A Man of Conviction Why Bush will win.

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/27/2004 | BY PETE DU PONT

[IndianPrincessOK]

A week ago John Kerry climbed into this year's equivalent of Michael Dukakis's tank--a crisply pressed, fully tailored haute couture hunting suit, capped by an Armani-looking chapeau. The visual impact was Boston-effete and no doubt the last straw for every bluejeaned, layered-jacketed and baseball-capped hunter the Kerry campaign sought to persuade.

It was the symbolic climax of the Kerry campaign. Next Tuesday--barring some substantial, unexpected event--George W. Bush is likely to be re-elected.

[IndianPrincessOK]

A Man of Conviction Why Bush will win. BY PETE DU PONT Wednesday, October 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT A week ago John Kerry climbed into this year's equivalent of Michael Dukakis's tank--a crisply pressed, fully tailored haute couture hunting suit, capped by an Armani-looking chapeau. The visual impact was Boston-effete and no doubt the last straw for every bluejeaned, layered-jacketed and baseball-capped hunter the Kerry campaign sought to persuade. It was the symbolic climax of the Kerry campaign. Next Tuesday--barring some substantial, unexpected event--George W. Bush is likely to be re-elected. President Bush is not going to win because of Mr. Kerry's style or Boston blue blood, as out of sync with most Americans as they may be. He is going to win because he believes in things, while Mr. Kerry is a candidate of concern, consensus and compromise. Mr. Bush believes in the "transformational power of liberty"; that "freedom is on the march"; that the spirit of liberty that created America in 1776 has brought freedom and opportunity to Afghanistan and will bring it to Iraq and every other nation that grasps its principles. It is a powerful message that Americans understand. Mr. Kerry believes we are imposing democracy on people, instead of which we must bring everyone together in international forums where America's decisions must pass a "global test." As the New York Times noted, Mr. Kerry "sees himself as an ambassador president," intending his first act in office to be a speech to the United Nations to recast American foreign policy. Mr. Bush believes free nations should have the right to make their own decisions about trading with America; he has negotiated trade agreements with 12 countries and is working on 10 more. Mr. Kerry is against free trade because he believes America must "establish core labor rights around the world." He would repeal Nafta and other trade agreements until he decides what the wages and working conditions of the citizens of Chile, Mozambique and other nations must be. Mr. Bush believes in an ownership society in which individuals have the resources to improve their lives, owning their own health-care and retirement accounts. Mr. Kerry is against such individual ownership, believing a wise and benevolent government should have the tax revenues to make the decisions it believes are best for you. People understand that believing in principles and values is an important leadership quality. Last week's Wall Street Journal poll showed 57% of voters thought Mr. Bush believed in things and "stood up for his beliefs"; only 19% said the same of Mr. Kerry. The Washington Post reports that 65% of voters supporting Mr. Bush are "very enthusiastic" about him, while only 42% of Kerry supporters felt similarly about him. That's a 23% difference in excitement, which compares with a negligible excitement difference in 2000 between Mr. Bush and Al Gore. These emotions are being felt in the black community too; polls suggest that Mr. Bush will receive about 18% of the black vote, twice as much as in 2000. One historical analogy might be the two British prime ministers at the outset of World War II: Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Chamberlain advocated a policy of appeasement, giving Hitler the benefit of the doubt, and returned from Munich waving an agreement and declaring "peace for our time" had been achieved. Churchill perceived the evil and threat of Nazi Germany, opposed appeasement, and led England to the military strength and action needed to save his country. The presidential analogies would be Harry Truman and Woodrow Wilson. Truman dropped the atomic bomb to end World War II, gave aid to Greece and Turkey to stop the expansion of communism, established the Marshall plan to rebuild Europe, launched an enormous airlift to keep Berlin free, and had a sign on his desk saying "The Buck Stops Here." Truman was a strong man; like Bush, he believed in things. Mr. Kerry, on the other hand, thought "communism was not a threat to our country," probably would not have used the atomic bomb without international approval, and would likely have thought the Berlin airlift too threatening to the Soviet Union. He is more like Woodrow Wilson, who after the Germans sank the Lusitania, killing 128 Americans, did not respond, saying he was "too proud to fight." He committed U.S. troops to World War I, but through his 14 Point Plan and League of Nations proposal sought "peace without victory." And of course Wilson imposed America's first income tax after the ratification of the 16th Amendment. The Kerry analogies abound. President Bush is likely to be re-elected because the American people believe this presidential election is the most important one in memory. A USA Today/Gallup poll revealed that 72% of respondents think it is, compared with 47% who thought so in 2000 and 41% in 1996. Much of that feeling is based on the insecurity created by 9/11, and it is shifting the voting patterns. The veterans' and married women's vote will be stronger for Mr. Bush than they were four years ago. Both perceive, as many Americans do, that a victory for Mr. Kerry would be a signal to terrorists everywhere that America does not have the resolve to defend itself. The largest unknown in next Tuesday's election is the enormous number of newly registered voters. Democrats believe they have been mobilized by anti-Bush feelings; if so, Mr. Kerry will win. But it seems more likely that new voters will feel like the rest of us: that America's security and resolve are at stake in a turning-point election, and this is no time to weaken either one. Mr. du Pont, a former governor of Delaware, is policy chairman of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis. His column appears once a month.

