I, for one, am thankful that we have a strong leader in these difficult time. I had my doubts during the election, but they were quickly laid to rest. I couldn't imagine having Gore in the Oval office right debating on whether or not soldiers should fire their M-16s because of the environmental damage and adverse health effects the bullets might have on the enemy. lol

Well let's see the last declaration of War was World War II, so I think that is a silly point to bring up., over and over and over, like so many of you Anti Bush types keep harping on! If people are too stupid to understand that we are at War then I feel sorry for them and need only remind them of 3,000 innocent lives lost by Arab mad men on September 11. Sad as it may seem but 14 out of 19 of those idiots were Saudi's....Hmmmm let's rethink the relationship with Saudi Arabia! You liberals can thank your lucky stars we have GWB and not Gore, who would be running polls on what to do and redesigning himself each and every day! Charlie

Im curious to know, how everyone here knows what Gore would have done in this time. You guys must have powers that 99.99999999999% of the population doesnt have. Thats true skill and you should get money for it.

Davey, if you want to send me money let me know and I will send you an address.......Gore doesn't go the bathroom without an opinion poll and I certainly hope the Democrats are able to get him selected to be the nominee again! That will be a lot of fun watching him run more time and lose one more time! Charlie

i would love to get your address and send some cash if you can tell me what this week's lotto numbers are. he said that he would never run again. maybe he runs polls because he cares what the people of this country think. im playing devil's advocate here, but it could be a good reason. hey, hes not a bad guy at all. hes definitely stiff, but not a bad guy. i wouldnt mindif he would have won at all.

remember, the president has about a 5% factor in actually what happens with defense. ANY president would be stupid not to go with what his staff tells him. I havent seen too many ex military generals in the white house lately. i think that Gore would have done just fine as well. he was in good hands just as Bush is in good hands. Do you think that Bush actually made any of his own decisions about what to do as far as war and strategy? what does he know about war? he was never in the Forces. see where im going with this?

The president makes the final call on military action. It makes no difference if he served or not. Sure he has many advisors and generals that present various options. However, it is the President that decides the course of action.

To say that the president is a minimal factor in the decision making process is either and indication of being naive in the extreme or, perhaps, unwilling to give credit where it is due ... the libs will be all too quick to cast BLAME on GWB if things go badly, but as seen in Davy's post above, when CREDIT is to be given, will only grudgingly say that the president is but a small factor ...

Davy, you might have read in school or seen in a couple of movies depicting the process, how JFK ignored a lot of the advise he received from the military and made his own decision after getting their input and that of all the rest of his advisors ...

I submit to you that GWB is no different ... he clearly has the strongest cabinet since JFK, yet you and others who laud JFK for having made strong choices, accuse GWB of being a puppet of HIS choices ...

Having been an adult observer of all the administrations since Eisenhower's, I will tell you flat out, that we are truly fortunate to have the right man in the right place right now, just as I feel we did during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis ... I am extremely confident that history will validate that viewpoint and that one day, you will come to recognize the far-above-presidential-average qualities GWB brings to the office today, just as I slowly, but ultimately, came to recognize that regarding JFK ...

carmine7075 ---bush is not allowed to decide anything even if the thought ever crossed his little insignificant mind. if you could see him from the side, you would see someone's arm up his rear making his mouth move.

SteveS ---"the far-above-presidential-average qualities GWB brings to the office today" you just made me laugh so hard my coffee came out my nose. thanks, i needed that.

Rick, I hope that you and I live long enough to sit together one day enjoying a cigar and holding this discussion WITH the benefit of hindsight and the perspective of history ... I suggest we put our present comments in one of those time capsules, then break them out as we enjoy a cigar together and see what historical perspective does to make one of us or the other rethink his point of view ...

Rick: Sorry to say that no matter who is in office, Presidential powers do not change. The point on JFK's autonomy in the military decision makeing process is an excellent example (although JFK the man, and how won his office, is quite a different story). I feel that Bush has done an admirable job. I was suprised by his composure and wise decisions to unite the country in a common cause because until that very moment I did not have much faith in him. Now its a different story. I also feel that neither Clinton nor Gore could have done so as effectively. The best defense is a good offense mentality is too far removed from their thought patterns. As evidenced by their massive military cuts during Clinton's term in office.
If President, Gore would still be stuck on the amount of environmental damage that may be done if he ordered a single 500lb bomb to be dropped, or the fact that bullets fired from our soldiers guns may actually injure someone (the enemy) lol. He (Gore) is in fact the polar opposite of a strong leader IMO.

SteveS ---win lose or draw, i look forward to smoking cigars with you and think about the old days.

carmine7075 ---come join SteveS and i in our cigar future get together.

Carmine, you are wrong. The president has the power but rarely EVER uses it. Have you been in the Forces before or in any sort of military strategic planning? If you have, then such words would have never come out of your mouth. The man does EXACTLY what he is told, and now for your Kennedy reference...WHO WANTS NUCLEAR WAR?

The man was able to hold off as long as he could. Do you really think that we would have pre-emptively struck on such a destructive level without pure fact that were we currently under attack? Cmon. There is a difference between conventional war and any sort of use of mass destructive weapon use. The president had the right of way in that instance because he was then responsible for the loss of life on AMERICAN SOIL. Of course he and many other people had thought of the reprocusions and held off. Dont tell me that he was the only person with an educated guess that we werent currently being attacked. By the way, our country's policy in nuclear war is what is called "mutual response" meaning tit for tat. We NEVER strike first in unconventional war cases.

Yeah, im sure that Gore would have been really concerned with the welfare of the sand in Afganistan. Stop making up garbage. The Clinton administration was the first to put hits on top terrorist leaders including binladen. Im sure that you will say how we screwed up and didnt kill him under the Clinton administration. Im also sure that you wont mention how we STILL havent gotten him under the new administration. Im no Clinton groupie OR Bush groupie. I give credit where credit is due.

Clinton was concerned environmentally also but that didnt stop us from fighting in Somalia and the old Yugoslavian region. Were we concerned about the health of the enemy there? Tell me we were. I would love to hear it. We had a good cause in Somalia and Europe. We did a lot of cleaning up in both regions, believe me.

Hell, Rick ... you and I are both old enough that we could sit down right now, light one up and talk about the old days ... no need to wait for a few years ... LOL ... come to think of it, that wouldn't be a half bad idea, either ... I'd like to make that happen sometime in the near future ...

Rick and Steve: Sounds like a plan. Good cigar and good conversation.

Davey: Interesting that you tell me I am wrong and then validate my point. JFK wasn't my example by the way. I simply stated that it was a good one. Yugoslavia was a peacekeeping mission that is quite a different story. Our abligations in the UN and NATO send our troops to many places they should never have been doing jobs that don't concern our national interest. Its part of the reason we have so much anti-american sentiment. These rebels view americans as the imperialists when in fact it is the UN or NATO or some other body using american military might for their gain. Somalia was another exmple of misuse. Your comments are very conflicting to each other. The President has the power and uses it everyday whether he is in agreement with his advisors or not. He is still making the final call. A military man should know that he is the commander in chief! Gore is not important anymore, and I would be suprised if he received the nomination in the next election.

i didnt really validate anything. i was saying how the power that you speak of isnt the real muscle that is flexed in Washington. Its true, but not really true. A military man knows the who the real chiefs are. Call him what you want to. As far as Yugoslavia goes, i think i know what it was, i was there. It doesnt change the fact that our President supported us and knew it was for a good cause. Gore would have done the same im sure as would any President. Because the man's a stick doesnt mean hes dead.

Unless he's a Lone Wolf!!!