It’s Kerry, 31 to 2 October 26, 2004February 27, 2017 IF YOU’RE A CONSERVATIVE Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, writing in Salon. ‘Serious conservatives should deny their votes to Bush. . . . A Kerry victory would likely be bad for the cause of individual liberty and limited government. But based on the results of his presidency, a Bush victory would be catastrophic. Conservatives should choose principle over power.’ Writes conservative columnist Walter Olson: ‘I’m among those who believe George W. Bush doesn’t merit re-election, though I supported and in fact actively advised his campaign the first time around.’ Writes syndicated columnist Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune: ‘At the age of 50, I get few chances to try something entirely new. Come Nov. 2, I plan to take one of those rare opportunities. I’m going to vote for a Democrat for president. I’ve never done it before, and I hope I never have to do it again. But President Bush has made an irresistible case against his own re-election. His first term has been one of the most dismal and costly failures of any presidency. His second promises to be even worse.‘ Or click here for a whole slew of Republican switching to Kerry, like well-known Texas financier David Bonderman, of the Texas Pacific Group in Fort Worth, who backed Bush last time. Now backing Kerry, he says Bush ‘is turning out to be the worst president since Millard Fillmore – and that’s probably an insult to Millard Fillmore.’ Or look at editorandpublisher.com, which shows that as of Sunday, 31 papers that backed Bush in 2000 have switched to Kerry – versus just two that have switched the other way. Ask your Republican friends (gently) . . . if conservatives feel this way, and if so many editorial boards, having given it considerable thought, feel this way . . . maybe there’s something to it? IF YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT SECURITY Click here for the story of a man who stowed away in the wheel well of an American Airlines 737 Friday. What if, instead of a 160-pound man, he had been a 160-pound bomb? We know George W. Bush has managed to create thousands of new terrorists abroad and turn much of the world against us. How much safer has he made us here at home? Everyone knows by now that the Bush team forgot to guard an Iraqi warehouse with 350 tons of high explosives – a single pound of which in the wheel well of a 737 could easily bring the plane down. This was more than 700,000 pounds. There is the tendency to forgive Bush anything – giant deficits, millions more in poverty and without health insurance, more assault weapons and fewer cops, the attack on embryonic stem cell research – all because somehow he will keep us safe. But c’mon people. He ignored the urgent warnings about bin Laden nine months before 9/11 . . . he turned most of the world against us after 9/11 . . . he’s got our military stretched thin and our financial strength weakening by the month . . . how is this making us safer? And then there’s this (and I’ll stop): CARL’S EPIPHANY In large part: THE LAST STRAW Carl F. Worden That’s it, I’ve had it. I’ve been a registered Republican since I pulled my first lever in a voting booth, and I’ve voted as a loyal Republican for Republican candidates consistently every year. I am 55 years of age. I am considered a right-wing Christian conservative and strict constitutionist who knows the Framers of the Constitution expected strict adherence to that original document unless and until it is amended. You don’t get much more conservative and constitutionally-minded than I am, and that is why I just cast my Oregon vote-by-mail ballot for Democrat John Kerry as the next president of the United States. So did my wife — and she’s a very independent thinker. I know there are thousands of lifelong Republican/Independent conservatives who are going to do the same thing on November 2nd, because they’ve written and told me so. The absolute last straw for me took place at the Bush rally, held in Central Point, Oregon on October 14th. . . . Three local teachers got tickets to the Bush rally, passed all the security checkpoints and scrutiny and got in. They never created or caused a disturbance, and they were perfectly peaceful members of the audience waiting to hear Bush speak. But before they got to hear Bush, they were expelled from the rally by Bush rally staff who objected to the words printed on the T-shirts they were wearing. No, the words on the T-shirts the ladies were wearing did not disparage Bush, nor did they suggest support for Kerry or any other candidate. The words did not condemn or support the war in Iraq, nor did they slam any Administration policy. No, the T-shirts the three women wore showed an American flag, and under it the words, “Protect Our Civil Liberties”. That was all — I kid you not. That was it. That was the last straw for me. That was the defining moment I’ll never forget. That was my epiphany. Bryan Platt, Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central Committee, said he stood 100 percent behind the person who made the decision to exclude the women, removing any doubt that one or two individuals exceeded their authority and blew it. No, it was solid, Republican neo-conservative fascist policy on open display, and the Brown Shirts weren’t about to apologize for it. No way. . . . My decision to vote for Kerry was a vote to get Bush and his administration out. I could have voted for a third party candidate who couldn’t possibly win, but that would have translated into a vote for Bush, and I just couldn’t do that. . . This election is different: In this election, we all have to answer the call to vote wisely. Lives depend on it, and God is watching how we vote as well. When an individual sins, God deals with him individually. When a whole nation sins, God deals with the nation nationally. It’s right there in the Bible. The way I see it, the threat Bush presents is just too great. I know what Bush did with his first four years on good behavior, and so do you. What scares the bejeebers out of me is what Bush would do with four more years with nothing to lose — and an assumed mandate from the people for what he did the first four. . . What I do know is that any party that would find the words, “Protect Our Civil Liberties” offensive or even threatening, is a party I won’t belong to anymore. That was the last straw. Carl F. Worden FASCISM ISN’T EASY TO DEFINE Fascism? Did Carl say fascism? Ouch. But what is fascism, anyway? It’s even harder to define than ‘irony.’ Click here for one site’s definition (and be sure to scroll down to the photo).