Yesterday I wrote that concern about the homosexual lobby imposing its agenda on the nation by judicial fiat inclined me, albeit reluctantly, toward a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. This story exemplifies my concerns.
A marvelous story from Iraq. So-called insurgents, more accurately referred to as terrorists, threatened residents in a small village with violent reprisals if they voted in Sunday’s election. The villagers chose to participate in the election anyway, and when the terrorists came round to exact the promised revenge, the villagers met force with force, killing 5 of the terrorists, wounding 8 others, and destroying their cars.
Source: OpinionJournal
The State of the Union Address was good. I liked the larger themes woven through the speech, but disliked the concessions to liberalism that were apparent in the details. The federal government should be much concerned with national security and balanced budgets, but has no business meddling with the cost of health care or education, or the training of lawyers.
Several issues raised during the speech caught my attention.
“America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline. I will send you a budget that holds the growth of discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax relief permanent, and stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009.”
Not good enough! Borrowing money from future generations should be limited to financing critical initiatives that benefit those generations. For example, financing the war against terrorism is of benefit to future generations because without national security we will not prosper and the America that is left to those generations will be less than the America of today. Borrowing money to finance education or subsidize farming, for example, benefits specific Americans today but ultimately harms future generations by reducing our national ability and inclination to compete for economic gain. While Democrats may seem enthusiastic about spending discipline, listen carefully and it quickly becomes apparent that their enthusiasm is for tax increases, military decreases, and income redistribution. We need to reduce spending and reduce the size and scope of the federal government in a manner more aggressive than that proposed by the President.
“Year after year, Americans are burdened by an archaic, incoherent federal tax code. I've appointed a bipartisan panel to examine the tax code from top to bottom. And when their recommendations are delivered, you and I will work together to give this nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all.”
Our system of taxation is an abomination, and anyone who opposes changing it either is a knee-biter, or makes his living as a tax consultant. We need change, and I for one believe we need it this month, before I have to file my 2004 tax returns.
“It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists.”
If we won’t defend our borders and our national identity, why don’t we just give up and call ourselves French? A temporary guest worker program will not address the problem of illegal immigration, will not prevent future calls of amnesty for illegal aliens, and will not increase border security. A temporary guest worker program will further erode the rule of law, and will further distort market dynamics. If we enforce existing immigration laws, the demand for labor will increase resulting in higher wages and higher prices; when wages and prices increase the market will react- with increases in willing workers, decreases in interested consumers, or both. If we enforce existing immigration laws we de facto address security concerns.
“One of America's most important institutions, a symbol of the trust between generations, is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century. The system, however, on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy, and so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security.”
Remember how President Clinton triangulated Republican proposals on welfare reform to great political benefit. This issue provides a similar opportunity for President Bush and the Republican Party. The actuarial crisis in Social Security is apparent to every American. By confronting the problem the President is forcing the anything-but-Bush Democrats to oppose popular and necessary reforms. The Republican Party is positioned to become the party that saved Social Security for today’s young workers and for future generations. This issue, more than any other has the potential to stamp Republican on the executive and legislative branches of the government, for years to come.
“Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges. For the good of families, children, and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage.”
I am reluctant about amending the Constitution, but the more I think and read about the strategy adopted by the homosexual lobby, the more an amendment seems necessary to prevent yet another special interest group from imposing its agenda by judicial fiat. The homosexual lobby is not going to take no for an answer- not when the no comes from a state referendum, court, or legislature, or even when it comes from the congress. The only means available for the majority to protect their values are Constitutional.
During a Meet the Press interview on Sunday, John Kerry told Tim Russert that he will sign a Form 180 releasing all of his military records for public scrutiny.
“RUSSERT: Many people who've been criticizing you have said, Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access to all your military records.
Thus far, you have gotten the records, released them through your campaign. They say you should not be the filter. Sign Form 180 and let historians...
KERRY: I'd be happy to put the records out. We put all the records out that I had been sent by the military. Then, at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record.
So when we get -- I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record, and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.
RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
KERRY: But everything, Tim...
RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim -- everything we put in -- I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports.
And I'd call on those who have challenged me, let's see their records. I want to see the records of each of those people who have put up a challenge, because some of them have some serious questions in them...”
Better late than never! Not providing unhindered access to all of his military records during the Presidential campaign fueled public doubts about Kerry’s assertions that the campaign against him by fellow swift boat veterans amounted to lies and distortions. If the issues were clear-cut, why not let voters parse the documents for themselves? If Kerry does sign a Form 180, the world may at last learn, among other things, whether he wrote his own action reports, whether the basis for his Purple Hearts accords with the recollections of his contemporaries, and whether his original discharge from the Navy was honorable or dishonorable.
Will someone please confront the Senator with the proper paperwork?
Signs of trouble for Kim Jong Il as reported by the Times of London.
Successful elections in Iraq yesterday made obvious winners of the people of that country, and the Bush and Blair administrations. The clear losers from the advancing cause of freedom and democracy in the Near East were Islamism, the Western powers- especially France and Germany, and the leeches in the United Nations that actively opposed the liberation of Iraq.
It is impossible not to delight in the disappointment tangible in the words of the New York Times this morning, to wit: “At least for now, the large turnout appeared to vindicate the strategy to hold elections sooner rather than later…”
At least for now? Appeared to vindicate?
I take this to mean that while the Times has not determined how best to turn yet another step toward representative government in Iraq into a vicious attack on the Bush administration, it reserves the right to do so- just as soon as it can figure out how to proceed.
In the meantime, in Iraq where there had been only darkness, the sun rises.
Harry Reid has put his other foot in his mouth, and perhaps demonstrated that he is unfit to lead the Senate Democrats.
Writing in OpinionJournal, James Taranto today reported remarks made by Reid, the incoming Senate Minority Leader, during an interview for the CNN television program, “Inside Politics.” An excerpt of the interview follows:
“Henry: When you were asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether or not you could support Justice Thomas to be chief justice you said quote, "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written." Could you name one of those opinions that you think is poorly written?
Reid: Oh sure, that's easy to do. You take the Hillside Dairy case. In that case you had a dissent written by Scalia and a dissent written by Thomas. There--it's like looking at an eighth-grade dissertation compared to somebody who just graduated from Harvard.
Scalia's is well reasoned. He doesn't want to turn stare decisis precedent on its head. That's what Thomas wants to do. So yes, I think he has written a very poor opinion there and he's written other opinions that are not very good.”
Taranto noted that the Hillside Dairy case is “…a 2003 case about California milk regulation,” and provided his readers with the complete text of the Thomas opinion:
“I join Parts I and III of the Court's opinion and respectfully dissent from Part II, which holds that §144 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, 7 U.S.C. §7254, "does not clearly express an intent to insulate California's pricing and pooling laws from a Commerce Clause challenge.” Ante, at 6-7. Although I agree that the Court of Appeals erred in its statutory analysis, I nevertheless would affirm its judgment on this claim because "[t]he negative Commerce Clause has no basis in the text of the Constitution, makes little sense, and has proved virtually unworkable in application," Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 610 (1997) (Thomas, J., dissenting), and, consequently, cannot serve as a basis for striking down a state statute.”
Noting that the opinion is hardly written at the eighth-grade level, Taranto went on to make the even more important observation, “… there was no Scalia dissent. Scalia joined the court's majority opinion, written by Justice John Paul Stevens, as did every other justice except Thomas, and he dissented only from Part II.
Will Reid apologize to Thomas and Scalia, and more importantly, will he explain the basis for his unfounded loathing of Thomas in terms that are not racist and that do conform to reality and the rules of logic?
I noticed on Instapundit yesterday afternoon that National Public Radio corrected its reporting about which I commented yesterday morning. Apparently, what Marines found in Fallujah were sarin gas testing kits, not sarin gas proper.
I was pleased to hear on National Public Radio this morning that soldiers have discovered vials of sarin gas amongst weapons and munitions captured during the liberation of Fallujah. There was some expectation that terrorists who controlled the city had such weapons, as soldiers involved in operation Phantom Fury were instructed to carry gas masks into combat.
Will John Kerry now retract his campaign statements about WMDs?
Yasir Arafat's death last night brings to the Holy Land a possiblity for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that did not exist while he lived. The Palestinian people, the Muslim world, and the media will ignore the blood on Arafat's hands in hopes of creating a nationalist hero from a mass murderer. They will overlook the stolen election, the disastorous second intifada, the graft and embezzlement, the exploitation of power, and countless decisions depriving Palestinians of peace and an autonmous state. Their rewriting of history will fail- the trail of blood and money is too telling. Moreso, if peace progresses between Israel and the Palestinians after Arafat's death, it will evidence the fact that peace was not possible while he lived. Good riddance and R.I.P.