[Richard Kimball]

I'll take html formatting for paragraphs for $500, Alex.

[2banana]

I think an man with paragraph breaks will win...

[Old Sarge]

Please, not as a rant, but for my own future use:

If you excerpted the WSJ column, why did you post the article in its entirety, in the Comment box? Is WSJ one of the must-excerpt sites?

[Timeout]

New Bush ad.

It's a doozy....you'll like it!

http://www.georgewbush.com/btlhome.aspx

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Pete DuPont would make a great President, in my opinion.

[peyton randolph]

A Man of Conviction Why Bush will win. 

BY PETE DU PONT 

Wednesday, October 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT 

A week ago John Kerry climbed into this year's equivalent of Michael Dukakis's tank--a crisply pressed, fully tailored haute couture hunting suit, capped by an Armani-looking chapeau. The visual impact was Boston-effete and no doubt the last straw for every bluejeaned, layered-jacketed and baseball-capped hunter the Kerry campaign sought to persuade. It was the symbolic climax of the Kerry campaign. Next Tuesday--barring some substantial, unexpected event--George W. Bush is likely to be re-elected. 

President Bush is not going to win because of Mr. Kerry's style or Boston blue blood, as out of sync with most Americans as they may be. He is going to win because he believes in things, while Mr. Kerry is a candidate of concern, consensus and compromise. Mr. Bush believes in the "transformational power of liberty"; that "freedom is on the march"; that the spirit of liberty that created America in 1776 has brought freedom and opportunity to Afghanistan and will bring it to Iraq and every other nation that grasps its principles. It is a powerful message that Americans understand. Mr. Kerry believes we are imposing democracy on people, instead of which we must bring everyone together in international forums where America's decisions must pass a "global test." As the New York Times noted, Mr. Kerry "sees himself as an ambassador president," intending his first act in office to be a speech to the United Nations to recast American foreign policy. 

Mr. Bush believes free nations should have the right to make their own decisions about trading with America; he has negotiated trade agreements with 12 countries and is working on 10 more. Mr. Kerry is against free trade because he believes America must "establish core labor rights around the world." He would repeal Nafta and other trade agreements until he decides what the wages and working conditions of the citizens of Chile, Mozambique and other nations must be. Mr. Bush believes in an ownership society in which individuals have the resources to improve their lives, owning their own health-care and retirement accounts. 

Mr. Kerry is against such individual ownership, believing a wise and benevolent government should have the tax revenues to make the decisions it believes are best for you. People understand that believing in principles and values is an important leadership quality. Last week's Wall Street Journal poll showed 57% of voters thought Mr. Bush believed in things and "stood up for his beliefs"; only 19% said the same of Mr. Kerry. The Washington Post reports that 65% of voters supporting Mr. Bush are "very enthusiastic" about him, while only 42% of Kerry supporters felt similarly about him. That's a 23% difference in excitement, which compares with a negligible excitement difference in 2000 between Mr. Bush and Al Gore. 

These emotions are being felt in the black community too; polls suggest that Mr. Bush will receive about 18% of the black vote, twice as much as in 2000. One historical analogy might be the two British prime ministers at the outset of World War II: Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Chamberlain advocated a policy of appeasement, giving Hitler the benefit of the doubt, and returned from Munich waving an agreement and declaring "peace for our time" had been achieved. Churchill perceived the evil and threat of Nazi Germany, opposed appeasement, and led England to the military strength and action needed to save his country. 

The presidential analogies would be Harry Truman and Woodrow Wilson. Truman dropped the atomic bomb to end World War II, gave aid to Greece and Turkey to stop the expansion of communism, established the Marshall plan to rebuild Europe, launched an enormous airlift to keep Berlin free, and had a sign on his desk saying "The Buck Stops Here." Truman was a strong man; like Bush, he believed in things. Mr. Kerry, on the other hand, thought "communism was not a threat to our country," probably would not have used the atomic bomb without international approval, and would likely have thought the Berlin airlift too threatening to the Soviet Union. 

