Posted on 10/15/2004 8:26:46 PM PDT by Kaslin
I think the presidential election will ultimately turn on which of the candidates the public trusts more, particularly because we are at war. For any number of reasons, that does not bode well for Sen. Kerry.
It's not just that President Bush is more of a people person and down to earth, or that John Kerry is an out-of-touch elitist. President Bush is also far more comfortable in his own skin than Kerry, which was most obvious in their respective answers to the spiritual question in the third debate.
President Bush fully embraced the loaded question "What part does your faith play on your policy decisions?" (The mainstream media, indeed the entire secular culture, has been on Bush's case over his faith since before he was elected.) The question was designed to make him squirm for having made his guiding faith a matter of public record. Instead, he admitted that "faith plays a big part in [his] life," that he "prays a lot" for strength, wisdom, comfort and calm, and that he loves that others pray for him and his family. But he said he never wants to impose his religion on anyone else.
This is hardly the testimony of an arrogant man, but a God-fearing, humble servant. I guarantee you that many people can relate to his touching answer and will appreciate his candor. They'll find reassurance in his reliance on God for strength in these difficult times.
But non-Christians should not feel threatened. Not once did he say or imply that he has a mainline to God or that God put him where he is. He pledged to protect the right of people of all faiths to worship as they please. And as a Christian, he means every word of that.
John Kerry, on the other hand, flinched nervously at the question and then offered an answer that seemed more calculated than heartfelt. After a forced, token response, he shifted into a John Edwardsesque two-Americas rant.
But it's not just the faith issue that unveils Kerry's counterfeit character. His whole persona reeks of stiffness and a choreographed artificiality. And his positions on most other issues reveal him as a bundle of contradictions, a walking paradox, a human oxymoron, a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.
Whereas George Bush is steady and consistent on almost every issue, consider the agony John Kerry must experience trying to reconcile his positions.
He claims to be a fiscal hawk, but he lacks the courage to tackle entitlements, and his spending proposals on health care and education alone would send the deficit into the stratosphere. He says life begins at conception but opposes restrictions on abortion. He pretends to be a friend to gays, but opposes gay marriage - sort of - and rudely invokes Mary Cheney's homosexuality.
Kerry decries dirty campaigning while fraudulently calling President Bush a liar daily. He says he would cut taxes, but his record shows he's a consistent tax raiser. He says he favors tort reform, while his running mate and many of his biggest supporters are trial lawyers. He says he'll be tough on terror when he's been anti-war all his life. He swears he'll be tough in Iraq, while insisting it's the wrong war. He complains that Iraq is an unworthy cause and slanders our existing coalition partners, yet wants us to believe - mystifyingly - that he can build a bigger coalition.
He's a proud liberal, but acts ashamed of it, even denies it. He panders to gun owners while championing gun control. He extols multilateralism but rejects it for North Korea. He boasts sophistication but has a myopically simplistic perspective on the War on Terror, thinking it's about Osama only.
He holds himself out as a strong leader, but his Senate record exposes him as a cipher. He's a champion of the poor, but as rich as Croesus. All of a sudden he denounces judicial activism, though he's been applying a disqualifying litmus test to all constitutionalist judicial nominees. He promises a brighter future, while painting a picture of irreparable doom and gloom. He says he cares about race relations, yet manufactures vicious, despicable stories that Republicans plan to suppress black votes. He is a proud military hero, but won't release his records.
Unlike President Bush, John Kerry is conflicted about who he is and on the scores of issues on which he is campaigning. The public, I trust, will finally pick up on this (because "he can run, but he can't hide") and send him back to Massachusetts.
bttt
And that is why Kerry told that contrived story about his mom saying "integrity." That word was also on Hillary's lips. This is no "accident"--polling shows that while people think Kerry is clearly a good debater, they still don't really trust him.
After his ridiculous comment about Mary Cheney, the public will trust him even less.
Or, put another way "He can hide, but not run."
This is what Kerry should have done before the average American got to know his history.
If he had of stayed a low-profile Senator none of his background would have come to light, but like all liberals his ego got bigger than his brain. Now he's villified by a host of people who would like nothing better than to see him dismissed from the Senate.
I have to admit, as a voter from Massachusetts, I'm getting a little weary of hearing repeated slurs against my home state. Massachusetts has significant numbers of fiscal and political conservatives, so can it.
Massachusetts is also the home of Franklin, Adams, Adams, Adams and Adams, Holmes. Betsy Ross, John Hancock and a gaggle of patriots longer and more honorable than any other state in the union. Massachusetts is where the American Revolution started, and without Massachusetts' allegedly liberal history none of you would even have one.
I notice many southerners like to point an accusing finger at my home state, but they had best be very careful with this bad behavior around me. I collect heads.
the Viking
Why on earth do you keep electing that perverted Ted Kennedy? No wonder there are slurs. A blind man can see he is nothing but a drunken fool.
Now, I have to point out your rhetoric has an edge of "threat" to it..matches Senator Kerry's pretty closely.
He represents your state. I have friends from/in Mass. I have friends from/in California. I can understand anyone feeling they have to defend the state they live in. However, it's a free country and people can say what they want.
It's just interesting you choose to go the route of "you better stop or else".....kind of echos Senator Kerry's attitude. I guess because the two of you are from Mass, that doesn't mean everyone in Mass. tries to use that tone....that's what you're saying in a round about way, right?
He is like a coin. Heads and tails. Whichever he is tossed he lands until the next toss.
Mathematical odds are that he will change his mind, view, opinion, plan, policy, idea , stance, hairdo, menu, at least 50% of the time.
In the time Americans are at War
we cannot afford indecision.
We cannot allow casting our fates to the wind.
Americans need a steadfast, resolute, determined leader.
If a man has a hard time deciding which wrinkle on his face needs botox.
He is not the man to lead America to Victory over Terrorists.
Our President has gained a lot of wrinkles and grey hair since he took the office of the presidency January 2001. But one thing has never changed is President Bush's character and bold unwavering leadership.
Senator Kerry ever changing ideas makes a spinning top look lethargic.
And I live in WA, home of Senator Murray that praised the Taliban and Baghdad McDermott.
MASS is a liberal state. So is WA.
I love my state, but I don't take the hits too personally because reality gives them credibility. MASS does get some Kudos, you know. The Patriots and your Governor have had some praise. But you have to take the good with the bad.
And we can be sure of one thing: If Kerry loses the election, his career will fall on the dung heap of politics. Democrats bury their political dead -- and never give them a chance at national prominence again.
Leni
see 11
I think the presidential election will ultimately turn on the fraud the dems are commiting.
Integrity. Integrity. Integrity.
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Viking Dave
Since Oct 16, 2004
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I notice many southerners like to point an accusing finger at my home state, but they had best be very careful with this bad behavior around me. I collect heads.
the Viking
Welcome to FR
(With your attitude I doubt you'll last very long here)
Let me climb on your back and stick it to Viking ! *S*
I have spent too much time in and around Mass. As far as I am concerned, the state deserves both Kerry and Kennedy !! To he@@ with the Bay State -- and those flaming libs that have run it for decades!! This is not 1776 !!
And France once produced Men like Charlemagne, Charles "The Hammer" Martel and Lafayette. Times change.
Boston was the cradle of the Revolution - over a 2 cent tax on tea. Now, all we hear from Boston is "more taxes, more government control, less liberty", and the universities therein have become heavily entrenched bastions of communism.
It's not the geographical location, it's the nature of the people inhabiting it.
John Kerry as fiscal hawk is one of the sillier notions of this election cycle. Nobody believes that b.s., not even his own people.
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