Centerfield

Poke around that "Independents" for Bush site and you'll quickly find that all it is is a single page, devoid of content, tacked on the side of an overtly pro-GOP site.

I've been searching a long time now for any legit pro-Bush Independent site or blog to add to my list of Independent sites and blogs. To date I haven't found any beyond the farce that you found.

The Independent's for Kerry site has been around since last summer and has been on my list since then. There were several pro-Dean Independent blogs and I believe y'all here hosted a pro-Clark Independent site/blog. I'm aware of one other Independent site that was pro-Clark too.

It looks to me like there is plenty of interest among Independents for candidates seeking to unseat Bush. The enthusiasm for backing Bush among Independents, at least on the web, seems to be pretty much non-existent.

Thanks for the chance to ask a question.. Here's one..

For the sake of arguement, lets presume that Mr. Kerry does back off Mr. Bush's tax cuts (and raises taxes by some unknown amount), where does he intend to spend it? I think we need to ask specifics here. people might get on board if they don't get wind blown up their collective skirts..

Right off the John Kerry website, you can find the following statements (http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/100days/).

Kery has not proposed raising taxes, merely repealing the parts of the Bush tax cuts which went almost entirely to benefit the ultra-rich, so let us not assume anything:

"We will fight to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so that we can invest in education and health care. We will also protect middle class tax cuts, such as the child credit and the elimination of the marriage penalty and propose additional tax credits to help middle class families make ends meet."

"We will propose a National Education Trust Fund to make sure that, for the first time ever, we fully fund our schools so they have the tools to assure our kids can succeed in the 21st century economy. We will make a new deal on education – if Washington is going to mandate something for our schools, then the funding should be mandatory. "

"John Kerry’s first major proposal to Congress will be a realistic plan that stops spiraling healthcare costs, covers every child in America, and makes it possible for every American to get the same health care as any Member of Congress."

There are subpages on both the Healthcare and Education initiatives off of the 100 days page. Perhaps you should look at what the candidate has said regarding the specifics?

None at this time. It sounds like making the lesser of the bad effects choice once again.

Janus

If anyone from either the Bush or Kerry camp wants to pitch their candidate and his policies to us, they should have to do it without mentioning the other guy or his policies.

Stick to telling us what you want to do, and leave the compare and contrast to us.

My guess is that we could do better by just reviewing policy statements and then parsing them for what details are left out and what mischaracterizations they make of the other guy's policies.

Oh, and in case anyone is checking, repealing a tax cut IS raising taxes. Why can't we talk about the merits of an idea without resorting to rhetorical euphemisms like "it's not a tax increase, it's a partial repeal." Guess what, if the rate is x% now, and we change it to x + 2% next year, that's a tax increase. The questions are who's getting gored, by how much, and why is it worthwhile. Why waste everyone's time being afraid to call something what it is.

Oh, and the answers to those question that are useful give specifics. What income brackets get the increase? How many percent do they go up? How much additional total revenue can this be expected to generate? What will it be used for?