====== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ======
America First Party
1630 A 30th Street #111
Boulder, Colorado 80301
http://www.AmericaFirstParty.org
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Debate Lacked Key Elements
Boulder, CO - Following the first "debate" between Republican George
Bush and Democrat John Kerry, America First Party National Chairman Dan
Charles has issued the following statement:
"The American people were twice shortchanged tonight. The foreign
policy and homeland security debate this evening was missing two key
elements: a recognition of the need to secure our borders and control
immigration; and, candidates with better judgment regarding Iraq than
either President Bush or Senator Kerry.
"The most important lesson our leaders should have learned from the
attack of September 11, 2001 is the need to control our borders. More
than half of the terrorists who participated in that attack were in
this country illegally. Yet, neither of the candidates on that stage
tonight seem to have learned that lesson.
"While Senator Kerry did say, 'You've got to close the borders,'
unfortunately he was talking about using US troops to secure the Iraqi
border. While President Bush did brag about minor increases in the
still woefully understaffed US Border Patrol, he spoke about training
tens of thousands of Iraqis to patrol their borders and ignored the
more than 3,000,000 illegal aliens crossing our southern border this
year alone. How many of those are terrorists?
"America First Party candidates and elected officials are focused on
this essential element of homeland security. Neither President Bush nor
Senator Kerry have the character or the good sense to take on their
corporate backers or the ethnic lobbies and enact policies that secure
our borders and make the American people safer.
"The second way the American people were shortchanged tonight was
through the exclusion of other candidates, who are on a sufficient
number of ballots to prevail in the Electoral College. Through the
exclusion of these candidates, the public only heard the Bush-Kerry
justifications for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Both candidates
allowed on the stage were wrong before the war and are wrong now.
"Nine months before the invasion of Iraq, the America First Party
passed a resolution which stated that, while the Iraqi regime was a
threat to its neighbors and its own people, Iraq was not a threat to
the American people. Both President Bush and Senator Kerry wrongly
believed then and wrongly believe now that it was.
"In that same resolution, the America First Party strongly stated its
belief that the Constitution should be followed and that the Founders'
wisdom should prevail. The 535 members of Congress should never cede to
one man, the president, their sole authority to declare war. Yet,
President Bush asked for, and Senator Kerry voted for, just such an
unconstitutional transfer of power. Now, both still believe it was the
right thing to do. Indeed, they both believe the President should
always have that authority.
"Had other voices been allowed on the stage tonight, the American
voters would have heard a view on Iraq that differs from the flawed
Bush-Kerry policy.
"The America First Party has not nominated a presidential candidate in
2004, in keeping with its plans since the party's founding just two
years ago. The Party will be considering an endorsement at its next
National Committee meeting in mid-October. Based on what we have heard
tonight, neither President Bush nor Senator Kerry should hold out much
hope for our endorsement."
Contacts:
Dan Charles, National Chairman, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 4
Romelle Winters, Press Secretary, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 2
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