And what was Bush doing 35 years ago?

[John F. Kerry]

Yeah and your right I made that up.  Of course Kerry admitted to just sitting there staring at the TV for an hour, unable to move or speak.

5960[/snapback]

 

All that will change when I become President. I will become a leader, and take decisive action in times of crisis.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I'm not defending the current President - I'm not very fond of him or his party.

 

It doesn't change the fact that he wasn't AWOL.  His superiors are as much to blame as he is.  I served for 12 years.  Did you?

 

The rest of your post is typical liberal garbage.  The President of the United States is never on vacation, regardless of where he spends his time.  I'm not about to go back and debate all of the things that led to airplanes flying into buildings.  They are not the fault of any single person in the government and to continue playing the "blame game" is counter productive.  Period.

5918[/snapback]

 

To quote LABillz (see I do try to understand)... A "Hot Pocket" society.

 

 

IMHO, he (Bush) is a "Hot Pocket" Prez.

 

I think what you sad about the vacation is true up till this president. He makes no qualms that he goes to bed early and gets up early. He sleeps like a baby at night, that I can assure you.

 

You think he keeps up on his intellectual prowess? Maybe writes in a journal? Does he even know how to use a word processor or computer better than myself? Clinton at least writes things out long-hand. I don't see anything the president does that I respect. He just seems to be "there".

 

Normally what you said, I would agree with... Yet, this Prez. strikes me as different. It is okay to do without the PDA's, Blackberry's, cell phones or what not... Yet, it is strikingly amazing that you don't see anything of that nature with this Prez. (given the times). Does he even have any say in what he signs?... He is a "rubber stamp" Prez. Fault the others (like Carter) for getting way to innnolved in the daily memo writing, processes, or what not. True yet, all other presidents were their own "man" to some extent. Who wants "Joe Blow" to be President? Kinda like Boomer for Prez...

 

I think taking walks, maybe a run, getting briefed, and shuffled from one place to the next is all he really does. I think the puppet master, Karl Rove sees to it.

 

Bush II is solely a figurehead... Even you can't deny it... Am I seeing something that I am not (No smart-ass coments either... Okay, okay go ahead, I have been dishing them out )?

 

Honestly, I want to give him the benefit, I just can't... I just don't know what is "his".

 

And yes, Kerry is slightly better. Fault him if you will, yet they were HIS choices.

 

End of rant.

[Guest RabidBillsFanVT]

I thought the president choaked on pretzels, not CC??  It might make a difference especially if you get the ones with crunchberries.

 

 

Seriously though, ................................................

Well I tried to be serious, I just can't do it.  I am having a vision of someone lauching nukes at us and Kerry sitting in the kitchen at the WH trying to get the prize out of a box of cereal, and trying to decide between Co-CO Puffs and Captain Crunch.  His advisors blaming Bush even though Bush had been out of office 3 years.  And yet Kerry still can't decide which to eat, let alone how to react to the nuclear strike against us.

5947[/snapback]

 

Actually, I can picture our armed forces pushed to the brink of total stress mode, fighting every country in the world, and going on year-long deployments like they SAID we might have to, and them actually DOING IT. PERSONALLY, I would HATE to have to have the SANDBOX as a freakin liberty port 5 times on a year-long deployment, unable to pull in anywhere else because everyone freakin HATES us, and the bad guys are STILL dropping bombs in the US and Europe!!

 

We should have finished the Bin Laden job FIRST. PERIOD.

 

I think Kerry at LEAST can have sound judgement about when to use force, because I KNOW by where he was when he had to fight, and it was bloody and it was sick....not some necessary, clear-cut war like WWII, but a long and protracted jungle war where we got embarassed because we were drug into a stalemate! He didn't duck the war.. he fought in it, saw the carnage, and saw the war for what it was... worthless, just like in Iraq.

 

When the nukes fall in our backyard, it's not gonna be a Kerry in the White House; it's gonna be a guy who feels the need to be a cowboy in Washington, just like HAIG.

[Alaska Darin]

I think Kerry at LEAST can have sound judgement about when to use force, because I KNOW by where he was when he had to fight, and it was bloody and it was sick....not some necessary, clear-cut war like WWII, but a long and protracted jungle war where we got embarassed because we were drug into a stalemate! He didn't duck the war.. he fought in it, saw the carnage, and saw the war for what it was... worthless, just like in Iraq.

6286[/snapback]

That explains why he voted against the resolution...

[ExiledInIllinois]

That explains why he voted against the resolution...