Did Arlen Specter promise to oppose President Bush's judical nominees in exchange for newspaper endorsements? All the more reason why he should not chair the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Yasir Arafat is dead or alive- it is unclear which. Either way he has little if any value to add to the pursuit of peaceful coexistence between Israel and the Palestinian people. President Clinton presented Arafat with the opportunity to forsake violence with an act of peacemaking and statesmanship that would have resulted in an autonomous Palestinian state. At Camp David in 1990, Clinton wrung from Israeli leadership unprecedented concessions on every Palestinian demand save for the right of return, and for a moment it seemed as though peace was within reach of the Holy Land.
Alas, Arafat wanted no compromises. Rather than continuing negotiations, he began the second intifada, gambling that Israel could be bloodied into complete submission. That decision has resulted in death and misery for Jews and Palestinians- disproportionately for the latter. The intifada backfired, failing to produce the totality of concessions that Arafat envisioned, resulting instead in a security wall partitioning Jews and Palestinians and defining borders (even if temporary) less generous than those previously offered.
Arafat’s survival in the aftermath of the disastrous intifada has had only one benefit, preventing open civil war between Palestinians, which is no consolation when one considers that he might well have accomplished a lasting peace with Israel. Arafat uses traditional Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism to direct the focus of Palestinian Islamists including Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades away from each other and firmly on Israel. While apportioning misery to all around him through divide and conquer schemes, Arafat has amassed a stolen fortune that Forbes Magazine last year estimated at $300 million.
Arafat was the principal roadblock for President Bush’s Roadmap for Peace. With Arafat’s death, the President, newly reelected, with a mandate to wage war on Islamism, will have an opening for change in the Middle East not seen since Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat asked President Carter to finance what became the Israel Egypt Peace Treaty. Demonstrating American commitment to a Palestinian state in coexistence with Israel through aggressive peacemaking could be the best way to move the hearts and minds of Muslims round the world.
While peace in the Holy Land may be possible as a result of Arafat’s death, the path to peace will be treacherous. In a power vacuum, Palestinian Islamists could divide the focus of their hatred between Israel and each other, and Iran and Syria could use the chaos to engage the ancient feud between Shiites and Sunnis. At the same time, any American progress in brokering peace could result in a new front in the war on terror, as the permanent presence of a Jewish state on land coveted by Islam is a threat to Islamic dogma.
To counter Islamist aversion to peace, the President should engage a statesman on par with James Baker to press an aggressive new roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He should throw the weight of America behind free and fair elections based upon the Palestinian Constitution. In the event moderate leadership, committed to peace, emerges from the elections, America and Israel should embrace it.
Most of all, the President should challenge the Islamic world to compare and contrast their circumstances and leadership today with the circumstances and leadership they might hope for in the future. He can demonstrate through American resolve and results in Afghanistan and Iraq that replacing tyranny and corruption with self-rule is the best way for Palestinians, and Muslims, to realize pluralism, democracy, and freedom.
Some Palestinians seem to think that Israel should join them in mourning the death of Yasir Arafat. ABC News reported today that when Arafat’s death was announced prematurely, ““… several dozen Jewish demonstrators gathered in a downtown Jerusalem square to celebrate, singing, dancing, distributing sweets and declaring that one of the greatest enemies of the Jewish people was “on his way to hell.”” Responding to the celebrations, Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian lawmaker, told CNN, “I hope the Israeli public will show sensitivities. I've seen some Israelis dancing in the streets, hugging each other… I think it's alien… I cannot describe my feelings. It's heartbreaking to see Israelis hugging and kissing in such circumstances.”
This is rather like telling Americans not to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden.
Erekat is obviously a prat, but one wonders if he remembers the Palestinians who took great pains to demonstrate their sensitivity by publicly celebrating the murder of thousands of civilians by Muslims who flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center towers on November 11, 2001? Is he aware of the posters, music, and street rallies celebrating successful terrorist strikes against Israel that dominate Palestinian public life? Surely he is not oblivious to the hundreds of Israeli deaths attributable to organizations funded and directed by Yasser Arafat.
There are many reasons to celebrate Arafat’s death. He is a bigot, a racist, a mass-murderer, and a terrorist with the distinction of having invented airplane hijacking. He is insatiable in his love of money- stealing more than $300 million from the impoverished Palestinian people, and he is shameless in his lust for power- rigging his own election and undermining every effort at constitutional power sharing. The biggest reason of all for celebrating his death is that Arafat is the single biggest roadblock, both to peace in the Holy Land, and to an autonomous state for the Palestinian people.
There is only one reason not to celebrate Arafat’s death; doing so lowers the celebrant to the despicable level of animalistic brutality at which Arafat has lived most of his life, and to which he has dragged much of Palestinian society.
The election results are good news for America. President Bush was reelected with a majority of the popular vote, conservatives won almost every in-play congressional contest of importance, and voter initiatives affirming marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman passed in every state in which they were on the ballot. The leftist assault on public morality is imperiled. The Democrat strategy of usurping legislative perogatives through judicial fiat is neutered by a Republican President and a strengthened Republican Senate majority. The Supreme Court is safe and with it the Constitution and our democracy.
Voters turned out in record numbers and a majority of them said no to the politics of hatred and recrimination that inflated Democrat rhetoric since the disputed election of 2000. The biggest losers yesterday were not defeated politicians, but left-wing operatives like Michael Moore, George Soros, Terry McAuliffe, Dan Rather, and the New York Times, who tried to win an election by turning Americans against each other.
John Kerry was disingenuous on so many issues during the election, but he had the good grace and patriotic sense to leave the Ohio results unchallenged. His concession speech addressed the need for Americans to come together and that is what we must now do.
"The man CBS News touted as the "unimpeachable source" of explosive documents about President Bush's National Guard service turns out to be a former Guard officer with a history of self-described mental problems who has denounced Bush as a liar with "demonic personality shortcomings." So wrote the Washington Post this morning in the first paragraph of their report on CBS's awkward retreat from a report by Dan Rather that used forgeries to score political points against the President.
In a statement issued yesterday, Rather conceded that, "We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism."
Rather and CBS have not explained how, for ten days, they could defend as legitimate, documents that do not survive simple scrutiny. I have no training in the identification of forgeries, but five minutes spent reading a graphical analysis of the forgeries that the Post published on the weekend is sufficient to raise reasonable doubts in my simple mind. That CBS, with ample resources at its disposal and a professional code of conduct calling for their use, failed to uncover the forgeries before foisting them on the American people is evidence of gross professional misconduct. That Dan Rather for ten days denied the obvious failings in his work is a sign of gross personal misconduct.
No excuses, fire Dan Rather.
On Friday last week, Opinion Journal published an editorial by Archbishop John Meyers of the Newark Archdiocese. Meyers expanded on a recent statement from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on whether Catholic politicians who support abortion should receive the Eucharist. Ratzinger concluded that such Catholics should not present themselves for Holy Communion. His statement included a coda extending his reasoning to the question of Catholic voters who support pro-abortion politicians. Lacking "proportionate reasons" a Catholic must not support a pro-abortion politician.
Meyers proceeded to define proportionate reasoning and demonstrate that in this election no proportionate reasons exist for a Catholic to support a pro-abortion politician. He wrote: "... for a Catholic citizen to vote for a candidate who supports abortion and embryo-destructive research, one of the following circumstances would have to obtain: either (a) both candidates would have to be in favor of embryo killing on roughly an equal scale or (b) the candidate with the superior position on abortion and embryo-destructive research would have to be a supporter of objective evils of a gravity and magnitude beyond that of 1.3 million yearly abortions plus the killing that would take place if public funds were made available for embryo-destructive research."
Meyers described the moral imperative for opposing pro-abortion politicians: "Abortion and embryo-destructive research are... intrinsic and grave evils; no Catholic may legitimately support them. In the context of contemporary American social life, abortion and embryo-destructive research are disproportionate evils. They are the gravest human rights abuses of our domestic politics and what slavery was to the time of Lincoln. Catholics are called by the Gospel of Life to protect the victims of these human rights abuses. They may not legitimately abandon the victims by supporting those who would further their victimization."
Worth reading.
The Washington Post yesterday provided a "how we got here" account of Dan Rather's appalling promotion of forged documents as proof that George Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligations. The article provides insight into the journalistic failures at CBS that prevented proper scrutiny of the documents. The article also demonstrates the arrogance of a news organization that still seems not to understand that its errors and subsequent denials have for good reason become the real story- eclipsing by far its allegations about the President having received special treatment thirty years ago.
