You first post is actually pretty strong and the third as well. I stand corrected. The other two are about as forceful as the Democratic opposition to the Iraq war before it started
I don't know about looking foolish, I mean, how many hundreds of other posts of yours could we find containing derogatory photoshops, urban legends and general contempt for the Democratic Party. But I will conceded you have criticized Republican policy.
...have YOU ever been optimist with this administration?
Not really. In a nutshell… I did think he handled 9/11 adequately, on through Afghanistan. I would probably like him a whole lot better today, and be able to offer him more support (maybe even a vote), if he had listened to Colin Powell instead of Paul Wolfowitz where Iraq was concerned. I don’t blame him for the recession, but at the same time I don’t think he’s helping matters much. The Clinton administration did much to lay the groundwork for overseas job loss and rampant over consolidation of industry (IMO) that Bush is riding full speed ahead today. I disagree with having tax cuts and ballooning deficits at the same time, but haven’t looked into it in enough detail to really post on it. Bush panders a bit to the far right, but frankly no more than the Democrats pander to the far left and in the end neither really do much for either once the sound byte airs. I don’t like Ashcroft at all, but Clinton wasn’t all that friendly to individual rights either. Nor do I hate him. I just think that in trying to do the best job he could he let himself get sidetracked by advisors who may not prove to be as smart as they think they are.
For me the last election was a toss up. I didn't much like Al Gore and particularly disliked the Carol Browner (Al Gore) EPA. And I consider myself an environmentalist. But I had the opportunity to cover some EPA issues during the 1990s and found total inflexibility and bad science. I also disliked his support of ethanol, but there not much you can do about that with most politicians. I consider Al Gore to be just another Washington political careerist. I though George Bush was just another politician as well. More a committee choice type of guy. “Who can we run? How about Geroge’s son?” I did vote for Gore, but for the sole reason that I though he would make Supreme Court choices that would be more friendly to the protection of individual rights. When I found out he lost, it didn’t bother me particularly. The only two candidates I thought were worth anything didn't make it (Bradley and McCain) and I would likely have voted for McCain if I had that option. I would vote for him in this one as well, or even a Pat Buchanan or Pat Robertson if they were committed to breaking the money lock on Washington.
This election is shaping up to be the same. Kerry is a Washington hack, IMO. Edwards might have been OK, not that it matters now. I will probably just cast a vote against Wolfowitz. And, even though I don’t think we were lied to about WMD (admin. actually thought they were there), I do think it was pretty low on the list of reasons for moving into Iraq and that the war was sold on the point because it got the most traction with the public. That does piss me off.
Charon
