A Vote for WAR

It makes me sad that so many Americans support the Dirty Harry style of "leadership" that George Bush represents. Clearly, because of what was said at the Republican Convention, a vote for George Bush is a vote for war. There is not one single thing besides war that Bush has shown he can convincingly accomplish, and even that has been done with supreme incompetence.

But by God he's Rambo in a cowboy hat, Dirty Harry with nukes, and he's just itching to ask the rest of the world if they feel lucky because he can't remember if he's wasted 900 or 1,000 American soldiers, but he knows the others have LOTS more bullets.

There is a difference between Bush and Rambo, or Dirty Harry, or any of the other good-guy action heroes from the movies. The movie guys always went after the RIGHT bad guys and always GOT them. Bush had the opportunity to go after bin Laden and instead went after Houssein, WHO HAD NO TIES TO AL-QUAIDA. The 9/11 Commission report (see here) says it in black and white.

But the American public is buying Bush's campaign lies and spin hook, line, and sinker. Polls show Bush with a good lead over Kerry. But the only thing Bush is running on is that he will make yet more war, that he will persecute yet more "potential terrorists" in the "war on terror." Forget for a minute that a "war on terror" is NEVER winnable (how do you know when you've won?); forget for a minute that we have tens of thousands of national guard troops deployed overseas when they could be helping recover from hurricanes and helping to keep our own shores safe; forget for a minute that the mission in Iraq has decidedly NOT been accomplished; forget for a minute that Osama bin Laden is still out there running Al Quaida; forget for a minute that Bush has created the biggest deficit in American history (but give him time, he'll break his own record no doubt); forget for a minute that every muslim in the US has suddenly become a suspect, indeed anyone with a muslim-sounding name. Forget that "Commander-in-Chief" is only one small part of Bush's job description.

Forget all those things because that will put you in with the majority of Americans who choose to blindly follow a tough guy than actually THINK about these complicated issues.

Make no mistake. A vote for Bush is a vote for more and more and more dead American soldiers. A vote for Kerry is a vote for complex and deep thought given to complex and vexing issues. Make your choice, America. I guess all those Nascar fans always wanted to be in a Rambo movie anyway.