It'z News to Me

The news of the day...and my own peculiar take on it...

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Of Course...

...he won't return...

Michael Moore has not now, nor has he ever been able to stand up to criticism. He only thrives when he can hide behind his propaganda but answering for it is not something he's used to being forced to do.

Last night, he was called on the carpet by Senator McCain who called him a "disingenuous filmmaker," and the crowd turned on Moore with vociferous booing. What did he expect? Even the most liberal film critics have admitted that Fahrenheit 9/11 was full of lies and misleading insinuations; many have even pointed out the same about his previous "documentaries." So, objectively speaking, he is in fact what Senator McCain said he was.

Much like John Kerry, he thought Republicans were passive and would lie down in front of him - allowing him to pass without so much as a word of dissent. And much like John Kerry, he's learning that isn't going to happen.

Bribed and Coerced...

I'm waiting to see where this quote comes up at the RNC:

Kerry said during the speech at the downtown Marriott Hotel that Bush has been impatient, which has cost the U.S. support from its allies. "The greatest position of strength is by exercising the best judgement in the pursuit of diplomacy," he said, "not in some trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted, but in a genuine coalition."

For all of Kerry's claims about being more able to conduct diplomacy, to rebuild alliances, and make American more respected in the world this statement puts the complete lie to all of it.

Tony Blair put his political future on the line to support our efforts in Iraq and almost lost his job because of it. Jose Maria Aznar of Spain did lose his job. Italy has lost citizens to brutal kidnappings/killings as a result of their support. Korea and Japan have had citizens kidnapped. The list goes on and on...

Kerry belittles the contribution of each of these countries. How appreciative do you think Tony Blair and the leaders of other coalition countries will be?

Kerry focuses on France and Germany to the complete exclusion of traditional allies like the UK and Australia and new (but very strong) allies such as Poland. For what, the situational approval of a country (France) whose stated goal is to create a counterweight to the U.S.?

John Kerry is a fool...He was a fool when he went to Paris to talk to the North Vietnamese, and he remains a fool more than 30 years later...He has no concept of how to conduct foreign relations, and his own words prove it.

Latest Iraq Round-up...

...of good news from Chrenkoff...

Note that this is Part 9...Do yourself a favor and read all 9 parts, then ask yourself if President Bush did the right thing...

"Major Shake-Up"

...coming inside the Kerry campaign...

Beyond Oil...

...the power of the future...

RNC Convention - Day One

Allah's got the best round-up I've seen so far...kind of a one-stop shopping blogasbord, if you will...

P.S. Make sure you read all the "Updates" and follow the links...

Kerry Should Take a Ride...

...on the Straight Talk Express...

More solid advice, this time from a columnist supporting Kerry...I don't think Kerry's ego will allow him to take it though. For all the talk from the Democratic camp about Bush's "arrogance," Kerry continues to set the standard...

The Real Face...

...of the Democratic Party....

Welcome to the party of inclusiveness and tolerance...

I listened to the Democratic talking heads when they were asked about the protest tactics. Their talking points answer was that these people are just angry at President Bush and Kerry represents that anger.

To which I say: "Know a man by the company he keeps..."

As a side note, ask yourself this: if the shoe were on the other foot and these were Republicans, how crazed would the media be in its coverage? How many "Nazi" and "Hitler" analogies would we see? How long would it take them to blame these tactics on instructions from Bush, Cheney and Rove?

That's what I thought...

Monday, August 30, 2004

This Is Precisely What Scares Me...

...about any potential Kerry presidency...

John Kerry is proposing what is essentially the same deal that Clinton gave the North Koreans in 1994: we'll build your reactors if you promise not to build nuclear weapons...and we all know how that little story has played out, don't we?

Is he blind to history? This inane plan is a perfect example of just how dangerous (and incompetent) foreign policy under John Kerry would be...

Indian Larry...

...dies in a motorcycle stunt...

My only exposure to Indian Larry was on the Discovery Channel's "Biker Buildoff" series in which two bike builders are matched up to see who can build the best motorcyle. The motorcycles are then judged by the crowd at a biker rally to which the builders drove their respective bikes together.

This particular episode had Indian Larry pitted against another builder who was extremely cocky despite Indian Larry's years of experience and not inconsiderable fame in the field. Both builders finished their bikes, but when Indian Larry showed up to begin their ride the other bike wouldn't start.

They spent hours working together trying to get that bike to start. It took so long that the producers of the show even offered to let Indian Larry declare victory since the other bike wasn't working in time. He declined, saying that it wasn't right to win by forfeit.

In good time, they got the other bike working and arrived at the rally. Indian Larry's bike was judged the winner, but he had already made an agreement with the other builder that they would split the trophy no matter who was judged the winner. True to his word, he refused to accept the award and instead the trophy was cut into pieces and thrown to the enthusiastic crowd.

No doubt he lived his life in some ways that others might criticize, but character matters. The character of the man showed through that day - magnanimous in victory and friendly to a fault. My sympathy to his family and friends on their loss...

Priceless...

...read the letter at the end...

I'm a big fan of Jay Nordlinger's "Impromptus" columns on National Review. This particular edition was no exception, and I had to laugh at the letter he publishes at the end.

