REPUBLICANS: IT'S NOT JUST IRAQ WAR, STUPID! THERE ARE A HOST OF OTHER ISSUES THAT MATTER. Will Tomorrow Be the Day of Reckoning? A Day of Change?

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Tomorrow's mid-term election results could be a pivotal point in U.S. foreign policy by rejection of the Bush administration’s flawed and reckless strategy of spreading democracy by means of applying aggressive military force. And whether Democrats gain control of one or both Houses of Congress or not, I am hoping some semblance of saneness will once again reemerge in how our great Country conducts itself in international affairs. Perhaps, the old African adage that was made famous by President Roosevelt: “walk softly and carry a big stick” will become the new mantra and dominate approach towards dealing in world affairs.

If the Republicans retain control of the Senate, maybe they will get the clear message upon analyzing election results; which will undoubtedly show they narrowly won or almost lost in several key races. Possibly, they will realize that voters, including their own loyal supporters are concerned not only about the Iraq war, but a litany of other restless nights and stomach ache issues as well: collective arrogance; lack of control and balance in government; wasteful pork-barrel spending as if public coffers are their own private bank accounts; increases in public debt; growth in government bureaucracy, which is an abandonment of the Conservative ideology of holding down the size of government, with controlled spending; rubber stamp governance; stubborn failure to admit when wrong and that a new direction is required in Iraq; that their old stale party-line of “staying the course”is no longer acceptable; blatant corruption; allowing lobbyists to influence legislation with duplicity and complicity on part of Republican public officials; and for bringing “dishonor” to the American people by allowing the President to place this great Nation in a situation where its moral authority and honest broker leverage are much weaker, if not completely exhausted, than they were five years ago.

And last but not least, which deserves a separate paragraph, the unforgivable sin of reaping further dishonor upon the United States of America, as reported by the Associate Press on a poll conducted by Ottawa-based EKOS Research, which revealed that: “A majority of people in three countries with close ties to the U.S. — Britain, Canada and Mexico— consider President George W. Bush a threat to world peace, ranking the U.S. president right up there with the leaders of two countries he has labeled part of the "axis of evil" — North Korea's Kim Jong Il and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” I cannot recall in my readings of US American history in which a US president has been so debased in stature, status and morality as has our current President; not even former President Carter.

So will tomorrow's mid-term election be a referendum on the Iraq war, the Bush-Cheney administration or the conservative Republicans as a whole, or all the above? Or will it just be an exercise in the status quo of “politics as usual,” where as voters will feel obligated to vote strictly along party-lines based on misplaced loyalty and blind allegiance? For sake of sanity and badly needed change, let’s hope not. You decide!

P.S. Go Vote! Do your civic duty, responsibly.
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Read more of the Associated Press article at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/america/NA_GEN_World_Views_of_Bush.php