It's not GOP's slime machine you hear (Krauthammer)

As the Democrats enter the final stages of their primary race, the emerging story is how the Republicans are preparing to go negative in the general election with a campaign of singular viciousness against John Kerry.

Kerry's spokespeople have already sounded the alarm, warning darkly that "the right-wing smear machine" is gearing up, and declaring amusingly that "it's time for George W. Bush to call off his right-wing slime machine."

Well, you started alright, but you went off the tracks at the end with the "Bush may have lied to us" and "Where is Dick Cheney hiding out?". I happen to side with the "what did they do with them?" group on the WMD issue, and believe that the President values Cheney for his Washington/government knowledge and the advice that he provides.

No, President Bush is in charge, I have no doubt about that. But I do agree that he can use a little brushing up in his responses to questions on the missing WMD's. He needs to switch his focus more to politics and campaigning as the season heats up. Otherwise he will have lost the lead out of the gate and will find himself playing catchup (or ketchup) as the season progresses. And playing catchup is never easy, especially when the opposition (aided by the press and TV media) keeps throwing down more rocks on the road that detract from his message.

I don't believe Bush "might have" lied to us - but I fear some other folks might have - Cheney and Rumsfeld are not the kind that easily misspoke on things, they both insist they know where the WMDs were before the war, so what the hell actually happens. These two remain largely unaccountable for the Kay-WMD firestorm, I want answers, and so do all the families who have lost a son or daughter in Iraq(I personally knew two of such families).

I would accept a clear explanation like the one I had from Bush or even Cheney. But I despise those who drum up all the worst cases before the war and now hiding like a coward. It is shameful that the president is taking all the heat (and he can't even coherently to give a simple defensible answer) while the real culprits are hiding in their own spiderholes - I want answers from Cheney, from Rumsfeld, from Wolfy - all these folks. Where are they hiding these days?

The problem for Bush is the dims did a great job is chipping away his credibility and the "sound of silence" from the Whitehouse is truly deafening. Bush better wake up and smell the roses, the dims are trying their hardest in talking down the economy, shaking the consumer confidence, and darkens the outlook for this country so that they can win this fall. And what did Bush do about this - NOTHING - he is talking on nonsense like jobs number, outsourcing, teenager sex...I wish the president would read the David Brooks column the day after the MTP event.

Bush face a problem that the public want to move away from the war on terror stuff, want to treat as if 9/11 is a single event, the public would rather talk about silly crap like deficits, tax hikes for some, complain about expensive drugs; while Bush think the greatest threat to this country is terrorism and that's all his presidency is about. He needs to reconnect with the public. Tell them he cares about all those topics like deficits, Canadian drugs, but in reality, all these things are minor if we can't get any security at home. He needs to tell the public the single 9/11 event cost the US economy 1.2 trillion dollars overnight. That's right 1200 billion bucks, and yet we are carping on a 500 billion deficit.

Bush is one of the more successful presidents during his first term in modern times, but he needs to explain his performances to the people. He can't be dogged by what he did or didn't do in Alabama (32 yrs ago) nor he should be the one carrying all the weights on the Iraq-WMD issue. If Cheney refuses to go out and do some active defense for the president, he maybe better off go fly-fishing in Wyoming this fall. I know the hardcore conservatives think Cheney is the best thing in this administration, but if Cheney did overplay the WMD threat presented to the president, he should do the responsible thing. Afterall, Bush needs a active campaigner this fall on his ticket.

There has been no silence from the White House. The public just isn't hearing the response. It's the Democratic Primary season, and any charge the Left makes is going to be echoed (by the media) to voice out any defense from the President.

Lost in all of this frenzied lather of "Bush lied" accusations is common sense and facts. Of course, both of those factors ceased to be important to the media long ago. They've got an agenda, and it has nothing to do with telling the truth.

The evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was overwhelming, and those beliefs transcend party lines and oceans. Britain believed it. The UN believed it. Colin Powell believed it. Bill Clinton believed it. Robert Byrd believed it. Saddam's son-in-law insisted there were WMDs, and he was later murdered by Saddam. Furthermore, the fact that Saddam refused to cooperate with inspectors - repeatedly - should constitute enough doubt to consider him a threat. After all, why would Saddam defy the US and UN when it could very likely lead to his removal from office, and (probable) execution. Why destory the weapons and allow himself to be destroyed too? It's not because Saddam wanted to be seen by his fellow Arabs as a martyr - look at how he acted when he was captured.

Where are the weapons? The likely explanation is that either Saddam hid them well or he shipped them off to somewhere else - my guess is Syria. God knows he had enough time to do either under the last administration.

Furthermore, why would Bush deliberately decieve Congress and the American people? It's not for oil - that charge from the Looney Left died a long time ago. It's not because he's looking for a rise in the political polls - his numbers were very high last year. Look at the historic 2002 elections. It's not to deflect from bad economic news - investors don't like Middle East wars - they're potential powder kegs that threaten the lifeblood of the American economy - oil.

To believe that George W. Bush deliberately lied about Iraq takes a twisted mind - or a Democrat (A redundancy in terms, I know.)

If this election is to be decided by issues, one man will be seen as a liar, and it won't be the sitting president. Look at John Kerry's voting record as a Senator, versus what he's saying as a candidate for president. But for the public to see these things, Bush will have to rely on his war chest. The media won't do it for him.

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