The closing paragraphs of the article stated that, "As they continue their investigation into whether they were hoaxed, CBS officials have begun shifting their public focus from the memos themselves to their underlying allegations about the president." The Post quoted Josh Howard, a 60 Minutes executive as complaining that, "So much of this debate has focused on the documents, and no one has really challenged the story. It's been frustrating to us to see all this reduced to a debate over little 'th's."
That CBS executives view questions about their network's use of forged documents in a story attacking the President as little more than a debate over th's is a clear indication that they do not take journalism seriously. For this reason, viewers can not take CBS seriously. To begin to regain viewer trust under such circumstances requires that CBS fire both those responsible for failing to detect the forgeries and those who have insisted that the forgeries are not a story unto themselves. In other words, CBS must fire Dan Rather.
I probably should not mention this until after Dan Rather breaks the story, but ABC News today posted an interview with Walter Staudt, the retired Colonel who admitted George Bush to the National Guard. In a 60 Minutes report, Rather relied on what are now generally considered forged documents to suggest that Bush received special treatment during his National Guard service. One of the questionable documents alleged that Staudt pressured Jerry Jillian to "sugar coat" a review of Bush's performance. Staudt told ABC, "I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to."
Rather's main storyline was that Bush gained entry into the National Guard as a result of pressure exerted by friends of the Bush family. In the ABC interview Staudt denied this allegation: "He didn't use political influence to get into the Air National Guard... I don't know how they would know that, because I was the one who did it and I was the one who was there and I didn't talk to any of them." Staudt added that Bush, "... was highly qualified," and that he "... passed all the scrutiny and tests he was given."
Of course, the ABC interview with Staudt didn't really call into question the assertions in Rather's forged documents because Rather has not yet broken the story about the forgery. I for one can not wait until he does so.
Special thanks to John Vecchione for the tip.
I am so excited I probably won't be able to sleep tonight. Dan Rather confessed that he would like to break the story about his use of forged documents in a 60 Minutes expose on George Bush's record of service in the National Guard. The Washington Post today quoted Rather: "If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story... Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, "Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.""
I can not contain my excitement. Any moment now Rather will scoop the media (the Post included) by reporting that he allowed liberal bias to override his professional obligations as a journalist when he rushed to publish forged documents that substantiated his beliefs about the President's military record with verifying that the documents were authentic.
Of course, until Rather does break the story, the story doesn't exist. This explains why if you click on the links below you will be redirected to the story that has not yet, but soon will be broken by Rather.
Burkett: I "Reassembled Bush Guard Files
Captain's Quarters, September 16, 2004
He Just Doesn't Get It
Daimnation, September 16, 2004
There's Something About Mary Mapes
Michelle Malkin, September 16, 2004
Kinkos Tapes and Criminal Statutes
INDC, September 16, 2004
CBS Guard Documents Traced to Texas Kinkos
Washington Post, September 15, 2004
For the Record
Boston Globe, September 15, 2004
Fire Dan Rather
Vodka Pundit (and Andrew Sullivan), September 15, 2004
Changing the Subject
Vodka Pundit, September 15, 2004
Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn't Authenticate Papers
Washington Post, September 14, 2004
It's Over Dan
Daimnation, September 14, 2004
Expert Cited by CBS Say's He Didn't Authenticate Papers
Washington Post, September 13, 2004
Some Question Authenticity of Papers on Bush
Washington Post, September 10, 2004
Pajamas
Instapundit, September 10, 2004
CBS Internal Memo
Armies of Liberation, September 10, 2004
Oh yes, I can not wait until Rather breaks this story!
John Kerry contends that Iraq, pre-liberation, did not support terrorism. He is wrong, of course, as Stephen Hayes demonstrated in a Weekly Standard article today. Hayes demolished the Kerry campaign assertion that, "There was no terrorism in Iraq before we went to war," by comparing it with quotations from authorative government sources. Were he not a politician, Kerry might be embarrassed by his misrepresentations.
CIA Analysis, January 2003: Iraqi Support for Terrorism, (p. 314 of Senate Intel Report): "Iraq has a long history of supporting terrorism."
CIA Analysis, January 2003--Iraqi Support for Terrorism, (p. 314 of Senate Intel Report): "Iraq continues to be a safehaven, transit point, or operational node for groups and individuals who direct violence against the United States, Israel and other allies."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 315): "The CIA provided 78 reports, from multiple sources, [redacted] documenting instances in which the Iraqi regime either trained operatives for attacks or dispatched them to carry out attacks."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316): "Iraq continued to participate in terrorist attacks throughout the 1990s."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316): "From 1996 to 2003, the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] focused its terrorist activities on western interests, particularly against the U.S. and Israel."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 316): "Throughout 2002, the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] was becoming increasingly aggressive in planning attacks against U.S. interests. The CIA provided eight reports to support this assessment."
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (p. 331): "Twelve reports received [redacted] from sources that the CIA described as having varying reliability, cited Iraq or Iraqi national involvement in al Qaeda's [chemical, biological, nuclear] CBW efforts."
The 9/11 Commission Report (p. 66): "In March 1998, after bin Laden's public fatwa against the United States, two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraq Intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with bin Laden."
George Bush accepted the Republican nomination for the presidency tonight. His acceptance speech, which follows, was excellent in every respect.
Address to the Republican National Convention
September 2, 2004
President George W. Bush
Mr. Chairman, delegates, fellow citizens: I am honored by your support, and I accept your nomination for President of the United States.
When I said those words four years ago, none of us could have envisioned what these years would bring. In the heart of this great city, we saw tragedy arrive on a quiet morning. We saw the bravery of rescuers grow with danger. We learned of passengers on a doomed plane who died with a courage that frightened their killers. We have seen a shaken economy rise to its feet. And we have seen Americans in uniform storming mountain strongholds, and charging through sandstorms, and liberating millions, with acts of valor that would make the men of Normandy proud.
Since 2001, Americans have been given hills to climb, and found the strength to climb them. Now, because we have made the hard journey, we can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with resolve, we have historic goals within our reach, and greatness in our future. We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America and nothing will hold us back.
In the work we have done, and the work we will do, I am fortunate to have a superb Vice President. I have counted on Dick Cheney's calm and steady judgment in difficult days, and I am honored to have him at my side.
I am grateful to share my walk in life with Laura Bush. Americans have come to see the goodness and kindness and strength I first saw 26 years ago, and we love our First Lady.
I am a fortunate father of two spirited, intelligent, and lovely young women. I am blessed with a sister and brothers who are also my closest friends. And I will always be the proud and grateful son of George and Barbara Bush.
My father served eight years at the side of another great American Ronald Reagan. His spirit of optimism and goodwill and decency are in this hall, and in our hearts, and will always define our party.
Two months from today, voters will make a choice based on the records we have built, the convictions we hold, and the vision that guides us forward. A presidential election is a contest for the future. Tonight I will tell you where I stand, what I believe, and where I will lead this country in the next four years.
I believe every child can learn, and every school must teach so we passed the most important federal education reform in history. Because we acted, children are making sustained progress in reading and math, America's schools are getting better, and nothing will hold us back.
I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America's seniors so I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Medicare. Now seniors are getting immediate help buying medicine. Soon every senior will be able to get prescription drug coverage, and nothing will hold us back.
I believe in the energy and innovative spirit of America's workers, entrepreneurs, farmers, and ranchers so we unleashed that energy with the largest tax relief in a generation. Because we acted, our economy is growing again, and creating jobs, and nothing will hold us back.
I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
I am running for President with a clear and positive plan to build a safer world, and a more hopeful America. I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives. I believe this Nation wants steady, consistent, principled leadership and that is why, with your help, we will win this election.
The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more. Our Nation's founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom.
The times in which we live and work are changing dramatically. The workers of our parents' generation typically had one job, one skill, one career often with one company that provided health care and a pension. And most of those workers were men. Today, workers change jobs, even careers, many times during their lives, and in one of the most dramatic shifts our society has seen, two-thirds of all Moms also work outside the home.
This changed world can be a time of great opportunity for all Americans to earn a better living, support your family, and have a rewarding career. And government must take your side. Many of our most fundamental systems the tax code, health coverage, pension plans, worker training were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. We will transform these systems so that all citizens are equipped, prepared and thus truly free to make your own choices and pursue your own dreams.
My plan begins with providing the security and opportunity of a growing economy. We now compete in a global market that provides new buyers for our goods, but new competition for our workers. To create more jobs in America, America must be the best place in the world to do business. To create jobs, my plan will encourage investment and expansion by restraining federal spending, reducing regulation, and making tax relief permanent. To create jobs, we will make our country less dependent on foreign sources of energy. To create jobs, we will expand trade and level the playing field to sell American goods and services across the globe. And we must protect small business owners and workers from the explosion of frivolous lawsuits that threaten jobs across America.
