Quick Rebuttals On My Political Post.
Ok, I got a LOT of responses to my last post (which is great). Mostly positive, but there were also a few Bush supporters out there, to which I responded to individually.
I was gonna let this go, but there were just a handful more points I feel I should make (in regards to some of the points the Bush supporters/ and Kerry detractors made).
Here is one of the main points said to me, and my response to it is in brackets below it:
> To quote our President: "We cannot defend America . . . by hoping for the best," he said. "We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants . . . If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long."
Under Bush's leadership, U.S. and allied forces killed or captured three-quarters of al Qaeda's leadership.
Yes, Osama bin Laden - if he is in fact alive - remains at large. But he is increasingly a general without an army, and he is off-balance and on therun.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan has held the first democratic election in its history.
Lastly, Kerry voted for this war, too.
-[ok a few points to make here. First off, Bush and Cheney are using scare tactics to convince people to vote for them. Cheney keeps going around saying "If you vote for Kerry we will be attacked again." And this of course scares people, they are all like "have they heard about attacks? OMG!" But FACT is, they have NO intel saying that there will be an attack. The US is CONSTANTLY under threat, has been for DECADES. But they have NO SOLID information saying, when, where, by who, etc. This could have been said during ANY presidency. But 9/11 is still fresh in people's minds so both Bush and Cheney are taking advantage of this and saying these things to scare people from voting for a new leader b/c they feel they are safer if they stay in office. But why do people feel safer? Just b/c they think it's not a good idea to change Presidents during times of war? Correct me if I am wrong but haven't Presidents been changed in times of crises before? And even if not, at the moment does it really matter? Because like I said before, we ALREADY got Saddam. We should be pulling out of Iraq anyways. So what is there to worry about? Why does everyone think that Kerry can't handle a war? And as for the last part, He DID vote for the war, but that was while under the impression that there were WMD's. He has said he realizes the importance of being in Iraq. He's not gonna leave Iraq (not right away at least) but we will start bringing back some of our troops sooner. And he will also continue to go after terrorists. so things will still be safe. As for"quotes" of Kerry saying things like "Bin Ladin is just an annoyance" or whatever the exact quote was. I think the point Kerry is trying to make is, that we can't continue to live in fear. We need to get on with our lives and not let thoughts of terrorist attacks run our lives. We DO need to be cautious, BUT we can't let it control us. Kerry is a military man, I'm sure he won't slack off when it comes to defense.]
-Another big thing was talking about how Kerry flip-flops. They've made such a stink about it, and throwing big numbers out there, but they are exaggerating things. I already mentioned the reasoning in his change in stance on the war. And I forget exactly what example Bush used in one of the debates about how Kerry voted for some bill at first but then flip-flopped and voted against it multiple times. But, here's how that breaks down. I'm gonna make up an example. Let's say a law is being passed like "Cigarettes being banned in restaurants." and let's say Kerry votes yes on it. BUT then it is amended before it passes to then say "Cigarettes being banned in restaurants AND outside in public parks." So he votes against it now. It is amended again to add "...and will be fined if caught" so he votes againt that too. But then it's changed again where the public parks and fine part is eliminated, so he votes yes on it again. This is what the people out there like to call "flip-flopping." They're just conveniently leaving out details to make it sound like someone can't make up their minds. Look up the facts, they are out there.
But if that doesn't convince you and you want to stay on the subject of flip-flopping, then Bush is just as guilty. In public speeches and interviews he has contradicted himself by saying things such as:
"Gosh, I never said I'm not worried about Osama" VS. "Don't know and Don't care where Osama is"
or when asked about having a National Draft:
"All-volunteer army works" VS. "We will not have an all-volunteer army"
or everyone's personal favorite of how one day he says that the war in Iraq can't be won and very shortly after changes his tune and proclaims that we will win the war in Iraq.
-A few more small bullet points and then I'm done (I got this from a pamphlet at school, everything is true on it though).
* Bush's tax cuts hurts schools and hospitals
* Bush's budget cuts child and maternal health programs
* Bush opposed national Health care (he has enough money for it. I guess that's all that matters)
* YET, because of him we pay for Iraqi's FREE health care and five cents a gallon gas
* Pushes "free trade agreements enabling loss of U.S. jobs and exploitation of third world (poor and middle class) workers.
* 400 billion dollar war budget could have been used for schools, health care, employment, etc instead of war mongering
*And those are just a few things... Bush expects the poor and middle class to exist on faith and charity alone.
-And finally to address one last point made. To those of you out there who say "BOTH candidates suck!"
In all honesty, they do. But Bush sucks more.
But if you still can't stand for voting for Kerry, and want to vote Green party or Libertarian or whatever else, I understand. But the sad fact is... at least for this day and age, it's almost like throwing your vote away.
I'm not the biggest fan of some of the things Kerry wants to do, and would probably like some of the other party candidates better. But thing is, those other guys have ZERO chance of winning. Maybe one day in the future we will break out of this stupid two party system (cuz it's rare to find someone who is WHOLLY democrat or WHOLLY republican, the majority of the people are somewhere in the middle) but I don't think this election year is the year to make a stand. It's too important this year, we need Bush out of office. So yeah while your votes may not be going to Bush, you are not helping him lose either. We're gonna be stuck with the same crap, unless we vote in Kerry, who I understand may not be the greatest candidate in the world BUT I'm pretty damn sure would be better than Bush, cuz dammit, you really can't get much worse.
So that's my stance, I don't think I'm gonna argue politics anymore (at least not on this blog). If any of you would like to continue your discussions with me, do it by e-mail or something. I'm gonna return to regular blogging after this so as to not drive away my "regulars," lol. But hopefully, this will have made at least a small difference amongst you or your family and friends.
