President Makes a Case for Freedom in the Middle East

By DAVID E. SANGER

Stephen Crowley/ The New York Times

President Bush at Tuesday night's press conference.

ASHINGTON, April 13 — Facing a moment of political peril unlike any in the more than one thousand days of his presidency, George W. Bush made the case on Tuesday night for staying the course in Iraq with the language and zeal of a missionary and combined it with a stark warning that failure would embolden America's enemies around the world.

"We're changing the world," Mr. Bush said halfway through a speech and news conference that was largely an hourlong justification for holding fast in Iraq, no matter how the casualties mount, no matter how chaotic the process of forming a new government.

Drawing later on a line he often slips into his campaign speeches, he reminded a global audience that "freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

With those words, Mr. Bush drove home the singlemindedness that has become the hallmark of his presidency, his greatest strength in the eyes of his admirers and a dangerous, never-change-course stubbornness in the eyes of his detractors. He could have simply talked Tuesday evening about the crimes of Saddam Hussein or the fear that chaos in Iraq would breed terror in one of the most volatile corners of the world.

But he did far more, reaching for the kind of language about America's moral mission in the world that seemed drawn from the era of Teddy Roosevelt, whose speeches he keeps on the coffee table of his ranch in Texas. He described an America chosen by God to spread freedom. He never used the word "crusade," which touched off a firestorm of criticism in the Muslim world when he uttered it soon after Sept. 11, 2001. But he described one.

Mr. Bush talked about the battle in Iraq not simply in terms of bringing order to the streets, but as part of his mission to win a much broader war on terror in which Iraq is the integral part. He ticked off one atrocity after another, including deadly bombings in Bali and Jerusalem, the attacks on the Navy destroyer Cole and the embassy bombings in Africa.

The people behind those attacks are linked to the Sunnis and Shiites raising arms against Americans in Iraq, he said, because they serve "the same ideology of murder that kills innocent people on trains in Madrid, and murders children on buses in Jerusalem, and blows up a nightclub in Bali, and cuts the throat of a young reporter for being a Jew." He was referring to Daniel Pearl, the reporter for The Wall Street Journal abducted and killed in Pakistan.

After weeks in which Washington has debated whether Mr. Bush unwisely diverted resources from the campaign against Al Qaeda to overthrow Saddam Hussein and whether he has a workable strategy to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30, Mr. Bush's message on Tuesday night was that Washington is not thinking big enough.

Those issues are details, to Mr. Bush. And in any event, he argued, failure is not an option.

"Every enemy of America in the world would celebrate," he said, "proclaiming our weakness and decadence and using that victory to recruit a new generation of killers."

It is far from clear that Mr. Bush won many converts in his rare, prime-time venture, but clearly he felt that after weeks in which his message was not getting through, he needed to remind Americans of the mission he saw for the nation.

But characteristically, he acknowledged no error, no change of course, and he gave no ground to critics who said he had more passion than plans. Chief among them is his Democratic opponent for the presidency, Senator John Kerry, who argues that Mr. Bush's strategy has been flawed since the day he decided to invade Iraq without the blessing of the United Nations.

"It was hunker down, stay the course, believe in me and we will win," said Rand Beers, an official on Mr. Bush's National Security Council until he resigned and signed on as Mr. Kerry's chief foreign policy strategist. "I find that at odds with the reality on the ground."

It is Mr. Bush's sense of mission that sustains him these days, his friends say. But that trait may also explain why he was so unwilling to directly engage the reporters who kept asking him whether he had regrets about failing to do more to prepare for terrorist attacks in that fateful summer of 2001 or whether he believed that he had made mistakes in the march to Baghdad.

It is not difficult to find aides to Mr. Bush who question whether the intelligence about unconventional weapons was flawed. And it is easy to find members of the administration who question whether L. Paul Bremer III, the administrator in Iraq, should have disbanded the army, or taken on Moktada al-Sadr, the fiery, anti-American Shiite cleric, without a clear plan to arrest or kill him.

But Mr. Bush would have none of that on Tuesday night. Instead, he spoke with the conviction of his deputy secretary of defense, Paul D. Wolfowitz, about the need for America to lead the way in Democratic reform, and with the certitude of his hawkish vice president, Cheney, that America should pursue its enemies before they have the chance to strike.

"I hope today you've gotten a sense of my conviction about what we are doing," he said at the end of the press conference. "I feel strongly that the course this administration has taken will make America more secure and the world more free, and therefore the world more peaceful. It's a conviction that's deep in my soul."

Beyond the rallying call, however, Mr. Bush offered little in the way of new strategy, perhaps because he believes none is called for, perhaps because to offer it would be to acknowledge that the course he followed in Iraq over the past year did not end up with the April 2004 he once envisioned. It was supposed to be a month in which the country was on the path to self-governance. Instead, it has proven the most deadly two weeks for American forces since the war began, with more dead — 86 soldiers — and more wounded than in the first days of the invasion itself. source

Name:	XYZ
Re:	President Bush scores big

Message:
President Bush came out swinging last night at his nationally televised press conference, and hit a home run.

And, as usual, the media made complete idiots out of themselves. No surprise there.

Name:	ET
To:	John Kerry

In response to:
Chief among them is his Democratic opponent for the presidency, Senator John Kerry, who argues that Mr. Bush's strategy has been flawed since the day he decided to invade Iraq without the blessing of the United Nations.

Message:
Easy for you to say, but we have not seen your plan for the war on terrorism?

So until I see your plan, or anyone else's plan on the left, Bush-bashing is easy for anyone to do. All I've seen from you so far is that you are going to turn this over to the U.N.

Name:	John Kerry
To:	ET

In response to:
So what are your plans to protect this country and the free world?

Message:
My plan is to continuously bow at the altar of the United Nations and to do whatever the UN tells the United States to do.

Name:

John F. Kerry

In response to:
So what are your plans to protect this country and the free world?

Name:	XYZ
To:	ET

In response to:
So until I see your plan, or anyone else's plan on the left, Bush-bashing is easy for anyone to do.

Message:
The left would bash Bush regardless of what he did and what he does regarding the protection of this nation. The same moronic liberals who want to know why Bush did not do more to prevent 9-11 are the ones who question and oppose what he is now doing to protect this nation from future terroristic attacks. These liberal idiots are nothing but sphincter muscles surrounded by a void.

Name:	Patriot
To:	ET
Re:	John Kerry

In response to:
So until I see your plan, or anyone else's plan on the left, Bush-bashing is easy for anyone to do.

Message:
John Kerry has no plan, for anything. His campaign can be summed up in seven words: Did you know I served in Vietnam?

Name:

Compute

Message:
Forget the UN. Bush is hanging tough. In 1936 when Hitler started invading counties his conception of the US was all wrong. He thought the US were pacifists and a bunch of cowboys. Now its the militant Arabs who are going to be suprised with there nutty Islamic extremism. We won't be backing down and if it takes a few more thousand dead foreign Arab militants so be it.

