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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: the navigator who wrote (5921)	1/19/2004 11:29:43 PM
From: rrufff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Still standing - excellent questions. I've tried very hard to step away from some of my biases and be objective in evaluating the candidates. As for Kerry, I'm from his neck of the woods and would like to be rooting for him. He has an interesting background and you note it well. I would suggest you read some of the in-depth analyses. It seems that his entire life has been one of being in the place where one can make the biggest splash. I realize I may start to sound like one of the conspiracy nuts. I also understand and agree with what several have posted here and that is "he who runs for President is probably not the person I'd want," or some derivation of that statement. Arrogance, sleaze, conniving - Do we really have to have this in our politiicans? Do we get what we deserve by failing to learn the deep backgrounds of our leaders and candidates and by failing to require real policy and by settling for criticism? Back to Kerry - Most in Massachusetts thought he was one of the Irish Kennedy prototypes. JFK as he so enjoyed the journalists' use of those popular initials is something else. He should be proud of his background and not hide it. The money, the wealth, the opportunism has turned me off. Turns out he is anything but Irish, but has allowed a perception of him depending on what might be perceived as best in a situation. He was a war hero and then when the Vietnam war was unpopular, he was a leader of the anti-war vets. He can be anti-tax, pro-spending, etc., Most voters have no idea what his position is as Senator, let alone what he would do as President. He was for the war, now againt the war, perhaps, but we're better off now that Saddam is captured. He's been one of the attack dogs against Dean, even though Dean put his neck out and has done the most to bring attention to the "gang of nine." I was hoping he would win me over but I heard very little from him, so far, during the campaign other than criticism of Dean and, of course, Bush. It's so much easier to criticize than to actually come up with alternatives that might work. It's a favorite theme of mine in case you haven't noticed. I'm still open to Kerry and will be watching with interest as he has won in Iowa. As for Clark, I knew very little about him other than his leadership in Kosovo. I was very excited watching him tour the talk shows over the 6 months before he became a candidate. His intelligence, wit and clear understanding of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns led me to think that he could be a clear alternative to Bush, one that would be strong and compassionate, reasoned and passionate. As soon as he announced, I believe he found out that it is easier to be a candidate before actually becoming one and being under the lights of our voyeuristic news organizations. He went from being someone with policy to another attack dog. He attacked Bush and the war while his support was strong only months before. He attacked Dean as front-runner. He went from being a calm rationale voice on Meet the Press to someone who did his best Ted Kennedy impression when the latter melted down in his run for President. (Remember the hollering Ted who went down to defeat rapidly?) Clark has been criticized as less than honorable by those who have worked with him. This may be just in-fighting and sniping but it has been more than one general and usually generals don't blast one of their own. Then there was the "i'll kick his ass," remark which may or may not have been intended for public hearing in response to a question about what he would do if someone questioned his resume. All in all a very big disappointment. Hope that gives you my reasons. I have to say that I still am hoping for a clear alternative that would have a chance. That way there will be a real debate and real policy might evolve. As I posted previously, the one that I am exploring more at this point is Edwards and that's a surprise to me. Otherwise, I and most Americans will vote for George Bush.