formula_2002
07-20-2004, 05:10 PM
The following article by Charley Reese is worth reading and circulating.
For
those who don't know, Charley Reese is a columnist for the King Features
Syndicate. He turns out three columns a week and is known as a
committed
conservative.
Few liberal journalists have unloaded on Dubya like this.
____________________________________________
Vote For A Man, Not A Puppet
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
front
man, 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 (www.johnkerry.com) 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.
For
those who don't know, Charley Reese is a columnist for the King Features
Syndicate. He turns out three columns a week and is known as a
committed
conservative.
Few liberal journalists have unloaded on Dubya like this.
____________________________________________
Vote For A Man, Not A Puppet
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
front
man, 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 (www.johnkerry.com) 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.