10B --The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2004 COMMENTARY ELECTION SELECTION 2004 4 DINT this: 'President Kerry' VIEWPOINT Where the Republicans stand JULY 12, 2004 APRIL 15, 2004 AEL MOMIN I will say it: John Kerry can win this election. Incon- clusive polls aside, Kerry has some real advantages on Bush, not the least of which are his domestic plans and his running mate. If Kerry manages to shift the focus of this election away from the endless referendum on Iraq and the inane "values debate," he can hit Bush where Bush is weakest: the domestic policy front. The Bush team has played a smart but risky game. It has taken flashy issues such as war and national securi- ty, and elevated them, front-and-center. Com- mander-in-chief George W Bush has declared war on terror, liberated the Iraqi people, made America safer AP PHOTO and stabilized the world by deposing a lunatic with(out) weapons of mass destruction. This fixation on issues, however, has come at a cost: Domesti- 7 c a l ly, Bu s h ' hasn't done impressive. His sole economic policy has been the institution of tax cuts, his major healthcare initiative has been a prescrip- tion drug benefit that helps pharmaceuticals more than either seniors or taxpayers and his flagship education plan (No Child Left Behind) isn't even adequately fund- ed. His pet project, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, is lip service to the loony Right. For Kerry, an opportunity exists to define and promote a John Kerry agenda that can draw support independent of the "Anybody-but-Bush" sentiment. With international policy, Kerry and Bush are at odds about details. Bush wanted the war in Iraq, Kerry voted to authorize it. Bush was supportive of the June 28 transfer of power, so was Kerry. Bush doesn't like evildoers; Kerry shares a similar sentiment, even though he might refer to them in a more technical manner as "terrorists." The finely drawn line between the two is that Kerry wants the cooperation of allies SAM BUTLER THE SOAPBOX JA and he thinks he can get it, while Bush wants the coop- eration of allies and has shown he can't. The Bush for- eign policy has mired the United States in a horrible international mess, but Bush thinks he's right and Kerry has to face reality: pulling out of Iraq unilateral- ly and immediately would be disastrous. The result, inevitably, is that both plan to stay in Iraq. With Ralph Nader launching his ego trip (candidacy), Kerry has to worry about liberals breaking with the Democrats and tossing the election to Bush. In the foreign policy arena, if the best Kerry can do is to adopt a subtle ren- dition of Bush's policy, he has to define himself else- where. Case-in-point: health care. Essentially, Kerry rescinds Bush's tax cut to all those making over $200,000 a year. He uses this extra $631 billion over 10 years to fund his health care plan, estimated to cost a little over $650 billion over the same period. The income threshold for Medicaid is raised, so many working-class families become eligible for government health care, and the government agrees to pay 75 per- cent of any health care costs in excess $50,000. Paul Krugman, economics professor at Princeton and columnist for The New York Times, has argued that the plan will not only drive down everyone's premiums by about 10 percent, but also adequately cover millions of families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. In his own words, "This is a truly good idea ... Mr. Kerry's plan would help far more people than it would hurt." Bush, by comparison, has yet even to articulate a plan for providing health care to all. Potential president Kerry also has a trump card: Sen- ator John Edwards. Republicans have good reason to be scared; Cheney vs. Edwards is an unfair fight. Edwards revels in front of cameras, Cheney dislikes campaigning. Cheney is associated with Halliburton; Edwards is associated with the working class. Edwards has energy; Cheney has heart problems. Already, Edwards has invigorated the ticket: Kerry has been seen laughing at recent campaign stops! Republicans are panicking - Edwards was clearly a good choice. With the President on the defensive about Sept. 11, the CIA and the Iraq war, a Democratic victory in November seems possible. Riding last week's wave of good press, it is now up to Kerry and Edwards to find their issues, sell their plans and fight this campaign on BY STEPHEN MACGUIDWIN You're George W Bush. You're a 57-year-old father of twin daughters and husband to Laura, a former librarian and teacher. You graduated from Yale and Harvard Business School. You've served your country in the National Guard, your home state as governor of Texas and have been alcohol- free for over 10 years