Name:	Skipjack
To:	Individual

In response to:
If there really is hot competition in a capitalist society, then corporations cannot raise prices every time their costs increase.

Why are goverment subsidized medical costs going through the roof while the costs of elective surgery such as lasiks (eye) and plastic surgery which people pay for out of their own pockets going down?

Care to explain this trend spin? Could it be that the same government interference you covet works against people?

Message:
I watched President Bush stand tall last night. The Middle East is going to change. The two cable TV News networks Fox and CNN looked ridiculus. Maybe FOX and CNN should be more passive and stop those phoney debates they pretend to do.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
Why are goverment subsidized medical costs going through the roof while the costs of elective surgery such as lasiks (eye) and plastic surgery which people pay for out of their own pockets going down? Care to explain this trend spin? Could it be that the same government interference you covet works against people?

Message:
Sure, First you have crooked health insurance companies, then come along the big monopolistic greedy hospitals. The poor doctor gets pushed out of the way and short changed by the HMO's. Medicine used to be the doctor and his patient. Its not government interference its the hospital and health insurance company interference that is the whole problem in medicine. Then there is the local governments who dont give a damn how much hospitals over charge the uninsured people.

Name:

Skipjack

In response to:
Its not government interference its the hospital and health insurance company interference that is the whole problem in medicine.

Message:
You mean to tell me that government mandates for indigent care has nothing to do with it? The "greedy" hospitals (as you put it) are forced by law to care for the indigent. They make up this money buy shafting people who pay and their health insurance companies. If they didn't, they'd be force to close and no one would get health care. Is that what you want?

BTW-your grasp on the situation leads me that you should shut up until you actually know what is going on.

Name:	SUV
To:	Skipjack

Message:
In Miami Florida a .005 Sales tax portion helps fund Jackson Hospital. The tourists and the citizens of Dade county fund their medical care for the indigant care this way.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
BTW-your grasp on the situation leads me that you should shut up until you actually know what is going on.

Message:
I do know what is going on and so you stop picking on me, Its still a free country.

Name:

Skipjack

In response to:
I do know what is going on and so you stop picking on me, Its still a free country.

Name:	SUV
To:	ET
Re:	My sentiments also

In response to:
So what are your plans to protect this country and the free world?

Message:
Well done ET, So far the Democrats, especially John Kerry have not shown what they would or will do as to terrorism.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
It's barely still a free country and you are a smart ass.

Message:
I don't know why you feel that way, just dont pay your taxes on April 15, 2004 like the rest of do.

Name:	Skipjack
To:	ET

Message:
May I ask how this forum got in the position to be featured on Dateline? Was it that hysterical letter you sent to Bill? Did his PR people foward it to Katie Couric or Jane Pauley or something?

I would be wary because anyone who is devoted to Hillary to the point of cult of hero worship is leaving themselves open for ridicule. I mean if I saw a letter from someone with such devotion for someone who has actually done nothing but hang around some yokel who treats her like dirt, I'd probably do a SNL comedy hit piece sketch.

Name:

Just Wondering

Message:
I heard that Bill Clinton met CIA head George Tenet only twice in 8 years. Did Bill Clinton spend more time with Monica Lewenski than George Tenet?

Name:

HILLARY SUPPORTER

In response to:
Easy for you to say, but we have not seen your plan for the war on terrorism?

Message:
I agree. Unless Kerry comes up with a serious plan on terrorism, it may cost him votes.

April 14, 2004 -- A group of 9/11 families has released an open letter thanking National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for her testimony to the commission probing the attacks and saying it should end "the incredible notion" that President Bush knew 9/11 was coming and did nothing. The letter signed by 40 relatives also blasts some members of the 9/11 commission for trying to "grandstand for political gain" in hopes of embarrassing Bush and thus politicizing the inquiry.

"I see the commission going partisan and that's not the way it's supposed to be. If it does that, it will be nothing but a political disgrace," said former United Firefighters Association chief Jimmy Boyle, who lost his firefighter son Michael on 9/11. "It's a whole new world as of Sept. 12 and I believe President Bush is the right man."

The letter says: "We believe Dr. Rice when she says that the president 'would have moved heaven and earth' to prevent a terrorist attack had he known such an attack on our homeland was imminent. Any suggestion otherwise is incredible and inflammatory."

Name:

HILLARY SUPPORTER

In response to:
The left would bash Bush regardless of what he did and what he does regarding the protection of this nation. The same moronic liberals who want to know why Bush did not do more to prevent 9-11 are the ones who question and oppose what he is now doing to protect this nation from future terroristic attacks. These liberal idiots are nothing but sphincter muscles surrounded by a void.

Message:
I'm not really a Bush fan and I don't agree with the way he has handled Iraq, BUT I do feel he's doing a good job as far as homeland security and do feel that he probably has protected us from some more attacks since 9-11. I had to laugh last night when just about every reporter that asked him a question kept asking the same question in so many words. They were obviously trying to get him to admit that he had some false intelligence data and admit some over-sights on the Administrations part, which he wouldn't come directly out and admit.

Name:	XYZ
To:	HILLARY SUPPORTER

In response to:
I agree. Unless Kerry comes up with a serious plan on terrorism, it may cost him votes.

Message:
Kerry's lack of a plan for anything, including terrorism, and his lack of a vision for this nation will most definitely cost him the election in November. National Security and the economy are the two dominant issues upon which voters will cast their votes in the Presidential election. Our President has already demonstrated a plan and action for fighting the war on terror and protecting this country from future terroristic attacks. John Kerry's plan is to go begging and crawling to the United Nations in order to get permission for the United States to defend itself. Our President believes that those who are currently paying Federal Income Taxes (remember, the bottom 50% of wage earners pay NO Federal Income Taxes) should receive tax relief and be given more of their own money. John Kerry's plan is to raise taxes.

John Kerry is weak on national defense and is weak on tax relief. When pressed on these issues, all he can do is stutter and remind the questioner that he served in Vietnam.

John Kerry is following in the footsteps of George McGovern and Michael Dukakis. His defeat in November is imminent.

Name:

Compute

In response to:
It's barely still a free country and you are a moron.

Message:
No you are dead wrong if you have a nice income and you pay your taxes, it is a free country. But if you are in debt to your credit card company(S) you are in trouble. So quit calling me a moron, you !!

Name:

His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

Message:
Hey, while reviewing the latest battle reports on Iraq I received a very, very serious paper cut.

Name:

SUV

Message:
Hmm, certain words will not print like idioot, minus the second o

Name:

His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
Kerry's lack of a plan for anything, including terrorism, and his lack of a vision for this nation will most definitely cost him the election in November. National Security and the economy are the two dominant issues upon which voters will cast their votes in the Presidential election.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry Message: Hey, while reviewing the latest battle reports on Iraq I received a very, very serious paper cut. Very serious indeed. I've applied for another Purple Heart. Just don't ask to see the paperwork.

