Another One

Sarah Baxter, a lifelong Labour voter since age 18, and former political editor of the left-wing New Statesman magazine, has a dual citizenship in the U.S. Here, she's identified herself with the Democrats, and socializes with their brightest lights.

Like me, she finds herself aligned with John Kerry on most issues.

Tax cuts for the rich? Kerry can roll them back with my blessing. It is not a matter that affects me greatly. The deficit? Perhaps he will reduce it, though I’m sceptical. Abortion rights? By all means, let’s hang on to them. Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? Good idea, I hope it works. Health? I would love to see more people insured. The death penalty? I’m against it even for terrorists, which puts me to the left of the Democrat candidate.

Most, but not all, and not the one that counts. She's disturbed by the smugness and intellectual arrogance of a lot of her Democratic friends. But the overriding issue for her is the war against "global jihadists and women-hating fundamentalists."

I will be one of the millions voting for Bush because I trust the president’s judgment on the war on terror more than Kerry’s. In this election, I am a single-issue voter. It is that simple. Even in the New York metropolis, there are more of us out there than he imagines.

...

I was standing next to the World Trade Center, gazing in horror at the torment above, when the towers collapsed. I was showered with pulverised masonry and the ashes of nearly 3,000 people. I decided fairly quickly that America was a beacon of freedom that needed defending against the anti-western, freedom-hating religious bigots and death cultists. I am determined my children will grow up in a world of increasing democracy where terrorists are captured, tyrants overthrown. ... On foreign policy, Bush is the idealist and Kerry the conservative, afraid to disturb the status quo. I’ve never abandoned my belief in human rights and democracy.