now. You even beat out the man who invented the Internet to become president. Does this introduction sound familiar? No? Check out yes- terday's Daily viewpoint for some passe Bush bashing from a nonstudent and former Daily columnist (The day Saddam's statue fell, 04/13/04). I speak on behalf of the entire undecided population of students when I say, "It's getting old, guys." Bush isn't Satan, and he's not God. He isn't a liar, murder- er, cheater, racist, sexist, elitist or any other derogatory term that these Bush bashers misuse. He is a cowboy, and there's nothing wrong with that. Rather than waste your time and insult your intelligence by going Kerry knocking (equivalent of Bush bashing?), I want to show you all a portion of the Republican platform. By focusing on four of the top issues for us students, hopefully you'll see why we Republicans support the president. Keep in mind that the average voter does not attend the University. So please, free your mind for at least the length of this article. Taxes - George Bush Sr. said it best, "No new taxes." We believe that the American people know how to best spend their money. Both parties agree that economic stimulus comes from spending, but Republicans believe that taxpayers and corporations should be the benefactors of the spending. Tax cuts create new jobs, and improve the quality of life for all Americans. That money promotes consumer spending, which creates jobs for factory workers and corporate spend- ing on new equipment and the operators that they require. Terrorism - Not in our country, ever again. The United States is an equal-opportunity terrorism exterminator. If you're supporting terrorism, we couldn't care less about your race, religion, ethnicity or gender; we're going to stop you. We want to feel safe in our own country, as do the citizens of all countries in the free world. As long as terrorist cells exist, none of us are safe. At home, we need to give law enforce- ment the power to quickly react on tips of domestic terrorism through laws like the PATRIOT Act. Abroad, we believe that the United States needs to work with other nations (Pakistan, Afghanistan, even France) to root out their domestic terrorist networks, and we can't be afraid to intervene when national governments support terrorism (Iraq). Iraq - For 15 years, Saddam Hussein stifled U.N. weapons inspections and refused disclosure of his nuclear and biological weapons intentions. As Republicans, we sup- ported the war in Iraq for the threat that Saddam posed to both the Iraqi and American people. We found a centrifuge cut to nuclear specifications, missile-precision guidance hardware, documents that linked the regime with attempts to procure weapons-grade plutonium and an al-Qaida training camp in southern Iraq. We got Hussein, his sons and his regime leaders. The war in Iraq not only thwarted a volatile regime and ended Sad- dam's genocide of a half-million Iraqis, but it persuaded Libya and North Korea to disclose their nuclear intentions. Further- more, we are committed to instilling a democracy where there once was only tyranny. n Education - Teachers and schools need to be held responsible for properly educat- ing their stu- dents. National standards are essential to ensure that American receives a quality K-12 education and not AP PHOTO just a paper degree. We believe that all parents should have the ability to choose their student's school, be it public, private or in another district. Finally, public education needs to be better funded by the states, and more affordable for all. Federal Pell grants made education affordable for collegiate scholars, but are no substitute for state funding. Now that you're all well-versed in Republican thought, I implore each and every one of you to make your own educat- ed decision about which party to support in the upcoming elections. I also challenge the Democrats on campus to artic- ulate their party's stance on these issues and to stop hiding behind this playground name-calling that is Bush bashing. The Republican Party has a clear plan and vision for a safer and better America, and I encourage all of you to support our president as he makes that vision a reality. 4 4 Momin is an LSA junior and a member of the Daily's editorial board. MacGuidwin is an LSA senior and the president of the College Republicans. 