I received an email the other day entitled "He's done more damage than we thought" (author unknown) which is a list of failures attributed to President George W. Bush. After careful research and analysis to verify authenticity, I have come to the conclusion that the American people will fire George W. Bush on November 2, 2004 and hire John Kerry by a landslide of votes. I will summarize this list and comment where appropriate.

A. Foreign Policy

1. "Bush is the first president in US history to order a US attack AND military occupation of a sovereign nation, and did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community." While it is true that Congress authorized the President to invade Iraq, the fact that U.S. intelligence was so conflicting brings into question the judgment of Bush. I too was wrong in pushing for the removal of Hussein rather than staying focused on Bin Laden and the other terrorist organizations. Further, it is doubtful that Hussein could have developed WMD under the watchful eye of U.N.weapons inspectors and regular sorties flown by U.S. fighters throughout the no-fly zones (not to mention satellite surveillance). Kerry will need to initiate reconciliation through an international summit of European and Middle Eastern nations to begin the process of cleaning up this mess in Iraq (and worldwide). After the summit, the world will witness the slow withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the quick advancement of U.N. troops into Iraq.

2. "Bush recklessly put U.S. soldiers in harms way by invading Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction which still have not been found." In doing so, he has compromised the war on terrorism by directing 200 billion dollars for an overt combat operation as opposed to a covert operation. The United States has lost over 1,000 soldiers and thousands more are severely maimed prompting some to ask: hey hey GWB, how many kids will it be? The wiser choice would have been to invest 50 billion dollars in covert operations and 50 billion in homeland security. Besides, using conventional troops to fight terrorists is similar to the British army using regulars to fight French guerrillas during the Revolutionary War. Consequently, volunteerism for U.S. military service has sharply declined for all branches prompting rumors of a draft. Kerry will need to redirect resources to enhance homeland security while getting many more nations to share in troop and money commitments overseas especially in Iraq. He will also need to push Saudi Arabia and China to administer sanctions against Iran and North Korea to prevent further nuclear proliferation. Most importantly, however, he will need to fight terrorists overseas through covert operations.

B. Domestic Policy

1. "Bush spent the U.S. surplus and shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history." Bush's tax cuts to the wealthy along with irresponsible subsidizing of the war in Iraq has taken the U.S. budget from dark black to bright red all in the span of four years. Another four years of this squandering will bankrupt the United States. The remaining 100 billion dollars (from above) could have been invested in domestic programs like health care, education and the infrastructure. Kerry will need to revoke the tax cuts for the rich and reduce the United State's financial/military commitment in Iraq. These two changes (along with others) should result in a balanced budget in four years with the possibility of a return to a budget surplus in eight years.

2. "Bush entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down. His first two years in office resulted in 2 million Americans losing their jobs AND he cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US History." His presidency has been the most "in-your-face" support of the wealthy whether it be tax cuts, the lack of an energy and environmental policy, failure to crack down hard on corporate corruption etc. Kerry will need to bring back former Clinton advisor Robert Ruben to turn the economy around just as was done after the failed administration of Bush Sr. Kerry will need to fast-track the operationalizing of alternative energy sources in order to reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil specifically and world oil in general. As a former prosecutor, he will need to push for long-term prison sentences for those committing white-collar crimes and reduce the difficulty of prosecuting the likes of Ken Ley.

Conclusion

The failures by George W. Bush, the viable alternative of John Kerry, the massive number of newly registered voters, the amount of attention being given by the American people on this election and the mass media trying to spin this race as being close are all clear signs of a Kerry landslide. On the November 2, 2004 the people will speak loud and clear.

Moderator: perhaps this topic should be moved to the Politics and World Events board?

I agree with Joe's points completely and I hope his conclusion is correct. The polls are worrisome. They should be shifting to Kerry, but they seem to be stuck at 50-50. The propaganda "documentary" coming out soon on Sinclair stations may shift it to Bush.

The Republicans continue to lie because lies and propaganda work. A perfect recent example is the race in my (53rd) district for the California Assembly. Greg Hill, the Republican candidate, mailed out slick full color fliers to every voter home that said that Mike Gordon, the Democratic candidate, had been banned from doing business in 14 states and that charity organizations had complained about fraud in his business. The fliers further stated that these claims were backed up by a newspaper article published in Honolulu. When I first saw these glossy color fliers with a good looking professional model acting distressed about the situation, I thought "wow, these must have cost a fortune." I wondered who was backing the sleazy Republican.

My wife is a City Captain for the Democratic party and she called Mike Gordon's campaign headquarters immediately. The truth is this:

1. The newspaper article is a total fabrication, according to the Honolulu paper.

2. Mike Gordon has never done business in the 14 states in question.

3. No charity groups have filed complaints against Mike Gordon, and in fact, Mike obtained endorsement letters denying the charges from the charities in question.

4. The evil Greg Hill was funded by the Philip Morris company because Mike Gordon favors increasing cigarette taxes to fund schools and police.

But the damage had been done. Many Democrats took down their Mike Gordon yard signs. So we will probably end up with the sleaze ball in the California Assembly and Bush and Dick back in the White house because lies work and we tend to get the government we deserve. If people were better at critical thinking, the lies wouldn't work so well.

Man, how I hope I'm wrong on this one.

here comes the newly registered voter stampede............http://www.electoral-vote.com/pred/index.html

That prediction assumes undecideds will break 2:1 for Kerry. If they break the other way, Bush wins.

Bush will lose......

There has never been an election that has affected me so much. I felt down the month or two before the election because Kerry's numbers weren't better. As bad as Bush's record as been (for the reasons described in the first post of this thread and more), I thought that even I could beat him, and believe me I have no political talent. I tried to stay upbeat by creating short pro-Kerry blogs and cartoons for a couple of my websites.

Since the election, I don't think I have smiled once.