Some pretty good ideas are starting to come out of the Republican Party (even from a certain Democrat)…Let’s hope good policies to back up these ideas will someday follow.
“… You don’t reason with terrorists. You defeat them. [President Bush] knows you can’t reason with people blinded by hate. They hate the power of the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the religious freedom of others. They hate the liberating breeze of democracy. But ladies and gentlemen, their hate is no match for America’s decency.” (California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger)
“They claimed Carter’s pacifism would lead to peace. They were wrong. They claimed Reagan’s defense buildup would lead to war. They were wrong. And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror. Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts. The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40 percent of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom. The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein’s command post in Iraq. The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi’s Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora. The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation’s Capital and this very city after 9/11. I could go on and on and on: against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein’s scud missiles over Israel; against the Aegis air-defense cruiser; against the Strategic Defense Initiative; against the Trident missile; against, against, against. This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?” (U.S. Senator from Georgia, Democrat Zell Miller, keynote speaker at the Republican Convention)
I have more confidence in the use of spitballs against terrorists than John Kerry’s defense philosophy of utilizing the United Nations. At least spitballs represent an attempt to fight back, albeit a totally ineffective one. The United Nations apologizes for, appeases and placates our most violent enemies–and happily includes many of them in their membership of states. Helping your enemies is not the way to defeat them. I love Zell Miller’s spirit, for it reflects an understanding of what, in a more rational and principled age, would be obvious facts. Zell Miller is an older, retiring leader. Let’s hope his attitude is the voice of the future.