The List Gets Longer

Yet another respected Republican, Former Senator from Kentucky (1968-75) Marlow W. Cook, has endorsed Kerry for President.

As a Republican, Cook makes it clear that he is "not enamored with Kerry," but adds:

"I will take John Kerry for four years to put our country on the right path."

In the article, he admonishes the Bush administration for its secrecy, its abuse of power, and its Iraq policy. A large focus of the article however is focused on the Bush fiscal policy. I feel that Republicans who are not fundamentalist or socially conservative, but who are fiscally conservative really need to hear his message, so I have reproduced it here:

"Lyndon Johnson said America could have guns and butter at the same time. This administration says you can have guns, butter and no taxes at the same time. God help us if we are not smart enough to know that is wrong, and we live by it to our peril. We in this nation have a serious problem. It's almost worse than terrorism: We are broke. Our government is borrowing a billion dollars a day. They are now borrowing from the government pension program, for apparently they have gotten as much out of the Social Security Trust as it can take. Our House and Senate announce weekly grants for every kind of favorite local programs to save legislative seats, and it's all borrowed money . . .

"Those of you who are fiscal conservatives and abhor our staggering debt, tell your conservative friends, "Vote for Kerry," because without Bush to control the Congress, the first thing lawmakers will demand Kerry do is balance the budget."

--An excellent point, the implication being that when Bush is in the White House, Congress will be too weak and afraid to demand a balanced budget from him.

--Please also take into account that Kerry has a strong record of being fiscally conservative. Take for example his proposals to decrease the intelligence budget in 1994 and 1995 (by $6 billion). The Bush campaign likes to point to this proposal as a sign of Kerry's weakness on national security. What they neglect to mention is that this was a highly bi-partisan measure to cut government spending (and nobody saw 9/11 coming). Bush's appointee for Director of the CIA, Porter Goss, proposed a a cut to the intelligence budget in 1995 that was bigger than that which Kerry supported. Link.

Fiscally conservative? Rational? Vote Kerry.

P.S. Check out the Electoral Vote Score today. Things are going our way. Keep the faith.