QUOTATION: People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing. - Walter H. Judd
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2004-10-05 - 10:30 p.m. V.P. Cheney v. Sen. John Edwards... and moreI think the Vice Presidential debate was pretty much a draw tonight. Cheney got in his licks about trial lawyers and the Bush-Cheney platform. I kept wishing Edwards would point out that it takes a lot of nerve for Bush and Cheney to want to limit anyone's right to sue, when the only reason they're in office is because they won a lawsuit even though they had lost the vote. Now they want to keep consumers from defending their rights. You can bet your bottom dollar they don't want to limit the rights of politicians to sue to block recounts � at least not in this election. Cheney nearly got Edwards on his attendance record � when he said he hadn�t even met him before tonight, even though he presided over the Senate every Tuesday. But quick-thinking Edwards came back in time to remind people of Cheney's record as a soft-spoken right-winger, who voted against Head Start and Meals on Wheels, who voted to legalize plastic guns that terrorists can use to defeat metal detectors, voted against the Martin Luther King Holiday and against a resolution calling on the racists in South Africa to free Nelson Mandela. Touche! Cheney declined another 30 seconds to defend those insane votes. And don't you just want someone in the Kerry-Edwards campaign to point out, �The more important question of this election is really what would happen if Dick Cheney should become incapacitated and not be able to serve? Then who would act as President? It is not that the VP is just a heartbeat away from being the President that worries me. But in the case of our current administration, the man we saw last week debating John Kerry is just a heartbeat away from being without his puppet-master vice president, who has clearly been directing the show (along with Karl Rove. Is that not a frightening thought?
It was refreshing that there was no discussion of who served where or when in this debate. However, I received this list of �Chicken Hawks and War Wimps� in my e-mail today. Rather a fascinating observation someone has made. Check out this interesting pattern of who leads us into war and who seems more thoughtful in their questioning � those having seen the face of war up close and personal perhaps looking for the �global test� of having to tell a mother her son died for a just war. DEMOCRATS: Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71. REPUBLICANS PUNDITS & PREACHERS I�ve not checked the accuracy of this list, but it seems likely to be true. I thought it interesting that someone would go to the trouble to put it together. If it�s SPAM, I hope someone will let me know. [My husband will be the first to check www.snopes.com, I suspect!] Truth-telling has been a real problem with this �transparent� administration. "Bush's rhetoric bears no resemblance to his policies. How does he get away with it?"--the American Prospect. That last quote I picked up from �hamiltonian.� Well worth the time and effort to stop by and read "Credibility Gap" in Hamiltonian�s blog of today.
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