Once more into the friend, dear breach

I couldn’t take it. I wandered in and out of the room for the first half of the debate before I turned it off and went back to work. From what little I did watch, Bush seemed more sure of himself than in the first debate but Kerry makes a strong impression too. As near as I can tell, Kerry does have a plan. It appears to be the Bush plan . . . but done differently.

You have to admire Senator Kerry. Here is a fellow who has spent his entire career voting against defense programs and voting for castration of intelligence activities trying to sound as if he has been in favor of a strong defense for the United States. Like any competent politician he is pretty good at it. He’ll look you right in the eye and lie through his teeth like that salesman who tried to sell you the cheap carpet last month.

I’m sorry. I just cannot get over a candidate who, with a straight face could actually say, “I voted for it . . . until I voted against it,” and expect to get away with it. That is just a little too far over the top.

I’m not happy with Bush. I really think there were too many in the administration that actually thought the Iraqis would welcome us with open arms. But that is a flaw many Americans suffer from. We are so used to our way of life that we have difficulty understanding people who don’t appreciate it.

Bush’s immigration stand (like that of the Democrats) is a scandal. His administration spends my tax dollars like drunken Democrats. But he does display optimism and commitment even when things look bad. He also has achieved two goals that I believe are critical to the future of America.

First, he has focused the Islamofascists on an Arab land (Iraq) instead of our own shores. They are so busy trying to get into Iraq and kill Americans in their own back yard; they have to time to bother us here yet. And if Iraq does develop a representative, secular government, it has the potential to become another shining city on the hill overlooking the petty fiefdoms and autocratic regimes of the Mid East, giving hope of a better future to other Arabs. He deserves a huge credit for taking a foreign policy risk of a magnitude not seen since the Marshall Plan.

Secondly, he understands, like Reagan and Kennedy before him, that the best way to invigorate an economy is by reducing taxes and freeing up capital for investment.

This isn’t rocket science. There are people out there who are trying to kill us. George Bush understands this and is using that incredibly unwieldy machine called the Federal Government to try and prevent it. John Kerry, on the other hand, seems to believe that he can charm the Islamists of the world out of their beliefs with a handshake, a winning smile, a photo opportunity with a celebrity or two and some nuclear fuel . . . as long as they promise not to make bombs with it.

If you have a neighbor who raises dobermans to attack anyone in sight, you don’t make him stop by ofering to buy him more dobermans as long as he promises to raise them to be nice.