Name:

His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
Hmm, certain words will not print like idioot, minus the second o

Message:
I can say idiot. I can say fuck, shit and everything else not allowed by the masses. After all, I am His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

Name:	SUV
To:	Tersting one two three

In response to:
Im trying out three words minus the second vowel Moroon, idioot, imbeciile

Name:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry
To:	SUV

In response to:
You are most certainly are a wacko from waco.

Message:
I am His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry. You, on the other hand, are little people. I don't expect you to understand so I forgive your impetulence.

Name:	Tandem Grease Buckets
To:	Schizoid SUV
Re:	Kerry's the DEMOCRAT, stupid!

In response to:
No you are dead wrong if you have a nice income and you pay your taxes, it is a free country. But if you are in debt to your credit card company(S) you are in trouble. So quit calling me a moron, you !!

Message:
You are quite correct. I will desist at once! There is no earthly reason to call you "moron" when you take such exemplary care to see to it that each and every one of your posts proves it.

Name:

His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

Message:
His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry. Own 25 million dollars worth of mansions across the country. I own some expensive art and just to show I am a man of the people I temporarily mortgaged a few of my Renoirs to pay for my campaign expenses. You may worship me. You may not question my word.

Name:	CU Dot Con
To:	President Kerry-Kohn
Re:	Always pre-purchase emergency supplies.

In response to:
I've applied for another Purple Heart. Just don't ask to see the paperwork.

Message:
CU recommends that you get several Purple Hearts, President Kerry. (shop around for best prices and demand to see the warranty before accepting anything) We also recommend that you shop carefully for a good, durable, CPSC-approved sling shot. In these politically volatile times,you just never know when you may have to suddenly and unexpectedly fling those pesky medals!

Name:	SUV
Re:	Back to regular business

In response to:
I am His Highness the Exhaulted Senator Rush Limbaugh. You, on the other hand, are little people. I don't expect you to understand, why I was so hard on druggies and expect everyone to be soft on me so I forgive your impetulence.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
CU recommends that you get several Purple Hearts, President Kerry. (shop around for best prices and demand to see the warranty before accepting anything) We also recommend that you shop carefully for a good, durable, CPSC-approved sling shot. In these politically volatile times,you just never know when you may have to suddenly and unexpectedly fling those pesky medals!

Message:
Try a boomerang it hurts when it comes back and hits you in your stupid puss

Name:	Clutch Cargo & His Space Maggots From Mars
To:	Humpty Dumpty Gleep

In response to:
Try a boomerang it hurts when it comes back and hits you in your stupid puss

Name:	Pele
To:	Skippy Jumping Rope

In response to:
Oh you are how nice to be so conceited.

Message:
You will poot hot poi for a thousand years, and then you will get termites in your trailer-house.

Name:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry
To:	SUV

In response to:
Oh you are how nice to be so conceited.

Name:	SUV
To:	Clutch Cargo & His Space Maggots From Mars
Re:	i really like this guy at least he says something

In response to:
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Democratic party. Answer: Sounds like you have been watching too much TV

Why is it so quiet in here. I am going, so speak up everyone and express your thoughts. It does not cost a thin dime.

Name:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry
To:	SUV

Message:
I got my second Purple Heart for a bad case of hemmoroids, and my third Purple Heart from a scratch I receive in the heat of battle with a "boom-boom" girl in Hanoi. You may not see my records.

Name:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry
To:	Editrix Esme

Message:
Are you rich? If so, I may just happen to love you.

Name:	SUV
To:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator

In response to:
Are you rich? If so, I may just happen to love you.

Name:	Compute
To:	Senator from the deep South

Message:
I have said it before and so I'll say it again. The best Presidents are sometimes the richest men.

Name:

Deadbeat Liberals Strike again

Message:
After just two weeks on the air, Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, appears to have encountered serious cash-flow problems.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE is developing a story, insiders tell DRUDGE, on how the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, because, the owner of both stations said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! A charge the network strongly denies...

A Chicago source familiar with the situation said a Multicultural representative showed up at WNTD's offices Wednesday morning, kicked out Air America's lone staffer overseeing the network's feed to the station from New York, switched over to a Spanish-language feed, and changed the locks on the doors... Developing...

Name:	ET
To:	Skipjack

In response to:
I would be wary because anyone who is devoted to Hillary to the point of cult of hero worship is leaving themselves open for ridicule. I mean if I saw a letter from someone with such devotion for someone who has actually done nothing but hang around some yokel who treats her like dirt, I'd probably do a SNL comedy hit piece sketch.

Message:
You obviously do not know what Hillary has been doing in the Senate these last few years. She has been praised by both right and left, and is one of the hardest workers and highest achievers in the Senate.

And, as everybody knows, Hillary is the biggest fundraiser in the Democratic Party.

Name:	Poster Boy
To:	forum
Re:	Not For the Squimish, DO NOT VIEW if you hurl easily

In response to:
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/pictures033104.html http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html

Message:
The sign in Arabic reads,"Kill me if you can - I want to see the virgins while I'm young enough to still enjoy them!"

Name:	Editrix Esme
To:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
Are you rich? If so, I may just happen to love you.

If you want to turn me on you must lead us to victory in the war on terror. So far you want to give this leadership job to a proxy (namely the U.N.).

Name:

Smedley

In response to:
The sign in Arabic reads,"Kill me if you can - I want to see the virgins while I'm young enough to still enjoy them!"

Name:	Editor
To:	Poster Boy
Re:	Lest We Forget

Message:
Thanks for the link. We must never forget the nazis in this world.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
How can you expect me to turn on to a guy who gives his power to a proxy?

Message:
Harry Truman once said about his Presidency: "The buck stops here" So far President Bush has taken that attitude.

Name:	Editor
To:	Poster Boy
Re:	Lest We Forget

Message:
Thanks for the link. We must never forget the nazis in this world.

Name:

SUV

In response to:
I feel safer knowing George W. Bush is in the White House.

Message:
Its been a long time coming for me An Independent anti Right Winger for sure. But President Bush has shown that he is the best man to be the President of the United States of America. Look Around, The economy is picking up. and Al Queda is being squeezed everywhere in the world. George W. Bush has a proven track record as the President. There is only one choice for me is to do vote for President George W. Bush.

Name:	Dr. Art
To:	ET

In response to:
You obviously do not know what Hillary has been doing in the Senate these last few years. She has been praised by both right and left, and is one of the hardest workers and highest achievers in the Senate.

Message:
Please list some of her achievements, as a New Yorker, I would like to hear about some of them especially bills that she has sponsored or cosponsored and what their positive effects are for my state. Afterall, achievement in the senate can only be measured by successful legislation.