Another drag on our economy is the current tax code, which is a complicated mess filled with special interest loopholes, saddling our people with more than six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year. The American people deserve and our economic future demands a simpler, fairer, pro-growth system. In a new term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code.
Another priority in a new term will be to help workers take advantage of the expanding economy to find better, higher-paying jobs. In this time of change, many workers want to go back to school to learn different or higher-level skills. So we will double the number of people served by our principal job training program and increase funding for community colleges. I know that with the right skills, American workers can compete with anyone, anywhere in the world.
In this time of change, opportunity in some communities is more distant than in others. To stand with workers in poor communities and those that have lost manufacturing, textile, and other jobs we will create American opportunity zones. In these areas, we'll provide tax relief and other incentives to attract new business, and improve housing and job training to bring hope and work throughout all of America.
As I've traveled the country, I've met many workers and small business owners who have told me they are worried they cannot afford health care. More than half of the uninsured are small business employees and their families. In a new term, we must allow small firms to join together to purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies. We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts, and provide direct help for low-income Americans to purchase them. These accounts give workers the security of insurance against major illness, the opportunity to save tax-free for routine health expenses, and the freedom of knowing you can take your account with you whenever you change jobs. And we will provide low-income Americans with better access to health care: In a new term, I will ensure every poor county in America has a community or rural health center.
As I have traveled our country, I have met too many good doctors, especially OB-GYNS, who are being forced out of practice because of the high cost of lawsuits. To make health care more affordable and accessible, we must pass medical liability reform now. And in all we do to improve health care in America, we will make sure that health decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in Washington, DC.
In this time of change, government must take the side of working families. In a new term, we will change outdated labor laws to offer comp-time and flex-time. Our laws should never stand in the way of a more family-friendly workplace.
Another priority for a new term is to build an ownership society, because ownership brings security, and dignity, and independence.
Thanks to our policies, homeownership in America is at an all-time high. Tonight we set a new goal: seven million more affordable homes in the next 10 years so more American families will be able to open the door and say welcome to my home.
In an ownership society, more people will own their health plans, and have the confidence of owning a piece of their retirement. We will always keep the promise of Social Security for our older workers. With the huge Baby Boom generation approaching retirement, many of our children and grandchildren understandably worry whether Social Security will be there when they need it. We must strengthen Social Security by allowing younger workers to save some of their taxes in a personal account a nest egg you can call your own, and government can never take away.
In all these proposals, we seek to provide not just a government program, but a path a path to greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.
This path begins with our youngest Americans. To build a more hopeful America, we must help our children reach as far as their vision and character can take them. Tonight, I remind every parent and every teacher, I say to every child: No matter what your circumstance, no matter where you live your school will be the path to the promise of America.
We are transforming our schools by raising standards and focusing on results. We are insisting on accountability, empowering parents and teachers, and making sure that local people are in charge of their schools. By testing every child, we are identifying those who need help and we're providing a record level of funding to get them that help. In northeast Georgia, Gainesville Elementary School is mostly Hispanic and 90 percent poor and this year 90 percent of its students passed state tests in reading and math. The principal expresses the philosophy of his school this way: "We don't focus on what we can't do at this school; we focus on what we can do; we do whatever it takes to get kids across the finish line." This principal is challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations, and that is the spirit of our education reform, and the commitment of our
country: No dejaremos a ning n ni o atr s. We will leave no child behind.
We are making progress and there is more to do. In this time of change, most new jobs are filled by people with at least two years of college, yet only about one in four students gets there. In our high schools, we will fund early intervention programs to help students at risk. We will place a new focus on math and science. As we make progress, we will require a rigorous exam before graduation. By raising performance in our high schools, and expanding Pell grants for low and middle income families, we will help more Americans start their career with a college diploma.
America's children must also have a healthy start in life. In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government's health insurance programs. We will not allow a lack of attention, or information, to stand between these children and the health care they need.
Anyone who wants more details on my agenda can find them online. The web address is not very imaginative, but it's easy to remember: GeorgeWBush.com.
These changing times can be exciting times of expanded opportunity. And here, you face a choice. My opponent's policies are dramatically different from ours. Senator Kerry opposed Medicare reform and health savings accounts. After supporting my education reforms, he now wants to dilute them. He opposes legal and medical liability reform. He opposed reducing the marriage penalty, opposed doubling the child credit, and opposed lowering income taxes for all who pay them. To be fair, there are some things my opponent is for he's proposed more than two trillion dollars in new federal spending so far, and that's a lot, even for a senator from Massachusetts. To pay for that spending, he is running on a platform of increasing taxes and that's the kind of promise a politician usually keeps.
His policies of tax and spend of expanding government rather than expanding opportunity are the policies of the past. We are on the path to the future and we are not turning back.
In this world of change, some things do not change: the values we try to live by, the institutions that give our lives meaning and purpose. Our society rests on a foundation of responsibility and character and family commitment.
Because family and work are sources of stability and dignity, I support welfare reform that strengthens family and requires work. Because a caring society will value its weakest members, we must make a place for the unborn child. Because religious charities provide a safety net of mercy and compassion, our government must never discriminate against them. Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges. And I will continue to appoint federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law.
My opponent recently announced that he is the candidate of "conservative values," which must have come as a surprise to a lot of his supporters. Now, there are some problems with this claim. If you say the heart and soul of America is found in Hollywood, I'm afraid you are not the candidate of conservative values. If you voted against the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act, which President Clinton signed, you are not the candidate of conservative values. If you gave a speech, as my opponent did, calling the Reagan presidency eight years of "moral darkness," then you may be a lot of things, but the candidate of conservative values is not one of them.
This election will also determine how America responds to the continuing danger of terrorism and you know where I stand. Three days after September 11th, I stood where Americans died, in the ruins of the Twin Towers. Workers in hard hats were shouting to me, "Whatever it takes." A fellow grabbed me by the arm and he said, "Do not let me down." Since that day, I wake up every morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never relent in defending America whatever it takes.
So we have fought the terrorists across the earth not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. Our strategy is clear. We have tripled funding for homeland security and trained half a million first responders, because we are determined to protect our homeland. We are transforming our military and reforming and strengthening our intelligence services. We are staying on the offensive striking terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. And we are working to advance liberty in the broader Middle East, because freedom will bring a future of hope, and the peace we all want. And we will prevail.
Our strategy is succeeding. Four years ago, Afghanistan was the home base of al-Qaida, Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia was fertile ground for terrorist fundraising, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, Iraq was a gathering threat, and al-Qaida was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests, Libya is dismantling its weapons programs, the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaida's key members and associates have been detained or killed. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer.
This progress involved careful diplomacy, clear moral purpose, and some tough decisions. And the toughest came on Iraq. We knew Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew his long history of pursuing, even using, weapons of mass destruction. And we know that September 11th requires our country to think differently: We must, and we will, confront threats to America before it is too late.
In Saddam Hussein, we saw a threat. Members of both political parties, including my opponent and his running mate, saw the threat, and voted to authorize the use of force. We went to the United Nations Security Council, which passed a unanimous resolution demanding the dictator disarm, or face serious consequences. Leaders in the Middle East urged him to comply. After more than a decade of diplomacy, we gave Saddam Hussein another chance, a final chance, to meet his responsibilities to the civilized world. He again refused, and I faced the kind of decision that comes only to the Oval Office a decision no president would ask for, but must be prepared to make. Do I forget the lessons of September 11th and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our country? Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time.
Because we acted to defend our country, the murderous regimes of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban are history, more than 50 million people have been liberated, and democracy is coming to the broader Middle East. In Afghanistan, terrorists have done everything they can to intimidate people yet more than 10 million citizens have registered to vote in the October presidential election a resounding endorsement of democracy. Despite ongoing acts of violence, Iraq now has a strong Prime Minister, a national council, and national elections are scheduled for January. Our Nation is standing with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, because when America gives its word, America must keep its word. As importantly, we are serving a vital and historic cause that will make our country safer. Free societies in the Middle East will be hopeful societies, which no longer feed resentments and breed violence for export. Free governments in the Middle East will fight terrorists instead of harboring them, and that helps us keep the peace. So our mission in Afghanistan and Iraq is clear: We will help new leaders to train their armies, and move toward elections, and get on the path of stability and democracy as quickly as possible. And then our troops will return home with the honor they have earned.
Our troops know the historic importance of our work. One Army Specialist wrote home: "We are transforming a once sick society into a hopeful place The various terrorist enemies we are facing in Iraq," he continued, "are really aiming at you back in the United States. This is a test of will for our country. We soldiers of yours are doing great and scoring victories in confronting the evil terrorists."
