Mainly because of the Supreme Court appointments. This is a very scary possiblity for young people, that Bush could line the courts with more Scalias and Thomases. If Bush gets elected for another 4 years his influence on our country could last for another 30 or 40 (he would probably appoint somebody in their 40s). Our country will pay dearly if this were to happen. We would see a potential-continued downslide in environmental regulation, abortion and marriage rights, police and government intervention, etc. etc. This country will be a living hell for anybody who doesn't believe in conservative values. It will be dangerous.

Having said this, I think Kerry would do little differently in Iraq. Of course the entire world hates Bush, and 4 more years of Dubya would be bad for international relations, horrible in fact. Any other damage he does, such as more tax cuts, the increasing national debt, are only temporary effects. If Kerry is elected I would love to see a national health care system, it is absolutely imperative that all people in our nation have health care, including the poor. If Bush is re-elected and continues to push this country further to the right, we will all be paying dearly. I know I'm stating the obvious, but this President is the most anti-progressive leader in our history. He needs to go.

It is silly that the richest, most powerful nation on earth doesn't provide healthcare for ALL it's citizens. We have an NHS in the UK. If you want to go private then you can. But it does mean that the poorest sections of society can have treatment.

And yeah you do really need to get rid of Bush

I agree with glorified_version... My reasons for voting Kerry....

1. Fear further infringement on Constitutional Rights: My nephew was illegally arrested & detained for 31 hours during the RNC.

2. The separation between Church & State is diminishing. Bush invokes God too much, and is beholden to the religious right.

3. Afghanistan okay, Iraq, not okay (Bush made a choice to go in before inspections were done, he made a choice to disregard some of his senior people... the ones in the trenches that know what's going on). I even thought that, then, Sadaam was bluffing to fool Iran. If that thought crossed my mind, why not Bush's?

4. We have a spend-spend government with Republican Control. Bush has been governing with a blank check.

5. Supreme court appointments coming in the future. I want the appointments independent of religious influence.

6. When Bush is asked if he would do the same thing again as far as Iraq, knowing there are no WMD's; he says 'yes'. He said we went to war because Iraq had WMD's , now he knows Iraq doesn't and if he knew that before the war, he would still strike?

Finally, I don't know if Kerry will be any better, but I do believe he is smarter & more respected in the world. We need international support to truly fight terroism. That's not gonna happen with dubya...

Well said, both of you.
At the begining of this election, I was totally in the "anybody but Bush" boat. But the more I've seen, heard and read about Kerry, the more I honestly like him.
The only issue that I don't agree with him on is how he's managing the gay marriage debate. Edwards has beat a little closer to the bush- (the proverbial one, I mean) by pointing out that never in history has one state been under any obligation to recognise a marriage union that took place in another state. (ie, though we live in Philadelphia, my parents could easily not count as married since the ceremony happened in Missouri.) Although it seems nice enough to leave it up to each individual state, I feel as though there should be a national law that doesn't discriminate against gender for marriages.

The third debate really had me going - I think it hurt Bush a lot that his response to Kerry's healtcare plan was just him repeating the same lie over and over "Government takover" "Government takeover" - when that clearly isn't what it is. What Kerry is saying is that if you can't afford healthcare, you'll still get it. Basically, Bush is trying to hide the fact that he's done nothing and plans to do nothing for poor families without healthcare with his sensless unintelligent 'fuzzy math' rehtoric. I don't buy it.
Even if it WAS worst-case scenerio, government run heathcare, I doubt very few of the too-poor-for-heathcare population are going to choose the 'NO HEALTHCARE FOR YOU!' option over the government run plan when it comes to keeping their children healthy.

:round of applause:

Why I'm not voting for Bush:

I'm Canadian and I can't.

I wouldn't if I could though...

What percent of your GDP is taxable income AND what percent of your income is taxed in relation to your GDP?



Did Bush do his little chuckle while he personally slapped on the handcuffs?



Please give me some examples of the State establishing a church. REF:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.



You don't think that was issue at State? Wow. You're obviously entitled to your opinion about the war, and in some degree I will acknowledge mistakes made by this administration on the road to Iraq, but I will never, ever call it "the wrong war". Time will tell. I am not so clairvoyant.



