What are the best issues to define the campaign?

[Poiuyt]

It's pretty obvious that Bush is trying to define the campaign by bringing back memories of 9/11. During the Democratic convention, Kerry played up the fact that he was a war hero and thus could be counted on to defend our country. Looking back it seemed that Bush's numbers were dropping the most when the news had a lot about the mess in Iraq and especially the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib. That had all the elements that the news media loves to talk about, namely sex and violence.

I think all the talk about Viet Nam is interesting but isn't going to change the voting that much. Undecided and Republican voters don't care about Bush being AWOL from the National Guard because they can say that everything changed after 9/11. To that I say fine, let's look at what he did after 9/11. If we reinforce the notion that the Iraq war was a waste of time, money, and America lives...America started a war for the first time in our history...and torturing prisoners is against the ideals and morals of America, then we can make Bush go back to Texas or Connecticut or wherever he's from.

[kentuck]

1. It's about a cult of personality... and who is more honorable

it's not about issues... :)

[AP]

2. I think best issue is that threats of terror are NOT excuses for ruining..

...the lives of ordinary Americans and that America is strongest when the lives of ordinary Americans are more rewarding, fulfulling and happier.

And if people don't believe it, ask them why that strategy for protecting America worked so well for FDR.

[Gelliebeans]

3. I want to know why we the media

is so pressured to ignore the dead brave soldiers coming home from IRAQ just cause * says we can't photograph pictures of their bodies coming home from a war where we were MISLEAD

This people should be remembered not swept under the carpet.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Bush's actions are his Achilles' heel

You can bring down the arguments of any freeper who says "Bush has made us safer" or that "Iraq was a war we needed to win". Bush has trashed veteran's benefits and hurt the current military by his policies. He's made sure that funds for Homeland Security have dried up. You give people the facts about these things, and they don't have a counter argument.

[Poiuyt]

5. Bush's actions since 9/11 have made us LESS safe

You bring up some good points and I know there are more out there. Homeland Security has indeed been mismanaged. Airline passengers are screened carefully, but luggage is not. Shipping containers coming into our ports are not examined. Our borders are like revolving doors, Bush wants to give amnesty to illegal aliens. On and on. And, of course, the Iraqi War has made us so hated around the world that recruiting for al Quaida is easy.

I think my original point (I may not have been too clear) was that the torture abuse at Abu Ghraib disgusted America so much. People identify the abuse with the mess in Iraq and they identify Iraq with Bush. So the more Abu Ghraib is in the news or in commercials of some kind, the more Bush will be hurt.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Iraq Invasion/Occupation. It's a costly disaster. Bush led us into it.

Misled, actually.

Also: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is America better off now than four years ago? If not, time for a change.


SIMPLE! SIMPLE!

[BillZBubb]

7. Three pronged:

1) Mismanagement of foreign policy. I'd concentrate on only one item: Iraq has been a totally mismanaged mess. It is expensive and bloody and Bush* told us it would be cheap and easy. Plus, Bush* keeps making matters worse.

2) Total failure on domestic policy, two items: Jobs, Debt, and health care. Bush* and the Republicans push huge tax cuts for the wealthy few, while standing by as good, middle class jobs disappear. Meanwhile the US debt reaches record levels and the middle class tax burden gets heavier. Bush* has done nothing to rein in health care costs and has no serious plan to do so.

3) Total disregard for the future, four items: Environment, Debt, Social Security, and Stem cells. Bush* has gutted environmental protections for short term profits. Long term, American's health will suffer. Bush* has nearly bankrupted the country. Today's kids will have to be more heavily taxed to pay down the debt. Bush* has put Social Security in extreme jeopardy by wasting the surplus. Even the baby boomers are at risk now of losing benefits. And finally, in scientific areas like stem cell research, Bush* has set the United States back by a decade to appease his fundamentalist religious base.