You wouldnt expect me to say that now would you? But this coming election Bush gets my vote. Why you ask? Well its as follows. It is between choosing two evils. Kerry and Bush are no different from each other on the war on terrorism or on any thing with regard to foriegn policy. They have the same policies. The difference is that Kerry is smarter. Not a good thing. Imagine Bush but smarter. There goes the earth and most of our solar system dont you think?
Secondly the democractic party is known for its pro-israel/jewish stance. There are i believe 15 jewish senators of which a majority are democrats. Thus it is obvious they are not well inclined towards muslims or muslim countries. Just take a look at the way AIPAC lobbies and what actions are taken against muslim countries. There is a very strong link between the two.
Third they (democrats) are not well desposed to Pakistan at all. Rather they see us as the next threat after China of course. We are a bigger threat than Iran according to the democrats. So the current good favor that the CE enjoys with President Bush will be non-existant under kerry also we will lose all our benefits and debt re-scheduling.
On Israel, both parties have the same agenda. Because the lobbies that influence the parties & US policies don’t care who is in office & they have people on both sides in their pocket.
Besides, you need to go talk to Republican voters in the South to find out how much they are in favor of Israel. It's not because they like Jews, it is because they consider them being gathered in Jerusalem a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. These supporters of Israel are far worse than the ones who support Israel as a nation on notions of discrimination & persecution of Jews around the world, because they would support Israel no matter what Israeli government does.
At the current situation when we need to chose one evil out of two, I will chose W(rong) Bush, we have no choice or else get ready to beat up more by Kerry regime.
All that is well and good but it is very difficult to expect that muslim voters in US will vote in large numbers for Bush. They just dislike him too much now. They'll vote for change, even when they know that historircally Dems are not pro-muslims either.
Aww come on why WA? I posted it specifically in general as i want the view of the general populace and not the people whose opinion i already know. Can this be moved back to general?
Faisal people are idiots. Regardless of what Bush has done he is the evil we know and he can do more for Pakistan as he doesnt have to worry about re-election.
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*Originally posted by CM: *
and he can do more for Pakistan as he doesnt have to worry about re-election.
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Thats subjective. No one really knows what Bush will do in his second term, cz he or his Veep won't be running 4 years from now. They have no pressure to be 'good'.
Look at the actions taken by Reagan in his second term. They were heavily titled towards to Pakistan. I believe personally Bush is very well disposed to Pakistan. After all they didnt counter 3 Pakistani appointments at the UN at the positions of USG and ASG. The CE has pulled a very strong US line and it has benefited Pakistan.
CM: Muslims in US also have other things on mind beside foreign policy. Also, very few of them are Pakistani to be caring about how Bush treats Pakistan.
Most local Muslims I have come in contact with are voting Kerry, mainly because of how they were treated after Sep 2001. They are the same people who voted Bush in 2000. Discrimination, Patriot Act & their friends being deported/harassed being first big reason, second Iraq war. One can argue that a Dem. administration would have done the same at least on the domestic front but it's just a hypothetical question. Most people will blame Bush & Ashcroft.
Then there are some who will vote Bush regardless, they like the tax cuts.
I sensed Shia Muslims were won over by Bush by taking out Saddam as hardly any of my personal friends opposed the war in the beginning but lately with all the Holy Shrine issues & no valid exit policy has made them totally discontent.
On the domestic front i agree with Bush as well. But i am a republican so go figure. I like his policies towards same sex marriages and the general Republican mandate on domestic issues.
As for the treatment. Bush nor his team did not draft the nazi Patriot bills. Rather it was the people working in the dept that did that. So you cant blame the Bush Administration. Also it was unopposed in the house and senate. Both Dems and Rep voted for the bill(s).
Secondly the harrasement is on a individual level. It is not by Bush himself nor is it by say Powell. It does done by the local idiot on the street.
Yesterday on a TV interview, Musharraf was asked if he favors Bush or Kerry, and Mushy's answer was (ofcourse, it was diplomatic and for the public), that a country's (USA) policies are not based solely on personal preferences but more on geo-political advantages. So as long as Pakistan is on the forefront of helping global terrorism, regardless of who is the President in the US, we will remain a valuable 'friend'. Reagan's second term policies may be impacted to a certain degree by the fact that US had to deal with Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and Reagan's Veep had Presidential ambitions.
I do see similarities between the convervative views of Republicans and most Muslims, but Muslims may suffer from the self-righteous and exclusionary policies that usually go with a convervative agenda. Take a poll of Americans and ask if we should profile against Muslims/Arabs and/or if we should take the war on terror through Pakistan and Mecca. Wanna bet which group (demos/repubs) will give more of the answers Muslims don't want to hear?
Depends really. Some of the extreme right-wingers (e.g. Pat Buchanans of the World) have views that are so to the right that they are now on the left although not for the same reasons. Pat says he opposed the war on Iraq because he thought it will breed more terrorist attacks against the US.
^^ Excellent point Seminole, Muslims care less about republican conservative believes. There are more dissimilarity between Muslim and Republicans than similarities. Even though they agree morally on lot of issues, but republicans foreign policies and actins has thrown chances of getting Muslim votes in gutter
You guys need to listen to talk radio to find out how much hatred these conservative republicans have against Islam. Its is pretty clear that who hates the existence of Muslims in America, Republicans or democrats?
^ If you are talking about folks like Savage, Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity.. then they are part-political commentators and part-entertainers (their shows depend on the ratings). So their tirades against Muslims serve a dual purpose. The huge numbers of their listeners, therefore, tell us how many of the right-wing republicans truly enjoy trash-talk about muslims.