Here's my "Why I'm voting for Kerry" LTTE to be published in SB Tribune

[Larkspur]

That is the South Bend (IN) Tribune http://www.southbendtribune.com/. I emailed it on Sep 17 and just got called today about it. Don't know when it will be published, but probably soon.

… if elected, Kerry would surely be a "weapon of mass destruction" unleashed on our own beloved soil.

George W Bush only offers America “Rambo Patriotism” as his cure for the complex forces that have generated Islamic Fundamentalism and terrorism. That brand of patriotism is to our nation’s security what anabolic steroids are to bodybuilders.

If Ms. Elkins doesn’t want to trust Democratic criticisms of President Bush, maybe she should listen to Republican Congressmen and senators. When Bush’s state department officials came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to get approval to transfer about $3.5 million from Iraqi reconstruction funds to security needs, Indiana’s Sen. Richard Lugar, who is chairman of that Committee, called the Bush administration's handling of Iraq’s reconstruction an “emergency problem.”

Nebraska’s Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said this shift in funds “does not add up in my opinion … to a picture that shows that we're winning... it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble.”

And if Ms. Elkins wants a military perspective, Retired general William Odom said, ”… Al-Qaeda, it's worse, lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy ? That goal is lost, too… Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends.”

Based on these Republican and military opinions, I’d say George W. Bush is a leader of the same qualities as Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer and Captain John Smith of the Titanic.

While I find Sen. John Kerry unpalatable, I’m voting for him because George W. Bush’s Administration is clearly a disaster.


Note to editor: I’m a ’83 graduate from the University of Notre Dame and hold a BA in History and Computer Applications. I’m also a member of Killingly, CT’s Democratic Town Committee.

[pacalo]

1. Very impressive letter.

It responded to "Ms. Elkins'" letter with facts from her own party. Excellent.

[HFishbine]

2. "While I find Sen. John Kerry unpalatable..."

Umm, thanks?

[Larkspur]

5. For this election, I share John Kenneth Galbraith's view of politics

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists of choosing between disaster and the unpalatable."

That's my view and it is shared by many who will hold their nose and vote for Kerry because Bush is a disaster.

[A_Possum]

3. Well I was with ya till the last line

I find Kerry to be one of the finest candidates for president since Thomas Jefferson.

[faithnotgreed]

4. count me in on that

[BiggJawn]

6. Capt. JOHN Smith?

I believe he was either called Edward, or "E.J."

Hey, you find Kerry "unpalatable", I can nit-pick "Titanic" minutiae...

But I do like your comparison of Bush to Custer. It fits. Both thought their balls were big enough to go it alone, and hopefully Bush comes to (metaphorically, of course!) the same kind of ending...

[Larkspur]

7. Oops, on Captain Smith's name!

I had looked it up but missed the Edward. Oh well!

But yes, I thought that one way to counter Bush's cowboy-sherrif image is to compare him to a master of disaster, George Armstrong Custer.

[chemteacher]

8. Isn't it a 3.5 BILLION transfer, not "million"

jsut checking?!?!?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. Hadn't heard the "we're achieving Bin Laden's ends.” quote before

Man that is killer. Excellent letter. Congrats.