Rodent Regatta

Former Mayor Ed Koch of New York City settled – for me at least – the leading issue for the Presidential election. Appearing in an interview with Neil Cavuto, he said something close to this:

I’m going to support President Bush for reelection because I believe terrorism is the biggest concern we face. He, the President, has taken the position that we’re going to take the war to the terrorists. We cannot enjoy any of our other freedoms if we live under the cloud of fear that terrorism brings.

While that’s a loose paraphrase, it’s right on the money in ideology. Either we’re under attack or we’re not. Isn’t there some way for us to agree on that fact? If we’re under attack, we’re going to fight on American soil or elsewhere. Surely, that’s obvious.

These facts don’t depend upon whether or not France likes us. They don’t depend upon whether or not Dictator A, B or C has or had a given number of weapons in the arsenal. Make note that Osama Bin Laden didn’t have a single Boeing aircraft in his ”stockpile of weapons.” Yet, that’s what was used to attack us.

More than the economy, more than healthcare, more than jobs, more than the next course of action in Iraq…the war on terrorism and how it will be waged should be our focus. Are we going to fight the war on terrorism or are we going to leave that to the United Nations? As I understand it, the two campaigns come down on different sides of that question.