Carter fucked up AND he got shafted by political machinations. A very good
friend of mine worked in his national campaign HQ and tells some interesting
stories. Much of which surrounds Carter failing to recognize the need for
politics. What he didn’t screw up on his own the opposing parties (not just
Repubs either) maniplated to make him eventually take the fall. Aw shucks
politics kept our citizens trapped in the embassy. Getting them out was a whole
other train wreck.

Whine all you want about how expensive it will be to have another Iraqi
surrender campaign. Then tell us it’d be less expensive than nerve and mustard
gas attacks, anthrax and smallpox outbreaks and radiation clean up. Get wise
folks, here’s a guy unarguably known to use every effort to utilize WoMD. But
hey, we can just ignore him right? He’s on the other side of the world, he
can’t hurt us here! Sure, and where did 9/11 get started? There’s no
satisfying people who feel doing nothing is better than preventing disaster.
But those same are among the first to act outraged that the FBI didn’t
miraculously detect and prevent things. This after the people you DID elect cut
back on all sorts of foreign intelligence efforts.

As for Egypt and the rest, have you /been/ to those places? Or are you just
relying on Noam Chomsky and his ilk to inform you? If we’re so awful how come
they all want to emigrate here? The reality is the locals have a world of hurt
put upon them by their own officials who, quite conveniently, seek to blame the
US. Yet we give them more in aid dollars than their own GNP in some countries.
Yeah, we’re the bad guys. I’m sure Mugabe is workin’ real hard to make himself
look good at our expense. Like getting applause while Powell gets booed. Ugh,
what nonsense.

The candidate hasn’t changed as much as the political territory has. Bush is
pushing to fight the inane employment policies and such for the HSO. But the
long standing politcal machinery is fighting /any/ sorts of change regardless of
the fact they might help security of the citizenry. So the next time something
gets by someone who’s supposed to know, look deeper and see what’s wrong with
the staff behind them. You’d be /horrified/ to imagine the bullshit that goes
on.

As for US foreign interests abroad, who do you think is really driving those
efforts? It’s not the state department personnel. It’s American citizens
engaged in business in those foreign countries. Our officials listen to the
needs of the citizens and those folks are making requests. Are you? Or are you
just copping out because “one man can’t do anything”? Are you actively fighting
to punish the companies engaged in despicable practices abroad? Or are you just
going for a walk to the Walmart in your overpriced Nikes?

There’s definitely a problem in American policy. That problem is apathy and it
your own damned fault.

Bah, it’s not like anyone here is actually going to get up an DO anything.

-Bill Kearney

Some of those things you say about President Bush are true. Often a President must change what he does from what he says in campaign. Is he a liar?

I can’t think of any President that doesn’t do the same thing, only in different ways.

I’m not any different. I said things when I was young and acted differently later on in life.

I think I mentioned on someone’s site in the past that I do not seek perfection. As long as President Bush on the whole acts the way I want him to, he has my support.

I don’t agree with everything he does. But for fighting the war, I agree. For eliminating Iraq as a threat, I agree. Many others things including the economy are less of a concern for me.

Besides, I believe the American people make the economy the way it is at any time. Right now there is good reason for the economy to be down. No one promised us a country where days are always looking good.

Don

Actually, I’m hoping that’ll only last another 2 years and 2 months.

LOL!

I understand what you mean.

I think America is much more than any President. The leadership may change, but not the momentum.

By the way, I read your anti-American comments because I think you represent many people who feel the same but are afriad to speak their minds.

Don

Maybe, if the president were an all-powerful king, things could change
overnight, but he’s not… and if you remember, Bush is the president
who said the U.S. would be *less* of a world police force under his
leadership.

Seth,

What new police-force actions has President Bush initiated? I don’t count fighting a war against terrorist’s that attacked us as a police-force action.

If you’re speaking to the immenent attack on Iraq, then perhaps that is your point?

As for the other places around the world where the U.S. is actually doing police-force work like, Korea, Taiwan, NATO, Yugoslovia, etc., I agree let’s redeploy them to where they are actually defending American interests that are directly at risk, including our borders.