Every time I hear a Leftist utter the word "fascist" - especially in a context which makes it plain they they are the ones trying to suppress information and enforce a uniform groupthink - I think of Inigo Montoya:

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Zogby Polls Undecideds...

...with some interesting results...

I tend to take Zogby's polls with a grain of salt: he generally tends to overstate the Democratic position. Whether that's through a flawed methodology or bias, I'm not qualified to say. However, his track record is somewhat mixed.

I don't discount his surveys, mind you. But let's just say I give his "margin of error" my own "margin of error" as I read them.

That being said, some of the internals on this particular poll are very revealing (and the results are well outside any "margin of error" addition/subtraction)...

To wit:

- President Bush gets a 77/23 unfavorable split on his job approval; yet voters are breaking for him 35/10. This suggests that even though they might not think that Bush is doing a bang-up job in the office, they think Kerry would be even worse.

- 67% like President Bush personally, while 52% dislike Kerry personally.

- 87% wish there were other candidates to choose from. People who wish there were other candidates to choose from are the ones most likely to stay home - meaning they may play NO role in the upcoming election.

- 40% watch FoxNews and by 54/40 they prefer to get their news from the internet rather than in newspapers. This is bad news for Democrats and for Big Media in general. It also explains why the Swift Vets have had such an impact on the recent polling even though the Big Media did their best to bury the story: these people are circumventing them to get their news anyway.

None of this is good news for the Kerry campaign. He's already had his chance to change these internals, but he missed out on it. Bush, on the other hand, has a solid week alone in the spotlight to do the same. My guess is that those who can be swayed, will be by the end of the week. We'll see some portion of those 35% who indicated they lean towards Bush move from "undecided" to "likely Bush Voters."

The rest? Based on these numbers showing they're not wild about either candidate, my best guess is that a large portion of them will simply stay home. Because of the general split on personal likeability between Bush and Kerry, those who do go to the polls are probably going to break roughly evenly between the two candidates.

Big Media Takes Notice...

...of the trouble in Kerry's campaign. Some selected items from today's The Note:

What we will all know by Friday morning (or, at least, should) —

- Who the bigger Nielsen draw is — "George Walker Bush in 'I Will Keep You Safer,'" or "John Forbes Kerry in 'Full Metal Jacket II'."

- If the already wobbling Kerry campaign can take the pressure of being behind — both in the CW and actually. (Note Note — we are being kind with "wobbling" — we could have gone with "disension-wracked" or something comparable.)

- If John Kerry can get his veterans mojo back.

- Will John Kerry's campaign use its week (mostly) out of the spotlight to make some staff changes? (Note we are too polite to use the words "significant shake-up.")


When ABC starts using phrases like "already wobbling," that can't be a good sign for your campaign, can it?

He Was For Sailing with his 'Band of Brothers'...

...before he was against it...

Now that's loyalty for you...These guys put their own reputations on the line for the sake of Kerry's sagging credibility, and he can't even be bothered to keep a simple promise like taking them out for a day of sailing...

At what point do people completely stop taking anything Kerry says seriously?

Pre-Count Recount

A few days back, I posted a link to an econometric prediction of the final medal count at the 2004 Athens Olympics...

Here's how it did...

It's nice to know that individual effort, skill and drive does count for something...

A Quick Look Back...and Ahead...

One particular polling result has been stuck in my head, so hunted down the link so I could share it with you...

This is dated from June 1. For a quick reminder, this is the absolute height of the Abu Ghraib story and before President Reagan passed. Edwards had pretty much made himself the lap dog of the Kerry campaign, so the presumption was that Edwards was probably going to be the Democrats' VP nominee.

A quick look at the polling results from that time shows that the Gallup poll which came out only days later had Kerry up by 6 points...

But "Would You Consider Voting For" result has always struck me as particularly significant. Why? Because it sets a cap on the vote totals for each candidate. In this particular poll 54% would consider voting for Bush while only 49% would consider voting for Kerry.

What has happened since then in Kerry's favor or conversely to Bush's disadvantage? Nothing...On the contrary, quite a few things have moved in Bush's direction: President Reagan's death, the successful handover of sovereignty to Iraq, a decline in American casualties, the 9/11 Report showing that Bush did not lie or pressure the intelligence agencies, and the Abu Ghraib report showing that the abuses were not systemic or ordered from the Pentagon.

On the other hand: Kerry had a convention devoid of discussion of the issues of this campaign, the Swift Vets and Kerry's thin-skinned response, Teresa's various comments ("Shove It!", etc.), the fake Wendy's stopover, "sensitive war", etc.

In short, I don't see anything which would have moved Kerry's position from that June 1 position upward. I also don't see anything which would have moved Bush's position downward. If anything, things have moved in the opposite direction for both candidates. Gallup's latest poll showing President Bush up by 3 would prove my point: a net swing in Bush's favor of 9 points.

I say that only by way of illustration, so back to the original "Would You Consider Voting For" results. Using the 54/49 as a baseline, it's pretty clear that Kerry reached his maximum vote potential in the days immediately following his convention.

Rasmussen's Presidential Tracking Poll backs this up. Kerry bumped up against 49% but never broke it. I'd have to doublecheck my history, but I believe that the high point of every challenger's campaign is after accepting their nomination. Even if that challenger went on to win, their ultimate polling numbers were somewhat less the numbers they received immediately thereafter.

In looking at the other polling results, I see only a couple of outlying polls which showed Kerry polling above 49% at any point. Coincidentally enough, the only polls which show this are: Zogby, Democracy Corps, and Newsweek - and they seem to be consistently polling Kerry higher than any other polls conducted at the same time by about 3%. (At least they're consistently biased.)

On the other hand, President Bush has a potential reach of 54%. With polls showing Bush polling 48-50% going into his convention, he has the potential to pick up 4-6% in the days following his convention. I believe this is the maximum vote potential for President Bush.

In March, I predicted that President Bush would win with 53% of the popular vote. That is within the 54% number that Rasmussen's poll revealed in June and given the general meltdown in progress in the Kerry campaign while Bush's convention is still on the horizon - I believe it more likely than ever.

Time will tell, and unforeseen events could still shape the election. But if you're the gambling type, here's where I'd put my money: Bush 53%, Kerry 46%, Nader 1%.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

250,000?

...more like 120,000...

For weeks they've been promising 250,000 protesters yet could only turn out less than half that...Not exactly a resounding success...

The Coward's Way...

...taken by a Kerry supporter...

As I mentioned in the comments there, this is the perfect metaphor for Democrats and Kerry supporters. They whine about warmongering Bush while wishing violence on their opponents. They complain about the president being a "divider" while reminding everyone which party threw the first punch.

Kerry is fond of saying "the buck stops at the top," so keep this in mind when you enter the voting booth in November....

Saturday, August 28, 2004

There goes that line...

...about Bush being stupid....

Democrats underestimate President Bush at their own risk...He is an effective manager who knows when it's time to dig into the details and when to keep his hands off...

He won't make the mistake of micro-managing as both Gore did and Kerry is doing, but he won't be disengaged from the fight either...

Remember the Furor...

Over the Bush campaign's outreach to churchgoers?

What's up with this?

Democrats were threatening to have the tax-exempt status revoked for congregations that engaged in political activity. I'm going to presume that they will be front and center demanding the revocation of The Riverside Church's tax-exempt status...

"It's a Mongrel Phrase..."

"Go Bug John Kerry"

Beldar has the latest on Kerry's lies about Vietnam. Here are the money grafs from the article he cites:

The Kerry campaign has refused to release Kerry's personal Vietnam archive, including his journals and letters, saying that the senator is contractually bound to grant Brinkley exclusive access to the material. But Brinkley said this week the papers are the property of the senator and in his full control.

"I don't mind if John Kerry shows anybody anything," he said. "If he wants to let anybody in, that's his business. Go bug John Kerry, and leave me alone." The exclusivity agreement, he said, simply requires "that anybody quoting any of the material needs to cite my book."

So now it's plain that the Kerry campaign has been stonewalling reporters on that material...Yesterday I wrote that John Kerry's claim that he was telling the "God's honest truth" could be the ultimate undoing of his campaign...Today's article in the Washington Post could fulfill that prediction...

Evidently "God's honest truth" is a little bit different than "John Kerry's honest truth"...

To the Washington Post's credit, they have been slow on the uptake but have also been doing their job as journalists in getting to the bottom of the story. We in the blogosphere can fault them for not taking better advantage of the resources available to them on the internet, but they're light years ahead of the NYT, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. on the story.

UPDATE: The Captain has much, much more including coverage from the L.A. Times and elsewhere in the Washington Post.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Dog's Best Friend...

...is man...

Now there's a man who loves his dog...

The Latest Round of Poll Results...

...bode ill for the Kerry campaign...

The chart tells the tale that Kerry supporters do not want to hear:

- Kerry has only been ahead in the polls during three periods:
1) Right after he locked up the Democratic nomination (but before Bush went on the air with his ad campaign which knocked down that lead)
2) In the middle of Abu Ghraib (but before Reagan's death which reminded Americans that the Reaganite in this race is President Bush)
3) After naming John Edwards as his running mate (but before the Swift Vets knocked the legs out from underneath his inane single-minded focus on Vietnam)

Matthew Dowd, the President's pollster predicted that the Democratic candidate would be ahead after #1 way back in November 2003!

"After the Democratic nominee is all but certain in the late winter/early spring, it would not be surprising for us to fall behind for a bit," writes Dowd.

"Once the Democratic nominee is all but assured, that person will receive a deluge of positive press at least for a couple of weeks, and this will be temporarily reflected in public opinion polls."

He also predicted #3 before Kerry chose Edwards. (No one could have known going in to the DNC convention that Kerry would duck the issues of this campaign in favor of a single-minded focus on Vietnam and, in the process, assure that there would be no significant post-convention bounce.) So even if we agree that Dowd overstated the size of the bounce for political reasons - he was right on the substance.

In fairness, no one could have predicted #2. That one fell into Kerry's lap.

So let's go back to last November:

The Bush strategist says "this race is likely to be very tight and go down to the wire," because of the "nature of a divided and polarized electorate."

So despite the Democratic triumphalism of the past few months, the Bush team is right where they always expected to be with their biggest event still to come next week...And with this latest round of poll results, my guess is they're ahead of where they thought they'd be...

Speaking of Poor Sports...

...how about Svetlana Khorkina?

I watched those competitions. She was obviously off her game. Her performances were far worse than her scores would suggest. In fact, I thought she was given higher scores than she deserved purely on the basis of her past accomplishments. She thought she could waltz in and coast to victory - that the judges should just hand her a gold medal because it was going to be her last.

Guess what, Svetlana? The better woman won....

Paul Hamm's Gold Medal...

Belongs to Paul...

The South Koreans are all upset about this - claiming their gymnast was cheated out of the gold medal...

They apparently ignored this:
The U.S. coach has also said that Yang should have received a 0.2 point deduction for four holds on the bar, a penalty that would have kept him in third place regardless of a correct start value.

Whoops! There goes that whole argument...If we're going to revisit the South Koreans' score, then the whole thing becomes fair game - not just the part the South Koreans want to revisit.

Besides, that's not what they thought in 1988....

But unlike 2004 when the mistake was unintentional, 1988 was a different story:

For his 1996 book, The New Lords of the Rings, Jennings discovered police documents that offered the most damning evidence that bribes were made in Seoul. Records from the files of the Stasi - the defunct East German secret police - showed more than $15,000 changed hands among boxing officials in Seoul.

The IOC investigated, and the result?

The IOC decided not to reverse any judges' decisions. Jones still was denied a gold medal.

I'll tell you what: when they give back Roy Jones' 1988 gold medal, they can start complaining about Paul Hamm's 2004 gold medal...

Until then, I have one message for you: STFU South Korea...you lost, get over it...

"God's Honest Truth"...

...could be the three little words that are responsible for putting the last nail in John Kerry's campaign coffin:

While largely avoiding the debate over his war record and television ads criticizing his antiwar protesting after the Vietnam war, Kerry told the crowd: "You are now learning about the lie and how the lie was put out there. I am telling you the God's honest truth about what happened over there."

(Emphasis added)

The blogosphere and some portion of the public is aware of the Christmas in Cambodia lie. And various blogs have been carefully deconstructing the other Kerry fables as well. [For details on the deconstruction, check out: InstaPundit, Beldar's Blog, Captain's Quarters and Powerline.]

John Kerry has now unequivocally said he is telling the "God's honest truth" about Vietnam, so when the next lie is definitively exposed who will be the enterprising journalist who holds John Kerry's feet to the fire?

The Plot Thickens...

...and the hole gets deeper...

This could be very serious...There seems to be a lot of shenanigans going on around John Kerry's medals...and none of it has anything to do with the SBVFT...

It's Nice to Know...

...the NYPD is on the job...

Two of the four "students" happened to be on an FBI Watch List...Sorry, not buying the coincidence...

Thursday, August 26, 2004

When Kerry Spoke...

...people died...

...and he still doesn't get it...worse yet, he doesn't care...

Tell me again why this man should be CinC?

It's Too Bad...

...no one will ever ask John Kerry these questions...

Reason #2,587,927...

...that John Kerry should sign the 180 and release his military records...

After all, if the "military records" that back up his claims of heroism were authored by one Lt(jg). John Kerry, then that would be...umm...slightly interesting, wouldn't it?

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

New L.A. Times Poll

...shows President Bush ahead for the first time...

Some notes of caution for Bush supporters:

1) The track record of the L.A. Times poll is notoriously awful. They are consistently off, though usually they tend to oversample Democrats and so end up skewing results toward Democrats.

2) The L.A. Times is itself practically a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. It wouldn't be surprising that the poll results - coming so close to the start of the RNC convention - are purposely skewed so that the paper can claim that he got no bounce coming out of it. Judgment will have to be withheld following the convention to see how the paper plays it, but this is not at all unlikely.

3) The poll is of "adults" - approximately 10% of which aren't even registered voters. This means that their opinions are irrelevant. If you're not going to vote on November 2nd then who cares what you think? The most accurate polls tend to be of "likely voters" - but, again, given the L.A. Times track record on polling even that would be suspect.

To sum it up: we'll have to wait and see how this shakes out. Because of L.A. Times shoddy record and naked partisanship, I wouldn't be suprised to see Bush's lead either identical - or even less - coming out of the convention: all for the sake of downplaying any positive momentum Bush is likely to gain if he gets a bounce.

Let's see how this plays out...

Insight Into the Presidency

...of George W. Bush...

It's probably the best write-up I've seen of why the Left really hates President Bush. He has set about the task of transforming the federal government: he won't stop, and he won't be deterred no matter how many times they try to slime him...and they know it...and they hate it...

...Therefore, they hate him...

Kerry's Losing the Veteran Vote...

...one day at a time...

John Kerry sends Max Cleland out for a little bit of political theater: delivering a letter signed by Democratic veterans demanding that the president put an end to an ads by independent group [because, of course, that makes perfect sense]:
Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland (search) said he tried to get a letter to President Bush asking him to specifically denounce independent campaign ads against John Kerry but no one at the president's ranch would accept the letter.

Except that he's lying:
Jerry Patterson, the Texas state land commissioner and a U.S. Marine who served in 1972-73, greeted the duo and handed back to Cleland and Rassmann a letter for Kerry signed by Reps. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who spent 21 years in the Navy and Sam Johnson, R-Texas, who spent 28 years in the Air Force. Others who signed the letter are Robert O'Malley and James Fleming, who both received Medals of Honor for their service in the Marine Corps during Vietnam, retired Lt. Col. Richard Castle and Lt. Gen. Dave Palmer, a former superintendent at West Point. Officials said the two men were to be invited into the staff compound at the president's ranch and offered a discussion with Palmer and Patterson.

Patterson claims that Cleland refused to give him the Democrats' letter to Bush.

The full text of the letter from Veterans for Bush can be found here.

If there was ever any doubt that Kerry's campaign is run by complete idiots, there isn't any more. I mean, c'mon! Who didn't see this coming?

Kerry recycles his "crippled veteran" strategy from 1971 - making sure to let everyone in the media know that Max "They Questioned My Patriotism" Cleland was on his way...in plenty of time for the president to formulate a response.

Did they think President Bush was just going to sit there and do nothing? Are they really that clueless?

Evidently, the answer is yes...

Tort Reform Works

...and here's the proof...Tort reforms passes and instead of doctors leaving, now they're arriving...Coincidence? I think not...

I love the priceless quote from the trial lawyer at the end of the article:
"Since tort reform, Edwards has turned away 50 to 75 cases because the cost of pursuing legal action would leave little financial relief for the clients."

Translation: He looked at the potential award available and figured out after subtracting his oversized fee, there wasn't any left over...

Someone get this man a tissue...

Here's the bottom line: more doctors means more treatment, shorter waiting periods to get needed treatment, more time for doctors to spend with patients...and somehow this is a bad thing according to this lawyer? He's looking out for his pocketbook, but he sure isn't looking out for anyone else's...

So in this election we have a choice between passing real reform that has been proven to work in attracting quality health care, and electing a trial lawyer who used junk science to extort exhorbitant awards - driving up malpractice insurance in the area.

Tough choice? I don't think so...

When Al Gore Scores More Charisma Than You...

...you know you're in deep doo-doo...

Keep in mind: this wasn't being panned by National Review or The Weekly Standard...This is being panned by Slate!

(Hat tip to the invaluable Betsy's Page)

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Remember What Your Parents Told You...

Don't start a fight if you're not ready to finish it...

The delicious irony is that John Kerry is now begging for help from President Bush to save him from drowning in his own deceits...Sorry, John - it appears you threw all the flotation devices overboard when you decided to ravage the decks with your lies and scurrilous accusations...

I'm enjoying every minute he spends squirming - being interrogated by his own staffers who want to know what kind of downside remains to this story, having to hide from the press who might actually make him answer questions, and shrieking like a schoolgirl that it's just not fair...

I can't wait until his lies about Vietnam and his anti-military testimony sink his life dream once and for all. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

It's personal for me. My father was in the Air Force when Kerry was trying to make a name for himself by tarring military men with unfounded accusations of widespread, daily war crimes. Dad wasn't in Vietnam, but anti-war types couldn't tell: to them everyone in uniform was a "baby-killer" because of his testimony.

So on behalf of my father, the rest of my family, my childhood friends and their parents I say to the SBVFT:

Don't. Stop. It's your turn now.

Ain't karma a bitch?

Monday, August 23, 2004

Rock-Solid Advice...

...from Bob Dole to John Kerry...

It's really too bad John Kerry can't afford to take it...If he agrees to take Vietnam off the table, all he's left with is trying to defend his career as a Lieutenant Governor to Dukakis and as a Senator from Massachusetts.

Doesn't it say something that he'd rather have the argument over Vietnam instead?

1971 Kerry Book Re-Published...

...thanks to the internet....

He's been doing his best to hide this book and its cover of the faux-Iwo Jima with the upside down flag from the public, but as the Swift Vets episode should have already taught him - the internet is far better and faster than his lame attempts to evade the public are...

This can't be refuted and it can't be argued down: these are John Kerry's own words. Since you can read the whole book, it can't be claimed that it's out of context; at least, I don't recall hearing this being part of trilogy or anything like that.

Follow the link and give it a read, then ask yourself if this man has any business getting even within commuting distance of the White House...

Listening to People...

...and responding...

This is exactly the sort of thing I like to see...A politician talking with real people, discussing real issues...Not focus groups...Not polls...No cameras...

More like this, please...

The Hourglass Turns...

One week after declaring the presidential race to be Kerry's to lose, ABC's The Note does a bullet-point summary that includes the following:

—There is no sign that the controversy has fundamentally affected the race (There is no dramatic change in the horserace number … ), but plenty of feeling that it can erode Kerry's credibility and tarnish his war record.

-This blind quote in the New York Times from a Democrat "close" to the Kerry campaign is very key: "When you're basically running on your biography and there are ongoing attacks that are undermining the credibility of your biography, you have a really big problem."

—There are smart Democrats who think this is all horrible for Kerry; there are ones who think an eventual backlash against the president and a focus on Kerry's war record will be good in the end. And there are smart Republicans on both analytical sides as well.

—There is no evidence that the Bush campaign is orchestrating the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and the known ties between them are significantly less close than between John Kerry's campaign and the 527s supporting him.

—If John Kerry can't build a campaign organization that can de-fang 250 guys spending a million bucks, how good a president could he possibly be?

—The greatest political effect all this will probably have on the outcome of the election is to give the conservative base many reasons to get all riled up in hating John Kerry the way the left hates George Bush — and, as Matthew Dowd will tell you, firing up the base is the way this election will be won.

—Undermining ONE of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charges — such as William Rood did — does not undermine them all. The reporting on Rood by many news organizations over the weekend — painting him as repudiating all the charges being made after "dramatically breaking his silence" — was embarrassing.

—Kerry's truthfulness is significantly more in question on the Cambodia "issue" than it is on any of his medals, which is why the anti-Ker[r]y group returns to Cambodia whenever its credibility is challenged.

—Kerry and his campaign have been inconsistent on the question of whether President Bush's National Guard record should be and will be an issue in this race.

—If the terrain switches to Kerry's protest-era statements, the story will be kept alive even longer, and Kerry's capacity to win the "truth" war will be more limited.

—The new Bush ad going after John Kerry on taxes is almost certainly more likely to work, now that Kerry's "trouble with the truth" reputation has been stoked by the Swift Boaters.

So the question of the day for the Googling Monkeys at The Note: do you still think it's Kerry's race to lose?

Not Exactly a Glowing Recommendation...

...from BusinessWeek Online...

I don't know whether the editors typically lean right or left, but BusinessWeek is a widely read publication so I would imagine that this is a relatively high traffic web site...

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Go Ahead, I Dare You...

...to challenge Bob Dole's bona fides on speaking about Purple Hearts...

The damning money quotes:

"I respect his record - but three Purple Hearts, he never bled that I know of," Dole told CNN's "Late Edition." "They were all superficial wounds."
...
Drawing on those credentials, Dole called on Kerry to issue a public apology for calling his fellow Vietnam soldiers war criminals during his 1971 Senate testimony, telling CNN, "Maybe he should apologize to all the other two-and-a-half million veterans who served. He wasn't the only one who was in Vietnam."

"I think Sen. Kerry needs to talk about his Senate record, which is pretty thin." Dole added. "That's probably why he's talking about his war record, which is pretty confused."

The truth hurts....don't it?

Can You Imagine...

...anyone doing anything like this for Kerry?

This is the problem for Kerry: people genuinely like President Bush. Oh sure, the Bushitler crowd doesn't; but they didn't like before he ever get elected anyway. They've just given themselves new reasons to believe that they were right all along.

Here's the bigger problem: it happens to be that 10,000 people in a "battleground" state are putting up billboards, signing petitions and practically begging the President to visit. This isn't the heart of Texas...it's Missouri.

Now if you're a Kerry booster, ask yourself this question:

When was the last time you saw 10,000 sign a petition asking Kerry to appear...anywhere?

Missile Defense-

...-less?....

This is a gaping hole through which President Bush can and should drive his campaign bus right through: John Kerry has acknowledged that he will cut spending for developing a missile shield.

"Missile defense is clearly the biggest difference on defense spending between Bush and Kerry," said Douglas Berenson, a military budget analyst at Washington-based consultancy DFI International. "Anywhere else, it's on the margins."


You can't be serious about dealing with North Korea and not recognize the danger that their nuclear weapons pose to the United States. Like his support for a unilateral nuclear freeze in the 1980's showed how little he understood the true nature of the nuclear arms race, his plan to cut missile defense research and implementation shows that he has learned absolutely nothing in the intervening 20 years.

He was just a liberal peacenik of no consequence because he was nowhere near the true levers of powers, now his particular brand of nuclear idiocy has the potential to become a danger to our national security if he gets access to them...

This is one of the best illustrations of why we can't let that happen...

Gabriele Andersen-Scheiss

If you don't remember the name, you're not alone...I didn't remember the name until I watched an NBC story about the women's marathon event this morning...But I've always remembered her story:

She competed in the marathon for Switzerland at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and she came in last. What is memorable though is not where or when she finished, but that she finished at all.

I remember watching that race. I remember watching her stagger into the stadium - plainly exhausted. The marathon ended with a final lap around the track, and for six minutes I watched her struggle against herself to finish that race. She had come 26 miles, and she was going to finish. With the halting and stumbling borne of a body that had nothing left to give, her mind drove it around that track - dodging at least one official who tried to make her stop lest he touch her and thereby disqualify her - to the finish line anyway. It was a spectacle that at first stunned the crowd to silence as it saw the effect the race had on her as she entered the stadium. That soon gave way to a loud and sustained cheering both at home and in the stadium as if every spectator were trying to pull her across that finish line by their encouragement. I will never forget how, once across that line, she collapsed into the waiting doctors' arms, her mind no longer able to ambulate her broken body even another step now that she had reached her goal.

It was an awe-inspiring testament to the human will to drive the flesh to its limits and beyond. I didn't even remember what country she represented until I was reminded, but it didn't matter. In those last minutes of bending her body to her will to reach her goal - to finish what she started, she represented everyone. Today I remember her story, and I thank her for her reminder of the triumph of the human spirit...

Olympic Medal Pre-Count

Two economic professors are predicting the U.S. will win 93 medals in Athens - 37 of them gold using a model based on "population, per capita income, past performance, and a host effect."

I had seen this covered on TV but finally got around to tracking down the link....

It'll be interesting to see if they're as close in 2004 as they were in 2000....

Panic Sets In...

...it has begun...

The Kerry campaign is coming apart at the seams...When the state party chairmen are going on the record saying that their people are "nervous" and the other party hasn't even held its convention yet, it's time to start heading for the exits...

More Kudos...

...to the Washington Post...

It appears they've made an honest effort to get to the bottom of at least the Rassmann incident (and on the front page)...There are still a lot of other items they haven't touched - most especially the easily proveable lie that Kerry told repeatedly about his 1968 Christmas in Cambodia.

But here's the money quote:

"Some of the mystery surrounding exactly what happened on the Bay Hap River in March 1969 could be resolved by the full release of all relevant records and personal diaries. Much information is available from the Web sites of the Kerry campaign and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and the Navy archives. But both the Kerry and anti-Kerry camps continue to deny or ignore requests for other relevant documents, including Kerry's personal reminiscences (shared only with biographer Brinkley), the boat log of PCF-94 compiled by Medeiros (shared only with Brinkley) and the Chenoweth diary. [The article notes that Chenoweth read the relevant diary entry aloud to the reporter but did not send him an actualy copy.]

"Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records shown briefly to reporters earlier this year), they have not permitted independent access to his original Navy records. A Freedom of Information Act request by The Post for Kerry's records produced six pages of information. A spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command, Mike McClellan, said he was not authorized to release the full file, which consists of at least a hundred pages."


So the question now is how long will Kerry stonewall the Washington Post now that they've added their voice to those already asking for a full release of his records?

UPDATE: Glenn is all over it...Go there to get even more...

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Communists for Kerry...

...This is a parody...

...This is the actual Communist Party website...

Tonight's assignment is to compare and contrast...

And the Repercussions...

...begin to reverberate...

This is absolutely horrible news for the Kerry campaign:

- 76% of likely voters say that Kerry's service after Vietnam matters more than his service there. I happen to be one of those 76%, but it's too bad that Kerry didn't give a single one of those 76% a reason to vote for him at his "Homage to My 4 Months in Vietnam" convention and acceptance speech.

- Kerry's service in Vietnam has a 47-36 favorable/unfavorable split. This should be an unqualified positive for Kerry (with the exception of that perhaps 10% of the population that is just out-and-out anti-military), and yet he manages only a net +11 on what he considers his "strong hand." That 47% favorable falls to 46 among unaffiliated voters - ouch and double ouch.

- 22% haven't even heard about the Swift Vets yet, and the poll doesn't differentiate between those who have actually seen the ad and those who have just heard the negative stories about the Swift Vets...That means there's more potential downside for Kerry...That means there's still more fallout to come...

- By 46-39, voters believe he's either outright lying or exaggerating his service.

- Kerry trails Bush by 8 points in the "honest and trustworthy" category which means he's not in a good position to ask voters to trust his version of events.

This is dangerous territory for the Kerry campaign. The second Swift Vets ad about his protest activities and the demoralizing effect they had on POWs doesn't even hit the airways until Tuesday. Stay tuned for the upcoming full campaign meltdown...

Good News...

...in the battle against methamphetamine...

I'm generally against government regulations, but I would be all for requiring this additive - or even better, the one currently under development.

I'm for the legalization of marijuana, but some drugs - such as meth - are just plain bad news. I've seen people that I know get absolutely destroyed by it. There's just nothing good anyone can say about it: it destroys people, their lives, and the people around them. I've seen it happen.

Stifling Dissent...

...or just stifling violence?

I've read this story, and I don't see any stifling of dissent or "chill" on protest activities. Even the hysterical (and yes I said 'hysterical') would-be protester doesn't claim that she was threatened in any way - simply asked if she was planning on attending protests.

Now given the various stories being published about anarchists rubbing gunpowder on themselves to create false alarm in the subways, the history of violence at past protests, etc. I'd say that the FBI would be negligent if they didn't at least do some minimal due diligence in sniffing out violence.

If you're planning to protest non-violently then what's the problem? The problem is that many of these "protesters" seem to think that violence on behalf of their particular cause is perfectly fine. That's dangerous...and demented...

I tip my hat to the FBI for their actions here. If the simple act of asking a few qustions is enough to put a chill on violence by thugs who use these protests as an excuse for their anti-social and destructive behavior, then ask away...

The Cost of Freedom...

...of speech...

What amazes me is that clowns like this don't seem to understand that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the repercussions of that speech...

He claims that "there's no venue to ask questions" but he wasn't shouting questions - he was shouting comments. This is just another one of these Kerry campaign-staged "they won't let the little guy speak" opportunities that they lamely try at each Bush event.

Let's see a client gives your employer free tickets, and you use that event to try to score political points for your side - something which even a brain-dead idiot would not be appreciated by either your employer or their valuable client. And you don't care...Then, amazingly, he was "shocked" to find out his inane behavior got him fired...

I, for one, am glad he had to pay the price for his stupidity...This is one tick up on the unemployment figures that I can't say I'm sorry about...

A Sportsman...

...through and through...

This is heartening to hear. After the arrogance of the basketball team, it's refreshing to hear that at least one of our athletes understands what it means to be a sportsman. He made his point by beating Crocker in the individual event, but steps aside so Crocker can earn a gold in the medley relay.

This Is Too Much...

...He's not just lying about his four months....

C'mon...Someone has got to ask this man some tough questions...don't they?

And given all the holes, obvious lies and distortions in "Tour of Duty" that are popping up wherever the story is examined (by amateurs in the field no less) when will people stop calling Douglas Brinkley an "historian" and start calling him what he clearly is: PROPAGANDIST?

This Sounds About Right

...to me...

A few notes about the relative veracity of those involved:

1) Rassmann has told conflicting stories about whether he was on Kerry's boat or on PCF-3. If you can't even remember which boat you were on, how is your story credible about the details of what happened while you were underwater?

2) Kerry fled the scene by his own admission while the other boats stayed to rescue the disabled craft. That doesn't exactly square with "heroic action under enemy fire," does it?

3) There is not a single man from any other boat (you know, the ones who stayed while Kerry ran) who backs up Kerry's version of events. Isn't that significant? Shouldn't they be able to find at least one?

My analysis: Kerry's "Band of Brothers" know that the man in charge of their boat was going to skedaddle out of any possible danger rather than stand and fight, and none of them wanted to be there getting shot at anyway. They back him because they credit his willingness to "bug out" at the first sign of real trouble with getting them home. I understand their loyalty, but it doesn't exactly paint a flattering picture of John Kerry does it?

Google - Don't Believe the Hype

The Google IPO has debuted...

My personal take: I wouldn't touch this stock with someone else's proverbial ten foot pole.

Is Google in a dominant position on today's internet? Absolutely...But wasn't it Yahoo not so long ago? Does anyone remember the dominance of AOL?

IMO, Google has nowhere to go but down. Their current net dominance is bound to challenged by a future innovator who will do to them what they did to Yahoo. I don't see the huge upside potential for Google - what I see is the owners cashing in at the height of its value while the new stockholders get taken for a ride.

As the standard warning for roller-coasters goes: ride at your own risk.

The Great Unraveling

...has begun...

I have to give it to the Washington Post: this is the first fair treatment of the SBVFT story I've seen in print, and it's to the Post's credit that it appears on the front page.

Friday, August 20, 2004

Words of Wisdom...

...from Alice Cooper....

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Hail the Conquering...

...War Criminal?

When you're getting pummeled by solid body blows from both the Left and the Right, you know your candidacy is in serious trouble...

Hat tip to InstaPundit

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Time for a New Law...

This sort of thing should be outlawed...

This can only encourage bogus tickets and/or arrests...If there is so little criminal activity in Falls Church that the department can afford to make such stupid rules, doesn't that tell its citizens that they have too many police?

I can't think of a single reason that anyone could give me that these kinds of quotas make sense...

Everything You Need to Know...

...about Kerry and how the military feels about him...

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Understanding the French...

...is impossible without reading this...

These people are not our allies: it's long past time we stopped pretending they were...

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

On My Next Vacation...

...I'm thinking about adding Tunisia to the itinerary...

Friday, August 06, 2004

"He's That Good..."

When the liberal writers from Slate start noticing it, it's time for someone to start looking for "the fat lady"...

Yeah...

"He's that good..."

When the writers from Slate start figuring it out, it's time for someone to start looking for "the fat lady"...

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Reaction Times

Bush is at a public event with all eyes upon him...
Kerry is in private with complete freedom of actions...

Who reacted faster to the planes hitting the towers?

New Blog Alert!

Jayson Javitz from Polipundit has a new blog...I've always enjoyed his posts there, so the new blog is good news.

I've added it to the blogroll, so go check it out...

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

We Report...

...You decide...

History will not be kind to Bill Clinton....at all...Even his signature "booming economy" wasn't his and his economic legacy was an economy in obvious decline...

Ouch...

Monday, August 02, 2004

10,000 Lakes and 1 Huge Problem...

...for the Kerry campaign...

Considering how badly Kerry needs Minnesota in his column to even be close and how close the state is already polling...this is clearly not the kind of news the campaign needs right now...

Sunday, August 01, 2004

I Can Feel the Panic...

...setting in....

Mickey Kaus has been running a "Dem Panic Watch" for some time waiting for the Democrats to realize they've nominated a dud...

That clock ought to be pretty close to midnight right about now...

A Tale of a Fateful Trip...

...it all started with a 3 hour tour...

Knowing the shallowness that is Maureen Dowd's thought process, I'm sure she doesn't realize that Gilligan did wind up shipwrecked at the end of that little trip...