Lisa Schiffren is a Republican speechwriter whose most famous lines were spoken by Dan Quayle, the vice president who challenged the television message of unwed motherhood as portrayed in the television sitcom ?Murphy Brown.? She talks about how she was deeply affected by the siege of the Russian school at Beslan. The deadly siege brought home the horror of Greek tragedy: ?There but for the grace of God go I.?
Both women describe the effects September 11 had on their lives, and, like Rudy Giuliani, recall how reassured they were that George W. Bush was the president to answer al Qaeda?s challenge to civilization.
Terror is not a woman?s issue, but it is [ital] the [end ital] issue to galvanize women to vote. We live in an imperfect world; the war against terror is messy. It requires a toughness that John Kerry has not had as a senator. He talks tough now but it?s a fact that he voted against the first war in Iraq when the whole world joined the coalition organized by President George H.W. Bush. If John Kerry had been president in 1991 Saddam Hussein would still be in Kuwait. If he had been the president in 2003, Saddam Hussein would still be enthroned in Baghdad.
George W.?s father famously lacked ?the vision thing.? His son has ?the vision thing,? and it?s a vision that planting democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq will make the world safer. It won?t happen quickly, but this is the vision that promises to enable our children to grow up in a world where terrorism is a diminished reality.
The first television commercial of ?Softer Voices? runs in Toledo, Pittsburgh and Washington. It opens with a globe spinning through space and children of today and tomorrow walking in open fields. A narrator creates a sense of urgency: ?In the war on terrorism, America knows our enemies are here, planning, watching . . . The threat is real, the dangers are great.? Then the narrator asks: ?Who will lead the fight for our freedoms, who will defend our families? Who can America trust to win the war on terrorism?? The answer, the ladies believe, is obvious.