5 2004 r, ( #J p How to tell a 10-year-old her president sucks JOEL HOARD OH YEAH JANUARY 22, 2004 w c z e- .' _._ -- - i t , 1' 4 1., ,,;, " C , -_ STEVE COTNER AND JOEL HOARD OmRON PuSsYCA Great Britain, Australia, Poland and other coun- tries enforced the demands of the United Nations, ended the rule of Saddam Hussein and the people of Iraq are free." He went on to claim that "From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support." He implies that the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are truly international ones. But this so-called international coalition is nothing more than the United States and a handful of toady countries that are too afraid not to commit troops to the cause. The president thinks that because you're young and naive he can trick you into believing something that's simply not true. Don't let him. Sadly the president's crimes go beyond simple lies. Tuesday night he also outlined several poli- cies that he claimed were aimed at protecting children like you, Ashley, when in reality they only seek to promote his not-so-hidden Christian agenda. He called for increased funding for abstinence programs and drug testing in high schools. Because you will be in high school in a few short years, let me warn you: He wants only to invade your privacy and force his beliefs on you, Ashley. Don't let him. This next part may be a little confusing to you, but I will do my best to explain it in such a way that you can understand. You know how much your mommy and daddy love each other, right? They love each other so much that they made a promise to spend the rest of their lives together. It is a very special bond that they share. There are lots of other people who share this special bond, and sometimes instead of a mommy and a daddy it's two mommies or two daddies. That doesn't mean that they don't love each other all the same. They should be able to promise to spend the rest of their lives together just as your mommy and daddy did, right Ashley? Well the president doesn't think so. He wants to prevent these people from marrying each other in spite of their love. With rationale based on archaic notions of love and marriage, he uses words like "sanctity of marriage" and "moral tradition" to try to confuse you into believing that even though these people love each other very much they shouldn't be allowed to get married. Don't let him. But please don't lose heart, little one. There is still hope. You asked your president what you can do to save our country. He replied, "Study hard in school, listen to your mom or dad, help someone in need and when you and your friends see a man or woman in uniform, say, 'thank you.' " It sounds well and good, but the president's requests are tantamount to slapping a "God Bless America" bumper sticker on your mom's minivan or wearing a "United We Stand" T-shirt. Let me tell you what the president should have asked you to do. He should have asked that you tell your parents to vote for John Kerry or John Edwards or Howard Dean or Wesley Clark - hell, even a third party candidate. I beseech you: anyone but George W. Bush. Otherwise, my dear Ashley, we're fucked. Hoard can be reached atj.ho@umich.edu. 'awful' Democratic ider in '04 Mostly liberal and utterly disgusted, I regis- tered independent and voted Green in that elec- tion. As if to prove me right, the party continued to suck long after Bush swaggered into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Sept. 11 happened, and sud- denly there was this big, ugly bill before Con- gress called the USA PATRIOT Act (abstract: "If we pay any attention whatsoever to the Fourth Amendment, the terrorists have won"). Awful though they had already shown themselves to be, I didn't really want to believe that the Democrats in Congress would let the PATRIOT Act through. So they'd handed Bush the White House on a sil- ver platter the previous November - so what? They were still civil-liberty-lovin' liberals with spines and scruples, right? Oh, what a foolish young thing I was. No more. I've given up what little hope I once had for the Democratic Party, and seeing its members cropping un now. after three years of nodding OCTOBER 7, 2003 them out in approval-roaring droves. We need Jon Stewart and Eddie Vedder. Yes. The host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and the lead singer of Pearl Jam, the greatest American rock band of all time - it would be glorious. You think I'm kidding. But come with me on this one. As host of "The Daily Show," Stewart's been cutting Bush down to size on basic cable every Monday through Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern Stan- dard Time since day one of the Bush presidency. And unlike the Democratic "leaders" who so raise my ire, Stewart didn't bite his tongue when Bush pre-emptively demonized his detractors. He repeated that which needed repeating (Bush say- ing in complete and total earnest that he was "a follower of American politics" - a clip over- looked by the likes of CNN) and mocked that which needed mocking (terror alerts, mass media spin, etc.). We can trust this guy. And Vedder, m J