Bush is as dishonorable as he is unfit to command.

I was watching Buchanon and Scarborough skewer Bush on his show yesterday - the
pair of them were ticking off the list of what was wrong with Bush, from the
Conservative standpoint. It was almost exactly the same list of problems I have
with him, and it was not a short list.

I am now a 'reluctanct democrat' because I served under Bush Sr. and I was lied
to by that man and his circle of friends. I know him to be otherwise
honorable, but this was a personal thing. That led me to quit the Republican
party after years of support. If not for his stand on abortion rights and his
desire to incorporate his religion into his presidency, I would have returned
to the GOP to support Bob Dole; I remain estranged from my party of choice.

When this current guy surfaced, it was usually as some report of a drunk
incident or other tacky public faux pas that embarrassed his family. Then, in
front of God and everyone, he took over the presidency when it was clear there
was no national mandate - yet he alienated that other half of the country by
ramrodding his own agenda through in a manner that has made us reviled around
the world. When he "landed" a Navy jet on a carrier under "Mission
Accomplished", the ultimate PR stunt, and he got Powell to perjure himself in
front of Congress and the UN, it just made me sick. He told me and everyone
else that field commanders in the Iraqi Army were capable of deploying those
agents. He showed us photos of tractor trailors, and pronounced them mobile
chemical warfare labs. A dozen other statements that have now been shown
wrong. Powell is an honorable man, that Bush and Cheney got to lie, for their
purposes. He is a Republican I could vote for in a heartbeat, after I heard
him explain why he did what that.

I have watched with disbelief as my country sank into the hands of the same
Bonesmen that lied to us last time (remember Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand?)
and I am holding my breath to see if we are going to get clear of this
nightmare. The other night, Cheney tried to convince the nation that a vote
for Kerry could lead to an attack by the terrorists - without mentioning that
his own DHS has foretold many times that we are definitely going to be struck
again, not if, but when. Cheney was trying to scare the "sheep people" into
thinking that somehow, a vote for Bush would mean we'd somehow sidestep that
inevitability. What kind of a tactic is that? Certainly not very honest of
him.

Kerry has a hell of a lot more leadership behind him than GWB had when he took
over the White House - warts and all, I can't see the country plunging to its
doom simply because yet another career politician took over, but a few more
years under George, Dick, and Don is about the worst thing I can imagine.
Well, maybe Gore - that would be worse.

The folks that served _with_ Kerry said he earned the medals and if others that
weren't there, _on his boat_ disagree, it shouldn't matter, since the Navy
reviewed all the details at the time, and awarded them to him. That the
Republicans would now get the Navy to open a formal review of those medals is
deeply insulting, to everyone that every got one. If I disagree with the
current administration, does that mean the Navy will now revoke my Navy Comm?

Kerry was in combat. Bush was out raising hell. Anyone that can't see that is
a poor judge of character.

Bush's characterization of his service ("I fulfilled all my obligations")
really doesn't toe in with what his documents show - and its bothersome to me
that these records have to come dribbling out a couple at a time, each
accompanied by a polite, "sorry, honestly, this is the last of them," note.

To bring a small amount of on-topicness to this post, does anyone know why he
flew so many of his hours in that bizarre 2-seater F-102? That is one ugly
bird: it now sits in a tiny air and naval museum in Del Rio, Texas, all but
forgotten. Most fighter jocks I know love single seaters, and I don't know any
of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else
available. That two seater was supposedly not that great in the air and I
wonder why he spent so much time in it. Curious.

v/r
Gordon

====(A+C====
USN SAR

Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine.