Here we go again!
Another wolf in sheep's clothing.
Seems like Kerry is intent on turning the USA further in a Military Lockdown, equal to the Bushistas.
We should have known. The ticket could have been Kucinich/Ron Paul. but we are left with somebody who will defeat Bush, but a what cost? All the Liberals, Moderate Conservatives, Old Hippies, and Beatniks will be rejoicing that we dumped Bush, but are left with someone who will continue the complete transformation of America from a Technology and Manufacturing Leader into a Giant Police Force. I just hope the rest of the world doesn't follow America, seeing how much the rest of the world hates Bush.
www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/election/story/8350513p-9280396c.html Kerry lays out plan on terror
Assailing Bush's efforts, he calls for more troops and police officers.
By Dan Smith -- Bee Deputy Capitol Bureau Chief
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, February 28, 2004
LOS ANGELES - Seeking to zero in on the differences between himself and a wartime president, Sen. John Kerry on Friday laid out a broad plan for dealing with threats both at home and abroad, and said President Bush has "fallen short" on his vow to protect Americans after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Massachusetts Democrat, looking to stretch his delegate lead in Tuesday's primary election in California and voting in nine other states, said he would add 40,000 military personnel and 200,000 police and firefighters to America's ranks. The CIA, moreover, would assume the undisputed lead in intelligence efforts and would launch "a major initiative in public diplomacy" to push "the next generation of Islamic youth" toward democracy, he said.
While Kerry had presented many elements of his plan in the past - most notably in December speeches in New York and New Hampshire - aides said Friday's address was intended to broaden his approach to terrorism and take more forceful aim at Bush as Kerry closes in on the nomination.
"Day in and day out, George W. Bush reminds us that he is a war president and that he wants to make national security the central issue of this election. I am ready to have this debate. I welcome it," Kerry told several hundred enthusiastic UCLA students at the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations.
Bush, he said, has driven away America's allies, mishandled conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and failed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
"Like all Americans, I responded to President Bush's reassuring words in the days after September 11th," Kerry said. "But since then, his actions have fallen short. I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror; I believe he's done too little."
The Bush campaign said Kerry's attacks were misguided, hypocritical and an attempt to rewrite his own history of opposing defense measures he now touts, noting that the 20-year veteran of the Senate has cast dozens of votes to cut the nation's defense.
The campaign detailed 38 votes in which Kerry agreed to cut or eliminate funding for defense.
While Kerry asserted Friday that military families have had to pay for their own body armor, the Bush campaign said that he voted against a body armor spending measure just last year.
"John Kerry's speech ignored his own voting record that would undermine the nation's war on terror," said Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Bush campaign. "His rhetoric is out of touch with his record."
Kerry noted reports that have forces closing in on Osama bin Laden.
"We've heard that news before," Kerry said. "We had him in our grasp more than two years ago - definitively within our grasp -- at Tora Bora, but George Bush held U.S. forces back and, instead, called on Afghan warlords with no loyalty to our cause to finish the job."
Kerry promised "a stronger, more comprehensive and more effective strategy for winning the war on terror than the Bush administration has ever envisioned."
Even if bin Laden is captured or killed, Kerry said, "it will not be the end of the war on terror. This war isn't just a manhunt, a checklist of names from a deck of cards. ... We face the global jihadist movement of many groups from different sources."
Kerry said his CIA chief would be "a true director of national intelligence with real control of intelligence personnel and budgets."
He called for 40,000 more active-duty troops - at least until the end of the decade - to spell and supplement "overextended" American forces abroad.
He also promised to make the United States "energy independent" from the Middle East within 10 years "so our sons and daughters will never have to fight and die for it."
The Bush administration, he asserted, has "allowed things to spiral downward" in the Middle East, and Kerry vowed to treat Israel as a "special ally" and appoint "a special envoy the quality of Bill Clinton, for instance - someone who can help us to elevate this discussion."
Better relations with Latin America "begins with having an administration that knows where Latin America is," Kerry said. "He used to brag about his relationship with (Mexican) President (Vicente) Fox, but of course when President Fox had a difference with him over Iraq, all of a sudden we weren't talking about anything."
As he did in Thursday's Democratic debate, Kerry said the Bush administration has "empowered the insurgents" in Haiti because of "a combined theological and ideological hatred of President (Jean-Bertrand) Aristide." He said the United States should have worked harder for a diplomatic solution and dispatched an international force to keep the peace.
On homeland defense, he said he would fight to add money for 100,000 additional firefighters, to restore funding for another 100,000 police officers and to provide local public health agencies the "basic expertise they need but now lack to respond to chemical or biological attack."
Schmitt of the Bush campaign replied that the president had demonstrated "an unprecedented commitment to homeland security," noting that local security funding had tripled since 2001.