That young man is right our men and women in uniform are doing a superb job for America. Tonight I want to speak to all of them and to their families: You are involved in a struggle of historic proportion. Because of your service and sacrifice, we are defeating the terrorists where they live and plan, and making America safer. Because of you, women in Afghanistan are no longer shot in a sports stadium. Because of you, the people of Iraq no longer fear being executed and left in mass graves. Because of you, the world is more just and will be more peaceful. We owe you our thanks, and we owe you something more. We will give you all the resources, all the tools, and all the support you need for victory.
Again, my opponent and I have different approaches. I proposed, and the Congress overwhelmingly passed, 87 billion dollars in funding needed by our troops doing battle in Afghanistan and Iraq. My opponent and his running mate voted against this money for bullets, and fuel, and vehicles, and body armor. When asked to explain his vote, the Senator said, "I actually did vote for the 87 billion dollars before I voted against it." Then he said he was "proud" of that vote. Then, when pressed, he said it was a "complicated" matter. There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat.
Our allies also know the historic importance of our work. About 40 nations stand beside us in Afghanistan, and some 30 in Iraq. And I deeply appreciate the courage and wise counsel of leaders like Prime Minister Howard, and President Kwasniewski, and Prime Minister Berlusconi and, of course, Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Again, my opponent takes a different approach. In the midst of war, he has called America's allies, quote, a "coalition of the coerced and the bribed." That would be nations like Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, El Salvador, Australia, and others allies that deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician. I respect every soldier, from every country, who serves beside us in the hard work of history. America is grateful, and America will not forget.
The people we have freed won't forget either. Not long ago, seven Iraqi men came to see me in the Oval Office. They had "X"s branded into their foreheads, and their right hands had been cut off, by Saddam Hussein's secret police, the sadistic punishment for imaginary crimes. During our emotional visit one of the Iraqi men used his new prosthetic hand to slowly write out, in Arabic, a prayer for God to bless America. I am proud that our country remains the hope of the oppressed, and the greatest force for good on this earth.
Others understand the historic importance of our work. The terrorists know. They know that a vibrant, successful democracy at the heart of the Middle East will discredit their radical ideology of hate. They know that men and women with hope, and purpose, and dignity do not strap bombs on their bodies and kill the innocent. The terrorists are fighting freedom with all their cunning and cruelty because freedom is their greatest fear and they should be afraid, because freedom is on the march.
I believe in the transformational power of liberty: The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom. As the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq seize the moment, their example will send a message of hope throughout a vital region. Palestinians will hear the message that democracy and reform are within their reach, and so is peace with our good friend Israel. Young women across the Middle East will hear the message that their day of equality and justice is coming. Young men will hear the message that national progress and dignity are found in liberty, not tyranny and terror. Reformers, and political prisoners, and exiles will hear the message that their dream of freedom cannot be denied forever. And as freedom advances heart by heart, and nation by nation America will be more secure and the world more peaceful.
America has done this kind of work before and there have always been doubters. In 1946, 18 months after the fall of Berlin to allied forces, a journalist wrote in the New York Times, "Germany is a land in an acute stage of economic, political and moral crisis. [European] capitals are frightened. In every [military] headquarters, one meets alarmed officials doing their utmost to deal with the consequences of the occupation policy that they admit has failed." End quote. Maybe that same person's still around, writing editorials. Fortunately, we had a resolute president named Truman, who with the American people persevered, knowing that a new democracy at the center of Europe would lead to stability and peace. And because that generation of Americans held firm in the cause of liberty, we live in a better and safer world today.
The progress we and our friends and allies seek in the broader Middle East will not come easily, or all at once. Yet Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of liberty to transform lives and nations. That power brought settlers on perilous journeys, inspired colonies to rebellion, ended the sin of slavery, and set our Nation against the tyrannies of the 20th century. We were honored to aid the rise of democracy in Germany and Japan and Nicaragua and Central Europe and the Baltics and that noble story goes on. I believe that America is called to lead the cause of freedom in a new century. I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for their liberty. I believe that given the chance, they will embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world.
This moment in the life of our country will be remembered. Generations will know if we kept our faith and kept our word. Generations will know if we seized this moment, and used it to build a future of safety and peace. The freedom of many, and the future security of our Nation, now depend on us. And tonight, my fellow Americans, I ask you to stand with me.
In the last four years, you and I have come to know each other. Even when we don't agree, at least you know what I believe and where I stand. You may have noticed I have a few flaws, too. People sometimes have to correct my English I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it. Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called "walking." Now and then I come across as a little too blunt and for that we can all thank the white-haired lady sitting right up there.
One thing I have learned about the presidency is that whatever shortcomings you have, people are going to notice them and whatever strengths you have, you're going to need them. These four years have brought moments I could not foresee and will not forget. I have tried to comfort Americans who lost the most on September 11th people who showed me a picture or told me a story, so I would know how much was taken from them. I have learned first-hand that ordering Americans into battle is the hardest decision, even when it is right. I have returned the salute of wounded soldiers, some with a very tough road ahead, who say they were just doing their job. I've held the children of the fallen, who are told their dad or mom is a hero, but would rather just have their dad or mom.
And I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have received a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am awed that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they know their loved one was last seen doing good. Because they know that liberty was precious to the one they lost. And in those military families, I have seen the character of a great nation: decent, and idealistic, and strong.
The world saw that spirit three miles from here, when the people of this city faced peril together, and lifted a flag over the ruins, and defied the enemy with their courage. My fellow Americans, for as long as our country stands, people will look to the resurrection of New York City and they will say: Here buildings fell, and here a nation rose.
We see America's character in our military, which finds a way or makes one. We see it in our veterans, who are supporting military families in their days of worry. We see it in our young people, who have found heroes once again. We see that character in workers and entrepreneurs, who are renewing our economy with their effort and optimism. And all of this has confirmed one belief beyond doubt: Having come this far, our tested and confident Nation can achieve anything.
To everything we know there is a season a time for sadness, a time for struggle, a time for rebuilding. And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty's century. By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America. Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom. This is the everlasting dream of America and tonight, in this place, that dream is renewed. Now we go forward grateful for our freedom, faithful to our cause, and confident in the future of the greatest nation on earth.
God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.
Zell Miller was on fire and on target in his keynote address to the Republican Convention tonight. Worth reading, but even better if you can listen to it.
Address to the Republican National Convention
September 1, 2004
Senator Zell Miller
Since I last stood in this spot, a whole new generation of the Miller Family has been born: Four great grandchildren.
Along with all the other members of our close-knit family -- they are my and Shirley's most precious possessions.
And I know that's how you feel about your family also.
Like you, I think of their future, the promises and the perils they will face.
Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in.
And like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family?
The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party.
There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is
George Bush.
In the summer of 1940, I was an eight-year-old boy living in a remote little Appalachian valley.
Our country was not yet at war but even we children knew that there were some crazy men across the ocean who would kill us if they could.
President Roosevelt, in his speech that summer, told America "all private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger."
In 1940 Wendell Wilkie was the Republican nominee.
And there is no better example of someone repealing their "private plans" than this good man.
He gave Roosevelt the critical support he needed for a peacetime draft, an unpopular idea at the time.
And he made it clear that he would rather lose the election than make national security a partisan campaign issue.
Shortly before Wilkie died he told a friend, that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between "here lies a president" or "here lies one who contributed to saving freedom", he would prefer the latter.
Where are such statesmen today?
Where is the bi-partisanship in this country when we need it most?
Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrat's manic obsession to bring down our Commander-in-Chief.
What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?
I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.
It was Democratic President Harry Truman who pushed the Red Army out of Iran, who came to the aid of Greece when Communists threatened to overthrow it, who stared down the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by flying in supplies and saving the city.
Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.
Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.
And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.
For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.
No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.
But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.
They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy.
It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace.
They were wrong.
They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war.
They were wrong.
And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.
Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.
The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40% of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.
The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.
The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.
I could go on and on and on: Against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel, Against the Aegis air-defense cruiser, Against the Strategic Defense Initiative, Against the Trident missile, against, against, against.
This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?
U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.
Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.
Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations.
Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide.
John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.
That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.
Free for how long?
For more than twenty years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure. As a war protestor, Kerry blamed our military.
As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military. And nothing shows that more sadly and more clearly than his vote this year to deny protective armor for our troops in harms way, far-away.
George Bush understands that we need new strategies to meet new threats.
John Kerry wants to re-fight yesterday's war. George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists.
No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under.
George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip.
From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.
I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man.
I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.
I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.
He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.
I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.
The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.
This election will change forever the course of history, and that's not any history. It's our family's history.
