The New Road

It's so refreshing to get a different point of view. Funny, I think I was watching the same thing you were and have a slightly different perspective. I read most of the debate rather than watching it, though.

From reports I've read it looks like Kerry has a slight edge. Most people I read said it was a good debate with no clear winner. But I don't know anything more about either's plans for acting on their policy proposals. Both candidates firmly stated what they "believe" in and where they want to take the country--but neither articulated a reasonable plan for doing so.

I think the best thing that came out of this is that the country actually seems to be paying attention during an election year and maybe, just maybe they'll actually go and vote!

Also, on your last comment, why does a president HAVE to be in the Oval Office to run the country? With technology is what it is today, why do they have to be in White House?

I think reading the debate you would lose the flavor of the complete domination of Kerry. Kerry was forceful and direct, never wavered, spoke clearly and coherently. Bush sounded tired, snickered a lot, mumbled, umm, and ahhh'd a LOT, and sounded really bad.

I would quote you from FreeRepublic, which for the first time I have ever seen it posted a fairly even keeled review of the debates where they stated clearly that Kerry won, but they pulled the article.

As for being clear, how much clearer do you want it. Kerry said he would hold a summit, get the world leaders working with us again and actually implement a four pronged plan that he referenced on his web site. He has even gone so far as to estimate target dates for getting our troops out. Specifically, what more do you need to know?

All of that information, is far more than we are getting from Bush, which is no plan at all. In each four years Clinton held 200 press conferences. Bush Sr. also held around 200 press conferences. Bush Jr. has held... (wait for it)... 12. I know you said that they both didn't give a solid plan, but I have heard from others that 'you know where Bush stands', and 'you know Bush's plan'. No. I don't. It looks to me like for more years of bad planning and poor judgment.

As for being in the oval office. It's not just being in the office. It's being in the town. With all of the senators and house members, with all of the ambassadors. You can't just turn Crawford Texas into the capitol because it has a T1 line.

But it's more than that. We now have ample evidence from the 9/11 report that Bush was asleep at the wheel before the attack. Now, with all we have seen and read about Iraq, it appears that his lack of leadership was not fixed after 9/11. He is still the absentee president.

I read about the summit. I read about his four-pronged plan on his site. Great ideas one and all--but HOW? On his own site he says that, if everything goes well as planned, the troops could be out in six months (or close to that). Hell, if everything went as planned in Afghanistan, binLaden would be dead. If everything went as planned on 9/11, the towers never would have fallen--just the top floors taken out.

I have no problem with most of his plans...but how is he going to DO it? You yourself said that the Congress is currently republican dominated. You have said time and time again that you hate that Bush has gone on his own rampage, on his own agenda without thought to what his advisors, the Congress and the world stage has said to him. Well, how is he going to do all that? How is he going to repair world relations? How is he going to fix the mess in Iraq? The generalizations are all good and fine as a plan--but give me the meat of the proposal, not just the bones.

Do I think Bush has the answers? Do I think Kerry has the answers? No on both accounts. I don't think either one knows their head from their ass. I don't think either one could talk openly and honestly about a single aspect of anything related to the world, this country or where we are going in either. Politics has made it impossible to speak from the heart, about what you truly believe. It's not possible to do that and win a majority of the vote. But Kerry's Botoxed tan looked good!:)

I'm afraid I still don't get it. All you are going to get ever is a high level strategy from either side. How it's implemented tactically is always changes on a day to day basis. Every war since the dawn of time has been fought that way. You have a high level strategy that you implement through tactics you decide on and change on a daily basis. That's not a Democratic thing. That's not a Republican thing. That's just the way war is fought.

You are never going to see a plan that say that units from these forces should deploy there, then units over here should deploy over there. That would be nuts and frankly it would scare the shit out of me. First, we should never see that, and second, decisions about battlefield tactics should not come out of Washington. That's something that we learned in Vietnam that this administration is re-learning. The general in charge of the Falluja offensive said as he was leaving that he was getting daily micromanagement from Washington to control the spin. It's sickening to see us repeating these mistakes.

I just don't get your point about the 'how is he going to DO it'. There is a plan. It's on the site. That's what presidents do. They make high level plans. Then work with their cabinet, the DOD, foreign governments, CIA, etc. to implement the plan. What is it that you want to see?

How is he going to repair world relations? First, by simply not being George Bush. I know Texas loves G.W. God only knows why. But the rest of the world hates W. They absolutely hate him. Personally. I quoted a world poll where every single country registered positive detest for Bush. Not 10%. Not 20%. Not 30% for Kerry. Often 80% for Kerry. With support for Bush in the single digits. It's as simple as that. Bush is the problem. Remove Bush, remove the problem. Other countries will look at the removal of Bush as the return to the regularly scheduled program of sanity on the part of America. A return to a country they look up to and admire.

How is he going to fix Iraq? Bring in foreign countries and investment, by being other than George Bush and by not holding stupid petty grudges against our long term allies like France and Germany. By training Iraqi police and army out of country. By facing the freaking facts about what is going on there. By working with neighboring nations to get them to help us there. By putting in the troops if we need to.

By saying that Iraq is a 'mess', the question to you is, why would you let W have four more years at it. He's obviously screwed up every single decision he has made on Iraq. What's his plan? What are his ideas? When is he even going to admit that Iraq is a mess? Don't you think if you have the opportunity to take the keys to the car away from the guy that drove you into a ditch you should?

Seriously, I saw John Kerry rip into Bush and slam home the points that the Democrats have been harping on since before the start of this stupid war. It was intense. It was direct. And it hit home. I saw Bush stunned and in a stupor. Then I saw him peeved at how he was being talked to. He is a boy in a bubble and Kerry popped that bubble and kicked that boys ass.

I admit that I am biased. I admit that I will never ever in my life vote Republican. But even so, I look at the debate and I see a horse whipping. I see Kerry, a real life president, show a hopefulness, a direction, and optimism. I saw Bush up there, unable to answer simple questions, unable to articulate his position, looking tired, looking weak, and frankly, looking like a spoiled rotten little kid who just found out that his toys were going to be taken away.

Here is some out of the box thinking for you. We can give Bush a plane, a helicopter, a flight suit, and whatever toys he wants, even a fake little red button, and call him "God's Own President". And he can go around the country, talking in churches about the second coming and whatever, while competent Democrats run the country, fix this Iraq bullshit, kill bin Ladin, and fix the economy. He would be King of America. Powerless, but funny to watch. All he has to do is give up this silly elections nonsense, which he doesn't seem to want anyway.