So Jeff the Intern says to me today, "I'll bet you Hilary is glad that Bush won, so she can run in 2008."

I just looked at that little map with that huge red section in the middle and said, "Look at this country. Look at how much red there is in the middle. They couldn't get John Kerry elected... there's no way in hell that this country elects Hilary Clinton. No way in hell."

And that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Go Rudy.

"WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration decided Friday that it will impose a quota on sock imports from China -- the latest round of an increasingly bitter trade dispute with Beijing -- showing a willingness to protect American workers ahead of the election.

Trade has become a hot issue on the campaign trail with President Bush, an unrepentant free trader, accusing his Democratic opponent John Kerry of being an "economic isolationist." Mr. Kerry has countered that Mr. Bush has not done enough to protect American workers from unfair foreign competition."

Besides being amused that we might have a sock shortage or that the price of socks might go up (which really effects me because I wear two pairs of socks at a time), I'm TOTALLY confused. Admittedly, the only thing I remember about our trade policy was the steel tariff--and I extrapolated out of that that Bush was the protectionist. Am I wrong here? I know I've heard Kerry bash outsourcing, but I just assumed that Bush was protection minded as Kerry was. If Bush is the free trader, then that's one more point for Bush in my book. Free trade is good. Outsourcing is good. We all benefit in the long run when things get done more cheaply. We can't offord to "protect" American jobs. We need to make America more competitive and make people want to buy American products. If you don't buy American, don't complain when we have to ship jobs oversees. If you don't drive a GM car, don't blame us for closing plants, because if we don't close them, the whole company goes under and lots more people lose their jobs. Its that simple. I think everyone should be forced to take an economics course so that people understand how capitalism and free trade works.
Its just like the flu shot. First, EVERYONE wants it. Then everyone wants it for FREE. On top of that, then they want to be able to SUE the drug companies if you get sick from it, which is a stated risk. And on top of that, people want MORE life saving drugs to hit the market. Someone explain to me how this is supposed to work without tanking the entire publically traded healthcare sector, dragging down all of our retirement money. It just doesn't add up and neither does protectionism.

I can't wait to go in tomorrow and check FeedDemon to hear everyone's debate posts. I don't think I'll have anything groundbreaking to add, so I'll just post the post debate IM exchange I had with Brian. I do have a lot to post about a Regis focus group that I went to, but I'll hold that one for another day. Maybe I'll write it tonight and give the debate a few days to blow over.

Ceo21: Any useful insights from the debate?
cuth23b: I thought Bush was excellent
cuth23b: Kerry didn't answer a damn question the whole night
Ceo21: I hate to admit it
Ceo21: but
cuth23b: I think Bush clearly left you with the impression of "If you care about keeping the homeland secure, I have to be your man"
Ceo21: I think I'm voting for Bush now
cuth23b: I think I am too
Ceo21: Kerry has lost my vote
Ceo21: and he had it by default to start out with
cuth23b: Kerry's done nothing to get my vote
cuth23b: EXACTLY
Ceo21: and he's shown me nothing
cuth23b: So frustrating
cuth23b: Is it something with the Democratic party
cuth23b: Where we can't have a candidate
cuth23b: who's not a Clinton
cuth23b: say something of substance
cuth23b: Bush spanked him
cuth23b: He pointed out mistakes
cuth23b: He hammered home his points
cuth23b: You had clear takeaways from Bush
Ceo21: Its not even that
Ceo21: I'm not sure if Bush was THAT good
Ceo21: but
cuth23b: And Kerry says NOTHING
Ceo21: Kerry is just such a zero
cuth23b: He's got no energy
cuth23b: Nothing that draws you in
Ceo21: They needed what's his face
Ceo21: the screamer
cuth23b: Dean
Ceo21: Dean
Ceo21: yeah
Ceo21: Dean would have had this election won
Ceo21: if the media wasn't such a bunch of fucks
Ceo21: and told people
Ceo21: that this man
Ceo21: was psychotic
Ceo21: because he screams
Ceo21: look at this country
Ceo21: we all scream
cuth23b: hahaha
cuth23b: We're a soundbyte culture
cuth23b: And he gave the perfect soundbyte
cuth23b: And got f'd
Ceo21: Jesuits batting .367 tonight
Ceo21: nice 4 hit night from Monroe
cuth23b: Yeah yeah ...
cuth23b: I'll have you collect money from Carpet Munchers
cuth23b: for your winings
cuth23b: haha
cuth23b: http://www.nytimes.com/
cuth23b: look at the ad in the middle
cuth23b: that cost a few bucks
cuth23b: to time it with the end of the debate
Ceo21: I'm reading Kerry's Plan for Iraq
cuth23b: There's a plan?
Ceo21: http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/iraq.html
Ceo21: Yeah... its on the website
Ceo21: b/c
Ceo21: to be honest
Ceo21: he keeps referring to it
Ceo21: and
Ceo21: I'd never heard it
Ceo21: so I figured he had to have it written somewhere
Ceo21: I can't say its really anything groundbreaking
Ceo21: and the funny part is
Ceo21: It talks a lot about building coalitions
Ceo21: working with other countries
cuth23b: Yep
Ceo21: but his plan for N Korea
cuth23b: Alliances
Ceo21: is just the opposite
cuth23b: with countries he just spit on
Ceo21: 1 one 1
Ceo21: Oh, and by the way...
cuth23b: Ah, the bi vs. multi lateral approach
cuth23b: Which was quite entertaining
Ceo21: How fucked are the Sudanese?
cuth23b: Like [Ed. Note, the name of the person mentioned had to be deleted -- even though it was funnier with the real name in there] during fleet week
Ceo21: Neither one of them cares at all.
cuth23b: haha.
Ceo21: No one seems to care.
Ceo21: I feel really sorry for those people
cuth23b: I agree
cuth23b: How can ya not
cuth23b: May do a happy hour tomorrow after work
cuth23b: good seinfeld on .... talk to ya tomorrow