He is more like Woodrow Wilson, who after the Germans sank the Lusitania, killing 128 Americans, did not respond, saying he was "too proud to fight." He committed U.S. troops to World War I, but through his 14 Point Plan and League of Nations proposal sought "peace without victory." And of course Wilson imposed America's first income tax after the ratification of the 16th Amendment. The Kerry analogies abound. President Bush is likely to be re-elected because the American people believe this presidential election is the most important one in memory. A USA Today/Gallup poll revealed that 72% of respondents think it is, compared with 47% who thought so in 2000 and 41% in 1996. Much of that feeling is based on the insecurity created by 9/11, and it is shifting the voting patterns. 

The veterans' and married women's vote will be stronger for Mr. Bush than they were four years ago. Both perceive, as many Americans do, that a victory for Mr. Kerry would be a signal to terrorists everywhere that America does not have the resolve to defend itself. The largest unknown in next Tuesday's election is the enormous number of newly registered voters. 

Democrats believe they have been mobilized by anti-Bush feelings; if so, Mr. Kerry will win. But it seems more likely that new voters will feel like the rest of us: that America's security and resolve are at stake in a turning-point election, and this is no time to weaken either one. 

Mr. du Pont, a former governor of Delaware, is policy chairman of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis. His column appears once a month.

[Richard Kimball]

You're a good man. My eyes thank you.

[Savage Beast]

I watched Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai again. The themes of honor, courage, and basic human decency resonate as never before now when the once honorable Free Press, long the protector of representative government and guardian of truth, has sunk to previously unimaginable depths of dishonor, depravity, distortion, disinformation, immorality, lying, and corruption and has degenerated into nothing more than a ruthless propaganda machine.

In today's world, the Free Press--the "Mainstream Newsmedia"--represents the same thing that the Bandits represent in Seven Samurai. Its morality is the same.

In a contemporary remake of Kurosawa's magnificent epic, the so-called "journalists" of the "Mainstream Newsmedia" would be in league with the Bandits, their representatives.

One can only long for a time when morality, honor, courage, basic human decency, and truth will once again return to the Free Press.

The so-called "journalists" consider such antiquated niceties to be obsolete and abandon them in favor of a "higher morality". They lack the wit--and the honesty and clarity--to understand that their "higher morality" is nothing more than the same old worn-out time-tested immorality.

They consider themselves sophisticated and innovative. They lack the wit to understand that they are quite the opposite.

[maine-iac7]

New Bush ad.

********************

Make you Proud!

Bring a tear

Thank you!

[maine-iac7]

Pete DuPont would make a great President, in my opinion. *************************

Yep. Unfortunatley, never happen

[IndianPrincessOK]

Thank you so much for sharing this article...and thanks everyone for formatting this article...I am still learning..

[maine-iac7]

re: the free press:

**********

the press has fallen victim to a perception of their own power. Occupational hazard?

they have morphed into ultimate elitism, feel it is their right and duty to rule, to manipulate "the little people" who are, obviously, too ignorant to understand and make right choices.

They've even fallen into the mistaken belief that they should not only own the power to rule the populous but the government.

they have become a dangerous "ruling class" The Third Rail of our society

Hmmm - I think I shall call them that from now on - "The Third Rail"

[DocH]

I could read it, and I suspect, MOST Freepers could read it without making smart-ass comments. The main thing is, this person posted a VERY good article. Not everyone is "expert" enough at HTML, or has the TIME to perfectly format every piece they post. Just be thankful that all of us take the ime necessary to find and post articles helpful to our conservative cause.

[Edgewood Pilot]

Thank you for your excellent post !

[IndianPrincessOK]

Thanks for taking the time to write this....I am an author for pet books and spend time researching daily...I also feel it is important to share, at this moment, important "up-lifting" articles so that we Conservatives can hold onto....these are trying and stressful times as a Bush president supporter and anything that is helpful to keep our spirits up...I will share. Now, if I can just learn to format....I'm trying....

[Christian4Bush]

bttt

[DocH]

You're welcome. Keep up the good work of posting these type of articles, perfectly formatted or not. By the way, I'm no expert either, but I'm not about to get wrapped around the axle over petty formatting issues. And I'm certainly not going to let someone's complaints over trivial matters bother me one bit. Those types need to get a LIFE. There's a way to help people new to the process, without being a jerk about it. I'm a "form follows function" (substance, in this case) kind of guy. Take care and good luck with your pet books.