Watching CNN like a car wreck on the interstate...
'It's not just to be reduced as a nuisance. It is to be defeated by using all of the might of the United States and spreading freedom as an alternative.'

During a rally in Davenport, Iowa, Cheney also ridiculed the comment, saying that when he heard it 'I asked myself, when was terrorism only a nuisance?'

'Was it in 1983, when terrorists hit our embassy that spring in Beirut and killed several Americans, including the CIA station chief?' Cheney said, going on to ask the same question about a series of terrorist attacks, from the 1983 bombing of Marine barracks in Lebanon to the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

Ok, so maybe "nuisance" is not the best word, as it implies a sort of trivial nature that Kerry obviously does not intend, but this is the kind of spin that makes me sick. What John Kerry wants is for Americans to be able to live their lives in a world (albeit a world that will always, inherently contain some sort of "terrorist" threat) without existing in a constant state of fear, encouraged by a regime that thrives on this fear and uses it to subjugate its people. I think John Kerry believes that the US can once again be a place where we understand that threats to our safety do exist (and will ALWAYS exist, regardless of who is elected in November, because of the nature of the goddamn human race...) but where we do not require a barrage of rainbow-colored ALERTS! and memos from The Administration bearing down on us every minute of every day. We do not NEED to live in a country where we are told every day that we SHOULD be afraid, (stock up on bottled water and gas masks!) when there is no need for us to live our entire lives in fear.

But wouldn't it be so nice if Mr. Bush could use his special, er, skills to simultaneously make everone in the world hate us AND defeat all terrorism by "spreading freedom as an alternative." It seems to be working SO well thus far. Oh yes, I can feel the waves of freedom spreading over me like a soft, pink, bullet-proof blanket.

CNN.com - Bush, Kerry near final debate - Oct 13, 2004
- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 11:14:00 AM