Why Bush?

The BBC asked why we voted for Bush. Here's a few reasons why I did:

He says what he means, and means what he says.

He has the guts to look terrorism in the eye and deal with it for the long term - and that takes a tremendous amount of courage. If democracy can indeed take hold in Afghanistan and Iraq, the people of the middle east will have been given an alternative to fighting. 'If' always carries a risk, but we need to dare great risks if we are going to accomplish great things. What are the choices? We take the risk, and win or lose spectacularly, or we take no chances and face a certain, but slower, death. To the 'give peace a chance' crowd, please review your history. We gave peace a chance and we got 9/11.

He's less inclined to socialism than John Kerry, although his 1st term spending does not please me one whit. The Democrat Party may as well be honest and call themselves socialists. It would be kind of neat if they'd read up on how many people died under socialism during the 20th century, too. Capitalism has it drawbacks, but it rarely shoots people in the back of the head.

He's not so daft as to surrender US sovereignty to the United Nations, a corrupt and useless organization if ever there was one.

The US is sometimes accused of propping up dictators in exchange for US support. To our shame, this accusation has sometimes been well-founded. George Bush, in a little-heralded but major and gutsy move, formally reversed this policy. We will no longer sacrifice what's right for short-term gain. Major, gutsy, that's what moral vision looks like, thank you President Bush. This policy reversal alone is enough to merit a 2nd term vote.

His love for his country is blatant and unashamed. So is mine.

Finally, he's a gentleman. If the tone of US political discourse has been foul of late, you cannot lay the blame at President Bush's feet. I've been voting for nearly 30 years; this is the first time I've voted a straight ticket. I could not, in good conscience, vote for a Democrat, a member of a political party that:

(a) actively embraces propaganda so vile it is used by US enemies as a recruiting tool. (Terry McAuliffe's embrace of Micheal Moore)

(b) has essentially called me a slut (James Carville)

(c) called me a brownshirt (Al Gore)

(d) slandered my country while overseas (a host of assorted drug-addled musicians and Hollywood vermin)

(e) denigrated my country and my President overseas (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton)

(f) licked the boots of Saddam Hussein, an enemy of my country and a creator of mass graves (Jim McDermot)

(g) elevated Osama Bin Laden above the rights and lives of my countrymen (Cynthia McKinney, Patti Murphy)

(h) attempted to tromp all over balance of power and the legislative process (Mayor Newsome and *some* San Francisco gays)

and that's just the official Democrats. The rank and file have behaved much more atrociously.


There's more but that will do to get on with.

VIVA LA BUSH!