NO ONE LIKES A WINNER WHO MAKES GOOD POINTS AND HAS AN ANSWER TO YOUR MOST DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.

Damn! Just when I was certain that my view of the world was unimpeachable along comes this guy with well-considered opinions and a resistance to flying too far off the handle. To make matters worse, he's pretty much making the same arguments that I make, but he uses them to come to a different conclusion.

I don't want America patrolling the world enforcing our will on others and exploiting foreign resources and economies for our own good. I have my own set of political priorities which I usually feel are never addressed by either party so elections generally leave me disappointed. I believe Kerry lost, though, because he didn't define any of the issues. They were defined for him by Bush and he simply played the antagonist. It's really hard to feel positive about a guy who is doing little more then second guessing a bunch of difficult decisions. I don't vote against someone because of what they've done wrong. I vote for someone because of what they've done right. There are most certainly things that Bush has done wrong, but there are also many things he's done right. I felt Kerry never addressed what he, himself, did right, never acknowledged anything Bush ever did right, and only focused on what he thought Bush did wrong. Well, if that's the only criteria to elect a president, then frankly anyone in this country is qualified to be president. It's easy to be an armchair quarterback.

Then, after I get over the shock of the encounter and how much I learned, I get a forward that basically says 'I like big trucks and wars and everyone else can go .... themselves and if you think that's (racist/ elitist/ intolerant/ bigoted/ unreasonable/ wrong) then you are a total ....... loser and I hope you get a Guinea worm infection behind your eyeball'. My response to the latter forwarded email was an initial 'same to you buddy, except for the big trucks and the war and stuff', followed by the following, more carefully reasoned, response.

I'm glad that someone gave my ancestors a chance when they came to America. They came here with few friends, little money, and young families. Someone gave them a job, let them rent housing, gave them a chance to succeed; to become Americans. I hate to think that I would deny someone else the same opportunities. Some think people living in America should speak English, and any other language is an insult to the men and women who are fighting and dying in Iraq right now. Some people think that affirmative action, cultural preservation societies, advocacy groups, and the NAACP are unfair because they can't have their Ku Klux Klan. They forget that white men control the Senate, the House, The White House, the Supreme Court, and most of the Fortune 500 companies. Denying opportunity for others because they arn't like you seems like greed to me, and what's more, it's against the law. Let someone else have a voice. It might feel nice for you to rest your tired viewpoints.

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