Yet we have one of the highest GDP's in history, the economy is crawling upwards with no growth in inflation rates, and the middle class got roughly $1000 extra this year in tax credits because they had kids.

LOOK OUT!!!! IT'S THE DEPRESSION!!!! AAAAGH!



You're assuming things. Life is difficult to live when every deduction is merely assumption.

Also, if you knew your conservatives, if you really knew your Republicans, we don't like the Supreme Court. Really.



Would you rather have a president who said, "Oops" all the time because public policy didn't like what he did? Or a guy who dropped balls once in awhile and said, "You know what? Fuck you, I did the right thing."

I'm with the latter.



France hates us because they hate everyone. Germany hates us because of the fucked up unification process they endured. Russia hates us because of the cold war. Kerry's not going to fix that.



We DO have international support for fighting terrorism. I thought your side said Iraq didn't equate to terrorism?

I'm voting early and I live in Florida. Be afraid.

Fixed.

You should know better than to assume right and wrong are static conclusions, and never an issue of perception.

Thanks, I had no idea.

You know, the part of your quote I find most humorous is your use of "once in a while". You've got to be kidding me, once in a while? Try every single time. Sure, right and wrong is an issue of perception, but in Bush's head, he has never ever made a single mistake about anything. Not one. Every other human being in the world can point out mistakes that they've made, I know I sure as hell can. But not President Bush. He would argue until he's blue in the face that 2+2=3, no matter how much evidence is to the contrary.

It doesn't take balls to say "I am right" when those are the only words you can say.

See all of you in Nov.. He Ha

Notice that the only mistakes that Bush admits are his english and grammar ones?

The right wing make practical judgments given the context of the era, but they leave no room for debate on their policy or change in social structure further down the road. Its very anti-progressive, and ignorant at that.

The next time I hear any president or politician say, "Holy shit, we fucked that up big time" will be the first.

Nobody in this game "admits mistakes." And even Bush DID think Iraq was a big mistake, what could possibly be gained by saying so? Just fix what you think is wrong and to the best of your ability. I don't care if Bush holds a press conference every time he makes a mistake.

All this crap about, "Bush can't admit mistakes" is stupid.

The only president I can think of who admitted mistakes (eventually) was Clinton. He went around apologizing for everything, including slavery, genocide, Ishtar, hanson and the rise of reality television.

I think he also once confessed to kinapping the Lindberg baby.

1. He is not smart enough to run the country. This has been obvious since we first saw him speak when running in 2000. It is even more obvious given the mess in Iraq and here in the US.

2. He does not understand separation of church and state...he has been quietly passing bills to blur the lines, and if he has the chance to appoint a supreme court justice, there goes roe vs wade. Politics and morals are good bedfellows. Politics and religion create things like the Inquisition and the Crusades.

3. He is a BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN which means that the leader of the free world believes the bible word for word. That means he believes there was an adam and eve, that there was a great flood and Noah put two of each animal on his little boat, that EVERYONE who has not accepted jesus as his/her personal savior is going to hell.

4. He has proposed a CONSTITUIONAL AMENDMENT that would take RIGHTS away from a segment of our population. The constitution is the sacred document we rely on to PROTECT US, and Bu$h wants to use it to "protect marriage"? As far as I am concerned, US citizens should be protected before marriage.

5. He gives tax cuts to the rich and the tax cuts for the rest of us are so paltry and meaningless in this post 9/11 world that I would gladly send back my $300 if it meant it would help social security, health care, education.

Even my die hard republican hubby is voting for Kerry. His reason? He can't stand the fact that the president is so f'ing stupid. One needs to have a certain measure of intellegence to do a job like this. Bu$h is a moron and we ALL KNOW IT.

1. You watch too much SNL. Will Ferrell doing George Bush is NOT George Bush. The man isn't a great public speaker. Doesn't mean he's stupid. It's a shame your husband isn't voting for Bush solely on the basis of his speaking style. Maybe next time Michael Douglas will run. He gives good speeches on the West Wing.

2. I know, because every day I'm forced to kneel down, face Bethlehem, and pray. and every Sunday the FBI comes by to drag me into the state-created Church. oh wait, that doesn't happen. In fact, there isn't any more "religion" in my life today than there was four years ago. In fact, there's probably less.

