Everyone seems to be talking about the war.
Not the one in Iraq, but the one in Vietnam, that occurred pre-my lifetime.
John Kerry wants us to vote for him because he served in Vietnam. Others want to devalue Kerry's service so we can know not to vote for him.
Who cares?
I'm deciding between George W. Bush and the 2004 version of John Kerry, not the 1971 John Kerry.
I think it's admirable that John Kerry fought in the Vietnam War, but I think it's dishonorable that he came home and betrayed his band of brothers afterwards.
What matters is what John Kerry is now.
And what he is now, a one-man debate, is not very impressive. He has spent his campaign speaking on his war record to detract us from his tax-hiking, defense-weak, big government voting record.
The "I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it" Kerry's approach has no clear directive, except to be elected president.
The real shame is that Kerry, one of the more abhorrent Democratic potentials, got the nomination at all. The Democratics could have given us someone more qualified to be president.
Instead, they gave us personality-devoid, poll-driven, egotistical Kerry.
Why?
Because of his service. They felt that was what they needed to defeat George W. Bush. Few on the Democrat side like Kerry--they just felt his record made him more likely to beat Bush.
And that's what this campaign is about. It's really a referendum on whether you like Bush. Either you'll vote for Bush or you'll vote against.
More people will vote against Bush than will vote for Bush, just as more people root against BYU than root for Utah.
The last time we elected a president because we were voting against the president-in-office, we caught Jimmy Carter, the most bumbling president of the the last half of the 20th century--and, arguably, the worst president in American History.
The difference between Carter and Kerry? Carter was a nice guy.
Let's not make the mistake in 2004 that we made in 1976. Let's not elect an unqualified Democrat who is incapable of addressing the nation's problems.