Name:	ET
To:	SUV

In response to:
Its been a long time coming for me An Independent anti Right Winger for sure. But President Bush has shown that he is the best man to be the President of the United States of America. Look Around, The economy is picking up. and Al Queda is being squeezed everywhere in the world. George W. Bush has a proven track record as the President. There is only one choice for me is to do vote for President George W. Bush.

Message:
I know SUV has been an anti-right-winger for years. He has fought them tooth-and-nail on these forums for years. But I feel the same way he does. Bush has a plan for the war on terror, and while those plans may not work out as they should, at first, at least he has a plan, and that's a whole lot better than no plan, or turning our national security over to a proxy.

Name:	ET
To:	Dr. Art

In response to:
Please list some of her achievements, as a New Yorker, I would like to hear about some of them especially bills that she has sponsored or cosponsored and what their positive effects are for my state. Afterall, achievement in the senate can only be measured by successful legislation.

Message:
I don't have the time, or the space, to list all Hillary's achievements on this forum.

You can go to her Senate website where you will see volumes of what she has cone in the Senate. Very impressive. Hardest working Senator in Congress.

Name:	Dr. Art
To:	ET

In response to:
You can go to her Senate website where you will see volumes of what she has cone in the Senate. Very impressive. Hardest working Senator in Congress.

Message:
I did what you said, obviously you and I have a different interpretation of the word achievement. Having legislation "read twice" and referred to committe is not an achievemnt. Perhaps I'm not a good reader but I got the impression that most, if not all, of the legislation would have no measurable effect on the New York economy whatsoever. Maybe you could just highlight some of her more impressive achievements.

I have an co-worker, she wants to be a financial planner when she graduates from college. She works very hard in her studies and spends a lot of time preparing for exams. However, she is as dumb as a rock and she consistently gets low grades. Her hard work alone will not guarantee that she is able to achieve her goal.

Name:

Slovenian Warrior Girl

Message:
I want to shoot a raisin off of Ernie Frack's head.

Message:
Chuck Schumer, New York's other Senator, has both sponsored and co-sponsored more pieces of legislation than Mrs. Clinton. Does that make Chuck the hardest working Senator?

Name:	Skipjack
To:	ET

Message:
You obviously do not know what Hillary has been doing in the Senate these last few years.

I've read her list of supposed achievements on this very forum since she lucked out with Rudy's prostate. They have been nothing more than proposing government programs that hustle people out of money while playing the class warfare card. Big deal.

She has been praised by both right and left, and is one of the hardest workers and highest achievers in the Senate.

And, as everybody knows, Hillary is the biggest fundraiser in the Democratic Party.

Name:	Slovenian Warrior Girl
To:	Dr. Art
Re:	Hillary's hard work

Message:
Hillary has worked very hard.
She carried all those files out of Vince Foster's office before investigators could find them.
She dragged his body from the murder scene to the park where he was found.
She made up big stories about right wing conspiracies to cover up her , serial sex offender/rapist husband.

She worked hard. Nobody can deny that.

She would make an excellent dog catcher.
Her own dogs don't even get away alive.

Name:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry
To:	Editrix Esme

In response to:
In response to: Are you rich? If so, I may just happen to love you.

Message:
Who cares what turns you on! I've made a comfortable living on marrying money. A poor beautiful woman is a poor beautiful woman, but a rich ugly woman is a rich woman.

Name:

Philanderer

Message:
Wow!!
I just noticed, that the word philandering is BANNED!
Along with Foster, and lesbian and other words which might enable one to tell the truth about the Clintons.

After all, one cannot portray an accurate picture of the Clintons without mentioning Vince Foster, Hillary's lesbianism, nor Billy's philandering and raping.

Name:	XYZ
Re:	More bad news for Democrats

Message:
More bad news for Democrats today. College seniors and graduate students face much brighter job prospects now than they have in many years. And some economists are raising their forecasts for economic growth in the US. We have a surge in consumer spending and rising factory orders. Consumer confidence is building, and so is the confidence of business leaders.

And what about jobs? A recent poll showed that 34% of Americans now think the time is right to go look for a high-quality job. That doesn't sound like much until you learn that the figure last August was 15%.

The really pathetic thing here is that all of this good economic news is bad news for Democrats. The Democratic Party, thriving on bad news while Americans thrive on the good.

Name:

His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
I have an co-worker, she wants to be a financial planner when she graduates from college. She works very hard in her studies and spends a lot of time preparing for exams. However, she is as dumb as a rock and she consistently gets low grades. Her hard work alone will not guarantee that she is able to achieve her goal.

Message:
I get that all the time. You don't hear me bragging about my college grades, you're not allowed to look at them and they're none of your business. Despite all this, I am a gazillionaire.

Name:

Eric Blair

In response to:
Wow!! I just noticed, that the word is BANNED! Along with , and and other words which might enable one to tell the truth about the Clintons. After all, one cannot portray an accurate picture of the Clintons without mentioning Vince , Hillary's ism, nor 's and raping.

Message:
You don't the truth. You're supposed to fall in line with the cult of Hillary and never question her actions or motivations. This is, afterall a shrine to Hillary and her cult and certain words are verboten. You are in effect at a church service and Hillary is the God.

Name:

Individual

Message:
Kerry is a cool dude. The Kerry doctrine is that if the world thinks it is a good thing to get rid of a dictator, the world, through the U.N. or through a real coalition, puts up the men and material. This will save us a lot of money and lives.

Name:	Stupid Detector
To:	Stupid

In response to:
The Kerry doctrine is that if the world thinks it is a good thing to get rid of a dictator, the world, through the U.N.

Name:

Scott Horn

Message:
John Kerry For Prez! Bush speach last night was like watching a child baby talk..

Name:	Sul Rost
To:	bordertex
Re:	You must have missed Dr. Rice's interrogation!

In response to:
This Bud's for you, bordertex

Message:
FOR THE RECORD "The point Dr. Rice hammered home is worth repeating here: Before September 11, there was no political will to reinvent the way intelligence was collected and shared between agencies within and without the United States. 'The problem was that for a country that had not been attacked on its territory in a major way in almost 200 years," she said, "there were lots of structural impediments to those [changes].... Those changes should have been made over a long period of time.' The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of the Patriot Act have given those who lead U.S. counterterrorism efforts important tools that were missing prior to September 11. But even today, the Patriot Act remains deeply controversial, especially among those who now blame the Bush administration for not “connecting the dots” of intelligence before the 2001 attacks (just as some critics of preemption blame the administration for not attacking Afghanistan before September 11). Dr. Rice’s testimony to the September 11 Commission is a good reminder of how far we have come since September 11 and will be a powerful part of the argument why the Patriot Act remains essential in the war against terrorism." --Heritage Foundation researchers Helle Dale and James Phillips (Link to the full text of Dr. Rice's testimony -- http://federalist.com/news/swatflies.asp )

Name:	Ernie Frack
To:	Forum

In response to:
FOR THE RECORD "The point Dr. Rice hammered home is worth repeating here: Before September 11, there was no political will to reinvent the way intelligence was collected and shared between agencies within and without the United States. 'The problem was that for a country that had not been attacked on its territory in a major way in almost 200 years

Name:	HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:	ET

They always ask what Hillary's achievements are. I have listed some of her "many" achievements in here before. Like you said, there just isn't the time or space to list them.

