> . "He thinks keeping us fearful about going to war will distract us
> from how bad the economy is."
>

Sidi,

Unfortunately, this statement sums it all up. As many Americans will tell
you, Bush became "presidential" when he found something to latch on to, and
unfortunately, it was the tragedy of 9/11. Americans were scared and rightly
so, and he has played upon that fear since then, using it for political
advantage.
The democrats are afraid to be too vocal againse Bush's war tirades because
they were not sure what their constituents would think of them, and the
constituents have been afraid to oppose Bush because they were afraid of
being accused of selling out and undermining the President should another
9/11 occur. So Bush has all of them captive.
The economy is crumbling from the top down, with all sorts of corporate fraud
and the overnight loss of pensions and savings by hard working Americans.
Large businesses are closing their doors daily with thousands of people out
of work overnight.
I think that Bush thinks that a war will boost the economy because they have
no other oprions to get the country out of the economic mess that it is in.

However, I think that the public is now waking up to realize that they are
being taken for a ride, and if a war were to ensue, they will not only find
themselves in a more severe economic mess, but their children will be the
sacrificial lambs being sent off to a war in which those being attacked may
unleash all they have to fight back, not to mention the creation of more
chaos not just in the Middle East but around the World.

This article in the New York Times, asking the question of where the
Democrats are is exactly the same thing that many have been wondering about.
As a supporter of the Democratic Party, I look around and wonder who there is
to successfully oppose George Bush in 2004, and I cannot think of anyone.

I find myself wishing that Bill Clinton could run for the Presidency again.At
least, the man was intelligent, and knew how to assemble a competent team and
was willing to listen to and talk to people all over the World.

 Mr Gore I'm afraid is not the answer. He seems to have gone into hiding
after the last election, and has just now started to surface every so many
months to render a weak comment here and there. The rest of the Democrats are
hostages to Bush's blackmail and do not want to be accused of being
unpatriotic in this atmosphere where the banner of fear is being waved over
the heads of Ameicans.

One thing though Sidi, I trust the American public to figure the whole mess
out and to stand their ground. Congressional Representatives as well as
Senators all over the country have started to receive tons of mail from their
constituents that they cannot affords to ignore. People are loosing jobs,
pensions, savings, you name it daily, and they are begining to realize that
the boat is sinking and these scare tactics that the Bush administration has
been instilling in them is just a decoy for the real problems which they
cannot  fix nor do they seem to have any good ideas to tackle them.

Even John MCcain has started to join the "let's rally behind the President"
band wagon. The Democrats may have had a hope in John Kennedy Jr. but alas!
he is gone, and I see no one to be a dynamic candidate for the Democrats in
2004. All of them seem to have been stricken with fear or a sudden loss for
words when there is plenty to say regarding what the administration of George
Bush is leading this country into.

Jabou Joh

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