the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

[dalex]

[toasty]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

^^

[Balanc3]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

[mingus51]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

^^^

[Jenks]

balanc3, that is awesome. lmao.

[toasty]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

Hey, all you conservatives out there:

The dialouge on this board between the Bush supporters and everyone else seems to characterized by anti-Bushies talking about how Bush's policies are bad for the country. The pro-Bush response typcially seems to be, "Kerry flip-flops" or something of like import. Obviously, I'm generalizing, but the point is that the liberal (or at least anti-Bush) crowd tends to be critical on a more substantive basis, while I hear very little conservative talk about the great policy decisions Bush has made or will make in the future -- just complaints about Kerry's wishy-washy nature.

I'll grant you that I haven't exactly had a love-in with Kerry myself and tend to focus much of my discussion on why Bush is a fucking monster, but I could identify specific areas where I think Kerry's policies are better for the health of this country if taken to task. Does anyone have anything positive to say about our current fearless leader from a policy standpoint, particularly domestically?

[PhAntoM MeNaCe]

toasty i'll take you on this...

For starters let me preface this with the fact that Bush was faced with the worst attack in this countrys history, by an ememy that lives in our neighborhoods, shops at our malls, and goes to our strip clubs.(lol) It paralyzed the nations economy, sent airlines into bankruptcy, and also put widespread fear into most Americans. So lets judge Bush post 9/11. To absorb the impact of the aftermath, Bush proposed the biggest tax break ever in history, already been proven very successful. Dont give me the whole 'its only for the rich bullshit'. Just today senate extended the tax break that will help roughly 90 million 'middle class' Americans, giving over 1000 per child in tax relief.
The fundamental domestic policy is of course homeland security. Offense overseas is a pro-active defense, and it is the presidents unwavering policy on this issue, that makes Americans respect and trust Bush on protecting us.
Bush has instituted policies in education that 'raises the bar' for students, which will help us compete with the changing global economy. ~no child left behind, massive additional grants for intermediate education and secondary.
Bush has promoted the 'entrapreneurial spirit' and given small business major tax breaks and health care benefit options, seeing that most new jobs are created from small business.

So here are a few domestic policies that have all been proven successful. If it were up to Kerry we will be entering into type of socialist society, were wealth is redistributed, special interest groups are rewarded, and Kerrys wife will end up catching an aggravated assault charge on some clever republican.

[Civic_Zen]

"Because I haven't got a F@#^*$% Clue!"

Priceless.

[toasty]

To absorb the impact of the aftermath, Bush proposed the biggest tax break ever in history, already been proven very successful. Dont give me the whole 'its only for the rich bullshit'. Just today senate extended the tax break that will help roughly 90 million 'middle class' Americans, giving over 1000 per child in tax relief.

When it comes to taxes, I'm probably in agreement with most everyone that less is better. With that said, I don't know that they have "already been proven very successful." Bush says that a lot, but that doesn't make it true. Consumer confidence is up, which is a nice start, but job creation is still in the shitter, millions of people who are employed full-time are without healthcare (far more than when Bush started) and the Dow is still lower than when Bush started. Granted, 9/11 had an impact, and a big one, but things weren't exactly rosy before that happened, and it is tough to trace all of the problems we have to that, IMHO.

Furthermore, with regard to the tax cuts only benefitting the rich, it doesn't only benefit the rich, but it definitely benefits the rich more than the middle class or those who are struggling to get by. In terms of percentage of income, it benefits the poor the most, but in raw numbers you're looking at a very small amount of money. For those in the higher tax brackets, the smaller percentage change still results in a far larger impact. I'm OK with that, but let's call a spade a spade here.

I'm all for tax breaks, but someone is going to have to pay for all of this spending eventually.

The fundamental domestic policy is of course homeland security. Offense overseas is a pro-active defense, and it is the presidents unwavering policy on this issue, that makes Americans respect and trust Bush on protecting us.

Of course we all care about homeland security a lot, but I don't know that Bush and Kerry's views on this are all that different. They project them as different, but when you look at what they intend to do, it is pretty much the same. Kerry does support adopting the 9/11 panel's recommendations in full, which Bush for some reason opposes. People often talk about Bush's resolve and good intentions. If good intentions were a requirement, we could probably all be president. Anyway, I think we're looking at margninal differences here, if at all. You'll probably disagree, but that's my take on it.

Bush has instituted policies in education that 'raises the bar' for students, which will help us compete with the changing global economy. ~no child left behind, massive additional grants for intermediate education and secondary.

Ask any teacher you know what they think of NCLB, and I suspect that most of them will tell you that it is a joke. Virgnia has already decided to go it alone because NCLB just doesn't work in actual practice, and I seem to recall that other states have at least considered ditching it as well. It amounts to an unfunded mandate, where teachers are required to jump through certain hoops and reach certain levels of proficiency with their students, but not given the funding from the outset to do so. NCLB is a great idea in theory, but it just hasn't worked as implemented...

You also refer to special interest groups being rewarded by a Kerry presidency. Unfortunately, that point has some merit. As compared to the special interests that serve the Bush administration (or is it the other way around?), however, it loses some steam. Halliburton? The insurance industry? The religious right?

[PhAntoM MeNaCe]

Toasty, right on...guess we are just seeing this different. Personally, I just feel Bush has done a really good job given the circumstances.

Damn, but did you hear Kerry and Edwards blasting the new Iraqee president's credibility??!! Saying that publicly seems extremely counter-productive to me. Say Kerry did win, hes pretty much calling the guy a liar, not forming the best relationship there for a country we're investing everything into.

[Balanc3]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

Toasty- sometimes you explain it better than Kerry himself.

For the record, not all Bush supporters are republican. Some may be swing voters and some may be independant, we just agree that John Kerry is the bigger douche. Its not our fault, but there was a horrible selection of Democratic candidates this election and their future is not looking any better. I would love to talk about the problems Bush inherited from Clinton anyday...

[suave]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

heh, nicely summed up.

[pacific493]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

Looks like someone has been reading Josh Marshall's blog.

[asdf_admin]

nice gif balance. way to counter act the liberal media.

[dalex]

Re: the election neatly summed up in one cartoon.

Looks like someone has been reading Josh Marshall's blog.

yes sir, i do enjoy tpm quite a bit.