Early in the debate, President Bush said, “We’re making progress”. Then it was Kerry’s turn. He said,
“This president just -- I don't know if he sees what's really happened there. But it's getting worse by the day. More soldiers killed in June than before. More in July than June. More in August than July. More in September than in August. And now we see beheadings. And we got weapons of mass destruction crossing the border every single day, and they're blowing people up. And we don't have enough troops there.”

Strong stuff, strong criticism, and mostly dead on accurate. What was President Bush’s response? He attacked the messenger. Bush responded:
Can I respond to that?

(LEHRER: Let's do one of these one-minute extensions. You have 30 seconds.)

”First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place. I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send our troops? What message does that send to our allies? What message does that send the Iraqis?”

”No, the way to win this is to be steadfast and resolved and to follow through on the plan that I've just outlined.”

I suspect that when Senator Kerry outlined the problems in Iraq, it must have struck me deep inside where the subconscious mind stores information and then goes to work processing it, searching for answers to unsolved problems. Mr. Bush did not have any answers for those problems that Kerry spoke of. It has finally reached critical mass in my mind - finally. And I think the American public is sensing it now more fully also.

I doubt Senator Kerry will solve the problems any better because he really doesn’t have a different plan. No, the allies don’t want to share in the deaths and casualties we’re absorbing right now so his concept of getting more allies on board isn’t going to work. But Senator Kerry has served a useful purpose. He has issued a wake up call for President Bush.

I won’t vote for Kerry, but I have decided to withhold my vote from President Bush – unless he decides to make some changes that will benefit our service men and women who are in harms way. If the Generals won’t ask you for more troops Mr. Bush, tell them they are getting them anyway! Either beat this enemy decisively or get the troops out.

October 3, 2004 – Dave Eberhard
(reprinted with permission)