The Charges Against Bush

An Op-ed piece in USA Today looks at Kerry's acceptance speech and lays out his charges against Bush with a minimum of biased interpretation:

"Kerry called Bush a liar and untrustworthy, referring mostly to Iraq. He said he had embarrassed the United States on the world stage and in the process caused Americans to lose pride in their country.

He accused him of having low expectations when it comes to improving the economy, lowering the standard of living for the middle class and gutting the morale of the country to the point where "we just need to believe in ourselves ... again."

He charged that because of Bush's leadership, we are less safe, nations overseas don't respect us anymore, only fear us, and our old foreign alliances have fallen apart and need rebuilding again.

He also said that because of his policies, Bush was "kicking kids out of after-school programs and taking cops off the streets so that Enron can get another tax break."

And he went on to say that the president was "denying real prescription drug coverage to seniors so big drug companies can get another windfall." He evoked the bleak vision of senior citizens cutting their pills in half because they can't afford "life-saving medicine."

Wrapping himself in the Ten Commandments and its admonition to "honor thy father and mother," Kerry said Bush would cut seniors' benefits by "privatizing" Social Security.

There was more. He said the president was denying health care to veterans and telling middle-class families to wait for a tax cut "so that the wealthiest among us can get even more."

He said Bush was sending jobs overseas and rewarding companies that do it, forcing sick people to work because they fear losing their health insurance, shoving millions of people into poverty and inflicting asthma on the children of Harlem and across the country because he has done nothing to fight air pollution.

And in keeping with the long-held Democratic belief that Bush is dumb, he said the president doesn't believe in science and therefore, we cannot find cures for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and AIDS.

But perhaps the most serious charges leveled against the president by the Democratic nominee came with regard to the war. Not only did he accuse the president of lying and rushing to war under false pretenses, he also charged that Bush was recklessly sending men and women to die without exhausting every other option first, without the proper life-saving equipment and weaponry and without a plan to bring them home safely."

The author, Richard Benedetto, says of the charges:

If they are all true, then we shouldn't vote Bush out of office in November, we should be heading for the White House right now with torches and ropes. "

To win, Benedetto concludes, Bush will have to convince the US public that these charges are not true. That's going to be difficult.