I'm not just voting *against* Bush; I'm voting *for* Kerry.

[GOPBasher]

I'm not telling people simply to vote "not Bush." Kerry is a great nominee. For those that think he's too far to the right, or too "corporate," I'd suggest that Kerry will be our most left wing President *ever*.

You want a debate on this? Bring it! :-) Let's ask: Will he support the New Deal programs? Yes, and he can save social security by rolling back to tax cuts for the super rich; we can fix social security from the general treasury. We've got FDR covered, and he's the best ever. Will he support the Great Society programs? Yes, and he can give us a real prescription drug benefit. Will he support civil rights? Yes, and he's pro-affermative action. Will he support Women's rights? Yes. Labor? Yes. Environment? Yes.

Who are you going to get me with? Certainly not Clinton, he was definitely a centrist -- welfare reform, NAFTA, GATT, pro-death penalty. What about Carter? He was another Southern moderate; a foreign policy liberal, yes, but domestically he promoted deregulation and somewhat smaller government. Nixon was actually a moderate Republican, but obviously not even close to as left wing as Kerry; he *was* still a Republican.

Now Lyndon Johnson, this one you can make a good case for. But I'll still take Kerry, and I'll tell you why. Kerry is a supporter of all of the Great Society, with the exception of some welfare programs. Yes, Kerry did support welfare reform, and if he didn't, he frankly would have no chance of being elected. But Kerry still supports the rest of the great society, and he expands on the civil rights that Johnson was for (i.e. affermative action). Now why do I think Kerry is to the left of Johnson? Well, Johnson was a major war hawk and Kerry is not. Plus, Kerry is fantastic on environmental issues. Granted, in Johnson's day most of these issues were not on the radar yet; the environmental movement was just starting out. But still, you can't get much better than Kerry on these issues. And then factor in social issues.

Now, for everyone prior to LBJ, including JFK (the first one), and FDR, my personal favorite. Bear in mind, these two may have been very liberal for their day, but you can't compare that to now, mainly because of social issues. They didn't deal with abortion and gay rights issues, and Kerry is very liberal on those.

In short, Kerry will protect the progress that the older Presidents made, and make more progress in areas such as the environment and social issues; his more progressive tax policy will help close the gap between the richest and the poorest; and he can help fix the problems caused by the Bush administration, such as the explosion of the deficit and our poor relations with the rest of the world.

The most left wing President ever. Think about it.

[MoonRiver]

1. Amen! I totally agree.

Kerry will be a marvelous President, maybe one of our best ever! I can't wait to find out!

:kick:

[Cursive_Knives512]

2. Interesting

You're right, this isn't really a "lesser of two evils" election. Kerry would actually be a good president. Instead of just focusing on Bush's faults (which might discourage people from voting and politics altogether), including Kerry's good points is probably a good strategy.

[FlashHarry]

3. Ditto!

:)

[Piperay]

4. I agree

and while my first choice was Clark I am very proud to have Kerry as my candidate. :-)

[GOPBasher]

6. Clark was my first choice, too.

That was more for electability. On the issues I think the two are very close.

Thanks to all the responders.

[sandnsea]

5. I agree totally

Environment, absolutely. Women's rights, he created the first rape victims units, domestic violence legislation and women's small business programs. Children, he's written legislation for day cares, education and 2 strikes molestation legislation. Health care, he was involved in writing the SCHIP legislation and wrote the Nurse Reinvestment Act. He's introduced environmental legislation into almost every trade agreement, even though they didn't pass. He's voted for human rights and workers' rights in these agreements as well. As President, he can finally get this done. He's fought against all these CIA covert operations around the world. He's fought for engagement as the path to peace and his work with Vietnam is proof of that, even though he's going to be called a communist sympathizer because of it. He's EXACTLY the kind of President the left should hope to have and it's sad that too many can't see the forest for the trees.

[GOPBasher]

7. Thanks.

You backed up my argument much better than I did. You provided a lot of facts to prove the points. :)

[blm]

8. He's the most liberal Democratic nominee of the last century.

And those who cast him as not much different than Bush are certifiably insane, plain old stupid or GOP operatives working to suppress Democratic voter turnout.

[GOPBasher]

9. You hit on a good point.

I really don't begrudge actual leftists who have a problem with Kerry; I'll simply try to convince them otherwise. However, I'm really scared of the other group you mentioned: "GOP operatives working to suppress Democratic voter turnout." Now *THAT* scares me, because I think they might be doing that.

[fujiyama]

10. While I understand..

why certain people might be annoyed by Kerry's (IMO opinion) weak justification for the war resolution, he really would be one of the most liberal democratic candidates in the last 30 years at least. I've been an admirer of him since I started paying attention to politics.

He has the right kind of experience and has proven his dedication to his nation. IMO his nuance would be an asset.

All in all he'd make one hell of a president.

[mobuto]

11. Most liberal Democratic nominee for the last century?

Maybe, maybe not. I'd probably want to put in a few words for Al Smith, FDR, LBJ, HHH and George McGovern. But he's certainly the most liberal in 32 years. Either way, John Kerry's going to be one hell of a good President.

[blm]

12. Hard to say since environmental and some controversial social issues

were barely on the horizon for most of the others.

[Zynx]

13. We can always compare on economic issues though.

Kerry's up there, but behind McGovern, LBJ, and FDR.

[JohnKleeb]

14. hes definely the most liberal nominee in my lifetime

I always knew he was quite liberal, even when I fully supported DK. He's not a disappointed IMO, he's not the labor democrat that my grandparents would have voted for as young people but he's not a total new democrat in Clinton's mold, he is a traditional liberal democrat with some new democrat tendecies. I say we are lucky to have him as our nominee honest.

[TheDonkey]

15. Here Here

:toast:

JK JK JK JK JK JK JK JK JK!

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Imalittleteapot]

17. Don't think you're going to sway anyone here.

We like liberals. We don't like pre-emptive strikes. We like Kerry and we hate Bush.

[Barad Simith]

18. Oh, don't worry about angering anyone here

You won't be around long enough to do that.

:nuke: