In an odd move, a coalition of leftist politicians and artists from Norway placed an ad in today's Washington Post urging Bush to apologize to the Iraqis for ... liberating them?The obligatory (lute)fisking follows.
[a] highly-decorated Marine Corps veteran [who] served in Vietnam and then returned home and covered John Kerry's anti-war activities for the Philadelphia Bulletin. In 1980, while at the Gannett News Service, he won a Pulitzer for an investigative report on a multi-million dollar misappropriation of funds by Vatican officials and a small order of monks in Pennsylvania. He later won a Peabody Award for his investigative work in television.Hmm, legitimate reporter, important subject, no phony documents, what's not to like? Lurch wouldn't have anything to hide, would he?
The Kerry campaign has gone ballistic about "Stolen Honor," a documentary featuring interviews with former Vietnam POWs who recall their Vietnamese captors using Mr. Kerry's 1971 antiwar statements as instruments of intimidation and torture. Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton says the campaign will ask supporters to stage boycotts and demonstrations against the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which plans to air "Stolen Honor" on all of its 62 TV stations in prime-time just two weeks before the election. Democratic Senators Ted Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein are already writing a letter demanding the Federal Communications Commission investigate whether Sinclair is violating fairness guidelines and doing the bidding of the Bush campaign.
I must have missed Ted and Di's letters about Rathergate. Hmmm, I guess a little free speech must be painful to the Lurchster. But why's that? I thought he was proud of what he had done?
Bill Hobbs has more thoughts at the original link and you can watch excerpts of the documentary at the title link, as well as purchase copies. You might also want to drop a line to the folks at Sinclair (comments@sbgi.net) telling them how much you appreciate a media source that will dig for real facts. To find out if they have a station in your area, go here.
Affable, vigorous, good-looking John Edwards exercises his famous charisma on Wisconsin's awed citizens.While you're there, check out Tim's latest on the Australian election.
The poor woman to Edwards' left -- she's almost overwhelmed by charisma.
Democrat presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry today announced the details of his plan to completely eliminate the nuisance of terrorism.It's ScrappleFace, of course. More by following the link.
"I have a plan," said Mr. Kerry, "to create a do-not-terrorize list that Americans could sign up for on the internet. And if any terrorist would flout the law and attack someone whose name is on the list, he and his terror cell would be slammed with a $1,000 fine for each person killed and $500 for each injured survivor."
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The Democrat said his plan "hits Al Qaeda in the pocketbook where it hurts the most."
Republicans had no sooner shot down rumors of a military draft when Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe warned a group of College Democrats on Friday that President Bush would call them up for duty if re-elected.Notice how Terry doesn't seem to be spending much time on coming up with "possibilities" for a Lurch presidency? Follow the link to the article for some audience reactions. Not everyone was guzzling the Kool-Aid. And in a similar vein, a headline writer at the LA Slimes deserves some sort of award for Republicans Glad to Lose on Bill to Start New Draft.
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"It's clearly a possibility," McAuliffe said. "What if we have another conflict where we have to commit troops? We don't have them today."
He added: "I'm not trying to do this to scare young people, but they've got to understand this is a possibility in this country."
Can you name this country?I'll spare you the suspense:
709,000 REGULAR (ACTIVE DUTY) PERSONNEL.
293,000 RESERVE TROOPS.
EIGHT STANDING ARMY DIVISIONS.
20 AIR FORCE AND NAVY AIR WINGS WITH 2,000 COMBAT
AIRCRAFT.
232 STRATEGIC BOMBERS.
19 STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES WITH 3,114 NUCLEAR WARHEADS ON 232 MISSILES.
500 ICBMs WITH 1,950 WARHEADS.
FOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND 121 SURFACE COMBAT SHIPS AND SUBMARINES PLUS ALL THE SUPPORT BASES, SHIPYARDS, AND LOGISTICAL ASSETS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN SUCH A NAVAL FORCE.
THESE ARE THE AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES THAT WERE ELIMINATED DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE.Indeed.
IMAGINE WHAT A JOHN KERRY ADMINISTRATION WOULD LOOK LIKE CONSIDERING HIS 20 YEAR VOTING RECORD AGAINST DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS
Flanked by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and one-time rival Al Sharpton -- both of whom turned a lively morning service at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Liberty City into a blistering indictment of the Bush administration -- Kerry sought to galvanize the black vote he needs to turn out in force in November.All the panderers and pimps were there! More from Michelle Malkin:
''What's on the ballot is the American dream, what's on the ballot is what Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton marched for,'' Kerry said. ``We have an unfinished march in this nation.''
On that basis, I'd say God's in bad shape.For every Goliath, God has a David. For every Calvary's cross, God has a Christ Jesus. To bring our country out of despair, discouragement, despondency and disgust, God has a John Kerry.-Pastor Gaston E. Smith, preaching from the pulpit yesterday during a campaign event with John Kerry at his Baptist church.
After his appearance, Kerry met with The Herald's editorial board for a wide-ranging interview in which he assailed Bush's policies in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere. He accused the administration of ignoring Latin America and Haiti and said that as president, he would work with U.S. allies that do business in Cuba to bring pressure on Fidel Castro.It's another Global Test! You ever wonder if the Germans and the French have some naughty pics of the Lurchster and are blackmailing him?
''Our ability to remove Castro is going to be by earning the respect of other nations to begin to get tough,'' Kerry said. ``Every other country, the Germans, the French, others, have been buying property in Cuba, playing games. There's no concentrated focus on [Castro's] repressive anti-human rights behavior, and there should be. But because the U.S. has isolated itself, in a way, we've lost the legitimate pressure that ought to be brought on him.''
Kerry looked to cast himself in the hourlong interview as staunchly anti-Castro, calling the Cuban leader a ''brutal dictator'' and noting that on a trip to Cuba, he declined to meet with Castro at ``one of those one o'clock in the morning seances with Castro -- for him to sit around and play that game.''Ooooo! Can we feel your muscle, Lurch? More inanities by following the links.
I watch the forty-something couple survey our outdoor table from three feet away. The woman shakes her head and covers her mouth with one hand. The man speaks quietly into her ear. I imagine he's telling her not to be afraid, that everything will be okay. Even after I ask her to share her thoughts, she can't find her voice. The cause of her shock and awe? (Okay, "awe" may not be the mot juste here.) It's a "Bush-Cheney 2004" table that graced a street corner near Madison Square Garden for a dozen Saturdays recently.It was truly a cross-cultural experience. Some of the good parts:
Then there was the middle-aged man who pulled at his hair every time someone actually bought something from us. "You're giving them money?!" he'd cry. When he first came upon us, his greeting was, "This is New York -- you don't belong here!"More by following the link.
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Like the man who kept saying, "I can't understand why you support Bush." When my friend Kevin replied, "If you can't understand why half the country supports Bush, you need to get out more," the man deadpanned: "I get out plenty. I'm a college professor." As our group laughed in stereo, he yelled, "Anti-intellectuals!" and stormed off.
On an evening in August, just after a campaign swing through the Southwest, Kerry and I met, for the second of three conversations about terrorism and national security, in a hotel room overlooking the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier. A row of Evian water bottles had been thoughtfully placed on a nearby table. Kerry frowned.Hmmm, I sense both danger and opportunity!
''Can we get any of my water?'' he asked Stephanie Cutter, his communications director, who dutifully scurried from the room.
I asked Kerry, out of sheer curiosity, what he didn't like about Evian.Opportunity! Sure, Lurch! We believe ya!
''I hate that stuff,'' Kerry explained to me. ''They pack it full of minerals.''
''What kind of water do you drink?'' I asked, trying to make conversation.
''Plain old American water,'' he said.
''You mean tap water?''Ruh oh!
''No,'' Kerry replied deliberately. He seemed now to sense some kind of trap. I was left to imagine what was going through his head. If I admit that I drink bottled water, then he might say I'm out of touch with ordinary voters. But doesn't demanding my own brand of water seem even more aristocratic? Then again, Evian is French -- important to stay away from anything even remotely French.Of course, he couldn't mention his real favorite among bottled waters. But not to worry Lurch, fans! It gets turned into a Vietnam reference as the "story" progresses!
''There are all kinds of waters,'' he said finally. Pause. ''Saratoga Spring.'' This seemed to have exhausted his list. ''Sometimes I drink tap water,'' he added.
(I can't wait to hear what readers think of the Kerry portrait today on the cover The New York Times Magazine, much less the article itself.) (Check that: Yes, I can.)Of course, my sympathy would be enhanced if he didn't produce howlers like:
Here's the question for a public editor: Is The Times systematically biased toward either candidate?Gag me with a spoon.
No.
As nasty as critics on the right can get (plenty nasty), the left seems to be winning the vileness derby this year.They have a special talent for it every year, Dan-O.