The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Elmer L. Andersen: Why this Republican
ex-governor will be voting for Kerry
By Elmer L. Andersen
StarTribune
© October 13, 2004
Throughout my tenure and beyond as the 30th governor of
this state, I have been steadfastly aligned -- and until
recently, proudly so -- with the Minnesota Republican Party.
It dismays me, therefore, to have to publicly disagree with
the national Republican agenda and the national Republican
candidate but, this year, I must.
The two "Say No to Bush" signs in my yard say it all.
The present Republican president has led us into an
unjustified war -- based on misguided and blatantly false
misrepresentations of the threat of weapons of mass
destruction. The terror seat was Afghanistan. Iraq had no
connection to these acts of terror and was not a serious
threat to the United States, as this president claimed, and
there was no relation, it's now obvious, to any serious
weaponry. Although Saddam Hussein is a frightful tyrant, he
posed no threat to the United States when we entered the war.
George W. Bush's arrogant actions to jump into Iraq when he
had no plan how to get out have alienated the United States
from our most trusted allies and weakened us immeasurably
around the world.
Also, if there as well had been proper and careful coordination
of services and intelligence on Sept. 11, 2001, that horrific
disaster might also have been averted. But it was a separate
event from this brutal mess of a war, and the disingenuous
linking of the wholly unrelated situation in Iraq to 9/11 by
this administration is not supported by the facts.
Sen. John Kerry was correct when he said that seemingly it is
only Bush and Dick Cheney who still believe their own spin.
Both men spew outright untruths with evangelistic fervor. For
Bush -- a man who chose to have his father help him duck
service in the military during the Vietnam War -- to disparage
and cast doubt on the medals Kerry won bravely and legitimately
in the conflict of battle is a travesty.
For Cheney to tell the hand-picked, like-minded Republican
crowds in Des Moines last month that to vote for John Kerry
could mean another attack like that of 9/11 is reprehensible.
Moreover, such false statements encourage more terrorist
attacks rather than prevent them.
A far smaller transgression, but one typical of his
stop-at-nothing tactics, was Cheney's assertion in last
Wednesday's vice-presidential debate that he'd never met
Sen. John Edwards until that night. The next day -- and the
media must stay ever-vigilant at fact-checking the lies of
this ticket -- news reports, to the contrary, showed four
video clips of Edwards and Cheney sitting next to each other
during the past five years.
In both presidential debates, Kerry has shown himself to be
of far superior intellect and character than Bush. He speaks
honestly to the American people, his ethics are unimpeachable
and, clearly, with 20 respected years in the Senate, he has
far better credentials to lead the country than did Bush when
he was elected four years ago. And a far greater depth of
understanding of domestic and foreign affairs to do it now.
Not that the sitting president has ever really been at the
helm.
I am more fearful for the state of this nation than I have
ever been -- because this country is in the hands of an evil
man: Dick Cheney. It is eminently clear that it is he who is
running the country, not George W. Bush.
Bush's phony posturing as cocksure leader of the free world --
symbolized by his victory symbol on the aircraft carrier and
"mission accomplished" statement -- leave me speechless. The
mission had barely been started, let alone finished, and 18
months later it still rages on. His ongoing "no-regrets,"
no-mistakes stance and untruths on the war -- as well as on
the floundering economy and Bush administration joblessness --
also disappoint and worry me.
Liberal Republicans of my era and mind-set used to have a
humane and reasonable platform. We advocated the importance
of higher education, health care for all, programs for children
at risk, energy conservation and environmental protection.
Today, Bush and Cheney give us clever public relations names
for programs -- need I say "No Child Left Behind? -- but a
lack of funding to support them. Early childhood education
programs and overall health care are woefully underfunded. We
have not only the largest number ever of medically uninsured
in this nation, our infant mortality rates, once among the
lowest in the world, have worsened to 27th.
As taxes for the wealthy are being cut, jobs are being
outsourced if not lost and children are homeless and uninsured,
this administration is running up the biggest deficit in U.S.
history -- bound to be a terrible burden for future generations.
This imperialistic, stubborn adherence to wrongful policies
and known untruths by the Cheney-Bush administration -- and
that's the accurate order -- has simply become more than I can
stand.
Although I am a longtime Republican, it is time to make a
statement, and it is this: Vote for Kerry-Edwards, I implore
you, on Nov. 2.
Elmer L. Andersen was Minnesota's governor from 1961 to 1963.
© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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