How I Missed The First 30 Minutes of the Second Debate

It started promisingly for Bush. He walks out smiles and winks -- as if everybody in the audience is his friend. Kerry's smile --- even bigger, teeth tall like his hair.

Okay, let's get something straight: Americans should not re-elect Bush. The first administration in 72 years, since Hoover ushering in the Depression, to loose net jobs. Bush brags about "creating" jobs in the last year, while forgetting the greater number of jobs he lost in the previous three years. Jobs aren't like favors -- you don't get credit for the ones you do, while no one knows about the ones you don't. They're like money -- losing $4M dollars and earning $2.4M is still a $1.6M loss -- and every one of those 1.6M in losses in an American family in desparate straights -- where does the food come from? Who pays the rent? The kids can't go to college and lose their opportunities in life, have no new shoes for the school year, every trip to the grocery store is a trip in tears and desparation, sizing up doorways, fields and underpasses where your family can sleep after you lose the house.

Bush launched a war using the promise of security from a real threat -- but the only effect was to take out someone who posed us no threat, wasting $200 Billion Dollars (what can be done for $200B? How about a mission to the nearby stars?) and over 1000 American lives -- all to feed his enormous ego. Oil is above $50 a barrel. And because oil is how all the goods get to market, when oil goes up, everything goes up. Hellloo, inflation.

And Bush is a disingenuous person -- he promises to help kids by passing "No Child Left Behind", and he brags about it, while giving it no money; he gets the credit, and it costs him nothing. Brag, and it costs him nothing.

There's turning the 6 Trillion dollar surplus for the next decade into a 2 trillian deficit. Bush turned the Budget surpluses under Clinton into $400B deficits every year. He did so by giving tax cuts to people who, if you ask them, say they don't need it --- the very wealthiest Americans. Please they say in the polls, please don't run the country into the ground. We can help pay the bills.

We have Bush who never worked a day in his life before becoming President, dodging the draft and changing his service to help out a friend of Dad's in a re-election campaign in Alabama. Who lost money in all his ventures. Was personally irresponsible -- drinking, coke, drunk driving -- until his wife threatened to leave him, and he used the church to get rid of his worst behavior. And we have Kerry. By all accounts, a responsible man, and has been so for the decades he has given himself to public service. Steady, reliable.

When there's a tornado outside -- find the nearest shelter and go in. Bush is the tornado ripping the sides off of houses, and Kerry is the nearest shelter. Go in, America.

This is what I was thinking of when Kerry and Bush walked onto the stage, all smiles. A man who wouldn't be dog catcher if his dad weren't a former CIA director, UN delegate, President, and heir to a manufacturing fortune 4 generations old. And a man who would be exactly where he is, because of the strength of his character, not in spite of it.
Americans are a forgiving people -- but martyrdom as forgiveness is a foolishness we can't afford.

After 30 minutes of Bush yelling at the audience -- all high-pitched and angry voices -- he calmed down enough to smile and wink at people again. His old self.