6371[/snapback]

 

What do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission and when you get it back find out he did a really sloppy job, leaks fluid and FUBAR'ed it beyond belief? Never go to that mechanic again, right?

 

You gotta be nuts if you are gonna let the hack mechanic try and fix your car.

 

You call it a loss and ditch the hack for somebody yes... Mainly YOU, because you have the skills yourself.

 

I think you get the analogy here, Bush is the Mechanic.

 

[gmac17]

And what was Bush doing 35 years ago?

 

He wasn't meeting with the North Vietnamese in Paris while he was in the Naval Reserve....I know that much.....

[IDBillzFan]

What do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission and when you get it back find out he did a really sloppy job, leaks fluid and FUBAR'ed it beyond belief?  Never go to that mechanic again, right?

 

You gotta be nuts if you are gonna let the hack mechanic try and fix your car.

 

You call it a loss and ditch the hack for somebody yes... Mainly YOU, because you have the skills yourself.

 

I think you get the analogy here, Bush is the Mechanic.

 

 

6400[/snapback]

I get the analogy, but I'm thinking a greater amount of due diligence goes into making a decision to go to war over whether you go to Jiffy Lube or Quicky Lube.

 

You can't stand around the Senate floor saying, "Well, I thought this was a good idea because I had a coupon."

[Alaska Darin]

What do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission and when you get it back find out he did a really sloppy job, leaks fluid and FUBAR'ed it beyond belief?  Never go to that mechanic again, right?

 

You gotta be nuts if you are gonna let the hack mechanic try and fix your car.

 

You call it a loss and ditch the hack for somebody yes... Mainly YOU, because you have the skills yourself.

 

I think you get the analogy here, Bush is the Mechanic.

 

 

6400[/snapback]

Apparently Mr. Kerry is unable to evaluate cause/effect situations very accurately. Just another example of his lack of leadership.

 

Your analogy pretty much sucks.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I get the analogy, but I'm thinking a greater amount of due diligence goes into making a decision to go to war over whether you go to Jiffy Lube or Quicky Lube.

 

You can't stand around the Senate floor saying, "Well, I thought this was a good idea because I had a coupon."

6405[/snapback]

 

 

The president had a good reputation... Why not trust him, after all he's is leader of the free world?

 

You trivalize it. It wasn't a coupon but scam job they sold you.

 

I do understand LA and kinda figured you would say something like that. I still have the "What IF" reply stuck in my head.

 

You are such a cut and dry kinda guy... It is very admirable. The world changes, things change, nothing is static.

 

So what you are saying is the salesman is always right?

[DC Tom]

What do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission and when you get it back find out he did a really sloppy job, leaks fluid and FUBAR'ed it beyond belief?  Never go to that mechanic again, right?

 

You gotta be nuts if you are gonna let the hack mechanic try and fix your car.

 

You call it a loss and ditch the hack for somebody yes... Mainly YOU, because you have the skills yourself.

 

I think you get the analogy here, Bush is the Mechanic.

 

 

6400[/snapback]

 

Of course, that analogy breaks down because by Kerry's own admission he voted for authorizing the use of force against Iraq but never intended that the authorization be used by the president.

 

So the real analogy is: what do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission when you didn't really want him to, and then find out you don't like his work?

[Alaska Darin]

Of course, that analogy breaks down because by Kerry's own admission he voted for authorizing the use of force against Iraq but never intended that the authorization be used by the president. 

 

So the real analogy is: what do you do if you authorize a mechanic to fix your transmission when you didn't really want him to, and then find out you don't like his work?

6420[/snapback]

Damn it! I was saving that for his inevitably lame comeback. Thunder stealer!

[DC Tom]

Damn it!  I was saving that for his inevitably lame comeback.  Thunder stealer!

6421[/snapback]

 

Sorry. I didn't get the memo.

 

Of course, you're a moderator. You could have just deleted it.

[Alaska Darin]

Sorry.  I didn't get the memo. 

 

Of course, you're a moderator.  You could have just deleted it.

6424[/snapback]

Ah, but I'm not an immoderate moderator...

 

[_BiB_]

I get the analogy, but I'm thinking a greater amount of due diligence goes into making a decision to go to war over whether you go to Jiffy Lube or Quicky Lube.

 

You can't stand around the Senate floor saying, "Well, I thought this was a good idea because I had a coupon."

6405[/snapback]

 

Nice shot.

