BuzzFlash: You’ve endorsed Senator John Kerry for president. Tell us why you think Senator Kerry would be a better commander in chief in protecting our country.

Lorie Van Auken: I have many reasons. First of all, this president waited 14 months for an investigation. We think that there should have been an investigation right away. Then they fought funding it properly. Then they fought providing certain documents. Then we fought to have pertinent people appear before the commission, like hundreds of wives. And, of course, President Bush and Vice President Cheney walked hand in hand to see the commission for only an hour, behind closed doors, totally off the record, so nobody would really ever hear what they had to say. It ended up being longer than an hour, but still we don’t know what they testified to.

On September 11, I don’t think the president’s actions were very commander-in-chief-like. He was sitting and listening to children read a story to him. As I was watching the events on television, watching my husband being burned alive in a building, I would have thought the president would have gotten up and told children: "Please excuse me, but I have something important to attend to."

I would hope that we’d have somebody in office that would act like the commander in chief if, God forbid, we’re ever under attack again. I know that John Kerry has served in the armed forces and I know that he knows how to react in a crisis -–that’s first of all.

Second, he has pledged to enact all 31 of the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations, which this president is still fighting against. Also, Senator Kerry has said that he would like to work with our allies in the war on terrorism, which I think is the only way to actually combat what’s going on in the world. To find money lines to stop the funding of terrorists, and to share intelligence with other countries -- you need your allies to do that. I think this president has alienated our allies. I think that’s a really terrible thing.