Debates #2

Question 3
"What colossal misjudgments, in your opinion, has President Bush made in these areas?"

The Question presumes misjudgment and so allows a list as an answer rather than some argument to support the notion that any misjudgment was made. Kerry claims, "First of all, he made the misjudgment of saying to America that he was going to build a true alliance." Apparently for Kerry a true alliance is not one where the participants share a worldview, wish to participate, and don't need coddling. A true alliance is one where consensus is achieved by all of the members of the security council, regardless of the fact that they often have irreconcilable policy goals, because we can have a summit. "...That he would exhaust the remedies of the United Nations and go through the inspections." On the contrary, Bush argued the opposite, that when the UN speaks, it has to mean what it says, and that he would enforce resolutions for the UN, even without the UN. "Now, once there, we could have continued those inspections.
We had Saddam Hussein trapped." A profound misreading of the situation. "He also promised America that he would go to war as a last resort. Those words mean something to me, as somebody who has been in combat. 'Last resort.'" Its means "after its too late". Kerry will wait until the costs of action have skyrocketed.

"You've got to be able to look in the eyes of families and say to those parents, 'I tried to do everything in my power to prevent the loss of your son and daughter.'" This is a recipie for no action. Everything about Kerry says no action. His standard for consenus will prevent any action, waiting until action is absolutly neccesary will prevent action, and wanting to be able to look into the eyes of grieving parents means no action. This is the true Kerry, his claims that he intends to win, that he won't waver is just a lie. "And we pushed our allies aside." France and Germany are the only allies that matter to Kerry, and their illegal ties to Saddam don't give him a moment of pause. "And so, today, we are 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the cost: $200 billion." Kerry's failure to recognize that our wealth and power is perponderant is such a profound failure of understanding, one wonders if he thinks Elvis Presley will sing at his inauguration. "$200 billion that could have been used for health care, for schools, for construction, for prescription drugs for seniors, and it's in Iraq." Twenty years of Senate votes attest to the idea that Kerry would always prefer to defund defense and intelligence for social spending. News Flash Senator, this is not a road to victory. Forget Elvis, Kerry wants Bach to play. "And Iraq is not even the center of the focus of the war on terror. " Kerry either ignores the explanation of what Iraq is intended to do, he's a liar, or an idiot. Very likely all three.

Bush pointed out Kerry's earlier statements supporting deposing Saddam and intervening in Iraq. Sensible for a 30 second responce.

Question 4
"What about Senator Kerry's point, the comparison he drew between the priorities of going after Osama bin Laden and going after Saddam Hussein?"

Bush said, "Jim, we've got the capability of doing both." So obvious its stunning.
"As a matter of fact, this is a global effort." So it must be if victory is the goal.
"To say that there's only one focus on the war on terror doesn't really understand the nature of the war on terror." Stunningly obvious.

Kerry repeats his embarassing analysis which is as off the mark as his analysis of Vietnam and the Cold War. If Kerry says the sun rises in the east, I advise you to verify that yourself.
"You don't send troops to war without the body armor that they need." Armor of any kind has very specific advantages, normally being light and agile is better than being heavily armored. "10,000 out of 12,000 Humvees that are over there aren't armored." We have armored vehicles. There is a reason we didn't armor the Humvee. There is a reason we don't have a completely mechanized and armored army.