FOR HILLARY ACHIEVEMENTS GO INTO EITHER:WWW.FRIENDS-OF-HILLARY.COM OR WWW.CLINTON-.SENATE-.GOV (WITHOUT THE "-")

Name:	HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:	ET & FORUM

They always ask what Hillary's achievements are. I have listed some of her "many" achievements in here before. Like you said, there just isn't the time or space to list them.

FOR YOU PEOPLE WHO KEEP ASKING FOR HILLARY ACHIEVEMENTS GO INTO EITHER:WWW.FRIENDS-OF-HILLARY.COM OR WWW.CLINTON-.SENATE-.GOV (WITHOUT THE "-")

Name:	Band Aid Kerry
Re:	Three Band-Aid Kerry

In response to:
Hey, did you guys know that if you get three band-aids while in 'Nam, you can go home?

It will be a great political career helper, and you can use the medals to help tell exciting stories to ugly old rich widows that you can marry for their money.

Purple Hearts: Three and Out

Democratic presidential nominee in waiting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) frequently speaks of courage, brotherhood and responsibility when he mentions his brief service in Vietnam. He took Super-8 home movies there in which he staged heroics in full-battle dress, so that later he might use them for campaign ads. Kerry has made so much of his Vietnam medals which he once pretended to throw away that critics have begun to wonder why he has been so cagey about the dubious circumstances surrounding the Purple Hearts that got him out of Vietnam after only four months of combat service. Under the rules, a serviceman had to be awarded three Purple Hearts to apply to go home. Not one or two, but three. And, say critics, there's the rub.

Kerry, who piloted Patrol Crafts Fast (PCFs) as a young Lt.(jg) in the Vietnam War, has always made much of those Purple Hearts. An award often pinned on the pillow of a combat warrior so badly wounded that he cannot sit up to receive it, the Purple Heart recognizes the sacrifices of combat when a soldier or officer has sustained a wound "from an outside force or agent" and received treatment from a medical officer. The records for such treatment "must have been made a matter of official record," according to the military definition of the award.

According to Kerry's own description in Douglas Brinkley's Tour of Duty, the Dec. 2, 1968, mission behind what he has claimed to be his first Purple Heart was "a half-assed action that hardly qualified as combat." Indeed. Kerry was stationed with Coastal Division 14 at Cam Ranh Bay. At that time he piloted a small foam-filled boat, known as a Boston Whaler, with two enlisted men in the darkness of early morning. The intent, apparently, was to patrol an area that was known for contraband trafficking, but it was an undocumented mission. Upon approaching the objective point, the crew noticed a sampan crossing the river. As it pulled to shore, Kerry and his little team opened fire, destroying the boat and whatever its cargo might have been.

In the confusion, Kerry claims to have received a "stinging piece of heat" in the arm, the result of a tiny piece of shrapnel. He was not incapacitated and continued with regular swiftboat-patrol duty. William Shachte, who oversaw this ad hoc mission, was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying Kerry's injury, from whatever source, "was not a serious wound at all."

But Kerry met with his immediate superior officer, Lt.Cmdr. Grant Hibbard, the next morning and requested a Purple Heart for his wound. Hibbard recalls that Kerry had a "minor scratch" on his arm and was holding in his hand what appeared to be a fragment of a U.S. M-79 grenade, the shrapnel that had caused the wound. "They didn't receive enemy fire," Hibbard tells Insight. Since this was an essential requirement for the award, the commander rejected Kerry's request. Hibbard does not remember that Kerry received medical attention of any kind and confirms that no one else on the mission suffered any injuries.

Shortly thereafter, Kerry was transferred to Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi. Apparently, Kerry petitioned to have his Purple Heart request reconsidered. Hibbard remembers getting correspondence from Kerry's new division, asking for his approval. In the hurried process of moving to a new command himself, Hibbard thinks he might have signed off on the award. If so, "it was to my chagrin," Hibbard remembers. Kerry's second commander, Lt.Cmdr. G.M. Elliott, says he has no recollection of such an event ever occurring.

There are no written records of Kerry's magical first Purple Heart on file at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, the nation's primary repository for such documentation. A Purple Heart normally is not requested but is awarded de facto for a wound inflicted by the enemy - a wound serious enough to require medical attention. The Naval Historical Center keeps all documents connected to such awards to U.S. Navy and Marine personnel. These typewritten "casualty cards" list the date, location and prognosis of the wound for which the Purple Heart is given, and they are produced by the medical facility that provides treatment for the combat wound at the hands of the enemy. There are two such cards for Kerry - for his slight wounds on Feb. 20 and March 13, 1969, but none for his December 1968 claim.

After receiving a Purple Heart for the March 13 scratch and bruise, Kerry sought an early pass out of combat duty, invoking the informal Navy "instruction" known as 1300.39. According to the Boston Globe, 1300.39 meant an officer could request a reassignment from his superior officer after receiving three Purple Hearts. The instruction states that, rather than being automatic, the reassignment would "be determined after consideration of his physical classification for duty and on an individual basis." Of the 138 servicemen and officers in Kerry's unit who received Purple Hearts during the time he was there, records indicate only two received more than two. These were Lt.(jg) Jim Galvin and a boatswain's mate named Stevens. When Insight reached Galvin he said all three of his Purple Hearts were the result of shrapnel or glass shards. Such minor injuries were common on PCF boats with their glass windows and thin steel hulls, and, like Kerry's, Galvin's injuries were not serious enough to take him out of combat for more than a few days.

Unlike Kerry, Galvin elected to stay with his men. Indeed, though a professional Navy officer, he never had heard of instruction 1300.39. It was not until early April of 1969, when Galvin noticed that Kerry was preparing to leave the officers' barracks at An Thoi that he learned about "three Purple Hearts and you're out." According to Galvin, it was Kerry who told him, "There's a rule that gets you out of here and I'm getting out. You ought to do the same." Galvin remembers, "He seemed to take care of everything pretty quickly," because that was the last time Galvin saw Kerry in Vietnam.

The three-times wounded Galvin stayed with his men, transferred to Cam Ranh Bay to get them a respite from the dicey Mekong Delta, and eventually left the swiftboats for destroyer school.

Insight: contacted many men who served in Coastal Division at the same time Kerry did to ask if any of them had heard of anyone leaving the combat zone by invoking three minor wounds. Of the 12 who replied, none had heard of anyone doing so but John Kerry."

