Posted on 09/12/2004 6:51:02 AM PDT by bad company
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Posted on Sat, Sep. 11, 2004
MISSING METTLE Bush has the guts that Kerry lacks to take America through these difficult times CONNIE LYNNE CARRILLO
DICK WRIGHT/Tribune Media Services DICK WRIGHT/Tribune Media Services
Sept. 11, 2001, was an epiphany for President Bush. We witnessed him digging deep, gathering strength and rising to the occasion. He courageously blazed a trail against a terrorist, rogue nation harboring al-Qaida.
He rid the world of trigger-happy, homicidal maniac Saddam Hussein and his bloodthirsty dynasty of lunatic successors. Cut-throat Gadhafi is on his back, all fours in the air, begging for mercy. The world has changed.
The good, decent folks murdered on Sept. 11 deserve justice. We owe them, their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids a secure country and world, free from another day like Sept. 11.
We owe them somebody better than John Kerry.
Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” President Bush has paid that price. John Kerry hasn't got what it takes to pay that price and here's why.
It was Lt. j.g. Kerry accepting the Democratic nomination, trotting out his “band of brothers” and “reporting for duty” with a lame, inappropriate salute, when Sen. Kerry should have shown up.
Unbecoming a hero, he flaunted his Vietnam valor, resurrecting its staggering baggage, creating a catastrophic backlash that may sink his campaign.
He is arrogantly oblivious to one of life's basic lessons: You cannot have it both ways. You cannot run on your war heroism after testifying before Congress that there were no heroes in Vietnam, only war criminals.
You cannot now dig up your trashed medals, dust them off and audaciously exploit them to get yourself elected president, when you can't summon up the common decency to apologize to those you have slandered and betrayed along the way.
The unseemly debacle has given us a glimpse into the character, motives and psyche of John Kerry. It is not a pretty picture.
Determined and ambitious, Kerry joined the Navy. Bragging to shipmates he was the next JFK, he volunteered for Vietnam.
But the Swifties were apparently an ugly blind date that Kerry couldn't ditch fast enough. Four months into the much hyped tour of duty they were unceremoniously dumped, thanks to minor, inconsequential wounds, worthy of some plastic bandages but maybe not three Purple Hearts.
From my husband, who served 26 months in Vietnam with the Marines and managed to remain atrocity and war-crime free: “We had absolutely no use for crybabies who shamelessly put in for Purple Hearts for trivial, insignificant wounds; much less cut out on your men and run home to mama because of them.”
Meanwhile, America had changed. People cursed and spat on Vietnam heroes. War protesters were now the heroes of America. So adios, JFK, Kerry appointed himself a statesman and hobnobbed with the enemy in Paris.
Milking his abbreviated Swift boat hitch, he pompously passed himself off as a battle-weary warhorse and bloviated before Congress; sold out his left-behind comrades; accused them of heinous war crimes and atrocities; offered not one shred of evidence; admitted on Dick Cavett he had never actually seen any, other than his own, causing our POWs more torture and distress.
Why didn't Kerry tout his Senate career instead of a brief stint in Vietnam 35 years ago? Why didn't he drive home his vision?
Because he couldn't.
Kerry has no vision to extol. He spent his lackluster, leadership-less, forgettable Senate career cowering under his desk as a left-wing, peacenik dove, while he undermined our national defense, abandoned our troops in Iraq and championed the extermination of our offspring.
This guy becoming commander in chief is an absurd joke. Terrorists will be dancing in the streets.
Kerry doesn't know who he is or what he believes. A slave to political expediency, he is conflicted, confused, scatterbrained and incomprehensible; equivocating, pandering, nuancing and reversing positions so rapidly even he can't remember what he just said. To be kind, the poor, deluded guy does not seem to have a grip on reality.
In stark contrast, President Bush appears boring and way less complicated. He served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard long enough to master F-102 fighter jets and managed to receive an honorable discharge.
No heroics. No plastic bandages. No Purple Hearts. No atrocities. No war crimes. No delusional Christmas in Cambodia. No pontificating before Congress. Many offended veterans wish Kerry had done the same.
But late-bloomer Bush has worked hard on redeeming himself. With firm convictions and moral clarity, he is resolute, steadfast, confident and downright Trumanesque in his decisiveness and demeanor. No nuances, no apologies, no accommodations, no phony lip-biting, no “Kumbaya” campfires.
George Bush will not let America “go gentle into that good night.” America will not be bullied or intimidated. America will not appease, capitulate or kowtow to thugs; terrorists; Hitler madmen; the incompetent, spineless United Nations; or wimpy, collaborating, ungrateful allies for the sake of peace.
George Bush is not afraid to try to change this messed up world, and John Kerry hasn't even thought about it.
George Bush is living out the sign on Harry Truman's desk that said, “The buck stops here.” With John Kerry, it doesn't stop anywhere.
Connie Lynne Carrillo is a freelance writer who lives in Kansas City, North. To reach Midwest Voices columnists, write to the author c/o the Editorial Page, The Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108 or send e-mail to oped@kcstar.com.
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© 2004 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com
Could you please fix that title. The author here is much smarter than the poster.
Bump for a great article!
Great Article,this should passed around to all. It says everything about why the choice should be obvious to all.
This one deserves some pings.
This is definitly what you call "hitting it out of the park".
New campaign poster/slogan: “Where's the mettle, John?!�
WOW! Is right. Great, simple words.
WOW bump
Kerry is just plain nuts.
We blowed 'em up real good!
**Bush has the guts that Kerry lacks**
And this is exactly what the American electorate recognizes. Bush will win big! (My opinion)
It's also the reason the dims hate him so much. He stands by his word and follows through! Duh!
That's perfect - about GWB and about the other one who will lose in November. It lists what hasn't been said enough about Kerry - he went into the Navy just so he could have that on his political resume.
Anybody who would fly the "Lead Sled" (F-102) must surely clank when he walks.
Dammmmmm!
That's a punch in the nose.
Bush has guts. When the media hounded him and tried to say that he went to Baghdad (BIAP) because it was an election stunt it must be remembered that he decided to fly into an airport that had aircraft shot at before and after he left. He flew into an airport that was less than safe (1 DHL had a chunk of wing shot out, C17 was hit in an engine, C5 was hit in an engine). Frankly, I think the media attacked him and made it all look bad because he went there without the obligatory press plane following him. I think many in the press were simply getting back because they were left out. So all they ended up reporting about was how the Turkey he carried (A display Turkey) was not properly cooked and just show. No $hit, don't you say? Wow, that's what we pay these journalists to write! I'll tell you this though. I was one of those people in Baghdad who had friends sitting across from him and others who shook hands with the president. What the media didn't report about much was the impact this visit had on the troops. Soldiers were shuttled in from all over Baghdad and NO ONE knew what was going on. They thought it was going to be some show, boy was it. The president and several others made it a point to mingle and were surrounded by average "Joe's", not just some top brass. I think President Bush deserved to be applauded for this and instead he was attacked by a self-serving and a largely ignorant media. In my opinion, this one act proved he has balls.
LOL!
Right on and Thank you for being there. I think your words should be passed to all of our associates far and wide as Election day approaches. Our Commander in Chief has THE RIGHT STUFF!!Pray that He is Reelected!!
Our President said at The Daytona 500 NASCAR race that he Loves Speed. Right on with The Lead Sled(F-102)! Anybody who qualifies and serves Our Country as a FIGHTER PILOT is a TRUE HERO everytime they strap themselves in to those flying missles, every time!And they make their decisions in nanoseconds by themselves with no polling or nuances.
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