The Palm Beach Post endorses Kerry.
palmbeachpost.com
[This is my paper. Looks like all the main South Florida papers endorsed Kerry.]
Go with Kerry's agenda over misplaced priorities
Sunday, October 17, 2004
There are many reasons to declare George W. Bush a failed president. We frame the election in terms of why people should vote for Sen. John Kerry.
John Kerry would not rush the country into a war that harms the campaign against terrorism, stretches the military dangerously thin and diverts attention from real nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea. Instead, he would refocus attention on Al-Qaeda and try to reclaim the near-worldwide sympathy, goodwill and cooperation that flowed to this country after 9/11 and which President Bush squandered by invading Iraq. As Sen. Kerry has said, the fight against terrorism is about more than being resolute; it's about being smart and making the right choices.
John Kerry would not allow unfair tax cuts and unchecked spending to swell the deficit, threatening the nation's economy and passing on huge IOUs to younger Americans. Unlike President Bush, whose ideas for tax reform would shift the burden from wealthier Americans to working Americans by taxing wages or consumption more, John Kerry would not allow the tax system to punish the middle class. Tax reform that Mr. Bush proposes would reward those who get stock dividends. An Urban Institute study in 2000 showed that 3.8 percent of households get 50 percent of dividends.
John Kerry would not favor an energy policy whose centerpiece is drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which contains at most a six-month supply of oil. He would not allow his vice president to hold secret hearings with energy executives, allow them to write a policy that pleases them but doesn't help the country, then fight in court on the public's tab to keep the public from knowing what happened in those meetings.
John Kerry would not support an environmental policy that is named "Clear Skies" but actually would be an industry-authored pollution authorization bill. He would not ignore the problem of global warming until just before running for reelection. He would not dismiss science just because it contradicts his policies. He would not compile the worst environmental record of any modern president. Instead, he would protect America's natural resources. He would embrace new, job-creating technology that cleans the air and water. He would realize that self-enforcement of environmental laws is an open invitation to pollute.
In Wednesday's third debate, as in the first two, John Kerry looked and sounded presidential while Mr. Bush looked confused. Mr. Bush has spent so much time before handpicked audiences that he was puzzled when he threw out campaign applause lines and got silence back. Sen. Kerry displayed more command of issues and showed Americans that he isn't the campaign caricature drawn by the president's political henchmen.
Issue by issue, Sen. Kerry has laid out a better, fairer, more progressive agenda. He would shore up Social Security, not endanger Americans' retirement by disguising a risky privatization scheme as part of an "ownership society." He would allow embryonic stem-cell research, not thwart hope by yielding to a narrow ideology. He would offer Americans the promise of health care that is available to members of Congress, not the illusions of tax credits to buy insurance. He would offer laid-off and underemployed Americans training and the assurance that their taxes won't subsidize companies that move jobs abroad. He would appoint Supreme Court justices who leave no political fingerprints on their rulings.
After 9/11, President Bush had an opportunity to lead the world against the new threat of terrorism. He was eloquent at the national memorial service and before Congress. The Democrat-controlled Senate quickly gave him authorization to use force in Iraq, reform airline screening and create a Department of Homeland Security.
Already, though, Mr. Bush was allowing a small group in the Pentagon to substitute its agenda for the nation's. Even as planning began for invading Afghanistan, Mr. Bush was looking past Al-Qaeda to Saddam Hussein. His administration politicized and delayed airline security improvements over the issue of whether the workers would be unionized. He opposed a homeland security department until May 2002, when he flipped and supported it as a distraction from testimony by an FBI agent about what the White House knew before 9/11. Then he used the Iraq resolution as political intimidation in the mid-year elections, ramming it through Congress with little debate.
Through arrogance and ignorance, the reckless ideologue who called himself "a uniter, not a divider" has divided the country against itself and the world against the country. He has bullied, not persuaded. He has made America weaker, not stronger. Desperately seeking reelection, President Bush refuses to acknowledge the reality of Iraq, offering such platitudes as "freedom is on the march" when the country wants a plan.
John Kerry is not in denial about Iraq or any of the other problems Mr. Bush will have left him. Unless the nation is in denial, Sen. Kerry will win on Nov. 2. Anyone who has failed as badly as Mr. Bush does not deserve another chance. |
