Grrr.

[queerbychoice]

"In the days after 9/11, I thought the president did a terrific job."
     —John Kerry

Next time someone asks me why I can't bring myself to vote for Kerry, I'm quoting that piece of frightening and mind-boggling idiocy.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I'm simply far more into the ends justifying the means than you are, but I can completely understand that statement. Imagine that you had a chance to get Shrub out of office. So, in a national debate where many undecided voters are watching (I'm still amazed that people can be undecided in this election, but the ignorance of the populace always amazes me), and you need to talk about how Shrub handled 9/11 (the high-point of his popularity for reasons that continue to utterly baffle me). Do you:

1) Answer truthfully, letting everyone know you think that he was as much of a jackass then as now, and risk alienating 85+% of all voters (85% being Shrub's approximate popularity rating immediately following 9/11).

2) Lie like a rug and do your best to appeal to people who might be convinced to vote against him.

I dislike Kerry, but I see Bush as considerably worse (in the sense that a fundy war-mongering plutocrat is far worse than a non-fundy plutocrat who is much less of a war-monger) and so I'm very much OK with lies that help get Shrub out of office. Of course, I also have complete contempt for most voters in the US, so YMMV.

[cheeser1.livejournal.com]

gotta be pragmatic. *shrug* there's no room for hardline stances, no matter how right they, when you're trying to get people to support you.

[xkcd.livejournal.com]

He was talking about the speeches he gave and the way America united behind him. I agree.

That said, what a fucktwat. Bush screwed up big time.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Bush seemed like just as much of a moron right after 9/11 as he did before. I was completely unimpressed by his speeches and the only credit I give him is that he didn't make things even worse than he did.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

How exactly could he have made things even worse than he did? Dropped a nuclear bomb on Iran?

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was worried that he would nuke Iraq or Afghanistan or that he would declare martial law in the US. Although he avoided such horrors, that's pretty much the only thing that I feel that he did right in his entire wretched, corrupt, incompetent, and evil-filled presidency.

[coolerbythelake.livejournal.com]

whenever i think about bush after 9/11, i kind of think of this quote by someone that came up on teh intarweb that they pipe through the little screens in our elevators at work. it said something like, "any idiot can handle themselves in a crisis, it's the day to day living that gets to you."

in this situation, any idiot could've gone off to bomb afghanistan. any idiot could've grounded the planes on 9/11. any idiot could've said, "we need better security at airports." who wouldn't have done these things?

so to judge bush based on his "bravery" in this situation is stupid.

him going off to attack iraq was dumb, though.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

If he doesn't ritually demonstrate his conformity with the generally accepted public narrative on that issue (and others, like a generalized opposition to marriage equality), he's not going to be able to obtain power at all. If he obtains power, he can at least make a difference on other issues.

Kerry's flaws are, so far as I have seen, the standard flaws of successful American politicians; these are, to a large extent, the flaws of American public discourse, for which your standard politician is primarily an echo chamber. I am supporting him in this election because W has, in addition to these, the flaws of fascist dictators, murderous psychopaths, and incompetent fuckwits.

[allyx.livejournal.com]

I do not know what state you live in so my advice may be foolish. I just ask you to keep in mind the people who cannot afford another Bush administration. I have many friends in said category but I cannot vote in the US so I can't stand up and say anything really. I don't think stategic voting is reprehensible when, in some cases, it becomes a matter of quality of life.
Cheers!

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I live in California, which is not a swing state at all. Kerry will win it by a landslide without my vote.