The only question is how. The answer lies with each of us. And, like many generations before us, we've got some hard choosing to do.
Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.
In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him.
Thank you.
God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was great tonight.
Address to the Republican National Convention
August 31, 2004
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Thank you.
What a greeting! This is like winning an Oscar! ...As if I would know!
Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention.
My fellow Americans, this is an amazing moment for me. To think that a once-scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become Governor of California and stand in Madison Square Garden to speak on behalf of the President of the United States that is an immigrant's dream. It is the American dream.
I was born in Europe ...and I've traveled all over the world. I can tell you that there is no place, no country, more compassionate more generous more accepting and more welcoming than the United States of America.
As long as I live, I will never forget that day 21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the oath of citizenship.
Do you know how proud I was? I was so proud that I walked around with an American flag around my shoulders all day long.
Tonight, I want to talk about why I'm even more proud to be an American -why I'm proud to be a Republican and why I believe this country is in good hands.
When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets .I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.
My family didn't have a car -- but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car, and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!
As a kid I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left. I love Austria and I love the Austrian people - but I always knew America was the place for me.
In school, when the teacher would talk about America, I would daydream about coming here. I would sit for hours watching American movies transfixed by my heroes like John Wayne. Everything about America seemed so big to me so open, so possible.
I finally arrived here in 1968. I had empty pockets, but I was full of dreams. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend who spoke German and English, translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes, and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.
I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican!" And I've been a Republican ever since! And trust me, in my wife's family, that's no small achievement! I'm proud to belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the party of Ronald Reagan and the party of George W. Bush.
To my fellow immigrants listening tonight, I want you to know how welcome you are in this party. We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future. One thing I learned about America is that if you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything.
Everything I have my career my success my family I owe to America. In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties.
America gave me opportunities, and my immigrant dreams came true. I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can. That's why I believe in this country, that's why I believe in this party and that's why I believe in this President.
Now, many of you out there tonight are "Republican" like me in your hearts and in your beliefs. Maybe you're from Guatemala. Maybe you're from the Philippines. Maybe Europe or the Ivory Coast. Maybe you live in Ohio Pennsylvania or New Mexico. And maybe just maybe you don't agree with this party on every single issue. I say to you tonight I believe that's not only okay that's what's great about this country. Here we can respectfully disagree and still be patriotic still be American and still be good Republicans
My fellow immigrants, my fellow Americans how do you know if you are a Republican? I'll tell you how.
If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government...then you are a Republican! If you believe a person should be treated as an individual, not as a member of an interest group... then you are a Republican! If you believe your family knows how to spend your money better than the government does... then you are a Republican! If you believe our educational system should be held accountable for the progress of our children ... then you are a Republican! If you believe this country, not the United Nations, is the best hope of democracy in the world ... then you are a Republican! And, ladies and gentlemen ...if you believe we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism ... then you are a Republican!
There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ...and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie men!
The U.S. economy remains the envy of the world. We have the highest economic growth of any of the world's major industrialized nations. Don't you remember the pessimism of twenty years ago when the critics said Japan and Germany were overtaking the U.S.? Ridiculous!
Now they say India and China are overtaking us. Don't you believe it! We may hit a few BUMPS -- but America always moves ahead! That's what Americans do!
We move prosperity ahead. We move freedom ahead. We move people ahead. Under President Bush, and Vice President Cheney, America's economy is moving ahead in spite of a recession they inherited and in spite of the attack on our homeland.
Now, the other party says there are two Americas. Don't believe that either. I've visited our troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, Germany, and all over the world. I've visited our troops in California, where they train before they go overseas. And I've visited our military hospitals. And I can tell you this: Our young men and women in uniform do not believe there are two Americas!
They believe we are one America and they are fighting for it! We are one America - and President Bush is defending it with all his heart and soul!
That's what I admire most about the President. He's a man of perseverance.
He's a man of inner strength. He is a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waiver, does not back down. My fellow Americans, make no mistake about it terrorism is more insidious than communism, because it yearns to destroy not just the individual but the entire international order.
The President didn't go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls. It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions. That's why America is safer with George W. Bush as President.
He knows you don't reason with terrorists. You defeat them. He knows you can't reason with people blinded by hate. They hate the power of the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the religious freedom of others. They hate the liberating breeze of democracy. But, ladies and gentlemen, their hate is no match for America's decency.
We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children.
We're the America that sends out missionaries and doctors to raise up the poor and the sick. We're the America that gives more than any other country, to fight AIDS in Africa and the developing world. And we're the America that fights not for imperialism but for human rights and democracy.
You know, When the Germans brought down the Berlin Wall America's determination helped wield the sledgehammers. When that lone, young Chinese man stood in front of those tanks in Tiananmen Square America's hopes stood with him. And when
Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison America celebrated, too.
We are still the lamp lighting the world especially for those who struggle. No matter in what labor camp they slave no matter in what injustice they're trapped -- they hear our call ... they see our light ... and they feel the pull of our freedom. They come here as I did because they believe. They believe in US.
They come because their hearts say to them, as mine did, "If only I can get to America." Someone once wrote -"There are those who say that freedom is nothing but a dream." They are right. It's the American dream.
No matter the nationality, no matter the religion, no matter the ethnic background, America brings out the best in people. And as Governor of the great state of California -- I see the best in Americans every day ... our police, our firefighters our nurses, doctors and teachers our parents.
And what about the extraordinary men and women who have volunteered to fight for the United States of America! I have such great respect for them and their heroic families.
Let me tell you about the sacrifice and commitment I've seen firsthand. In one of the military hospitals I visited, I met a young guy who was in bad shape. He'd lost a leg had a hole in his stomach ... his shoulder had been shot through.
I could tell there was no way he could ever return to combat. But when I asked him, "When do you think you'll get out of the hospital?" He said, "Sir, in three weeks." And do you know what he said to me then? He said he was going to get a new leg ... and get some therapy ... and then he was going back to Iraq to serve alongside his buddies! He grinned at me and said, "Arnold ... I'll be back!"
Ladies and gentlemen, America is back! back from the attack on our homeland- back from the attack on our economy back from the attack on our way of life. We're back because of the perseverance, character and leadership of the 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush.
My fellow Americans ...I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that America remains "the great idea" that inspires the world. It's a privilege to be born here. It's an honor to become a citizen here. It's a gift to raise your family here to vote here and to live here.
Our president George W. Bush has worked hard to protect and preserve the American dream for all of us. That's why I say ... send - him - back to Washington for four more years!
Thank you, America -- and God bless you all!
Rudy Giuliani was brilliant in his address to the Republican Convention tonight.
Address to the Republican National Convention
August 30, 2004
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
Welcome to the capital of the World.
New York was the first capital of our great nation. It was here in 1789 in lower Manhattan that George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States.
It was here in 2001 in lower Manhattan that President George W. Bush stood amid the fallen towers of the World Trade Center and said to the barbaric terrorists who attacked us, "They will hear from us."
They have heard from us!
They heard from us in Afghanistan and we removed the Taliban.
They heard from us in Iraq and we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.
They heard from us in Libya and without firing a shot Qadhafi abandoned weapons of mass destruction.
They are hearing from us in nations that are now more reluctant to sponsor terrorists.
So long as George Bush is President, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism.
We owe that much and more to those loved ones and heroes we lost on September 11th.
The families of some of those we lost on September 11th are here with us. To them, and all those families affected by September 11th, we recognize the sacrifices your loved ones and you have made. You are in our prayers and we are in your debt.
This is the first Republican Convention ever held in New York City.
It makes a statement that New York City and America are open for business and stronger than ever.
We're not going to let the threat of terrorism stop us from leading our lives.
From the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to President George W. Bush our party's great contribution is to expand freedom in our own land and all over the world.
And our party is at its best when it makes certain that we have a powerful national defense in a still very dangerous world.
I don't believe we're right about everything and Democrats are wrong about everything.
Neither party has a monopoly on virtue.
But I do believe that there are times in our history when our ideas are more necessary and important for what we are facing.
There are times when leadership is the most important.
On September 11, this city and our nation faced the worst attack in our history.
On that day, we had to confront reality. For me, standing below the north tower and looking up and seeing the flames of hell and then realizing that I was actually seeing a man a human being jumping from the 101st or 102nd floor drove home to me that we were facing something beyond anything we had ever faced before.
We had to concentrate all of our energy, faith and hope to get through those first hours and days.
And I will always remember that moment as we escaped the building we were trapped in at 75 Barclay Street and realized that things outside might be even worse than they were inside the building.
We did the best we could to communicate a message of calm and hope, as we stood on the pavement seeing a massive cloud rushing through the cavernous streets of lower Manhattan.
