Reply #147: What I posted in the Iowa forum (x-post) [View All]

[CornField]

"Democrats are not going to win elections until they can reassure people they are going to keep them safe."

WTF is that, Tom?!?

People who believe that the foreign policy put in place by the Bush administration keeps them safe deserve nothing more than the safety it has provided. Instead of "proving ourselves" again and again and again, why don't we just start telling the truth:

1) The Bush administration manipulated evidence and flat-out lied in order to invade Iraq

2) Because the administration was so gung-ho on an Iraqi invasion, the military did not finish the job in Afghanistan and has not to this day caught Osama bin Laden (or any of his higher ups)

3) Prior to the invasion, Iraq was mostly terrorist-free. The problems between bin Laden, Al Qaeda and Hussein were well documented. Al Qaeda and bin Laden would never located their radical Islamic bases in such a "secular" country.

4) The number of innocent Iraqi civilians who have died as "collateral damage" is estimated between 100,000 and 500,000 -- not even our own government is sure how many have died.

5) The U.S. Congress handed the Bush administration the right to use force against Iraq as a bargaining chip before the U.N. It was never expected air strikes would begin so soon -- or that they would begin before the administration came back to Congress for a formal declaration of war.

6) The Bush administration repeatedly uses the attacks of Sept. 11th as a catalyst to change our country -- but not based on the recommendations put forth by the 911 Commission. Increased border security has not taken place. Airport security is even more lax than before Sept. 11th. Millions of miles of railway and highway sit as open targets. Tunnels, large enough to drive a car through, mark the U.S. and Mexico border. Only 1 out of every 250 pods are scanned at our nation's ports. If you put it all down on paper, the Bush administration has only succeeded at one thing: removing more and more fundamental rights from the American people.

Now, because we might be perceived as "opposition," we are to look the other way when the man who swore an oath to defend our Constitution insteads turns around, drops his drawers and shats all over it?!?

Guess what, Tom!? We are the opposition! And if you or any of your DLC cronies had half a spine you'd be out there raising hell about the attacks on freedom right here at home.

The Democratic Party isn't weak because we would rather try every other peaceful avenue before going to war. We aren't weak because we believe that ALL life - not just American life - is precious and should be protected and cherished. We aren't weak because we want to make sure that every American citizen has adequate healthcare, living wages and food to eat each night. Our weakness doesn't arise from our platform or from our Democratic ideals. Our weakness boils down to you and politicians like you who are unwilling to make a stand based on those ideals.