President George W. Bush has turned out to be a real pick for U.S. voters. In four years, Bush has charged through a recession, two wars, corporate scandals and the most vicious attack ever on U.S. soil.
With the vision of former President Ronald Reagan, Dubya has implemented an astute domestic policy that has created nearly 2 million jobs in the last year, reformed Medicare and improved education by increasing funding for our kids by a breathtaking 49 percent.
With the integrity of William Bennett, the president has indicted more than 500 corporate crooks with his Corporate Fraud Task Force and implemented Sarbanes-Oxley legislation to demand total accountability from U.S. companies. (Even from – gasp – Halliburton!)
And with the determination of Winston Churchill, Bush has led two brilliant wars to oust two sadistic regimes and free populations that are beginning to breathe the air of democracy.
Consistency and reliability are the greatest assets of the presidency, providing comfort to our troops, a clear message to the populace and a coherent vision for our future. Presidents cannot succumb to political pressure or media catcalls, and Bush’s litany of accomplishments endorses that presidential integrity.
On the international front: along with two-thirds of al-Qaida’s leaders, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now in U.S. custody. Saddam Hussein and his sons are out of power. Libya has abandoned its weapons programs. We are engaged in effective multilateral talks with North Korea. Iran is soon to face action from the United Nations Security Council. Most auspiciously, the Afghan and Iraqi peoples are now free.
On the domestic front: Medicare got its first facelift in years from the Republican president. The Mexican-U.S. border patrol is 1,000 agents stronger. The Homeland Security Department has seen its budget triple. Small-business owners are enjoying huge tax breaks. And contrary to the mindless propaganda emanating from the liberal camp, federal funding for Pell Grants has increased 60 percent in the Bush presidency.
Inasmuch as countering the Bush administration’s repeated projection of strength, consistency and perseverance is impossible, the Democratic Party decided to counterpunch with a man whose foreign policy strategy is about as clear as Bob Dylan singing “All Along the Watchtower” with a migraine and sore throat.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has prided his campaign on enlisting the help of the divinely altruistic (read: corrupt) United Nations and our so-called allies – the same people whom he callously berates as “phonies.”
In response to a reporter’s question about Kerry’s description of our allies as “the coalition of the bribed, coerced, the bought and the extorted,” President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland said, “It’s sad that a senator with 20 years of experience does not appreciate Polish sacrifice Ö It’s immoral not to see this involvement we undertook.”
Poland has lost 17 soldiers in Iraq, and each one of them was “bribed.” This is how we get allies. (I think we might need an international summit to address that.)
As it turns out, it was France, Germany, Russia and China that were bought before the war in Iraq. Investigations of the oil-for-food program have put French, Russian and U.N. officials at the head of a corrupt scheme to put money into Saddam Hussein’s pockets in return for oil vouchers.
“Let me tell you straight up,” Kerry pathetically tried to clarify during the second presidential debate, “I’ve never changed my mind about Iraq. I do believe Saddam Hussein was a threat. I always believed he was a threat.”
“(Iran is) a threat that has grown while the president has been preoccupied with Iraq,” he went on to explain, “Where there wasn’t a threat.”
Finally, some clarification!
Kerry issues ridiculously ignorant calls to close an imaginary “corporate loophole” to prevent the outsourcing of jobs – something he helped produce by voting for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Kerry wants to be more multilateral – by berating our real allies, breaking countless international tax treaties, implementing a preposterous tax system that no other nation employs and entering failed and discredited bilateral talks with North Korea.
Kerry plans to boost our economy – by increasing taxes on 471,000 small-business employers and implementing a $1.5 trillion Medicare reform that is wealth redistribution in its most flagrant form.
In contrast, Bush wants funding for our troops and intelligence services. Bush wants the help of allies who don’t cower to tyrants and traitors. Bush wants traditional values and a responsible judiciary.
On Tuesday, voters should tell the “Party of Ideas” that we don’t want a bogus politician who could “double-speak” Baghdad Bob to his death. We need real leadership in our troubled times, and our current president can provide that.
Darren Bernard welcomes comments at [email protected].
