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After the First Presidential Debate
I was impressed by the first presidential debate last Thursday. Even though the two campaigns had scripted a lot of the debate, there was still a lot of useful back-and-forth. We got a chance to learn about issues and the candidates. And I'm grateful to Bush for agreeing to 2 more debates. Clinton had only agreed to 2 in 1996.
Quoting the First Bush
I thought Kerry scored one when he quoted from a book written by the first Bush about the first Iraqi war. The first Bush explained why he didn't march to Baghdad and how it would turn into a quagmire. This is probably going to go down in history as one of the most ironic events in American history.
I want a president who could have prevented World War II and could have avoided the quagmire of Vietnam
Iraq was neither Nazi Germany nor 1960's Vietnam. Nevertheless, there seems to be two competing issues. Bush saw a threat in Saddam that became more apparent after 9/11. UN resolutions, inspections, and bombings by Clinton failed to make any real changes in Saddam's regime. I think Bush and many of his advisors did see similarities between Iraq and Nazi Germany. And they realized once those similarities became apparent (perhaps 10 years from now) it would be too late. I wonder if we would have appreciated the Nazi threat if a British or French leader decided to invade Germany to end Hitler's regime in the early or mid 30's.
Then we have the fears of the first Bush about Iraq. He knew how the occupation of Iraq could lead to a Vietnam-like quagmire. In the 60's many of our leaders saw South Vietnam as a critical stand against communist take-over of South East Asia. In 1975, South Vietnam was taken over and communist domino theory was proven wrong.
I believe Bush Senior felt it was not his presidency, it was his son's. Only his son had the current information to make the appropriate decisions. Thus, I don't believe the senior Bush ever discouraged his son in making the decision to invade.
Another Great Saturday Night Live Debate
SNL opened last night with another great mock presidential debate. Seth Meyers did a great job at Kerry who didn't let anyone forget about his Vietnam experience. Will Forte did a good job at Bush who made sure to let everyone know how much "hard work" is being done.
Here's my favorite quote from the SNL debate. It was from Kerry's (Meyers) closing statement:
The fact of the matter is , I have consistently supported the war in front of pro-war audiences, and condemned it when speaking to groups who oppose it. That is not flip-flopping, that is pandering, and America deserves a president who knows the difference.
