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He just doesn't get it 
Watch this video. Win Back Respect
An open letter from Brooke Campbell
Ms. Campbell got involved with Win Back Respect's Band of Sisters after she wrote a very powerful open letter following the Republican National Convention. Here is that letter:
To Whom it May Concern,
I found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a uniformed officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that broke her heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but "He's gone." I could say nothing but "No." Over and over again we chanted this refrain to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country to hold her as she wept.
I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to spend my brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that the next time I saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those days in February, my brother shared with me his fear, his disillusionment, and his anger. "We had all been led to believe that Iraq posed a serious threat to America as well as its surrounding nations," he said. "We invaded expecting to find weapons of mass destruction and a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us. It is now a year later, and alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that matter."
Ryan was scheduled to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. But on April 11, he emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta for a May visit, because his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended. "Just do me one big favor, ok?" he wrote. "Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you."
Last night, I listened to George W. Bush's live, televised speech at the Republican National Convention. He spoke to me and my family when he announced, "I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have received a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am awed that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers and to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they know their loved one was last seen doing good. Because they know that liberty was precious to the one they lost. And in those military families, I have seen the character of a great nation: decent, and idealistic, and strong."
This is my reply: Mr. President, I know that you probably still "don't do body counts," so you may not know that almost one thousand U.S. troops have died doing what you told them they had to do to protect America. Ryan was Number 832. Liberty was, indeed, precious to the one I lost-- so precious that he would rather have gone to prison than back to Iraq in February. Like you, I don't know where the strength for "such pride" on the part of people "so burdened with sorrow" comes from; maybe I spent it all holding my mother as she wept. I last saw my loved one at the Kansas City airport, staring after me as I walked away. I could see April 29 written on his sad, sand-chapped and sunburned face. I could see that he desperately wanted to believe that if he died, it would be while "doing good," as you put it. He wanted us to be able to be proud of him. Mr. President, you gave me and my mother a folded flag instead of the beautiful boy who called us "Moms" and "Brookster." But worse than that, you sold my little brother a bill of goods. Not only did you cheat him of a long meaningful life, but you cheated him of a meaningful death. You are in my prayers, Mr. President, because I think that you need them more than anyone on the face of the planet. But you will never get my vote.
So to whom it may concern: Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you.
Sincerely,
Brooke M. Campbell
Atlanta, GA
Republicans for Kerry
A former Republican Senator for Kerry: 'Frightened to death' of Bush by Marlow W. Cook
I shall cast my vote for John Kerry come Nov 2.
I have been, and will continue to be, a Republican. But when we as a party send the wrong person to the White House, then it is our responsibility to send him home if our nation suffers as a result of his actions. I fall in the category of good conservative thinkers, like George F. Will, for instance, who wrote: "This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and having thought, to have second thoughts."
I say, well done George Will, or, even better, from the mouth of the numero uno of conservatives, William F. Buckley Jr.: "If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war."
First, let's talk about George Bush's moral standards. [more]
12 Generals and Admirals Endorse John Kerry
Christians should be alarmed by Bush by John Bugay
If you're a conservative Christian, and you're still undecided, please consider that evangelical Christians who hope to call this country to a higher moral standard are on the verge of undermining their own legitimacy.
I am a Christian, and I am alarmed. One of the values we hold most dearly is "truth." It is a foundational value, upon which all other values rest. If we don't have truth, we have built our house on shifting sand.
When President Clinton looked into the camera and said "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," we discerned what he was saying and were justifiably outraged. Just a few years later, President Bush looked the world in the eye and said there was "clear evidence" of peril in Iraq, the result of which "could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Even then, the evidence was not so clear at all. And yet President Bush invoked this false image, intending to frighten people into going to war.
Clinton's untruth brought scorn and derision only upon himself. But Bush's untruth plunged this nation into an unnecessary war, killing thousands of innocents and costing all of us the good will of people and governments around the world. Who will ever trust this president again? The Bush administration is so far from deserving our trust this year that one conservative, writing for the Web site LewRockwell.com, calls this administration "The Truth Killers." President Bush kills the truth either because he misunderstands it, or because he deliberately misleads. [more]
www.republicansforkerry.org
Republicans for Kerry 2004
We are ordinary Republicans from across the political spectrum -- moderate, conservative, and progressive -- who believe in the sanctity of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. This unites us in our desire to return our country and our party to the traditional values that have been abandoned by the present extremist administration and their exclusionary allies in Congress. We have taken the unusual step of supporting a Democrat, John Kerry, because we believe he more honestly represents these values so vital to the health and well-being of our democracy. On the important issues of foreign policy, fiscal responsibility, tax policy, energy, the environment, media consolidation, civil liberties and trust, history has shown us all too clearly that John Kerry will be a far better steward than the present administration. We believe that all Americans should heed George Washington's wisdom and put country before party.
It is our hope that after this election our party will return to its roots in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, and again represent the mainstream of Republican thinking, and that we may support a moderate Republican candidate for president in 2008 against President Kerry.
Nation First - Party Second
Never in our lifetime has there been so much concern by so many members of a Party about a sitting President of the same Party.
From conservatives like Pat Buchanan to moderates like Larry Rockefeller, there is widespread doubt, disaffection, and disavowal of President Bush and his Administration. It spans issues from the size of the deficit and the growth of government to the war in Iraq and the restrictions on rights of ordinary citizens.
As the election draws closer, many people are publicly echoing what we have reluctantly come to believe: Mr. Bush's policies are seriously damaging our country. His administration has blundered badly. His very credibility is in question. This is the most important election of our generation.
Below are a few of the many articles, quotes, editorials and other statements being made. They are from both well-known and unknown Republicans. They are public statements that echo our private thoughts.
Each statement speaks to the need for voting ones conscience in this election: Nation First Party Second.
Christians for Kerry
Diplomats & Military Commanders for Change
(...)
The plain fact is that George W. Bush and his team have succeeded in making our country and our people less safe, and more vulnerable to new terrorist attacks, by an unnecessary war against a threat that did not exist. The American people must surely not reelect someone presenting himself as a strong and resolute war leader who is responsible for such a sorry record of judgment and performance. Leadership in the wrong directions is not the leadership we need or want. We can have no trust in such leadership for the next four years.
It is definitely time for a change. [more]
Lots more Republicans for Kerry 2004
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