Less than a month after having claimed three wounds for which he lost no more than a total of two days of duty, Kerry reported as an aide to a navy yard admiral in Brooklyn, New York, leaving his crew in Vietnam. Two years later, preparing for a congressional race in a left-wing Massachusetts district - where the seat eventually was won by the even more radical Rev. Robert Drinan - Kerry was working with Maoists and other radicals in Vietnam Veterans Against the War, saying of those he left behind who were being killed and wounded for real that they were committing crimes "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels."

Indeed, Kerry said, he knew men who in Vietnam "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside." Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, about these and other alleged war crimes, he called on the United States to pay "extensive reparations."

''We stand here as a testimony to you that the war is not without purpose,'' said Isa Chalky, as he presented a clock inscribed with a similar message to Brig. Gen. Jeff Schloesser, assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division. ''And for returning hope to the Kurdish people. Please accept our sincere thanks for your enormous courage and sacrifice.''

Chalky was among 55 Kurdish immigrants and children who chartered a bus from Nashville to Fort Campbell yesterday to thank the soldiers of the 3rd Brigade personally.

The 3,400-member brigade returned from Iraq in February and March. Most spent the past year protecting Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. Many Nashville-area Kurds, who number about 5,000 families, have friends and relatives living in that region.

Little Ahmad Khoshnaw, 7, whispered his thanks as he handed the general an envelope.

Schloesser unfolded the notebook paper inside and read the message. ''Thank you for capturing Saddam,'' it said. Underneath were the signatures of 35 children. ''We'll frame this,'' he said. ''Thank you.''

Several women handed soldiers red roses. Two teenage girls delivered the flag of the Kurdish Democratic Party, a political party whose fighting forces in northern Iraq received training from the 3rd Brigade.

In exchange, the general presented the visitors with a silver plaque, a leather-bound history of the 101st Airborne and his thanks. Soldiers passed out coins inscribed with the Fort Campbell insignia.

The 3rd Brigade lost 16 soldiers in Iraq. Three hundred were injured, said Col. Michael Linnington, the top 3rd Brigade officer in Iraq.

Each of the Kurdish visitors who gathered in the meeting room yesterday had lost at least one loved one, Chalky said.

After the exchange, the soldiers and visitors ate lunch in the brigade cafeteria.

''Here's the hotel in Dahok where we stayed,'' said Bryant, 30, who returned from the Iraq city Feb. 8 after nearly a year spent apart from his wife and three small daughters.

''That's where my father worked as a laborer while I was in middle school,'' he said.

Hussein picked up a photo of Bryant standing with leaders of the Kurdish military forces.

''That's where we would go for picnics in the evenings,'' said Hussein, pointing at a snowy field behind them.

In another picture, Bryant was dressed in Kurdish clothing and dancing with a Kurdish military man.

Many soldiers have fond memories of their time in northern Iraq, Bryant said. After surviving combat in other regions, soldiers moved to Kurdish towns such as Dahok, where they trained Kurdish forces and engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as organizing food, water and propane distribution networks.

They spent their time mainly among civilians, learning Kurdish customs such as how to sit cross-legged while not exposing the soles of the feet — considered impolite, he said — and how to flick rice off their fingers after eating, said 1st Lt. Eric Alexander, an assistant operation and platoon leader.

Those Kurdish manners often came in handy on regular patrols through Kurdish villages, where soldiers were offered meals of rice, lamb and hot tea, ''more food than they probably ate in a week,'' Alexander said.

At the end of the Army meal, Hussein handed Bryant a pen with his office phone number on it and told him to call for a meal.

Another Kurdish man handed back Bryant's photos. ''Nice pictures, man. Good to have you back.''

Soldiers said the Nashville visitors were a testament to their experience that many in Iraq — if not most — welcomed the U.S. intervention.

''It was great having them here. I hope they all call their relatives and say we've met these guys and they're great,'' Bryant said.

Name:	Bob
To:	Slovenian Warrior Girl

Message:
Hey Slovenian Warrior Girl,
You look pretty hot and all, but if you don't mind, we Americans like our warrior girls a hell of a lot better when you take a swat at those weedy underarms with one of these:

Name:	Slovenian Warrior Girl
To:	Bob
Re:	Your insults

Message:
Shut up you ignorant .
What do you know about hygiene. Just because we don't shave our whole bodies in Slovenia like you fat Americans do, doesn't mean we are teh ones that are strange.

You are fat.
You will never have Slovenian Warrior Girl.

So you are sour grapes and insult her.
You stupid fat man.

All the girls in Slovenia are not ashamed of their bodies.
They do not have to shave themselves to please fat sweaty American men who are obsessed with pedophilic ideas of pre-pubescent girly bodies with silicone injected teats.

Go back to your couch, beer, TV and fat, sweaty, stupid American wife with shaved underarms.

Goodbye from Slovenian Warrior Girl and her friends. We won't come here again. You are very rude.

Name:	Manfred von Lichtoffen
To:	Holistic Warrior Person
Re:	Continental Fur

In response to:
By the make of your automobile, I reckon you French.

Message:
You have imperious rudeness also, Frenchperson, and you ought to do the world the favor of keeping your sausages in the cupboard. I might add that your flagrante furriness does nothing to ameliorate your Gasconic rudeness. As for your peromptory instructions, I choose to ignore them; In fact, I will issue an instructuion to you, Sir: Go torque off a goat!!

Name:	Editor
To:	Ernie Frack

Message:
Welcome to the Forum, Ernie Frack. You are no scardie-cat. I admire that. Stick around. We need guys like you.

Name:	Editor
To:	Slovenian Warrior Girl

In response to:
All the girls in Slovenia are not ashamed of their bodies. They do not have to shave themselves to please fat sweaty American men who are obsessed with pedophilic ideas of pre-pubescent girly bodies with silicone injected teats. Go back to your couch, beer, TV and fat, sweaty, stupid American wife with shaved underarms. Goodbye from Slovenian Warrior Girl and her friends. We won't come here again. You are very rude

Message:
Welcome to the forum Slovenian Warrior Girl. Don't run away. Bob is not the spokesman for this forum.

You put up a great defense and made good points. Stay here and fight it out. We need all the help we can get.

Name:	Editrix Esme
To:	His Highness the Exhaulted Senator John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
Who cares what turns you on! I've made a comfortable living on marrying money. A poor beautiful woman is a poor beautiful woman, but a rich ugly woman is a rich woman.

Message:
Beware the poor beautiful woman with brains, skill and power. She can easily out manoeuvre a rich ugly woman.

However, in your case Exhaulted One, your wife happens to be both rich and smart, which presents a much greater challenge.

Name:	Portage
To:	Ernie Flack
Re:	Smear

In response to:
Dr.Rice is a puppet of Bush and would lie to the American People. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:
You must have some basis for this statement. Perhaps you would like to share it!

