My Push For Bush and Why

I think this probably won’t sit well with some of my readers, but I figured it was time for me to say it since I can’t get it out of my head. I am neither Republican nor Democrat, although I am registered Republican.  I am not voting for Bush, but against Kerry.  I do not like Bush, but I loathe Kerry.  My biggest priority is National Security.  That puts the vote clearly and definitively in Bush’s check box.
 
I cannot stand Rumsfeld.  In my opinion, he needs to go and for the single reason that he did not keep Bush informed on the prisoner issues.  You can say what you want, ‘They deserved it, they were thugs’, ‘The press is making too big a deal of it’, ‘What they do is much worse than what we do’, yada yada yada.  That’s not my issue.  My issue is that Bush should have known about it all.  You do not keep your boss in the dark on such important issues.  You learn that in Corporate World 101.  To do otherwise is either stupid or arrogant.  I have yet to understand whether Rumsfeld is just so frickin’ arrogant, that he thought it was not something Bush needed to know or whether he truly believes he reports to no one.  I prefer to think he is an arrogant sumabitch, but either way, he needs to go.  My views on POWs and this incident are more than likely not going to be exactly like any others who read my blog, other than my family, because I have a close relationship with the wife of a Gulf War POW, my best girlfriend from college.  I stood by her through the whole ordeal.  I was one of the first she called when he was shot down.  I watched it unfold and I know of the aftermath, first hand. 
 
Cheney is not high in my books either.  There is something inherently evil about that man.  I don’t know who is Master is, but I guaran-damn-tee it isn’t the American public.  We aren’t first in his heart.  I feel certain HE is first in his heart and when I capitalize it, I’m not insinuating the Big He, as in God, but rather himself. 
 
Where I differ from most who are Republican is I don’t trust Corporate America. Been there, done that, my friend. I worked for a Fortune 50 company for 12 years.  Corporate America is only looking out for themselves, not for any little guy.  Hey, I don’t think for a minute they owe me a damn thing.  Nada.  I had a great job, I loved what I did, I gave 200% when I was there, I got my vacation, my sick time, my benefits, and good pay. It was a perfect relationship.  I have no ill to speak of them as they treated me right.  However, I think our Corporate CEOs are highly overpaid while more and more are expected of those who are left after the downsizing.   They don’t feel any corporate responsibility towards the environment either unless forced to... And don’t screw with me on that one, I know first hand.  It is all about the bottom line and the worker is the one who gets the short end, while the CEO makes more money than the budget of a small 3rd world country. 
 
I’m also concerned about the environment, but this is something for Republicans and Democrats alike.  One group does not have ‘ownership’ on caring about the environment, no matter what the Dems say.  It is very simple. I believe in the adage, ‘Don’t shit where you sleep.’  I recycle, try to buy fuel efficient cars, and watch resource usage in my home.  I am not an activist.  I just happen to care.  I would no sooner dump oil down a sewer drain than I would drink out of a toilet.  A little environmental responsibility can go far.  I am for nuclear power plants, but think we need to exercise due diligence, in particular when protecting them from terrorists.
 
Which brings me back to Bush.  Our National Security is at stake.  Everyone picks different issues that they put on the forefront when they vote.  National Security is mine.  For some it is the downtrodden and forgotten.  For some it is abortion rights or right to life. Yet for others it is gun ownership and the right to bear arms.  For most it is a combination.  It is a personal preference which is what makes America great… independent thought, free speech, freedom of religion.  I don’t hate those who support Kerry unless they are complete jackasses about it.  I am an intelligent, highly articulate woman who came to my opinions through great thought and personal experience.  Don’t treat me like a frickin’ moron and I won’t treat you like one either.  I have friends who are voting for Kerry.  I disagree with them, but my friends are also highly intelligent people who have formed their opinions based on personal experience and great thought.  We just don’t talk politics. Being a Democrat doesn’t make you less American.  It just makes your views different and your priorities different.  And it makes you wrong!  ((Big Grin!) Heh heh. I had to throw that in there.)   I think the average Democrat, not the nutjobs you see on TV or spouting off to the world via the internet or any other media source that will have them, does not support this war, but supports our troops.  I happen to do both. I don’t think it makes me any more American. 
 
I hate our media and truly wish they would shut the hell up. I believe that you can protest a war until the first shot rings out. Once that occurs, you shut the hell up and support your troops.  The media holds too much power and has the ability to lose this war.  They are an arrogant bunch and I hold them in more vile contempt than lawyers.  The media has the ability to sway this election; I find that appalling.  There is no even handedness in reporting, there never has been, and there never will be.  In the event that there is a nuclear attack against this great nation, and there is a real potential for that of which I will blog on later, I hold the terrorists responsible first and the media second.  A close damn second.
 
So that’s where I stand.  I truly loathe Kerry and see him as potentially worse than Clinton.  He is a man who cannot make up his mind. (Clinton was like that too.  Remember Doonesbury, where Trudeau would have Clinton as the speaking waffle?)  You cannot save the downtrodden, fight for women’s reproductive rights, or whatever your priority may be, if we’re dead.  We’re in a religious war and Kerry won’t see us through the end alive.  My check is in Bush’s Box.   However, as always, I wish we had better choices.