George,

I cannot understand John Kerry--all he had to say, was like Viet Nam. When only two senators opposed the war (both vilified, incidentally), he took the advice of the commander in chief to be honest and accurate, later to find it was a case of deception, dishonesty and a liberal dose of "smoke and mirrors"!

Bush and his fellow "body snatchers" and "pod people" have sucked Kerry into a debate about an unpopular war that most Americans now regard as a monumental and costly mistake. Kerry should be saying, "compassionate conservative?"

When poor kids' food programs are cut; when 2 million jobs are lost, when 43 million Americans go without health insurance in the wealthiest nation on earth; when he bows to the radical right-wing fundamentalists and prevents stem cell research that might help millions of ailing human beings; when his distortions and lies take the focus off the REAL enemy and bog us down in an unwinnable war with 935 young Americans dead, thousands maimed with lost limbs and lost eyesight, many more wounded; when the dead are treated like criminals and smuggled back into our nation in the black of night; where 9-11 is exploited as a political opportunity; when he continues, for seven minutes, after he has been told the nation is being attacked, listening to an elementary teacher read "My Pet Goat;" cuts taxes so 42% of the benefit goes to 1% of the wealthiest Americans--cuts taxes while he takes the nation to war--uses 9-11 to justify tax cuts!; creates the largest deficit in the history of the world, claiming the war in Afghanistan and Iraq are partly responsible (and those costs aren't even included in the budget figures)--deficits three years in a row, starting long before 9-11, from the largest surpluses in history!

This is a leader? This is a compassionate man? This is a conservative? This is a man from the party of A. Lincoln and T.Roosevelt? This is a gang that attacks Kerry's war record exactly as they attacked John McCain in the South Carolina primary, saying he fathered a black child and was psychologically unfit to be president after 5 1/2 years as a POW! There is no limit to their scurrilous and vituperative attacks.

This is a gang that attacked Senator Max Cleland, a wheel chair bound, Silver Star decorated triple amputee who fought in Viet Nam; calling him a traitor and an ally of Saddam Hussein, because he dared question the wisdom of taking the nation to war! All this coming from a bunch of "chicken hawks" who never served a day and a guy whose old man's influence got him bumped over 900 other men on a waiting list for the Texas Air National Guard, even then he didn't fulfill his obligation.

All this coming from a dirty mouthed VP who said "he had better things to do" then serve his country! If the American people are foolish enough to send Bush & Co back for another four years, they'll deserve what they get.

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, August 12, 2004)