Playing the Media

From today's Best of the Web Today, check out this information. Have you seen anything about this in the press?

Tim Chavez, a columnist for the (Nashville) Tennessean, offers this horrifying quote from Lt. Col. Jim Rose, a Tennessee Marine fighting in Iraq:

''The Najaf shrine--HUNDREDS of dead women and children were brought out after [Muqtada al] Sadr left,'' Rose wrote. ''They (Sadr's supporters) rounded them up during the battle and brought them in to be executed. Why? Because they anticipated the Americans would eventually enter the shrine and walk into a media ambush. We never went in. The people of Najaf love us right now because of that. They hate Sadr and want him dead.

''Have you heard that one yet (in the media)?''

In the New York Post, Amir Taheri recounts this "recent bizarre phrase from French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin":

The head of the Figaro press group went to see him about the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq; Raffarin assured him they would soon be freed, reportedly saying, "The Iraqi insurgents are our best allies."

This is one of the "allies" John Kerry thinks he would be able to win over to our side.

The ABC's of Cheap Shots

Heard this on the 1pm ABC radio news report - Reporter Terry Moran said that the Bush people are concerned because the debate will keep the President up "past his bedtime". At night he's more inclined toward malaprops etc. The staff supposedly advised him to take a nap today (which he doesn't normally do).

Seems like a cheap shot to me. I didn't hear any mention about "The Great Pumpkin", or how his orange glow would cause people to misadjust their TV sets all across the country.

John Carrot

See Kerry's new tan-in-a-can orange hue reminds me of when my daughter Emily was very little. She was a fussy eater, and finding stuff she liked was always tough.

We did finally figure out that she really liked Gerber sweet potatoes, squash and carrots. She couldn't get enough of them. In fact, we fed her so much orange mush she began to take on the same orange hue that can currently be seen on Kerry. The doctor advised us to try some food with other colors.

What will be interesting in the debate tonight will be Kerry's makeup. Will he go the Al Gore route and pack on the pancake until he begins to look like Lurch from the Adam's family? Or will he let his natural "Pumpkin glow" come through? One thing for sure, everyone will be looking at his skin tone first before they pay attention to anything he says.

Some Post Debate Advice

I saw an email which advises activism in the minutes following tonight's debate:

Immediately after the debate, we need you to do three things: vote in online polls, write a letter to the editor, and call in to talk radio programs. Your 10 minutes of activism following the debate can make the difference.

Vote

National and local news organizations will be conducting online polls during and after the debate asking for readers' opinions. Look for online polls at these national news websites, and make sure to vote in every one of them:

ABC News: http://www.abcnews.com/

CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/

Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/

MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/

And be sure to check the websites of your local newspapers and TV stations for online polls. It is crucial that you do this in the minutes immediately following the debate.

This email advice came from none other than Terry McAwful of the DNC who wants to make sure that John Carrot...er Kerry...looks good after the debate, even if he loses. Frankly, these online polls are pretty worthless since they can be so easily manipulated, but it can't hurt to get your vote in. We don't want the Dems to have all the fun.

Going Out On a Limb

I'm going to go way out on a limb and make my election prediction today. This is more for sport than anything else, but I think it will be fun to look back and see how close (or how far off) I was. Making this prediction before the first debate is risky, but that's what makes it sporty.

Here we go: Bush wins 53%, Kerry 46%, all others 1%
Electoral Count - Bush 313, Kerry 225

Bush wins AL, NV, AZ, ID, UT, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, WI, AL, MS, TN, GA, FL, IN, OH, KY, WV, PA, NC, SC, VA, NH & ME.

Kerry wins OR, WA, CA, NM, MN, IA, IL, MI, NY, VT, MA, RI, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC & HI.

Maybe It Sounded Better in French

This from today's "Political Diary" from the Wall Street Journal:

John Kerry showed up on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday to explain his infamous comment that he was in favor of an $87 billion appropriation for the troops he Iraq before he was against it. Mr. Kerry admitted to Ms. Sawyer the comment was "an inarticulate moment in the late evening when I was dead tired in the primaries."

The only problem with that explanation, as an e-mail from the Bush campaign pointed out, is that the statement was made at the noon hour: "Maybe he was on Paris time," the Republican missive snickered.

More From C-BS

From today's Kerry Spot:

RatherBiased.com has the stunning story that Dan Rather and CBS have learned nothing - nothing from the whole fake memo story.

