I’d like to take a moment and thank the College Democrats for hosting the presidential debate viewings which have given RPI a healthy dose of political awareness over the past three weeks. Their chairman, Kyle Gracey, has earned my respect for being a leader, not an ideologue. As a sign of appreciation, and for those of you who were left unsatisfied by former ballerina Ron Reagan Jr.’s commentary on the final debate, I’ll now solidify Mr. Gracey’s standing as being the more rational of the campus political leaders.

“National Coming Out Day” was observed with little fanfare on Monday, but the greatest outing of the week was, in my humble opinion, last Wednesday night, when President Bush took John Kerry and stapled him to the closet door, along with every flip-flop the senator’s campaign had tried to sneak past the American people. For a moment, it wasn’t a question of whether his policies were liberal or conservative; it wasn’t about whose record was more illustrious, or who had shown greater leadership; for a moment, there was only one issue.

Kerry thinks Americans are stupid.

Not all of us, of course; I’m sure those Americans who change stances at such a dangerous frequency took comfort in seeing someone who suffers from a similar disorder given so much publicity. Kerry has most certainly raised a lot of awareness of the condition from the campaign trail; tragically, he’ll never be able to do it from the White House, because if there’s one thing that Americans don’t like, it’s having elitist Massachusetts liberals write them off as votes that can be garnered with a smile, a few attack ads, and going three hours in the Senate without a drink.

President Bush has enough respect for the American people to speak honestly and openly where he stands on issues: anyone can tell you that he respects the rights of the unborn, believes that individuals are better suited to determine their fate than the federal government, and knows that there is something exceptional about our great country.

John Kerry’s beliefs remain a mystery, outside of his theory that he can successfully sneak a tax hike on Americans. His attempts at composing his vision for our country have done little more than spark a run on erasable pens and, as President Bush pointed out so eloquently, “a plan is not a litany of complaints.” If history is going to recall that Kerry made one irreversible action in the past year, it will be that he lost the election last Wednesday night.

Ken Girardin

Chairman, RPI

College Republicans