Monday, October 04, 2004

Jacketgate

I'm sort of breaking my rule against talking about issues other than, well, the issues in this campaign in order to laud my Conservative friends at Powerline. The folks who brought you Rathergate and approximately 1,596,525 posts on SBVT have refused to jump on the "Jacketgate" bandwagon. For those of you who don't know, some grainy video shot of the debate appears to show Kerry taking something out of his jacket, which might be paper, which might have notes, which would violate the debate rules. Though four updates makes it seem like they're still acting as enablers for the story, its nice to see that they finally understand that one should vote on this election based on issues, not personal "character" (whatever that means).

So, repeat after me:
Voting for Bush because you think he'll be more aggressive against the terrorists, or like his tax cuts, or believe in his decisions on Iraq: Good.
Voting for Bush because of SBVT, or misplaced notes, or missing medals: Bad.
Voting for Kerry because you think he's got a plan to turn around the economy, or because you are appalled that Bush has ruined our Homeland Security infrastructure, or because you think Bush misjudged on Iraq: Good.
Voting for Kerry because of Bush's guard service, or drunk driving arrest, or possible cocaine use: Bad.

And not to detract from the overall complimentary tone of the post, but the last pro-SBVT jab was uncalled for. The evidence that Bush shirked his guard service, even without the Rather documents, is just as strong, if not stronger than the evidence presented in favor of the SBVT allegations.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I suggest you take a look at this picture. You may note that Bush also has notes in front of him, and it appears that both were allowed to bring them along.

I've been through more presidential elections than you - first voting '64, so the tricks this time around don't shock me as much. I stumbled across your blog by hitting the "Next Blog" button and was delighted to see that you are approaching the election in the correct way; i.e., the issues and not the spin.

I for one think that 4 more years of Bush economics will destroy your future; I'm nearing retirement and I worry less about the fantastic debt being built up. If you're up to looking into it, please check out General Glut and/or Prudent Bear - the first a very fine macro-economic blog, the latter a site/portal hosted by a fairly right-wing brokerage house. The need to rein in the "twin deficits" is pressing; massive disruption of the economy is the alternative.

Keep your mind open.

fatbear .at. aol.com