And thus now TRULY ends my public service announcement, heh.
I was gonna let this go, but there were just a handful more points I feel I should make (in regards to some of the points the Bush supporters/ and Kerry detractors made).
Here is one of the main points said to me, and my response to it is in brackets below it:
> To quote our President: "We cannot defend America . . . by hoping for the best," he said. "We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants . . . If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long."
Under Bush's leadership, U.S. and allied forces killed or captured three-quarters of al Qaeda's leadership.
Yes, Osama bin Laden - if he is in fact alive - remains at large. But he is increasingly a general without an army, and he is off-balance and on therun.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan has held the first democratic election in its history.
Lastly, Kerry voted for this war, too.
-[ok a few points to make here. First off, Bush and Cheney are using scare tactics to convince people to vote for them. Cheney keeps going around saying "If you vote for Kerry we will be attacked again." And this of course scares people, they are all like "have they heard about attacks? OMG!" But FACT is, they have NO intel saying that there will be an attack. The US is CONSTANTLY under threat, has been for DECADES. But they have NO SOLID information saying, when, where, by who, etc. This could have been said during ANY presidency. But 9/11 is still fresh in people's minds so both Bush and Cheney are taking advantage of this and saying these things to scare people from voting for a new leader b/c they feel they are safer if they stay in office. But why do people feel safer? Just b/c they think it's not a good idea to change Presidents during times of war? Correct me if I am wrong but haven't Presidents been changed in times of crises before? And even if not, at the moment does it really matter? Because like I said before, we ALREADY got Saddam. We should be pulling out of Iraq anyways. So what is there to worry about? Why does everyone think that Kerry can't handle a war? And as for the last part, He DID vote for the war, but that was while under the impression that there were WMD's. He has said he realizes the importance of being in Iraq. He's not gonna leave Iraq (not right away at least) but we will start bringing back some of our troops sooner. And he will also continue to go after terrorists. so things will still be safe. As for"quotes" of Kerry saying things like "Bin Ladin is just an annoyance" or whatever the exact quote was. I think the point Kerry is trying to make is, that we can't continue to live in fear. We need to get on with our lives and not let thoughts of terrorist attacks run our lives. We DO need to be cautious, BUT we can't let it control us. Kerry is a military man, I'm sure he won't slack off when it comes to defense.]
-Another big thing was talking about how Kerry flip-flops. They've made such a stink about it, and throwing big numbers out there, but they are exaggerating things. I already mentioned the reasoning in his change in stance on the war. And I forget exactly what example Bush used in one of the debates about how Kerry voted for some bill at first but then flip-flopped and voted against it multiple times. But, here's how that breaks down. I'm gonna make up an example. Let's say a law is being passed like "Cigarettes being banned in restaurants." and let's say Kerry votes yes on it. BUT then it is amended before it passes to then say "Cigarettes being banned in restaurants AND outside in public parks." So he votes against it now. It is amended again to add "...and will be fined if caught" so he votes againt that too. But then it's changed again where the public parks and fine part is eliminated, so he votes yes on it again. This is what the people out there like to call "flip-flopping." They're just conveniently leaving out details to make it sound like someone can't make up their minds. Look up the facts, they are out there.
But if that doesn't convince you and you want to stay on the subject of flip-flopping, then Bush is just as guilty. In public speeches and interviews he has contradicted himself by saying things such as:
"Gosh, I never said I'm not worried about Osama" VS. "Don't know and Don't care where Osama is"
or when asked about having a National Draft:
"All-volunteer army works" VS. "We will not have an all-volunteer army"
or everyone's personal favorite of how one day he says that the war in Iraq can't be won and very shortly after changes his tune and proclaims that we will win the war in Iraq.
-A few more small bullet points and then I'm done (I got this from a pamphlet at school, everything is true on it though).
* Bush's tax cuts hurts schools and hospitals
* Bush's budget cuts child and maternal health programs
* Bush opposed national Health care (he has enough money for it. I guess that's all that matters)
* YET, because of him we pay for Iraqi's FREE health care and five cents a gallon gas
* Pushes "free trade agreements enabling loss of U.S. jobs and exploitation of third world (poor and middle class) workers.
* 400 billion dollar war budget could have been used for schools, health care, employment, etc instead of war mongering
*And those are just a few things... Bush expects the poor and middle class to exist on faith and charity alone.
-And finally to address one last point made. To those of you out there who say "BOTH candidates suck!"
In all honesty, they do. But Bush sucks more.
But if you still can't stand for voting for Kerry, and want to vote Green party or Libertarian or whatever else, I understand. But the sad fact is... at least for this day and age, it's almost like throwing your vote away.
I'm not the biggest fan of some of the things Kerry wants to do, and would probably like some of the other party candidates better. But thing is, those other guys have ZERO chance of winning. Maybe one day in the future we will break out of this stupid two party system (cuz it's rare to find someone who is WHOLLY democrat or WHOLLY republican, the majority of the people are somewhere in the middle) but I don't think this election year is the year to make a stand. It's too important this year, we need Bush out of office. So yeah while your votes may not be going to Bush, you are not helping him lose either. We're gonna be stuck with the same crap, unless we vote in Kerry, who I understand may not be the greatest candidate in the world BUT I'm pretty damn sure would be better than Bush, cuz dammit, you really can't get much worse.
So that's my stance, I don't think I'm gonna argue politics anymore (at least not on this blog). If any of you would like to continue your discussions with me, do it by e-mail or something. I'm gonna return to regular blogging after this so as to not drive away my "regulars," lol. But hopefully, this will have made at least a small difference amongst you or your family and friends.
And thus now TRULY ends my public service announcement, heh.
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