Friday, September 03, 2004
Just a few minutes after President Bush completed his acceptance speech last night, John Kerry gave a speech in Ohio. I think the Economy is pretty good, at least it is in my extended family. Within the last four years, I was able to refinance my house at historically low rates (4.5%), my wife owns her own business and that is going great guns, my own work is going strong and although Terrorism may come again to America, it has sure missed a lot of oppotunities to come: conventions have gone off well, the Olympics have gone off well (Americans were not heckled off the stage), major sporting events have gone off well, major entertainment venues (Oscars, Emmies, Grammies) have all gone off safely.
The unemployment rate is 5.4%, the economy is growing rather strongly, the President has managed to push through some Medicare drug help for seniors, the President has managed to create a Homeland security department. It seems to me that when Bush is finally convinced that an idea is good, he gets behind it, strongly. "No Child Left Behind," "Homeland Security," and the new Security Czar are all examples.
Kerry's upset because years ago he helped to paint Vietnam veterans with one large brush as war criminals and they, those veterans, have not forgotten or forgiven. Kerry blames this on President Bush and not on himself. Even though there were endless hits on Kerry's senate record during the Republican Convention, I heard no hits against his service in the Navy. Zell Miller made mention of Kerry's anti-war activity, but nothing about Kerry's actual service. The Swift Boaters are all over Kerry for both his service and his anti-war activity. Blaming this on the President is transparently desperate. Kerry's speech last night was a speech full of 9/10 thought. I like President Bush's idea to start privatizing Social Security, for example, but I hold no ill-will that he didn't get to it in these last four years. I understand there were other priorities and Kerry, apparently, doesn't.
The unemployment rate is 5.4%, the economy is growing rather strongly, the President has managed to push through some Medicare drug help for seniors, the President has managed to create a Homeland security department. It seems to me that when Bush is finally convinced that an idea is good, he gets behind it, strongly. "No Child Left Behind," "Homeland Security," and the new Security Czar are all examples.
Kerry's upset because years ago he helped to paint Vietnam veterans with one large brush as war criminals and they, those veterans, have not forgotten or forgiven. Kerry blames this on President Bush and not on himself. Even though there were endless hits on Kerry's senate record during the Republican Convention, I heard no hits against his service in the Navy. Zell Miller made mention of Kerry's anti-war activity, but nothing about Kerry's actual service. The Swift Boaters are all over Kerry for both his service and his anti-war activity. Blaming this on the President is transparently desperate. Kerry's speech last night was a speech full of 9/10 thought. I like President Bush's idea to start privatizing Social Security, for example, but I hold no ill-will that he didn't get to it in these last four years. I understand there were other priorities and Kerry, apparently, doesn't.