3. Wait. Just a second ago, you said everyone's religious affiliations should be respected. Now, you're bashing Bush for being a Christian. If he were a self-avowed Muslim or Jew or Hindu, would that be a strike against him? I'd like to see you say, "I can't vote for that guy. He's a Muslim." You'd be shouted down as a total bigot. So why is it that Christianity is the only religion that it is PC to attack?

Also, you should research Christianity a little more thoroughly. Not all of us interpret the Bible as 100 percent literal. Some say, for instance, that the world wasn't created in 7 literal days. In fact, the Hebrew word for "day" and "epoch" is similiar. Some Christians argue that when the bible says 7 days, it means 7 large periods of time, which would fit with what we scientifically know about evolution.

My broader point is, you should be afraid of being Christian. John Kerry claims to be as well.

4. can't argue there. I agree that we don't need to put the word "homosexual" in the constitution.

5. I don't know about you, but I got a lot more than $300 back. I've paid less tax every single year Bush has been in office, yet made more money every single year he's been in office. Fact is, we could be in dire economic straits right now without those "paltry" tax cuts ... it WAS the shallowest recession in all history. The rich got more tax back because they paid more tax to begin with.

I believe she was speaking of BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS. not christians in general. i think there is a difference. Born Again christians believe the bible work for word, its literal to them. that is what i believe she was refering to, not EVERY christian. there is a difference. maybe not EVERY Born Again christian believes the bible is word for word, but i would say a majority of them do.

and i didnt see any tax cuts personally. not that im complaining. i would be very happy to see my taxes going towards a better health care system that entitled EVERY U.S. citizen to to health care covered by the gov. it does seem to be a problem that we are the richest country in the world, yet we cant seem to manage to get health care for EVERY U.S. CITIZEN. thats a big issue.

and yes, i would agree that protecting U.S. citizens is more important than protecting marriage. if you wanna protect marriage, work on the 50% plus divorce rate.

Because i don't want someone who has fucked up our country for the last 4 years, to make it worse than it is now.

If Bush gets re-elected, the economy will go even further in the shitter, the world as a whole will hate us even more, more soldiers will die in an unneccesary war, need i go on

Yes.

1. The economy has been rising. It's impossible to ignore the fact that 9/11 was a profound reason that the economy went down as far as it did. Look at the stock market. If you take post-9/11 numbers and compare them to now, it's night and day. Are we where we were and could be? No, of course not, but judging by the current trend I think that it's ridiculous to say that it will go further into the 'shitter' than it is now, if you even think it's there now. If you're talking about the deficit, yeah, we are way down, but Kerry doesn't exactly have the strongest plan to cut the deficit. All he is saying is he'll cut it in half, but if you look at his plans for it and his plans in general, he is going to be spending way more money than we can use if we are going to do that. I believe that if what he has proposed went through, we'd have an even larger deficit.

2. The 'world hating us' is a really big statement. That means if you go to Iceland and ask the people what they think of us, they'll hate us. That means if you go to Nepal and ask people, they'll hate us. And frankly I don't think you could be further from the truth. Are we hated in some places? Of course, but that happens with every president. You can't please everyone, and the moment you start trying to please everyone is the moment that you become weak. That sounds arrogant, but I don't believe that it is beneficial to see to other peoples needs before your own countries if you are a leader. Do you?

However, I do agree that Kerry would probably start us off on a better world-footing. With that said, there is no guarantee that he will keep it there. One of my biggest gripes with Bush is that I feel after 9/11 he was presented this great opportunity to really unite the world. Everyone was offering us support and funds, and he pushed us further from them. So I guess I can go either way on this point, but I think saying 'the world will hate us more' is really overinclusive and quite pompous.

3. An unnecessary war. That is probably far and away my biggest problem with Kerry. If he thinks this war is a mistake, more power to him. But the fact is if he takes office, he'll be at war whether he likes it or not, and if I was a soldier, I wouldn't want my commander in chief saying I'm fighting for something wrong or a mistake. This point has been argued forever and I'm sick of seeing it.

So please, continue.

When i said the world hating us, i didn't mean it to sound as bad as it did. i just meant that i think the war was unneccesary and we may have ended up making more enemies than allies