[Chef Jim]

Why should Kerry shut up?  We're at a time of war.  The United States needs a President who has had first-hand exposure to war, someone with real combat experience.  All Kerry is doing is explaining why he is qualified for the job of President, and George Bush isn't.  It's an important message... one that voters have to hear.

5880[/snapback]

 

Let's try this analogy. About 30 years ago my father (a ski instructor at Holiday Valley) got me on the racing team. I spent four months (coincidence?) on that team and then I quit. I bad mouthed the other kids on the team. Told people some of the stupid things they did and I bet if I had won any medals for my racing I probably would have thrown them over the fence in to the creek behind my house.

 

Fast forward thirty years. Am I qualified to lead the Junior Racing Team?

[_BiB_]

Let's try this analogy.  About 30 years ago my father (a ski instructor at Holiday Valley) got me on the racing team.  I spent four months (coincidence?) on that team and then I quit.  I bad mouthed the other kids on the team.  Told people some of the stupid things they did and I bet if I had won any medals for my racing I probably would have thrown them over the fence in to the creek behind my house. 

 

Fast forward thirty years.  Am I qualified to lead the Junior Racing Team?

6453[/snapback]

 

No, you are too old and well fed. Just keeping with the analogy.

[Chef Jim]

No, you are too old and well fed. Just keeping with the analogy.

6457[/snapback]

 

Hey, I represent that remark.

[IDBillzFan]

The president had a good reputation... Why not trust him, after all he's is leader of the free world?

 

You trivalize it.  It wasn't a coupon but scam job they sold you.

 

I do understand LA and kinda figured you would say something like that.  I still have the "What IF" reply stuck in my head.

 

You are such a cut and dry kinda guy...  It is very admirable.  The world changes, things change, nothing is static.

 

So what you are saying is the salesman is always right?

6414[/snapback]

I guess the difference is, I don't feel like I was scammed and I rarely, if ever, live in the world of "what if." At the risk of repeating myself, I subscribe to the golf theory that you can only ever hit the ball that is in front of you.

 

That said, I'm not above questioning what someone does if I think it's wrong. Yes, you can find things wrong with Bush. You can find things wrong with everyone if you look closely enough. But if you look at everything "in the grand scheme," I can't help but feel that our country has done much more good than bad since 9/11.

 

Probably more than anything else, I'm one of those people who just can't shake what happened on 9/11. I've always believed you have to operate from a position of strength...even a pre-emptive position of strength. I really don't care if we step on toes along the way because what happened on 9/11 was a little bit more than toe stepping. I really don't care if we find WMD in Iraq, even if it was the reason we went in. In the best of all worlds, we find weapons. In the worst of all worlds, we deposed some very, very, very bad people. The world won't thank us right away. Maybe not even in our lifetime. Maybe never. But, again, I think we did more good than bad with the Iraqi war. Mass graves, meat hooks and rape rooms. I just can't shake those images.

 

And in the meantime, we remind people that we may not be the most perfect country, but we're the country everyone turns to when the crap hits THEIR fan, so they shouldn't act surprised when we kick it up a notch when the crap hits OUR fan. I could give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks of us. I'd argue that worrying about what other people think of us is a good part of the reason we got hit on 9/11.

 

So now we get to make our presidential choice. One of the greatest rights we have. I look to my right and see what has been done. I look to my left, and quite honestly, I don't like what I see. It's not because I'm so loyal to the right. It's because the left has nothing to say about the ball that is currently in front of me. All they do is brag about the ball they hit 30 holes ago. And if they're not yelling about their amazing birdie shot, they're complaining about the way I swing my club.

 

I've seen what Bush can do. I haven't seen what Kerry can do, but what I've heard has conflicted itself over and over and over again. If I thought change would be better, I'd consider it. But Kerry has shown absolutely no ability to lead this country the way I would like it to be run. In my eyes, if you're going to change horses at this juncture, I need something more than a shetland pony.

 

Long answer. Sorry about that. I truly appreciate your ability to communicate.

[_BiB_]

I guess the difference is, I don't feel like I was scammed and I rarely, if ever, live in the world of "what if." At the risk of repeating myself, I subscribe to the golf theory that you can only ever hit the ball that is in front of you.

 

That said, I'm not above questioning what someone does if I think it's wrong. Yes, you can find things wrong with Bush. You can find things wrong with everyone if you look closely enough. But if you look at everything "in the grand scheme," I can't help but feel that our country has done much more good than bad since 9/11.

