Debate 1: Bush Slams Kerry, Reclaims Divine Status
President Says He Follows Iraq Disaster By
"Watching TV"
by Michael K. Smith
Looking like a cranky 5-year-old who hadn't had his afternoon nap
President Bush opened the debating season by repeatedly slamming
Senator John Kerry for not sharing his Divine status, dismissing him
as a vacilating whimp far too weak to lead the nation.
Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, saying the sacrifice made
by 1,059 U.S. troops who have been killed there was "noble and
worthy," as evidenced by endless bloody disaster and increasing
prospects of a Taliban-style regime.
"We're being challenged like never before, and we have a duty to our
country and to future generations of Americans to achieve a free
Iraq, a free Afghanistan and to rid the world of weapons of mass
destruction," Bush said. His record indicates that the way to do
that is to murder and destroy until these countries submit to U.S.
puppet governments, at the same time tearing up arms control
treaties and mass producing a new generation of weapons of mass
destruction.
Very early in the debate, the president conceded that he understood
"everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've
made, and I've made some tough decisions. But people know where I
stand." The question of whether the President knows where he stands
remained unaddressed. Many observers insist he hasn't the slightest
clue what the policies of his own administration are.
Again and again during the debate, Bush charged that Kerry's
inconsistent positions on the Iraq war -- after voting for a
congressional resolution authorizing Bush to use force -- would make
it difficult for him to function as commander-in-chief, taking
particular aim at Kerry's recent statement that Iraq was the "wrong
war at the wrong place at the wrong time." Bush's position is that
all U.S.-led wars are righteous, especially since 2001 when they
have been directly mandated by God.
Kerry insisted that despite the president's assertions to the
contrary, "I've had one position -- one consistent position -- that
Saddam Hussein was a threat. There was a right way to disarm him and
a wrong way, and the president chose the wrong way." Neither
candidate indicated how Iraq could have gotten rid of weapons it
didn't possess or how it constituted a "threat" when two-thirds of
its national territory was under foreign control.
Kerry said that the invasion of Iraq was an ill-conceived adventure
that's "getting worse by the day" and has distracted the United
States from the fight against terrorism, which Kerry insisted he
could win to by fighting a "smarter" war.
"Smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on
terror in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden and taking it off to
Iraq,'" Kerry said. "This president has made, I regret to say, a
colossal error of judgment. And judgment is what we look for in the
president of the United States of America." Many analysts consider
this criticism unfair, in view of the fact that President Bush can't
even keep track of whether or not his shoes are tied.
Bush and Kerry agreed that the proliferation of nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction were the greatest threat to the
United States, agreeing as well that unrestrained development of WMD
by the U.S. threatens no one.
Michael K. Smith is the author of "The Madness of King George,"
(illustrations by Matt Wuerker), available from Common Courage Press