Our people were so brave in their response.
At the time, we believed we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said to Bernie, "Thank God George Bush is our President."
And I say it again tonight, "Thank God George Bush is our President."
On September 11, George W. Bush had been President less than eight months. This new President, Vice President, and new administration were faced with the worst crisis in our history.
President Bush's response in keeping us unified and in turning the ship of state around from being solely on defense against terrorism to being on offense as well and for his holding us together.
For that and then his determined effort to defeat global terrorism, no matter what happens in this election, President George W. Bush already has earned a place in our history as a great American President.
But let's not wait for history to present the correct view of our President. Let us write our own history.
We need George Bush now more than ever.
The horror, the shock and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes.
We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes but a religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to eradicating us and our way of life.
Terrorism did not start on September 11, 2001. It had been festering for many years.
And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed. The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. And the pattern had already begun.
The three surviving terrorists were arrested and within two months released by the German government.
Action like this became the rule, not the exception.
Terrorists came to learn they could attack and often not face consequences.
In 1985, terrorists attacked the Achille Lauro and murdered an American citizen who was in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer.
They marked him for murder solely because he was Jewish.
Some of those terrorist were released and some of the remaining terrorists allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals.
So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was "accommodation, appeasement and compromise."
And worse the terrorists also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously, almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack.
Terrorist acts became a ticket to the international bargaining table.
How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize when he was supporting a terrorist plague in the Middle East that undermined any chance of peace?
Before September 11, we were living with an unrealistic view of the world much like our observing
Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate ourselves to peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union through mutually assured destruction.
President Bush decided that we could no longer be just on defense against global terrorism but we must also be on offense.
On September 20, 2001, President Bush stood before a joint session of Congress, a still grieving and shocked nation and a confused world and he did change the direction of our ship of state.
He dedicated America under his leadership to destroying global terrorism.
The President announced the Bush Doctrine when he said: "Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there.
It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.
"Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."
And since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid.
It doesn't matter how he is demonized.
It doesn't matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him or defeat him.
They ridiculed Winston Churchill. They belittled Ronald Reagan.
But like President Bush, they were optimists; leaders must be optimists. Their vision was beyond the present and set on a future of real peace and true freedom.
Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership.
President Bush has the courage of his convictions.
In choosing a President, we really don't choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal.
We choose a leader.
And in times of danger, as we are now in, Americans should put leadership at the core of their decision.
There are many qualities that make a great leader but having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader.
Winston Churchill saw the dangers of Hitler while his opponents characterized him as a war-mongering gadfly.
Ronald Reagan saw and described the Soviet Union as "the evil empire" while world opinion accepted it as inevitable and belittled Ronald Reagan's intelligence.
President Bush sees world terrorism for the evil that it is.
John Kerry has no such clear, precise and consistent vision.
This is not a personal criticism of John Kerry.
I respect him for his service to our nation.
But it is important to see the contrast in approach between the two men;
President Bush, a leader who is willing to stick with difficult decisions even as public opinion shifts, and John Kerry, whose record in elected office suggests a man who changes his position often even on important issues.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, John Kerry voted against the Persian Gulf War. Later he said he actually supported the war.
Then in 2002, as he was calculating his run for President, he voted for the war in Iraq.
And then just 9 months later, he voted against an $87 billion supplemental budget to fund the war and support our troops.
He even, at one point, declared himself an anti-war candidate. Now, he says he's pro-war. At this rate, with 64 days left, he still has time to change his position at least three or four more times.
My point about John Kerry being inconsistent is best described in his own words when he said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."
Maybe this explains John Edwards' need for two Americas - - one where John Kerry can vote for something and another where he can vote against the same thing.
Yes, people in public office at times do change their minds, I've done that, or they realize they are wrong or circumstances change.
But John Kerry has made it the rule to change his position, rather than the exception. In October, 2003, he told an Arab-American Institute in Detroit that a security barrier separating Israel from the Palestinian Territories was a "barrier to peace."
A few months later, he took exactly the opposite position. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post he said, "Israel's security fence is a legitimate act of self defense."
The contrasts are dramatic. They involve very different views of how to deal with terrorism.
President Bush will make certain that we are combatting terrorism at the source, beyond our shores, so we can reduce the risk of having to confront it in the streets of New York.
John Kerry's record of inconsistent positions on combatting terrorism gives us no confidence he'll pursue such a determined course.
President Bush will not allow countries that appear to have ignored the lessons of history and failed for over thirty years to stand up to terrorists, to dissuade us from what is necessary for our defense.
He will not let them set our agenda. Under President Bush, America will lead rather than follow.
John Kerry's claim that certain foreign leaders who opposed our removal of Saddam Hussein prefer him, raises the risk that he would accommodate his position to their viewpoint.
It would hardly be the first time he changed his position on matters of war and peace.
I remember the days following September 11th when we were no longer Democrats or Republicans, but Americans determined to do all we could to help the victims, to rebuild our city and nation and to disable our enemies.
I remember President Bush coming here on September 14, 2001 and lifting the morale of our rescue workers by talking with them and embracing them and staying with them much longer than originally planned.
In fact, if you promise to keep it just between us so I don't get in trouble it was my opinion that the Secret Service was concerned about the President remaining so long in that area.
With buildings still unstable, with fires raging below ground of 2000 degrees or more, there was good reason for concern.
Well the President remained there and talked to everyone, the firefighters, the police officers, the healthcare workers, the clergy, but the people who spent the most time with him were our construction workers.
Now New York construction workers are very special people. I'm sure this is true all over but I know the ones here the best. They were real heroes along with many others that day, volunteering immediately. And they're big, real big. Their arms are bigger than my legs and their opinions are even bigger than their arms.
Now each one of them would engage the President and I imagine like his cabinet give him advice.
They were advising him in their own words on exactly what he should do with the terrorists. Of course I can't repeat their exact language.
But one of them really went into great detail and upon conclusion of his remarks President Bush said in a rather loud voice, "I agree."
At this point the guy just beamed and all his buddies turned toward him in amazement.
The guy just lost it.
So he reached over, embraced the President and began hugging him enthusiastically.
A Secret Service agent standing next to me looked at the President and the guy and instead of extracting the President from this bear hug, he turned toward me and put his finger in my face and said, "If this guy hurts the President, Giuliani you're finished."
Meekly, and this is the moral of the story, I responded, "but it would be out of love."
I also remember the heart wrenching visit President Bush made to the families of our firefighters and police officers at the Javits Center.
I remember receiving all the help, assistance and support from the President and even more than we asked.
For that I will be eternally grateful to President Bush.
And I remember the support being bi-partisan and actually standing hand in hand Republicans and Democrats, here in New York and all over the nation.
During a Boston Red Sox game there was a sign held up saying Boston loves New York.
I saw a Chicago police officer sent here by Mayor Daley directing traffic in Manhattan.
I'm not sure where he sent the cars, they are probably still riding around the Bronx, but it was very reassuring to know how much support we had.
And as we look beyond this election and elections do accentuate differences let's make sure we rekindle that spirit that we are one one America united to end the threat of global terrorism.
Certainly President Bush will keep us focused on that goal. When President Bush announced his commitment to ending global terrorism, he understood - - I understood, we all understood - - it was critical to remove the pillars of support for the global terrorist movement.
In any plan to destroy global terrorism, removing Saddam Hussein needed to be accomplished.
Frankly, I believed then and I believe now that Saddam Hussein, who supported global terrorism, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people, permitted horrific atrocities against women, and used weapons of mass destruction, was himself a weapon of mass destruction.
But the reasons for removing Saddam Hussein were based on issues even broader than just the presence of weapons of mass destruction.
To liberate people, give them a chance for accountable, decent government and rid the world of a pillar of support for global terrorism is something for which all those involved from President Bush to the brave men and women of our armed forces should be proud.
President Bush has also focused on the correct long-term answer for the violence and hatred emerging from the Middle East. The hatred and anger in the Middle East arises from the lack of accountable governments.
Rather than trying to grant more freedom, create more income, improve education and basic health care, these governments deflect their own failures by pointing to America and Israel and other external scapegoats.
But blaming these scapegoats does not improve the life of a single person in the Arab world. It does not relieve the plight of even one woman in Iran.
It does not give a decent living to a single soul in Syria. It certainly does not stop the slaughter of African Christians in the Sudan.
The changes necessary in the Middle East involve encouraging accountable, lawful governments that can be role models.
This has also been an important part of the Bush Doctrine and the President's vision for the future.
Have faith in the power of freedom.
People who live in freedom always prevail over people who live in oppression. That's the story of the Old Testament. That's the story of World War II and the Cold War.