Name:	Belle Plaine College
To:	Ernie Flake

In response to:
I said I want a John Kerry Victory and GW Bush OUT ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:
Most white guys with the little greasy spikes of hair on top their heads are flakes, now that you mention it...

Name:	Jules
To:	Ernie Webcam
Re:	Checkers? Dumpling? That Darned Cat? (Other)?

In response to:
Ernie Frack wants John Kerry Victory!

Name:	Spurrious Slovenian Warrior Girl
To:	Ernie
Re:	In the hallway at mom's

In response to:
GW Bush OUT!

Message:
Ok, kid. Wash the Crisco outta your hair, roll off that T-shirt, and let's have a look at ya! (and if you're going to grow a beard, just DO IT! That thing on your face makes you look like a refugee from the Lighthouse Academy For Blind Barbers!)

A Strategy for Iraq

By John F. Kerry
Tuesday, April 13, 2004; Page A19

To be successful in Iraq, and in any war for that matter, our use of force must be tied to a political objective more complete than the ouster of a regime. To date, that has not happened in Iraq. It is time it did.

In the past week the situation in Iraq has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. While we may have differed on how we went to war, Americans of all political persuasions are united in our determination to succeed. The extremists attacking our forces should know they will not succeed in dividing America, or in sapping American resolve, or in forcing the premature withdrawal of U.S. troops. Our country is committed to help the Iraqis build a stable, peaceful and pluralistic society. No matter who is elected president in November, we will persevere in that mission.

But to maximize our chances for success, and to minimize the risk of failure, we must make full use of the assets we have. If our military commanders request more troops, we should deploy them. Progress is not possible in Iraq if people lack the security to go about the business of daily life. Yet the military alone cannot win the peace in Iraq. We need a political strategy that will work.

Over the past year the Bush administration has advanced several plans for a transition to democratic rule in Iraq. Each of those plans, after proving to be unworkable, was abandoned. The administration has set a date (June 30) for returning authority to an Iraqi entity to run the country, but there is no agreement with the Iraqis on how it will be constituted to make it representative enough to have popular legitimacy. Because of the way the White House has run the war, we are left with the United States bearing most of the costs and risks associated with every aspect of the Iraqi transition. We have lost lives, time, momentum and credibility. And we are seeing increasing numbers of Iraqis lashing out at the United States to express their frustration over what the Bush administration has and hasn't done.

In recent weeks the administration -- in effect acknowledging the failure of its own efforts -- has turned to U.N. representative Lakhdar Brahimi to develop a formula for an interim Iraqi government that each of the major Iraqi factions can accept. It is vital that Brahimi accomplish this mission, but the odds are long, because tensions have been allowed to build and distrust among the various Iraqi groups runs deep. The United States can bolster Brahimi's limited leverage by saying in advance that we will support any plan he proposes that gains the support of Iraqi leaders. Moving forward, the administration must make the United Nations a full partner responsible for developing Iraq's transition to a new constitution and government. We also need to renew our effort to attract international support in the form of boots on the ground to create a climate of security in Iraq. We need more troops and more people who can train Iraqi troops and assist Iraqi police.

We should urge NATO to create a new out-of-area operation for Iraq under the lead of a U.S. commander. This would help us obtain more troops from major powers. The events of the past week will make foreign governments extremely reluctant to put their citizens at risk. That is why international acceptance of responsibility for stabilizing Iraq must be matched by international authority for managing the remainder of the Iraqi transition. The United Nations, not the United States, should be the primary civilian partner in working with Iraqi leaders to hold elections, restore government services, rebuild the economy, and re-create a sense of hope and optimism among the Iraqi people. The primary responsibility for security must remain with the U.S. military, preferably helped by NATO until we have an Iraqi security force fully prepared to take responsibility.

Finally, we must level with our citizens. Increasingly, the American people are confused about our goals in Iraq, particularly why we are going it almost alone. The president must rally the country around a clear and credible goal. The challenges are significant and the costs are high. But the stakes are too great to lose the support of the American people.

This morning, as we sit down to read newspapers in the comfort of our homes or offices, we have an obligation to think of our fighting men and women in Iraq who awake each morning to a shooting gallery in which it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish friend from foe, and the death of every innocent creates more enemies. We owe it to our soldiers and Marines to use absolutely every tool we can muster to help them succeed in their mission without exposing them to unnecessary risk. That is not a partisan proposal. It is a matter of national honor and source...

Sen. Kerry (D-Mass.) is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

Name:	Espresso Kyle
To:	Slovenian Warrior Girl

Message:
Hey doll, don't let Bob bum you out.

Name:	ET
To:	John Kerry

In response to:
The United Nations, not the United States, should be the primary civilian partner in working with Iraqi leaders to hold elections, restore government services, rebuild the economy, and re-create a sense of hope and optimism among the Iraqi people.

Message:
I would like to believe you that this is possible, but the United Nations did set themselves up in Iraq when the war began, but very quickly withdrew and rushed out of the country the first time they were bombed.

According to historical evidence this suggestion is wishful thinking. I'd like to believe you, but why would the U.N. be any different now from where they were before?

Name:	Smedley
Re:	John F'ing Kerry

In response to:
To be successful in Iraq, and in any war for that matter, our use of force must be tied to a political objective more complete than the ouster of a regime. To date, that has not happened in Iraq. It is time it did.

What about Kosovo? Why doesn't Senator bullethead suggest a political objective now? and

Bush outlined a number of Political objectives before the war including: removal of WMDs, stop a terrorist-sponsoring state; free Iraqi people from tyranny.

Senator John F'ing Kerry: still depending on blind loyalty, stupidity and irrational ignorance to make a point.

Name:	The American People
To:	Ernie Frack
Re:	Why do Left Winger lie so much?

In response to:
Dr.Rice is a puppet of Bush and would lie to the American People.

Message:
You are yet another lying left winger. Not to mention you are an egotist and you are ugly.

Name:

The American People

In response to:
Senator John F'ing Kerry: still depending on blind loyalty, stupidity and irrational ignorance to make a point.

Ashcroft slams intelligence failures under Clinton

"The simple fact of September 11th is this: We did not know an attack was coming because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies," Mr. Ashcroft told the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, the congressionally chartered panel looking into the government failures leading up to the September 11 attacks.

"Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions and starved for basic information technology," he said, calling the intelligence system "destined to fail."

But the biggest charges of the day came from Mr. Ashcroft, who said the Justice Department in 1995 under Miss Reno "embraced flawed legal reasoning, imposing a series of restrictions on the FBI that went beyond what the law required" in setting up a barrier between law enforcement and intelligence gathering.

He called that barrier "the wall," and said it made intelligence agents afraid to talk with prosecutors or law-enforcement officials.

