Roger Long wrote:

I know most of you out there are republicans so I ask you to subject
yourself to one honest and objective test. Look yourself straight in
the mirror tomorrow morning. Screw up all the honest objectivity you
use when looking at a lousy weather report and a need to be
somewhere, and ask yourself: if a few chads had dangled the other way
and everything had happened exactly as it has, what would you be
saying right now?

Assuming Gore had been elected instead of Bush, I don't think everything
would have happened "exactly as it has." Let's assume that the 9/11 attacks
would have been carried out. I just don't see Gore having the intestinal
fortitude to carry the war back to those harboring al Qaeda. I have no idea
what he would have done, but I'm not convinced Gore would have taken on the
Taliban militarily. I'm also pretty sure we would not have invaded Iraq
(hence my assertion that things would not have happened "exactly as they
have"). Without that invasion, it's unknown where al Qaeda and like-minded
folk would have settled in. As it stands, Iraq has served as a focal point
for these individuals/groups.

In my opinion, Gore is more akin to the current Phillipines government.
They acquiesced to the demands of those who kidnapped one (1) solitary
civilian. They changed national policy and pulled out a grand total of less
than 60 military personnel and the kidnappers promptly released the sole
Phillipine civilian in their custody.

Then they (or those like them) turned right around and kidnapped another 6
(from different nations, of course).

That demonstrates to me that appeasing these terrorists (a term that is
overused, but I don't have a better one suitable for public consumption) is
*not* in our best interests ('our" being defined as "those opposing the
terrorists" including Arab governments). I'm not convinced that Gore would
have done a whole lot better than the Phillipine government in responding to
9/11.

Could Bush have done a better job conducting this "war on terror"? Surely
he could have. He *really* should have learned good public speaking by this
point in his political career and his relatively poor skills in this area
have undoubtedly hampered his ability to sway our international friends.

Nonetheless, I'm convinced he has done a better job than Gore would have in
protecting American soil and lives. Further, I haven't seen anything from
anybody else camaigning for his job to convince me that they'd do any better
in this regard.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
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