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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (34975)	3/16/2004 11:00:43 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793955

Bill Hobbs Blog - John Kerry: Let's Play Defense John Kerry gave a speech and issued a press release yesterday outlining his approach to the War on Terror. It's filled with the language of playing defense, rather than offense, which is to say, the language of defeatism and cowardice and resignation in the face of mass murder. Kerry outlined his comprehensive plan to ensure our first responders are prepared and that our homeland is secure. ... If I am President, we will work toward victory in the War on Terror knowing that those on the frontlines of this battle are heroes, not political props. The needs of our first defenders must never be left for last. ... We will reduce the spread of nuclear and biological and chemical weapons and better guard our ports. We will provide frontline defenders with the gear and communications equipments and intelligence they need. We will make sure our public health system is ready for whatever comes its way. ... Kerry’s plan to keep America secure and First Responders prepare includes ensuring there are enough first defenders to do the job – hiring and equipping the nation’s fire fighters, restoring funding for the COPS program to keep cops on the street and in our communities, and creating a homeland security corps that would create additional law enforcement officials dedicated to Homeland Security coordination in their communities. He is also committed to ... securing our nation's ports. ... When intelligence exists that there is a terrorist threat in certain locations, Kerry will work to ensure that it is shared with local law enforcement and the threat level should be raised in those locations accordingly. ... Do you hear it? It's the language of disengaging from the terrorists, and preparing for when they hit us again. It's the language of switching from offense to defense. Kerry goes on to promise big new spending for equipping firefighters and other "first responders" - so they'll be better able to respond to the next attack. He wants to spend more money screening ship cargo at our ports. We'll let the terrorists bring a dirty bomb all the way into the harbor at Baltimore, or New Orleans, or Seattle, but no further. He wants to spend more money screening airplane passengers. We'll let the terrorists into our country and into our airports, and try to snag them at the last possible check point. Kerry promises to enhance "intelligence sharing" among police and local officials across multiple jurisdictions. We'll let the terrorists into our country, and try to find them before they blow up a commuter train. For John Kerry, our "first responders" in the War on Terror are the people who respond to an attack with firehoses, bulldozers and cadaver dogs. For President George Bush, our "first responders" are the 101st Airborne, the Third Infantry Division, the Navy and the Air Force. They get no mention in Kerry's self-described "Agenda to Support Front Lines in America's War on Terror," which contains not a single single word about offense. That, in brief, is the stark choice America faces in November. Do we keep the coach who is playing offense in the War on Terror, taking the battle to where the enemy lives and breeds, smashing their stronghold in Afghanistan, setting a trap for them in Iraq, and confronting Islamist terrorists by planting that which they loathe the most - freedom and democracy for Muslims - in the heart of their territory. Or do we hire a new coach who will switch to defense and focus on preparing the firefighters and police and "first responders' to douse the flames and dig the bodies from under the rubble of the next attack?