UPDATED Germany to Reconsider Position on Troops, Welcomes Kerry Summit

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Tuesday October 12, 2004 · 3:02 PM PDT

2004/10/12 · 15:02

From the Financial Times

"Germany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defence minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger.

Mr Struck also welcomed Mr Kerry's proposal that he would convene an international conference on Iraq including countries that opposed the war if he were to win next month's election.

Germany would certainly attend, Mr Struck said. 'This is a very sensible proposal. The situation in Iraq can only be cleared up when all those involved sit together at one table. Germany has taken on responsibilities in Iraq, including financial ones; this would naturally justify our involvement in such a conference.'"

Tell me again, Mr. President, about how you can't bring allies to the table if you're criticizing the war.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0b76459e-1c80-11d9-8d72-00000e2511c8.html

Update in extended section Read More

Hoot the Vote

rina

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Thursday September 23, 2004 · 8:46 AM PDT

2004/09/23 · 08:46

So... after getting our copies of America: A Guide To Democracy Inaction signed by Jon Stewart (to whom I babbled incoherently about god knows what) my friends and I decided to have a little dinner at - where else - HOOTERS. It was a beautiful night to sit outside, drink beer and eat wings. The three of us were enjoying a nice, relaxed Hooters kind of evening, and you can imagine our surprise when our waitress came over to the table and asked if she could talk about who we were voting for (I think this was because I was wearing my "fancypants liberal" shirt.) She said that she was probably going to vote for Kerry, but most of the other girls were going to vote for Bush because they thought that we shouldn't change horses mid-stream of the Iraqi river of blood (my words, not hers.) We talked to her about why we support Kerry and what a Bush reelection might mean for young working women such as her and her coworkers and she went back inside, seemingly satisfied.

She came back out about 20 minutes later, looking a little shaken, and said that she'd decided to leave the politics out of the workplace. She had been talking to another waitress about why she'd decided to vote for Kerry, and she said that one of the biggest reasons is that she didn't feel that Bush was the president of everybody, and as an African American woman, she felt like she'd have a better chance of getting some representation with John Kerry in office. Her coworker replied: "Since I'm not black, I don't have to worry about that. I'm voting for Bush."

We offered our sympathies that she would have to work with someone so narrow minded and just plain clueless and insensitive, and gave here some talking points like about how Bush economic policies (like his vested interest in keeping oil prices high and penchant for deficit spending) would sooner rather than later wreck the economy, lead to business and tourism travel slowing down and without business travelers and tourists, who's eating at Hooters? And we tipped her really well. It just goes to show, you never know when you will be called upon to do your part for democracy.

Winning it for Kerry, one Hooters girl at a time.

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