To your original question, the traits I admire most, the ideal:
Intelligent.
Wise.
Understands policy- you could say I'd like a wonk.
Accountable.
Diplomatic.
Secular.

If there was no other issue in this election, I'd go with Kerry because he served two tours in Vietnam. My father also served two tours in Vietnam. I got married when Vietnam was still going on and my then husband and I had many a discussion about what he should do in regard to the military and the draft. Finally, he said to me, "This is my country and I'm not going to desert it by going to Canada, but I cannot fight in a war which I feel is unjust and immoral. The only ehtical option left to me is to refuse military service and go to jail. Will you stand by me?" He wasn't speaking hypothetically. He had drawn a very low number in the draft lottery which all but guaranteed his being called up for military service upon his graduation from college. I told him that I would be on his side, whatever happened. Lucky for him, the war ended a few months after he got his degree.

I think of these two brave men - my father who fought, and the young man who had been my husband who refused to leave his country and was willing to accept incarceration for his belief. Then I think of George Jr. who refused to even show up for his physical at the National Guard, who wouldn't fight for his country or stand up for his reasons for not serving and speak out against Vietnam. I have nothing but the deepest contempt for Bush. As far as I'm concerned he is a coward, plain and simple.

*Smiles* It wasnt Reagan's America I was enthralled with so much as Hollywood's America. I am not alone amongst my compatriots in remembering a time before we realised America was as broken as the rest of the world. :P

What I am referring to is America the Ideal as expressed through her culture and entertainment. Bear in mind that even 20 and 30 years ago America provided most of the movies we watched and much of the television. When I was growing up there was a sense of idealism to the America we percieved through that entertainment.....and I don't mean the idealism of the right, I mean the idea that the little guy matters........the ideals of personal freedoms and public responsibilities. For instance....The England I grew up in was in many ways a great deal more sexist than the America I saw on the silver screen. America is where girls who wanted more from life looked, to find a culture who'd accept them as fully fledged human beings. Likewise the America I watched on screen was publicly exorcising it's demons on race. It looked like a progressive and hopeful place.......

Then I grew up.....and as I grew up I becamse aware of America as a political animal. The shining ideals of that earlier day were very clearly not the backbone of political America......The more I observed the more I saw that those ideals were not even a part of mainstream culture anymore ( if they ever had been) What had seemed like a passionate defense of individual rights and societal obligations began to look more and more like a propogandists missionary zeal.

Dont really know where I am going with this :P I became aware of America as a political entity with all that that implies gradually when I was about 9 or 10. But it's more than just me growing up and becoming wiser to the world. I have talked to others about this. Over the last 30 years America has gone from the World's policeman and provider of all things cool ......to the World's greatest gangleader and bringer of inequity in all it's many forms. I'm talking of perceptions here.

England is a very class ridden society. Less so than it once was but it's still there in essence. When I was growing up in the late 70's and early 80's those class divisions were much more apparent than in today's england. America looked and sounded like a nation without Class ( umm....without Class not without class ) a nation where even the most humble start could lead to greatness and where even the lowliest worker had a voice.....Imagine my surprise upon discovering that the class divisions in America are just as starkly defined. albeit by different criteria. But even then......Democracy in America still sounded like something which worked. Here in England parliament seemed very far way from the people it governed. The birthplace of democracy seemed to have settled into a staid and distinctively unrepresentative pattern......

Over the course of 25 years my perception of America has altered drastically. During the latter part of Reagan's office and during Bush senior's office I started to see America in a very negative light. As I got older and learned about the Vietnam war and then further back to the "dollar enslavement" which all A'level grade history students learn about here if they cover that period at all...........I did start to see America as a menacing and arrogant figure on the world stage.

I have ( I think) a more rounded view now. My phases of Anti American sentiment never lasted very long because in the end....I like people.

I think my point is this..... I grew up in an England only a few decades after the last crumbling blocks of it's Empire had been dismantled ( unless you count the "commonwealth") my parents' generation had still celebrated Empire Day in school........America stood as a rather shiny beacon. Not quite yet the uncontested new Empire ......but well on the way to becoming it. All the while voicing opposition to the very idea of Empire and declaiming the benefits of true Democracy.

Now America is the Empire and the shining beacon of democracy has been used to set alight wildfires which now rage across much of the globe causing destruction and mayhem. Direct and indirect influence lies behind many of the world's current conflicts and peace is only ever bought in dollars and the price of that peace is as high as an oil rig.

MMmm....yeah sorry 'bout that last rambling detour... The original question was about character traits yes?

I am bemused as I have said before as to which character traits people see as positive in Bush. Quite aside from the politics I mean, I just do not understand how an apparent lack of educated intellect leads to people having more trust in a man. Do you fear your politicians so much that intelligence could be a weapon used against you?

I like Kerry. I didnt used to, even your democrats are usually a little right wing for my tastes, but I watched a couple of the debates and came away thinking Kerry was a lot more impressive than I had given him credit for. As to Bush....My God he came across as moron. I tend to forget whilst he isnt on TV just how stupid he seems. Then he's on my screen again opening his mouth and smirking and i am reminded afresh. Stupid and uncouth.

What's this I hear about Bush not allowed to be filmed from behind? Something to do with a wire up his jacket feeding him the answers? I dont know if that's conspiracy theory or grounded journalism but frankly I wouldn't be surprised. We've had a fair few moments of proof that the President is either a) incapable of thinking fast on his feet or memorising large chunks of detailed information or b) has been advised to act as if he is incapable of thinking fast on his feet or memorising large chunks of detailed information.....


So either stupidity really does play well in the Electorates mind or stupidity is percieved as playing well in the electorates mind.....in either case "Dude, that's pretty fucked up right there"