Posted on 09/03/2004 2:33:14 AM PDT by Elkiejg
Democratic Senator Zell Miller's electrifying speech at the Republican convention may overshadow the fact that another well-known Democrat -- New York's former mayor, Ed Koch -- has also crossed party lines to support and campaign for President George W. Bush.
Never a shrinking violet, Ed Koch says that he disagrees with President Bush on virtually all domestic issues, but that the over-riding issue of our time is the war on terrorism -- and that his own Democratic Party doesn't have the "stomach" (Koch's word) for the fight. Mayor Koch understands that if we don't win the war on terrorism, nothing else is going to matter.
Supporters of both political parties, as well as independent voters, all need to understand what Ed Koch understands: This election is about life and death, in an age when nuclear weapons can be developed and sold to terrorists.
This election is not even about who will be in the White House for the next four years. It is about a war that must be fought for more years than any given President will occupy the White House.
Just one weak administration can make the job harder for the administrations that follow -- and disastrous for the country.
No small part of the audacity of those who attacked this country on September 11th, 2001 resulted from the weakness of the Clinton years, when there were only token responses to acts of terrorism against Americans at home and abroad.
When the World Trade Center was first attacked, during the Clinton administration, that terrorist bombing by Islamic extremists was treated as a simple criminal matter and swept under the rug. Clinton similarly swept under the rug the bombing of our embassies abroad and bought off the North Koreans by helping them with their nuclear program, in exchange for promises that they never kept.
It was all about getting bad news off the front page and passing along the hard underlying problems to his successors. But the problem goes deeper than Bill Clinton.
Since 1972, when the far left took control of the Democratic Party, Congressional Democrats have regularly voted against military spending and against spending for the intelligence services. For nearly two decades, John Kerry has voted consistently against military preparedness and against money for the very intelligence agencies that he now so loudly criticizes.
When the Soviets put nuclear missiles in Eastern Europe, pointed at Western Europe, Ronald Reagan countered by putting American nuclear missiles in Western Europe, pointed at the Soviet Union. John Kerry advocated a "nuclear freeze" instead. In other words, freeze the Soviet advantage in place.
Some media pundits say that Senator Kerry's poor showing in the polls is due to his having followed the wrong political strategy in this campaign. They say he put too much emphasis on his Vietnam war record.
But what else did he have to put emphasis on?
Can you run for office during a war on terrorism by citing a voting record that includes being anti-military for decades? Can you even rely on a Senate record in favor of welfare state spending, at a time when handing out goodies takes a back seat to national security?
What was left for Senator Kerry, except trying to resurrect Vietnam, with his own spin on it, and making big promises for the future? Moreover, with the media on his side -- 12 to 1 inside the Beltway -- he had little to fear from that quarter.
How could Kerry know that the Swiftboat men who served with him in Vietnam would suddenly emerge to challenge his version of what happened there? Or that two prominent members of his own party would become so disgusted with him that they would throw their support to Bush?
The media have made such a bugaboo about "negative" statements or "attacks" that you might think political campaigns are supposed to be nothing but happy talk. But which is worse, that some unpleasant facts come out during a campaign or that someone is allowed to lie his way into the White House, with all our lives in his hands, on the basis of image and spin?
Let me remind you all that Jimmy Carter pronounced it the same way.
It's a Southern thing.
For another example of the difficulties of Southern speech: Google for "Grizzard" and "Shiite"
He's right, but incomplete. The problem goes back beyond Clinton -- it can be laid in some measure on every President back to (at least) Carter. It's doubtful that in the absence of as severe an event as 9/11 that "W" would have been any different.
But 9/11 did happen, and President Bush was the right man at the right time for dealing with it.
As that guy said in "Cruel Intentions," this is the statement where Sowell pounds on Kerry's fanny with the hammer.
Shalom.
Sowell's an economist. I vote for Chairman of the Federal Reserve or Secretary of the Interior.
Shalom.
The library is giving me unlimited renewals, which suggests that I'm the only person in the Greater Charlotte-Mecklenburg area reading Thomas Sowell right now. Maybe that's what's wrong with this whole state!
Another recent book by Sowell, "The Quest for Cosmic Justice", is an elaboration upon his earlier work, though I've only read snippets of it, so I can't give you a definitive judgment on that.
Personally, I think that Thomas Sowell is one of the best syndicated columnists/writers out there.
He's definitely someone who's deserving of the encomium scholar.
That's not a statement that can made about most of the nitwits clogging up academe today.
I agree. We are fighting in the war of ideas against the DNC and their candidates and WE ARE FIGHTING against our own enabling and agenda driven major network press/newsrooms, personalties and major print media like the NYT.
Our President even acknowledged this in so many words when in his speech on the convention floor last night he spoke of the NYT trashing our work in Germany after WWII, by specifically publishing an article way back then 1946 that we were failing in our 'OCCUPATION.
(My gosh-the left in America was trying to destroy our morale and resolve and damage the spirit of our military even way back then!)
President Bush went on to say they are calling our work in Iraq now an OCCUPATION (as in evil troops taking over another nation for their own benefit!)is being done by the same paper
and he 'wondered' if the same editor of the NYT was still there! (Funny-in a sick sort of way!).
Is the NEW YORK TIMES writing about this reference of our President to their apparently historical MO of trashing our efforts to spread freedom and a democratic system of laws going to REPORT on this?
LOVE OUR PRESIDENT! What a good, good man.
I am so sorry he does not have a worthy challenger to run against this election.
Great screen name.
My Dad served with the 36th as well. 143rd Infantry - N. Africa, Italy, S. France and on to Germany.
Good to see you here.
Had to read this a few times. I think he means it the other way around.
Will never forget my disgust, and it is the last time I ever watched his nightly news broadcast.
Defending the indefensible has ruined many-many souls sold for the protection of party over the principal of integrity and honor.
There is a lot of blood on their hands, both of innocent Iraqis and of our troops and contract employees.
Then we actually hear 'rats like Biden and Kennedy criticize this admin for not spending the money appropriated for reconstruction fast enough.The hate-Bush media have no problem spreading that message.
But this convention was so good for content and presentation (and emphasized by the killer-lame performance of Kerry at midnight) that they must all be in a swoon today.
BTTT
That is why the Bush campaign has not been at all concerned about the "lead in the polls" sKerry has had up to this time. It was certain that when the bulk of Americans started to pay attention to who they really want to be President - in Sep/Oct - that they would not be excited about the most liberal member of the Senate in that position. No reason to expend ammunition until people are actually in range.
/
Bump.
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