Some people are keeping their sense of humor in the final hours of a grim election season. Here’s a couple of items that made me laugh:
Foul-mouthed Dick Cheney might’ve given this speech to the Republican National Convention had his career path led him to become a Miami drug lord rather than the CEO of a “respectable” company. (Headphones required if you’re watching from work.)
Bush’s one-fingered victory salute. Or, what he’ll say to the nation should he (heaven forbid) win the election on Tuesday.
Weapons of mass seduction. Proudly mining the possibilities of “the economy is getting bigger… and bigger… Oooh… it’s so big….” And remember: The call is free because your grandchildren will be paying for it. (No nudity or foul language, but… probably NOT safe for work anyway.)
It’s coming down to the final hours of the campaign, and in browsing around, I came across this reminder of John Kerry’s original position on the Iraq war. Despite claims otherwise, Senator Kerry has been completely consistent in his position regarding the war in Iraq, his repudiation of any international veto or “global test”, and in his commitment to international cooperation. On October 9, 2002, during the Senate debate over the resolution to give the President power to go to war in Iraq, Kerry said: [emphasis mine]
…Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the President is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies.
In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days–to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out…
…If in the end these efforts fail, and if in the end we are at war, we will have an obligation, ultimately, to the Iraqi people with whom we are not at war. This is a war against a regime, mostly one man. So other nations in the region and all of us will need to help create an Iraq that is a place and a force for stability and openness in the region. That effort is going to be long term, costly, and not without difficulty, given Iraq’s ethnic and religious divisions and history of domestic turbulence. In Afghanistan, the administration has given more lipservice than resources to the rebuilding effort. We cannot allow that to happen in Iraq , and we must be prepared to stay the course over however many years it takes to do it right…
…The international community’s support will be critical because we will not be able to rebuild Iraq singlehandedly. We will lack the credibility and the expertise and the capacity…
…By standing with the President, Congress would demonstrate our Nation is united in its determination to take away that arsenal, and we are affirming the President’s right and responsibility to keep the American people safe. One of the lessons I learned from fighting in a very different war, at a different time, is we need the consent of the American people for our mission to be legitimate and sustainable. I do know what it means, as does Senator Hagel, to fight in a war where that consent is lost, where allies are in short supply, where conditions are hostile, and the mission is ill-defined.
That is why I believe so strongly before one American soldier steps foot on Iraqi soil, the American people must understand completely its urgency. They need to know we put our country in the position of ultimate strength and that we have no options, short of war, to eliminate a threat we could not tolerate…
