Presidential Auction 2004

The Democrat party platform has a few interesting points:

Sidesteps the question of whether the Iraq war was a mistake, saying "people of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war."

Obviously they weren't against the war in the first place. They just object to the Repuglican party being in control of it.

Suggests party supports maintaining a U.S. military presence in Iraq to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists and a destabilizing force in the Middle East."

So where's the line item thanking Prezidiot Bush for getting us into Iraq, permitting this plank in the platform, and then screwing it up so badly that the Democrat party has a chance at the White House? Apparently, they hadn't figured out a way to get that military presence permanently installed without paying a political price for it. They should be pleased that His Slowliness the Dope did the dirty work for them.

Reserves the right to preempt unconventional attacks, but says Democrats will emphasize winning international support when confronting those threats.

The doctrine of preemption is just fine. Selling a given invasion to foreign investors before going in will be the key. After all, if you are going to be king of the world, you have to fool more than your own citizens to keep resistance at a minimum. BushCo's big mistake was in pursuing tyranny instead of manipulation.

Calls terrorists with weapons of mass destruction the single-greatest security threat to the United States.

Do they know who and where these terrorists are, or are they pulling a possible scenario out of their "ass"? That reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw yesterday: Vote Democrat - the ass you save may be your own. In the place of "ass" was the back end of the Democrat mascot.

Supports adding 40,000 troops to the military "to sustain our overseas deployments and prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts."

Does that mean a draft? Or just a lowering of the bar for who is accepted at the recruiting stations? The platform says "we are dedicated to keeping our military operating on a volunteer basis," so maybe they're going to raise military pay? Offer some better bonus incentives? The platform doesn't tell us.

Reaffirms U.S. commitment to Israel and offers support policies pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; supports the creation of a Palestinian state; vows to help "transform" the Palestinian authority by promoting "responsible" leadership; says Jerusalem belongs to Israel and should not be divided.

Vows to put Israel's interests before America's or the world's.

Supports raising minimum wage to $7 an hour from current $5.15.

I want you to take a good long look at those figures, because they are not typos. Could you live on $5.15 an hour? Could you raise your family on $7?

Actually, if you look at the domestic planks, especially jobs, health care, and military reform, I think even your misguided Republican friends (those who are not wealthy) will be forced to think twice about voting Repug.

And, although I'm not thrilled with leaving this in the hands of the president, I think it is an absolutely necessary step in the right direction:

Supports giving president a constitutional "line-item veto" that would allow him to reject provisions of congressional spending bills.

We really need to get rid of that ability to tack totally unrelated issues onto bills just to get pet projects through. And I don't think it should be limited to spending bills.

I've commented on a lot more of the platform planks than I intended to when I started this post. There are a lot more of them, however. So take a look. Here's a shorter highlights list, and here's the whole thing (pdf).

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.