There's something eerie about Democrat candidate John Kerry's constant charge to end the Bush Presidency.

He repeats it at every turn. 'We must end the President's energy policies, tax cuts. We must end Bush's unilateral decisions to take on worldwide terrorism. '

It then hit me. The people at the Kerry camp think Kerry is Willard in Francis Coppola's Vietnam era movie "Apocalypse Now."

For them, the President is Colonel Kurtz, the decorated Special Forces character in the movie, a renegade army officer who shows the Army how to defeat the Viet Cong through relentless counter-insurgency. Kerry is Willard, tasked to 'terminate the President.'

It's not surprising. Kerry fits the role, with his ego-driven, 'remember Florida vengeance,' hollow, convoluted alternatives to the President's counter attacks against terrorists. He plays on the emotions of all those who despise Republicans, Bush, Karl Rove, the Florida count, tax cuts for the rich, "Leave No Child Behind,' and resent a recovering economy.

They don't care what Kerry stands for. They just want Bush 'terminated.' The similarities with the theme of "Apocalypse Now,' suggests that it may in fact be part of Kerry strategy.

Let's go back and look at the Democrat's bloated metaphoric mission to 'terminate the President' (Colonel Kurtz.)

In the bloody reality of Vietnam, then, but more important now, in the bloody reality of religion-driven terrorism of today, vicious counterattack required for our survival.

Kurtz in the movie does call for direct, relentless counterattack, with a military that is morally sound.

"If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral," Kurtz tells Willard.

But Kerry, like the Army colonel who assigned Willard in the movie, says the President's 'methods have become unsound."

Well, we met Willard in the movie, and John Kerry is no Willard.

When Willard was given the mission to 'terminate Kurtz's command' (the Army had charged Kurtz with murder for assassinating suspected enemy agents,) Willard says to himself "charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500."

Whether or not the Kerry camp is deliberately invoking the theme of "Apocalypse Now," the metaphor has useful meaning.

Democrats used it against their own in the sixties.

In that case, a democrat president, Lyndon Johnson, was forced out of office by the same charges. They used the same strategy -- They labeled Johnson's mission and methods as out of control, ignoring the enemy in the field. But that was then, this is now.

What are the democrat's alternative to the President's 'methods.' Do they dare cry, 'bring the troops home,' like in the sixties? Do they demand a Paris peace conference with Al Qaida, as an appropriate end to hostilties?

What are 'their methods? Like Willard's response to Kurtz's question in the movie: "Are my methods unsound?" Willard responds, "I don't see any methods at all, sir." The Democrats, and especially John Kerry have no methods at all. No clear alternative to the Bush Doctrine when dealing with this vicious new enemy.

There's "Kerry talk" about internationalization of the Iraq operation. That will happen and probably by the summer. He calls for transfer of power, which is also in progress. In the end, they have no methods. Any recommendations are just derivatives of the President's basic successful policy. And what are the President's methods?

A moral war, very much like what Kurtz called for. A moral war that is not defensive, not a reaction to the next terrorist bloodbath. A moral war that is aggressive, that preempts, that takes down the infrastructure of Islamic terrorism, one Al Qaida leader at a time, one state sponsor at a time. At the root, destroying the origins of the military infestation.

A morally sound effort to develop alternative political and economic infrastructure in the Middle East, to unleash the spirit and drive of the peoples of the Middle East who have been stymied by leadership using Islam to rule and plunder. The President's methods are quite sound.

"It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means," Kurtz tells Willard.

The President has seen the horror.

The President has been briefed. The nation's intelligence agencies have presented its reports. They have told the President of Al Qaida's capabilities, possible, horrifying attacks in the works. The President, more than any other American citizen, has seen the potential horror in America's future. And he has not stood back. He has struck back, his military has shook and shattered Al Qaida, and disrupted and dislodged those who support their horror.


During the presidential campaign of 2004, the people will listen to Kerry. They will hear his case for terminating the President. But the people will choose George Bush. The stakes are too high. Accommodation is unacceptable. Bring home the troops, is unacceptable. Supplicating a meek United Nations is unacceptable.

Only relentless pressure and boldness will defer this enemy. The President's methods are sound.

Write to Arthur at bruzzone@rightturns.com

Arthur Bruzzone has written over 250 political articles for national and regional media, and has commented on political and urban issues for American and European television and radio networks.  He is an award-winning public affairs television producer/host.His articles and columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Campaign & Elections Magazine, among other publications. Mr. Bruzzone holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy from C.U.A in Washington , D.C., and a M.B.A. in real estate. He is a returned Peace Corps volunteer serving two years in the Kingdom of Tonga, and the former chair of the San Francisco Republican Party. He served as a California state commissioner on a major environmental regulatory agency. He presently is president of a real estate investment company headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

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