So that's basically it. I really wanted to vote for Kerry... well, check that, vote against Bush, but I realized that's not enough. You need your candidate to show you at least a minimal amount of substance to earn your vote. I held the bar so low, and Kerry still can't step over it. He talk's in vague generalities. We're supposed to be working more with other nations, but yet he wants to add more military divisions, and work with North Korea one on one. And, on that note, why are we even discussing North Korea? Do they harbor terrorists? Has anyone tied them to al queda? I just find it so unlikely that, even if they did have a nuclear weapon, they'd ever use it.. and more importantly, use it against us. Call me naive, but I think that we're well past the days of fearing sovereign nations attacking us with a nuclear first strike. Besides, we make a big deal about everyone else dropping the bomb, yet we're the only ones ever to do it against another country... and we did it TWICE. I don't think whether or not China sitting at the table regarding North Korea should be how I differentiate my candidates... and unfortunately, that's just about the only difference of opinion of substance that I could actually detect tonight between the two of them. And, here's the thing about Bush. Can we all get past the idea that somehow he lied to us? Thus far, no one has been able to rationally explain to me why he would do that? Let's suppose, for a moment, he knew there weren't any weapons in Iraq. Why would he go to war then if Sadaam wasn't really a threat?

For oil? That's hard to believe, because oil is way more expensive now, and oil production doesn't even seem to be a central focus of the rebuilding effort. I would have thought that, if this was a war for oil, we'd be paying less than $2.39 a gallon for it by now.

To revenge his Dad's failure? I'm sorry, that's just stupid.

To give Halliburton something to do? Again, while I'm sure there's been lots of favorable treatment of certain companies over others, its not the reason why we're there and I don't believe it has effected policy decision. The idea that a president would fight a war so that corporations would get money... well.... if I believed that kind of nonsense, then I wouldn't be working for GM now, would I... the biggest, baddest corporation out there. :) PS... How is it possible GM doesn't get blamed for terrorism by being an LP in Carlyle. Its amazing that Michael Moore missed that.

So, at the end of the day, I've basically supported Kerry because I disagreed with Bush's political views--yet respected him for his conviction. I don't care about his view on gay marriage, because an amendment will never ever pass, so I doubt his view is relevent. He shouldn't be wasting his time on it. I also think he shouldn't be mucking around in stem cell research either, but I won't swing my vote over, contrary to Kerry's statement tonight, unproven science, even though I think it should be allowed.

So I've been waiting.... waiting for Kerry to show me something. I wanted to see a clear and consistant vision.. detailed plans and ideas. He keeps talking about having a "Plan for Iraq." Check the website. Read it. Too many people are against the war and therefore think that by voting against Bush, they're voting against the war. Look at the plan. Its written well, but doesn't really say anything, and certainly doesn't seem to contradict much of what's going on there now. It doesn't say bring troops home. Perhaps we could be working more with other people, but then again, Kerry seems to criticize most of Bush's attempts to work with others anyway. Not only with North Korea, but with the search for Bin Ladin, where apparently we're not suppossed to use Afghans who actually know the territory, and instead, use US troops. You know who had detailed plans? Perot. He bought TV time to walk us through them, point by point. Maybe they can't do that anymore... I'm not sure. But Kerry could put streaming video on the web. Give us something, John, because so far, I just haven't seen anything. Just because I disagree with Bush on a lot of issues doesn't mean you automatically have my vote. Yes, the war became a mess, but I'm not sure Kerry has presented a clear plan to fix the mess. I don't know if anyone actually knows how. Is the mess Bush's fault? I don't know. I think he had a lot of people telling him there were more well thought out plans. So, perhaps Bush should be forced to replace his staff... and maybe that's what Kerry should be telling us---who is going to be on your staff? The Bush cabinate screwed over the war... tell me who you'll get that's better than what Bush has. (Seems to be a low bar there.)

I could go on, but basically, I'm a very disallusioned Kerry voter thinking really hard about how I'll be casting my vote. I may disagree with Bush, but I respect him for his conviction. I don't respect John Kerry... I don't disrespect him either. I'm indifferent, because he hasn't shown me why he's anything better than what we have now.

What's clear to me is this:

We have two pretty crappy candidates for president... AGAIN. I can't wait until Giuliani runs in '08.

The Sudanese are royally screwed. Obviously, neither candidate could give a shit about these people. It was so obvious in the answers to their question on it. Kerry's answer was, "Let's talk about Iran" and Bush was like, "We're already doing some stuff and we'll continue to do some stuff." Kerry said it can't become another Rwanda. I dunno, John, 50,000 people are dead already... how many more do you need to think that maybe its heading that way. Screw Iraq. Screw North Korea. If I was running, I'd jump out there and say that 50,000 people are dead and we need to fix that right now. I'd pull all my troups out of Iraq and just say, "Look, fix it yourself." What's the worst that could happen? Would 50, 000 people die there? Doubtful. I'd take them all out of Iraq and send then right to the Sudan and fix things there, because that's the greater risk of loss of life. Iraq won't survive unless it decides to help itself, and you can't run a country for someone. Anyway... that's all I have to say.