"Poodle. He's a poodle. Looks French, spends ungodly amounts of money on grooming, and is owned by a rich, white woman."
hahahahahahahahahaha
Yeah, I'm not really one for political discussions. I watched part of the debate, and I read stuff on the board about it this morning. I wouldn't know most of the facts (history, that is -- stuff leading up to now from previous administrations) if it weren't for my more up-to-speed boyfriend who has been paying attention for the last X number of years while I was busy not caring. ;) I'm not really the ideal voter because I'm voting based on character more than anything. I wouldn't know anything about what did or didn't happen during Clinton's administration if I didn't have Joe to tell me about it. I don't know ANYTHING about economics. So I'm not really one to talk. But I am part of the voting public, and sadly I may be more informed than others. ;)
I do not like John Kerry. I sincerely, truly, fervently hope that that man does not get elected. I just don't want to see what might happen to our country if he gets in office.
Here are the things on which I base my decision:
1. He is a hypocrite. Yeah, everybody's a hypocrite to a certain extent, especially in politics. But it just irks me irks me irks me to no end that this man claims to believe in something and then openly defies it and refuses to live by it. Yes, I am talking about the fact that Kerry is Catholic (or more appropriately, says he is). Yes this has been beaten to death and nobody really cares about it anymore, but I do. He says he believes in the Church but the Church has no control over him. He seems to think that "being a part of it" and "living according to it" are two separate things, and they're not. If you believe in something, especially something as important as God and Church, you let that belief guide your decisions. That's what faith is. Faith gives you conviction. I admire conviction. Conviction is essential for a good leader. Bush is Christian, Bush is not afraid to let people know it, Bush votes according to his beliefs. Bush has conviction, no matter how much you hate what he does with it. Kerry doesn't.
I would rather see a faithful Muslim (Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, atheist, what have you), who votes according to the beliefs he lives by, than someone who claims to be Catholic but votes for things that the Church condemns. I have taken this extremely personally I admit, because I am a new Catholic and I have struggled so much just to become a part of the Church and here comes Kerry just making a mockery of it. He makes us look bad and sends the wrong message about what our Church actually believes and teaches, and that makes me angry. So there you go: number one reason I won't vote for this guy, is because he says one thing and does something completely different. And in particular, because what he's hurting is the Catholic Church.
2. Abortion. Completely oppose it, can't vote for anyone who favors it. Period.
(If I may make a note here: if Kerry claimed to believe in a religion that believes abortions are okay [rather than the Catholic Church which condemns them], at least I could respect the guy for following his convictions. I still wouldn't vote for him because I vehemently oppose abortion, but I wouldn't be sitting here calling him a hypocrite.)
3. He flip-flops, double-talks, etc etc. Claims to be Catholic but votes for abortion. :P Voted for the war but against funding the troops (and THEN in the debate he comes out blaming Bush for sending the troops in without the proper armour). He says the war is a mistake but insists our troops are not dying for a mistake. Wants an international coalition of allies for Iraq but wants to go one-on-one with North Korea. And so on. The guy's an idiot. He has no conviction, he just says whatever he thinks people want him to say. And then gets tripped up trying to explain himself, because he doesn't know what he believed in the first place, so he doesn't know what he believes right now. I dunno, I just can't stand him.
Bush might be dumb as a rock sometimes, but I think he gets the job done. Nobody likes war but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. It takes time, rebuilding takes time, we have to finish what we started and we have to finish it RIGHT. Kerry wants to go in and speed things up, basically rush it and do a half-assed job and then get our butts out, and in the long run that's gonna come back and bite us in the butt.
Anyway... that's where I stand. At least with Bush we know what we're getting. I would NOT risk this country's future on someone as unpredictable as John Kerry just to get Bush out of office. So many are saying "Anyone but Bush!" That's just stupid, if you ask me. Which no one did. ;)