Don

>As for Jim being President, I don’t think so. Jim’s destiny is different.
>He is the voice of argument about everything he thinks is wrong with
>America. I’m confident that Jim will be writing commentary for his entire
>life about things that are wrong with America.

Yes, to some extent, but at least you know where you stand with Jim. What
do we have with Bush:

- a president who campaigned on free trade whose actual record has been
just abominable — far worse than Clinton

- a president who said we wouldn’t be the world’s police force and was
actively floating trial balloons about disengaging from Iraq who is no
proposing an expensive unilateral assault on that country (and, frankly,
with a bad B-movie script)

- a president who campaigned on a “I trust the people” slogan who in just
two years has managed to enact all of the worst holdover anti-freedom acts
that the Clinton administration desired

- worst of all, a president who campaigned on an “aw, shucks, there will be
no more politics as usual” who has become a master of just that sort of
bureacratic nonsense. The whole farce surrounding Tom Ridge and the
Homeland Security agency or department or whatever the heck they call it is
exactly the sort of stuff I thought Bush was going to avoid.

I thought the Bush who campaigned back in October 2000 wasn’t half-bad. The
Bush who actually took office, however, bears little resemblance to that
candidate.

>On 9/7/02, Jim Roepcke said:
>
> >Actually, I’m hoping that’ll only last another 2 years and 2 months.
>
>You mean, until the next president is voted in, assuming by some
>miracle it’s not Bush?

Bush’s reelection probably hinges (like his father’s did) on the economy.
His approval rating is still around 60 percent, but unless the economy
improves, he’s going to have a tough reelection bid, assuming the Democrats
can find a decent candidate to run against him (which is a big if).

>Actually, I’m hoping that’ll only last another 2 years and 2 months.

You mean, until the next president is voted in, assuming by some
miracle it’s not Bush?

Maybe, if the president were an all-powerful king, things could change
overnight, but he’s not… and if you remember, Bush is the president
who said the U.S. would be *less* of a world police force under his
leadership.

Seth

> As for Jim being President, I don’t think so. Jim’s destiny is
> different. He is the voice of argument about everything he thinks is
> wrong with America. I’m confident that Jim will be writing commentary
> for his entire life about things that are wrong with America. It would
> be interesting to see how the same old things will get refreshed by
> Jim over the next 10, 20, 30,40, etc., years.

Actually, I’m hoping that’ll only last another 2 years and 2 months.

Jim

The real war is about the respect for America by the general public of the world. If the masses of Egypt all hate Americans that is more of a potential problem for us than Sadam. If we look at hatred as a form of voting, America is losing the election. I think that Carter understands this basic fact and Bush doesn’t have a clue.

The general respect of America by the world has been on the decline for some time. That doesn’t bother me at all that such statements appear in print.

I think the fact that Carter lost the 1980 election by a huge landslide speaks for itself as to the political insights of Jimmy Carter. Carter should stick to hammering nails into walls and build homes for the homeless. At least he’s doing something useful in that activity.

Don

I had to laugh at Brian’s comments about Carter sending telegrams had he been President last year on 9/11. America would have lost the battle, the war, and our way of life. No, we learned our lessons about wimpy Presidents from Carter’s single term.

And if the talk turns to the economy; I’ll remind you that President Carter served during the worst inflationary period of the 20th century. If you guys think this ‘mild’ recession is bad, you missed some big ones in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s due to wimpy leadership from Carter on the economic front.

Carter is the number one reason I changed from a Democrat to a Republican and I’m not going back to the party of wimps. Regardless of what Republicans do, I’m voting for them over any Democrat!

And yes Seth, I am a strong supporter of President Bush.

As for Jim being President, I don’t think so. Jim’s destiny is different. He is the voice of argument about everything he thinks is wrong with America. I’m confident that Jim will be writing commentary for his entire life about things that are wrong with America. It would be interesting to see how the same old things will get refreshed by Jim over the next 10, 20, 30,40, etc., years.

Meanwhile, the beat goes on, unabated.

Don