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The Election Is A Referendum

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There is one overriding question at issue in this election: do we want a President who will defend the United States against terrorism, including preemptively, or do we want a notoriously anti-defense, blame America first leftist who will retreat and appease?

Will we cave in to Islamist terrorism, as the Spaniards did? Or will we defy them by electing the one candidate willing to fight them?

This is not an election about the economy, or about the possibility of theocracy in America.

It is about fighting, or surrendering. Bush is the fighter, Kerry is the man who will stop fighting.

If Kerry wins, it will not be a sign that Americans are against Bush's religious encroachments in government. It will be a signal to the world, loud and clear: we surrender.

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I agree completely.

This election will answer bin Laden's long-standing claim that America has no backbone, that we lack the stomach for a tough, protracted fight. Terrorists all over the globe will celebrate a Kerry victory. Kill enough infidels and even the great Satan will back down. What a terrorist recruiting boost that would be

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Exactly. Terrorists prefer to strike where they see weakness, so a lack of support for the President would certainly serve to embolden them. It would reinforce their view of Americans as a "decadent" nation that has a tendency to give in to threats and lacks the resolve to fight.

(Now, how long before our friend Yes shows up and tells us that we sound like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh? Any bets? ;) )

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If Kerry wins, it will not be a sign that Americans are against Bush's religious encroachments in government.  It will be a signal to the world, loud and clear: we surrender.

There is a lot of speculation today about the purpose for the release of the last 2 tapes from al Qaeda. For a few moments I was inclined to think that of course bin Laden would know Americans would automatically oppose his "opinions".

However, after giving the transcripts more consideration - I think their purpose is obvious. They're right. Americans do not have the stomach for bloodshed or to fight for who we are (were or could be).

Right now I am going to guess that likely - Americans want to forget about the bombing of the WTC in 1993, the Cole, the 2 embassies in Africa and so on. It's much easier for Americans to blame the current administration for international terrorism aimed at the US - here, the Middle East (including Iraq), and elsewhere.

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There is one overriding question at issue in this election: do we want a President who will defend the United States against terrorism, including preemptively, or do we want a notoriously anti-defense, blame America first leftist who will retreat and appease?

Will we cave in to Islamist terrorism, as the Spaniards did?  Or will we defy them by electing the one candidate willing to fight them?

This is not an election about the economy, or about the possibility of theocracy in America. 

It is about fighting, or surrendering.  Bush is the fighter, Kerry is the man who will stop fighting.

If Kerry wins, it will not be a sign that Americans are against Bush's religious encroachments in government.  It will be a signal to the world, loud and clear: we surrender.

Exactly. This is why I voted for Bush.

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Elizabeth, do you have a link to an unedited transcript of OBL's most recent tape?

I don't have access to an unedited version. I'd be interested in reading the entire transcript of the latest release as well.

editing my reply...

transcript on aljazeera...

Al jazeera

(I'm not use to this type of format - hopefully I added the link)

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What exactly has Bush done that has made us any safer? All I can see is that he's picked the wrong country to go to war and he's been increasing our already huge debt. Oh yah, and he's chipping away out our constitutional rights. So for all that he hasn't done, and all that he has done, I can't see how Bush is better than Kerry.

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What exactly has Bush done that has made us any safer?  All I can see is that he's picked the wrong country to go to war and he's been increasing our already huge debt.  Oh yah, and he's chipping away out our constitutional rights.  So for all that he hasn't done, and all that he has done, I can't see how Bush is better than Kerry.

Bush has every foreign policy problem Kerry has, but all of them are lesser in degree. You'll still see him actively participating in the UN, you'll still see him creating altruistic justifications for war, you'll still see him stalling on Iran and N. Korea so war will be the "last resort", and you'll still see him endangering our troops to save civilians, but damnit, at least he's willing to be a cowboy every once in a while. Kerry will inherit all of Bush's faults and be wrong more consistently.

Constitutional rights have not been discussed much, but I assume you mean the social issues: Free speech (campaign finance laws), abortion, faith-based initiatives, etc. We don't discuss them much for good reason: The liberals either completely agree with it (as is the case with campaign finance laws), or the issue just isn't important enough (as is the case with abortion and faith-based initiatives).

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What exactly has Bush done that has made us any safer?
We transformed Afghanistan from an international terrorist training camp to a semi-free country with an ongoing U.S. military presence. Mentally ill Hussein is in jail and no longer able to send $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine. His vicious sons are dead along with most of his rape/torture/murder-happy army of thugs. We destroyed the Al-Ansr terrorist training camp near the border of Iran, killing many terrorists-in-training. The Salmon Pak terrorist training camp just south of Baghdad is no longer open for business. We pulled the plug on the U.N. oil-for-every-kind-of-weapon-on-the-planet-up-to-and-eventually-including-nuclear program.

Surely these achievements have reduced the chances of terrorists getting their hands on WMDs. You can argue that Bush should have done more, but I see no way to argue that he has done nothing, which is precisely what Kerry will do.

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This is from a FoxNews poll:

On the Issues

The top issues on voters' minds have stayed relatively constant for months, with the economy or terrorism consistently capturing the first or second spot. Today, voters say terrorism (25 percent) will be the most important issue to their vote for president and almost as many say the economy (21 percent).

Iraq (17 percent) and health care (7 percent) are the other priority issues to many voters. Five percent or less say social security, taxes or education will be the deciding issue for them this election.

So the issues on the mind of voters are as follows: terrorism, the economy, Iraq, health care, social security, taxes, and education.

Conspicuously absent from this list is any mention of religion. Combining terrorism and Iraq, the war is the main issue for 42% of America. Nothing else is even close, and theocracy is off the radar screen.

That is how the candidates will view votes cast for them: as a mandate for or against fighting the war. Neither of them will get any mandate or message whatsoever about theocracy in America.

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