concluded my last brief reaction to the most recent debate between the candidates, worrying about what the future might hold for the United States if we are faced with four more years of the Bush administration. Let's start with the prospect of more adventures..or misadventures..in the Middle East. For a while it has appeared that some of the very prominent neo-conservatives and their Christian Right allies have been out of the spotlight, as a result of their failed scenario for the outcome of the war against Iraq. The neo-cons are only temporarily in the shade. Should Bush win re-election they will be front and center urging Washington to undertake action against those referred to as the "terror masters" in Tehran. If only the President had been serious about the "war on Terrorism" then he would have concentrated on Afghanistan and subsequent to success there, the Neocons would have pressured Bush to go against Iran.
I think Democrats, like myself, should be only too pleased that Colin Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, are part of this administration, for I am convinced that they have wrested control over our policy towards Iran and Syria. They are realists who see our forces bogged down in Iraq and in no way prepared to do as the neo-cons would advocate, attack Syria or Iran.
Norman Podhoretz, described by some as the godfather of the neo conservatives, has described the challenges we face in the Near East as "World War Four."
One of the guests scheduled to be on with me on KNX radio is the editor of The Weekly Standard, William Kristol, whose own Project for a New America first named Iran and Syria, along with the PLO and Iraq as the main targets of the war on terrorism. If Bush wins, maybe they'll hold sway again and perhaps they'll have the wars they crave. Mr.Kristol has said that he will be with me after November 3rd.
As much as I enjoyed the first three debates, I am waiting with eager anticipation for the third and final top-of-the-ticket encounter next Wednesday. My first question for the incumbent would be, simply, "Mr.President, you are running for re-election on the worst job-creation record since Herbert Hoover in 1932. The modest number of jobs that are currently being created are paying in excess of $9,000 less than the jobs being lost, and are, far too frequently, without health care and pension coverage that working families desperately need. Mr.President who is better off today than they were 4 years ago?"
P.S. didn't you love Mr.Bush's response to the question from a member of the audience at the Town Hall meeting with the candidates, about why he had not permitted the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada? He said that it was "because while it looks like it's from Canada...it might be from the third world." By the way, challenger Kerry pointed out that in a similar setting four years ago candidate Bush had said that importing medicine from Canada sounded sensible." So do some candidates.

Michael