Bush's comments this morning are pretty crappy. Apparently Kerry said that international support in our efforts is necessary, and I tend to agree. We're largely a target because of Bush's disregard for international opinion. In the global economy, you can't go it alone. I don't understand why Bush doesn't get that.
But if that weren't enough, he says that Kerry wants to leave American security to other countries, especially with regards to attacking Iraq. What? I'm sorry, but what did Iraq ever have to do with American security? The people that blow up ships and crash airplanes had nothing to do with Saddam. Invading Iraq hasn't made us safer. The only thing it has done is tell the world that we'll do whatever the hell we want, damn the consequences.
I saw the president of Pakistan on a lot of interviews while he was in the US. Very smart guy, and I think he gets it. He said in almost every interview that the US takes sides where it shouldn't, as with Israel in that conflict, which is perceived more as a religious decision than anything else. I totally agree. Standing by and watching genocide in Rwanda or Sudan isn't much better.
Waving the flag as the excuse to do whatever you want causes other countries to mistrust us. It causes the radical types to outright hate us. That doesn't justify their reactions at all, but the president can't do whatever he or she wants with reckless disregard for the consequences. It's about time we started acting like a part of the world. Doing so doesn't reduce who we are or our independence. Not doing so makes the world a lot more dangerous for us, with nothing to gain.
Also, it seemed that whenever Kerry made a point against one of Bush's statements, Bush simply repeated what he said, rather than offering a valid rebuttal.
I could go on and on about this, but I'm with Jeff on this one, these debates aren't going to alter my decision on election day. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure if it'll alter anyone else's decision either.
I watched the debates. My wife is the "swing" voter. She saw what most have reported on Friday morning. To differ, you'd be surprised to see how it can alter one decision. There are a lot of people like my wife in this country. They are really intrigued with this election process and want to find out more about, especially after these last four years.
There are good arguments to be made for both candidates. Both candidates misrepresented their facts. Kerry stated we're spending $200 billion in Iraq. That's not necessarily true. Bush extremely screwed up the number of trained Iraqis forces. Kerry screwed the Russian trademarks and looked like a dofus when he rebuttal on the Putin/Russia issue. He basically said, "I'd do the same as him, but I don't Putin, well." And Bush tried to link Iraq to 9/11, which Kerry called him on.
To me, all this debate did was re-energized the respective bases. That being said, more donkeys are jacked up than the elephants and that will be reflective in the polls in a few days. (Give it time, Pizzie).
If this was a fight, like most are grading it, Kerry definitely won on points and style. He did look more presidential. Bush smirked at Kerry, while Kerry faked smiled and took notes. In the end, that's what the people will look at.
I remember, Jeff, when we were at Penton, you and I were talking about gun control. You stated, "Everyone shouldn't have a gun because there are a lot of stupid people in this world." The people like my wife are overall confused and/or frustrated. Both candidates, to them, are flawed and they both are not making the right statements in order for them to lean their. These debates offered to two differing sides and gave those undecideds something to gnaw on until next Tuesday and Friday. Give those 6-7% a break, guys. They haven't made up their minds let.
You’re absolutely right. Those people are voting for Bush because he's a Christian, "he talks like me", or "We should change our president in a time of war."; And Kerry because he's has a cuter vice president, he looks like my fatheror he has better hair.
I knew this last debate wouldn’t do much based on the topic. The guys aren’t going to budge and we have heard the remarks for the last year. The next two will hopefully be more interesting with different topics.