The Reason Not to Vote for a Dope even if the other guy's medals are probably not well earned

No conflict ever hinged more on the competence of the people in charge
of the world than does this one. This is the very reason why you don't
vote for a dope because he seems like a nice guy, and the other guy,
well, his war hero medals might just be bogus. Somebody just shoot me.

What would have happened if we had had Bush as president during the
Cuban missile crisis? We'd still be recovering from that war. Many of us
wouldn't be here right now.

We need a team of smart people to run the government: people who
understand how to negotiate with all types----and by negotiate, I don't
mean people who have refined their bullying techniques into multiple
modes.

We need people who respect other cultures, who can empathize with those
who have become so enraged at being a victim of strong-arm tactics of
our government, and our corporations.

This ruling cabal just bullies others to do what they say (in their own
cabinet, military, dissenters; and anyone outside the country), because
they're running the most powerful government on the planet (and, for how
long, before they wreck us?) We're in a precarious place--all parties must back off. It could easily turn into the world war that certain parties crave--for different
reasons. Some people believe that our government is behind the Israel
overreaction.

I'm sick about this. Do you read Newsweek? I just started a subscription
a few weeks ago. In the issue I just got in the mail a day or two ago,
there is a picture of a dead little boy -- laying there, brains spilled
onto the rubble. He was Lebanese, as if that matters. One dead little
child of any stripe is absolutely abominable. I want every war-mongering
chicken hawk up and down the ladder to have to live with that image--to
know it with deep empathy, as if it were their child--to be haunted by
it, as I am.