 

Probably more than anything else, I'm one of those people who just can't shake what happened on 9/11. I've always believed you have to operate from a position of strength...even a pre-emptive position of strength. I really don't care if we step on toes along the way because what happened on 9/11 was a little bit more than toe stepping. I really don't care if we find WMD in Iraq, even if it was the reason we went in. In the best of all worlds, we find weapons. In the worst of all worlds, we deposed some very, very, very bad people. The world won't thank us right away. Maybe not even in our lifetime. Maybe never. But, again, I think we did more good than bad with the Iraqi war. Mass graves, meat hooks and rape rooms. I just can't shake those images.

 

And in the meantime, we remind people that we may not be the most perfect country, but we're the country everyone turns to when the crap hits THEIR fan, so they shouldn't act surprised when we kick it up a notch when the crap hits OUR fan. I could give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks of us. I'd argue that worrying about what other people think of us is a good part of the reason we got hit on 9/11.

 

So now we get to make our presidential choice. One of the greatest rights we have. I look to my right and see what has been done. I look to my left, and quite honestly, I don't like what I see. It's not because I'm so loyal to the right. It's because the left has nothing to say about the ball that is currently in front of me. All they do is brag about the ball they hit 30 holes ago. And if they're not yelling about their amazing birdie shot, they're complaining about the way I swing my club.

 

I've seen what Bush can do. I haven't seen what Kerry can do, but what I've heard has conflicted itself over and over and over again. If I thought change would be better, I'd consider it. But Kerry has shown absolutely no ability to lead this country the way I would like it to be run. In my eyes, if you're going to change horses at this juncture, I need something more than a shetland pony.

 

Long answer. Sorry about that. I truly appreciate your ability to communicate.

6469[/snapback]

 

Nice post. Well said. Not about who went to Viet Nam, or who didn't. Didn't matter when it was Bill. the purple heart thing ranks right up there with a spraigned foot on the practice field. Doesn't matter.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I guess the difference is, I don't feel like I was scammed and I rarely, if ever, live in the world of "what if." At the risk of repeating myself, I subscribe to the golf theory that you can only ever hit the ball that is in front of you.

 

That said, I'm not above questioning what someone does if I think it's wrong. Yes, you can find things wrong with Bush. You can find things wrong with everyone if you look closely enough. But if you look at everything "in the grand scheme," I can't help but feel that our country has done much more good than bad since 9/11.

 

Probably more than anything else, I'm one of those people who just can't shake what happened on 9/11. I've always believed you have to operate from a position of strength...even a pre-emptive position of strength. I really don't care if we step on toes along the way because what happened on 9/11 was a little bit more than toe stepping. I really don't care if we find WMD in Iraq, even if it was the reason we went in. In the best of all worlds, we find weapons. In the worst of all worlds, we deposed some very, very, very bad people. The world won't thank us right away. Maybe not even in our lifetime. Maybe never. But, again, I think we did more good than bad with the Iraqi war. Mass graves, meat hooks and rape rooms. I just can't shake those images.

 

And in the meantime, we remind people that we may not be the most perfect country, but we're the country everyone turns to when the crap hits THEIR fan, so they shouldn't act surprised when we kick it up a notch when the crap hits OUR fan. I could give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks of us. I'd argue that worrying about what other people think of us is a good part of the reason we got hit on 9/11.

 

So now we get to make our presidential choice. One of the greatest rights we have. I look to my right and see what has been done. I look to my left, and quite honestly, I don't like what I see. It's not because I'm so loyal to the right. It's because the left has nothing to say about the ball that is currently in front of me. All they do is brag about the ball they hit 30 holes ago. And if they're not yelling about their amazing birdie shot, they're complaining about the way I swing my club.

 

I've seen what Bush can do. I haven't seen what Kerry can do, but what I've heard has conflicted itself over and over and over again. If I thought change would be better, I'd consider it. But Kerry has shown absolutely no ability to lead this country the way I would like it to be run. In my eyes, if you're going to change horses at this juncture, I need something more than a shetland pony.

 

Long answer. Sorry about that. I truly appreciate your ability to communicate.

6469[/snapback]

 

Fair enough. I believe in a lot of things you espouse. I disagree with you when it comes to change. No-man is an island.

 

I can shake off what happened on 9/11. You can think of the most horrible thing to happen to you... You can't carry it forever. Let it go, move on.

 

The horse is dying in mid-stream. "The ball in front of me" is to get off it (the dying horse) before it drowns me.