That's the story of the firefighters and police officers and rescue workers who courageously saved thousands of lives on September 11, 2001.
President Bush is the leader we need for the next four years because he sees beyond today and tomorrow. He has a vision of a peaceful Middle East and, therefore, a safer world. We will see an end to global terrorism. I can see it. I believe it. I know it will happen.
It may seem a long way off. It may even seem idealistic.
But it may not be as far away and idealistic as it seems.
Look how quickly the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Iron Curtain ripped open and the Soviet Union disintegrated because of the power of the pent-up demand for freedom.
When it catches hold there is nothing more powerful than freedom. Give it some hope, and it will overwhelm dictators, and even defeat terrorists. That is what we have done and must continue to do in Iraq.
That is what the Republican Party does best when we are at our best, we extend freedom.
It's our mission. And it's the long-term answer to ending global terrorism. Governments that are free and accountable.
We have won many battles at home and abroad but as President Bush told us on September 20, 2001 it will take a long-term determined effort to prevail.
The war on terrorism will not be won in a single battle. There will be no dramatic surrender. There will be no crumbling of a massive wall.
But we will know it. We'll know it as accountable governments continue to develop in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
We'll know it as terrorist attacks throughout the world decrease and then end.
And then, God willing, we'll all be able on a future anniversary of September 11th.
To say to our fallen brothers and sisters. To our heroes of the worst attack in our history and to our heroes who have sacrificed their lives in the war on terror.
We will say to them we have done all that we could with our lives that were spared to make your sacrifices build a world of real peace and true freedom.
We will make certain in the words of President Bush that they have heard from us.
That they have heard from us a message of peace through free, accountable, lawful and decent governments giving people hope for a future for themselves and their children.
God bless each one we have lost, here and abroad, and their families.
God bless all those defending our freedom.
God bless America.
The weekend witnessed an assault by the mainstream media against Swiftboat Veterans for Truth and their varied allegations about the conduct of John Kerry while in Vietnam and upon his return to the United States. Lengthy articles in the Washington Post and the Washington Times took the "Swiftees" to task for supposedly impugning the record of a war hero. Never mind the fact that the Post and Times have not published lengthy exposes about the political nastiness that masquerades as MoveOn.org.
Leftist hypocrisy has surely climaxed with hostile scrutiny of financial contributors to the Swiftees. Bob Perry is a long time friend and supporter of President Bush. His $100,000 donation that helped Swifttees get started has been singled out as though it were the root of all evil. In Democrat circles, a citizen who seeks to give voice to his political opinions by donating to 527 organizations is a pariah- if his opinions are conservative that is. If the citizen happens to be George Soros and the amounts donated happen to exceed $15 million, all given to leftist attack groups, well, then he is a public benefactor of the highest order.
National Review today published an excellent analysis by Victor Davis Hanson of President Bush's announcement of troop withdrawals from Europe. Hanson argued that the withdrawal of troops no longer needed in Europe will force the nations and peoples of Europe to reenter the world as it exists today- a world that very much demands the defense of freedom by those who enjoy it.
Hanson wrote: "... we had created an unhealthy passive-aggressiveness in Europe that clinicians might identify as a classic symptom of dependency. Europe — now larger and more populous than the United States — has reduced defense investment to subsidize a variety of social expenditures found nowhere in the world. So insular had its utopians become under the aegis of NATO's subsidized protection that it was increasingly convinced that the ubiquitous United States was the world's rogue nation, the last impediment to a 35-hour work week, cradle-to-grave subsidies, and wind power the world over."
He continued: "The real significance of Bush's decision will be felt inside Europe itself. Our gradual departure will bring slow reckoning to the nations of Europe, not just in places like Poland, worried about 10 percent of old Germany inside its borders, but also and especially in the west among nations like Denmark and Holland. Their no-nonsense leaders have ignored the mob's cheap antics and treasured the idea that real Americans in uniform were always nearby, whose sanctity meant their own security, and whose imperilment guaranteed that a $600 billion military would immediately rush to stand side-by-side on their ramparts. So their concerns — as bilateral partners — must be addressed."
He added: "Gut-check time is approaching. In places like Brussels, Berlin, and Oslo, in the next half-century citizens will slowly decide who wishes and does not wish to be an ally of the United States of America. Some will prefer opportunistic neutrality and thus go the Swedish and Swiss route. Others in their folly may ape French and Spanish bellicosity, and think isolating the U.S., selling weapons to the Middle East, or going on maneuvers with the Chinese might work. Still more may prefer to remain staunch friends like the Poles and Italians, realizing that, for all the leftist slurs about unilateralism, never in the history of civilization has such a powerful country as the United States sought advice and cooperation from weaker friends about the wisdom, efficacy, and consequences of using its vast military. But this is no parlor game any more. Islamic fascism, scary former Soviet republics, rogue Middle Eastern nuclear states, an ever more proud and muscular China thirsty for oil — these and more specters are all out there and waiting, waiting, waiting..."
Worth reading.
Writing in the Weekly Standard today, William Kristol quoted remarks made by John Kerry on the subject of troop withdrawals from Korea and Europe before and after the recent announcement by President Bush that such withdrawals will be implemented, to document yet another Kerry flip-flop:
"On Monday, during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, President Bush announced that he intends to modify the configuration of American forces in both South Korea and Europe. On Wednesday, Sen. Kerry, speaking before the same audience, sharply criticized the president's decision.
Appearing on ABC's This Week on August 1, however, Sen. Kerry responded to a question by host George Stephanopoulos on Iraq. Stephanopoulos asked Kerry whether, as president, he could "promise that American troops will be home by the end of your first term?" Kerry's answer:
"I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. . . . I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has very little imagination."
Apparently, Sen. Kerry wanted to appeal to the "get-the-boys-back-home" sentiment in the country when he spoke on This Week. Yesterday, addressing a convention of veterans, Kerry was busy burnishing his credentials as a hawk by suggesting that cutting our forces in Korea "is clearly the wrong signal to send" at this time.""
Kerry's comments raise the legitimate question, does he believe in anything other than a politics of convenience.
The New York Times today reported that Alex Ho, a candidate with the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, was arrested in Dongguan on charges of soliciting prostitution. Ho has been sentenced without due process to six months detention, a period of time sufficient to disqualify him from participating in a local council election he was likely to win.
According the government controlled New China News Agency, "... Ho and a 25-year-old woman were found naked in a room at the Huiyuan Hyatt Hotel at 5 a.m." The Times noted that, "... mainland authorities are supposed to notify Hong Kong officials promptly of the arrest of a Hong Kong citizen, no such notification had been received about Mr. Ho."
According to Fred Li, a senior member of the Democratic Party, Ho was, "... held without access to a lawyer or to family members until he signed a confession that he had hired the prostitute..." Li continued, "... Mr. Ho initially refused to sign, but did so when told he would be released ... if he signed, and when threatened with prosecution for rape if he did not sign." Ho was not released, but instead was sentenced to a period of detention corresponding to government political objectives.
Prostitution, while illegal, is common in China. Were laws against it strictly enforced, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would lack untainted leadership in sufficient numbers to continue imposing itself on the Chinese people. The motive for the detention of Alex Ho is not prostitution, it is found in this statement by Times: "Democrats delivered a sharp setback to pro-Beijing candidates in neighborhood elections last November, and polls have suggested they will do well in the Council elections." Lacking a legitimate means to impose themselve on Hong Kong, the thugs who rule the CCP resort to bullying, which is their first instinct.
From an article by David Tubbs and Robert George in City Journal:
"It is often remarked that marriage tends to "civilize" sexuality—particularly male sexuality. Although the complete picture is more complex than that, there is truth in this remark. But there is no magic in a word. Redefining marriage means abolishing it and shifting the label to a new institution—one for which there are no grounds of principle for sexual exclusivity or monogamy. Thus redefined, marriage won't function to civilize anybody. If marriage is redefined out of existence, our entire society will be harmed, but the harm will be distributed unequally. In the libertine utopia of "sexual freedom," women and children will suffer the most."
Worth reading.
On a subject the media do not want to cover, this website is worth visting: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
National Review today published an excellent article by Donna Hughes on the effect of Islamization in Sudan. Even as the media and the Western world raise awareness of the horrific crimes committed by the Sudanese government against non-Arab citizens, nothing is done to stop the genocide. Governments and politicians who in the aftermath of the Rwanda genocide vowed never again to tolerate such crimes against humanity can only be bothered to pass resolutions- toothless threats. Kofi Annan talks. The Arab world is silent. The Islamic nations are silent. America and Britain are preoccupied. The French don't care. In the meantime, innocents suffer and die, or if less lucky are enslaved by Islamic bigotry and Arab racism.