and yes, I’m voting for Kerry, not because I like him or hate him personally, but he is much closer to what I value in a President than Bush is.
Look around for more sites than one. Read one, go to another, and then to 10 more. Compare them all and get your facts straight.
Fact: Bush keeps accusing Kerry to vote for raising taxes. He sights that he voted 98 times to do this.
Kerry did in fact, vote to raise taxes 98 times… but this was of over 600 votes in a 20 year period…
Now, on the Bush defense side…
Kerry accuses Bush’s plan for illegal immigration as reckless and costing too much money.
Fact: Bush’s plan for temporary working permits allows for better tracking, actual taxing on what they get paid, increasing the governments revenue, and allowing harsher punishments on those without permits, overall, it is a much nicer system than Kerry’s.
What I’m trying to say is this, get all your facts straight. Don’t look at the crap that’s going around now, it’s election time for both these people, they’re both slinging mud. Research their records over the last twenty years. See what they REALLY stand for, not what they’re saying for votes. Then, see which canidate is stronger on what matters to you, whether it is religion or not, and vote for that person.
It’s sad that many Americans don’t care about the truth. They pick and choose what they want to believe and disregard the facts.
I will also say now, that with the count being Bush 254 and Kerry at 252, I’m scared to death that Bush will get relelected. Congress is now ran by the Republicans… I might have to move to Canada…
… it’s so sad isn’t it?
Yeah…. Canada has already issued a no amnesty warning to Americans fleeing the states. The fact that it’s already happening, and it’s because of Bush, is really friggin sad.
Oh well, I’m young, and the majority of the right wing community is entering its retirement/dying years, so I can wait it out… assuming World War III doesn’t kill us all first…