Ok, I have to vent. I forced myself to sit there and watch the whole speech, because I wanted to see what we're up against. And I have to say I'm not all that worried.
Basically, it was very typical and predictable Kerry. His main qualification for being President is because he served 4 months in Vietnam. Oh, and for everything good, and against everything bad. He wants us not to be dependent on Saudi oil. Great! So do I, but no specifics on how he's going to do that.
He wants to give the middle class a tax cut, and balance the budget. Oh yeah, he also wants universal health care, a bigger military, higher minimum wage, and about a billion other goodies. So how's he going to pay for it all?
He vows to make me safer and to kill terrorists. But he won't go to war unless he has to, which I guess means, until we are attacked AGAIN. For the most part, he seemed to come down against the war in Iraq, which was a little surprising he actually seemed to take a stand (or what passes for a stand for him). Guess he thinks that's what's popular today.
Oh, and he wants a civil campaign with no negative attacks, after he called the President a liar, and John Ashcroft a criminal. If this is the best they've got, the Republicans should win this race by 10 points. Start with his 20 year liberal Senate record, which he didn't mention at all. If he keeps up with the Vietnam crap, bring in the anti-military lies he told to the world in 1971.
Ok, now I have to read some of these 5,000 posts to see what everyone else thinks.
He didn't say that we would go to war again even if attacked. Who is to say that he wouldn't just lob a couple of cruise missles somewhere and be done with it?
It's hard to fight terrorism. There is no sponsoring flag. There are no uniforms or even a specific part of the globe to hit. Islamist militants are all over, and the direct attackers are usually blown up in their handiwork.
Thus President Bush had a very difficult decision to make at the time. He decided to declare that every nation who harbored terrorism was "against us." I am proud he did. (I would even go back to the oxcart for transportation if he could keep his doctrine going and include Saudi Arabia.)
"President Kerry" would never make any move that the sophisticated Europeans didn't like. He doesn't have the cojones to put his political career on the line for the safety of the American people.