"In the days before September 11th, the wall specifically impeded the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, the investigation of Khalid Almihdhar and of Nawaf Alhazmi," he said. "After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal search warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall."

Mr. Ashcroft also took aim at one of the commissioners, Jamie S. Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general who was responsible for the 1995 rules.

Obviously, one of the people primarily responsible for 9-11, Jamie Gorelick, is on the 9-11 commission.

Name:

Bystander

In response to:
Kerry is a cool dude. The Kerry doctrine is that if the world thinks it is a good thing to get rid of a dictator, the world, through the U.N. or through a real coalition, puts up the men and material. This will save us a lot of money and lives.

Message:
Correct. The evil tyrants will be able to spend less money and kill less people when they take over. I am sure Hitler is spinning in his grave wishing John F***ing Kerry was president during World War II.

President Bush was at his best last night, in an hour-long televised speech and news conference on the war on terror. Some of the highlights:

"The violence we are seeing in Iraq is familiar. The terrorist who takes hostages, or plants a roadside bomb near Baghdad is serving the same ideology of murder that kills innocent people on trains in Madrid, and murders children on buses in Jerusalem, and blows up a nightclub in Bali, and cuts the throat of a young reporter for being a Jew."

"Over the last several decades, we've seen that any concession or retreat on our part will only embolden this enemy and invite more bloodshed. And the enemy has seen, over the last 31 months, that we will no longer live in denial or seek to appease them. For the first time, the civilized world has provided a concerted response to the ideology of terror--a series of powerful, effective blows."

On the comparison of Iraq to Vietnam: " I think the analogy is false. I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops, and sends the wrong message to the enemy. Look, this is hard work. It's hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny. And, yet, we must stay the course, because the end result is in our nation's interest." It's hard to believe, but Democrats used to talk like this, back when it was the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, rather than of George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and JFK's dissolute youngest brother. In his Inaugural Address, for example, JFK famously said:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

And as Thomas Sowell notes, the 35th president also said of America's enemies: "We dare not tempt them with weakness"--an almost identical sentiment to the one Bush expresses in the second quote above.

To show how decadent the Democratic Party has become since President Kennedy's day, we turn to blogger Josh Marshall, whom this column regards as the authoritative voice of partisan Democrats. Not surprisingly, he gives President Bush an unfavorable review:

What I saw was a man with a quiver of cliches and a few simple stock arguments. . . . It's become a bit impolitic in Washington to question whether the president really knows what he's doing or whether he has any sort of a detailed handle on what's going on on his watch. But I didn't see much sign of either. I just saw a lot of push harder, freedom, we're changing the world, ditching my policies means the terrorists win, etc.

So freedom is just a cliché? Such sneering cynicism is certainly a far cry from "pay any price, bear any burden." If this is really what the 21st-century Democratic Party thinks of freedom, maybe John Kerry should make Bobby McGee his running mate.

Name:	Bad News for Kerry
Re:	good news for everyone else, Democrats too

Message:

Spending surges in strong quarter

Consumers went on a tear last month, boosting retail sales by 1.8 percent in a performance that capped one of the most robust shopping quarters in years, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

The startling surge in spending, which follows strong sales gains of 1 percent and 0.5 percent in the previous two months, prompted economists to raise their estimates of first-quarter growth to as high as 6 percent from 4 percent previously.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20040413-115549-1715r.htm

MultiCultural Radio did not return phone calls for comment, but the Chicago Tribune quoted the company's owner, Arthur Liu, as saying that Air America bounced a check to them on Wednesday. Air America claims in its lawsuit that its payments are up to date. "MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting's conduct in this matter has been disgraceful," Evan Cohen, the chairman of Air America Radio, said in a statement. "To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility and a slap in the face of the media industry."

Air America claims in its lawsuit that MultiCultural Radio removed the network's signal in Chicago without notice and changed the locks on the station's offices.

Air America Radio launched March 31 in five cities around the country and on XM Satellite Radio with a slate of left-leaning talk radio and political satire, headlined by comedians Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo.

The network is still broadcasting in New York, Portland, Ore., and on a different station in Los Angeles, KCAA.

Name:	Judson Cox
Re:	Posturing While America Burns

Message:
When politicians see television cameras, even the most reasonable and responsible among them become more than willing to sink the ship of our nation with the inflammatory rhetoric spewing from their loose lips. The 9-11 Commission has done nothing to further the prevention of terrorism, but has been a dirty political blame game that must have been very entertaining for Osama bin Laden (assuming he has access to television in the hole he is cowering in). The public hearings have been a dangerous farce, eroding the confidence of some and exposing our divisions to those who wish us ill.

The Democrats on the committee seem to believe President Bush has the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes, the omniscience of God and the physical abilities of Superman. They would have us believe that when President Bush read al Qaeda chatter saying, “Something big is going to happen,” he should have swung into action! He should have known that terrorists were going to hijack airplanes. He should have known who was going to do the hijacking, what planes they were going to hijack and the buildings they were targeting. President Bush should have donned his cape, flown out of a White House window, grabbed those planes, landed them safely, slapped the terrorists around and escorted them to jail. He should have zipped over to Afghanistan and zapped bin Laden with his laser vision!

Ben-Veniste and Kerrey didn’t actually paint that comic book scenario, but it is clear they believe that President Bush should have known what was going to happen and should have stopped it. Let’s pretend that after finally assuming the Presidency (after months of fighting Democratic election fraud and obstruction), the President and his team moved into a White House (vandalized and looted by Democrats) and began picking up the pieces of our intelligence services (defunded, degraded, hampered and nearly destroyed by Democrats from the Church Commission to Clinton). Richard Clarke tells President Bush the details of the 9-11 attacks. Clarke, having spent the previous two years as the nation’s leading Chicken Little, warning that the year 2000 would usher in a cyber Armageddon, somehow convinces the President of his veracity.

Should the President have pushed for a strengthening of our intelligence services, a coordinated effort that would have allowed the monitoring of terrorist suspects within the United States – a Patriot Act? Democrats and many Republicans would have screamed that a fascist regime was undermining American civil liberties. The ACLU and other legal groups would have flooded the courts with lawsuits, and impeachment hearings would have followed.

Should the President have ordered an investigation of Islamic groups? The nation would have cried that he was a religious bigot bent on imposing Christianity on America. Should he have ordered tightened security at airports, and the screening of Middle-Easterners? He would have been branded a racist, and enemy of civil rights.

Should he have ordered Air Marshals be present on all domestic flights? Should he have shot down the planes before they reached their targets? Should he have closed our borders? Should he have rounded up all suspected terrorists and placed them in internment camps? All of these actions could have prevented the 9-11 attacks. None of them would have been tolerated by the Congress, the courts or the American people.

Name:	Bad Newz For Al Franken
Re:	Lib Radio Network Bounces Check Loses Two Stations

Name:	Da Nuze
Re:	9/11 KIN PRAISE CONDI