Last night, they reported on the bogus "Bush will restore the draft" rumor...
In a story that was a textbook example of slipshod reporting, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger used debunked internet hoax emails and an unlabeled interest group member to scare elderly "Evening" viewers into believing that the U.S. government is poised to resume the draft.

At the center of Schlesinger's piece was a woman named Beverly Cocco, a Philadelphia woman who is "sick to my stomach" that her two sons might be drafted. In his report, Schlesinger claimed that Cocco was a Republican and portrayed her as an apolitical (even Republican) mom worried about the future.

Schlesinger did not disclose that Cocco is a chapter president of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft (PAD) which, in addition to opposing any federal proscription, seeks to establish a "peaceful, rational foreign policy" by bringing all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Like Schlesinger's Cocco, the group portrays itself as "nonpartisan"although its leadership seems to be entirely bereft of any Republicans.

The group's domain is registered to a man named Jacob Levich, a left-wing activist who in a 2001 essay compared the Bush Administration to the totalitarian government portrayed in George Orwell's 1984.

As RatherBiased.com points out, no mention that the two bills in Congress that are seeking to reestablish the draft (S89 and HR163) are sponsored almost exclusively by Democrats and have been pronounced DOA by the Republican leadership.
Is there any point in objecting anymore?

Dan Rather and the entire CBS News operation are apparently out to make Michael Moore look fair-minded.

Al Gore Fantasy

The New York Times has a piece written by Al Gore entitled "How To Debate George Bush". That's sort of like having a column entitled "How I Won The Cold War" by Mikhail Gorbachev. Neither one makes sense.

Al Gore huffed and puffed his way through three debates and lost every one of them. Personality plays a big role in televised debates, and Al came in unarmed. I hope Kerry takes his advice - Bush will have a 20 point lead on Friday if he does.

Why I Won't Be Watching the Debates

You'd think that a guy who is as into politics as I am couldn't wait for the debates to begin so I could sit breathlessly in front of the TV and watch the fireworks. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I won't be watching. Here's why:

1. I hate those "shouting head" shows on TV, and this is just a calmer version of Crossfire or Hannity & Colmes.
2. I'm one of those hard-headed voters who made up my mind a long time ago, and nothing that happens in the debates is going to steer me away from President Bush. Even if he drools for 90 minutes, I've seen the man in the job, and that's all I need to know that he's far superior to Kerry.
3. The debate rules themselves have been described as "Rules of Disengagement" by Chris Wallace on Fox, and I think he's right. The candidates aren't allowed to directly question one another, which means there will be 90 minutes of moderators asking left-leaning questions, and both candidates giving their carefully scripted answers. It's basically going to be joint press conferences. No significant fireworks.
4. The rules also mandate that the candidates cannot leave their podiums, and no reaction shots will be allowed (in other words, we won't get to see any Gore-like eyerolling or big sighs while one candidate is speaking). That takes all the fun out of it.
5. Both sides will claim victory and both will claim the other was grievously wounded in the exchange. The spin will be flying.
6. If you want to know how the debate went, tune in to Fox News right after the debate ends. They'll have both sides represented on their panel, and you'll get a pretty good feel for the thing.

I'm sure the pundit class will have great fun with these debates, and everyone agrees that it could be make or break for Kerry. My prediction: Bush will be Bush, and Kerry will try to be everyone else. Bush will keep his answers short and to the point and will leave no doubt where he stands. Kerry will wander off every offramp his nuanced mind comes to, and in the end, he will have talked a lot and said nothing.

Orange Alert!

Drudge reports:

Just days before Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry is set to take the stage in a debate opener projected to be seen by 70 million, photos show Kerry dramatically taking on color.

Is it the late September Wisconsin sun during debate prep that has turned Kerry's face to rich pumpkin-colored hues?

Or has the senator been campaigning in the rust-belt?

Kerry advisers defend the sudden deep tan transition, noting how it simply was from a game of flag football last Friday in Bedford, Mass.

But the College Democrats who met Kerry were surprised by his rich tan glow -- before the game even began, the HARVARD CRIMSON reports.

You've got to see these pictures on Drudge. I noticed that Kerry looked funny on the news last night, but these photos make him look like the Great Pumpkin. It reminds me of the "Friends" episode where Ross went to a spray-on tanning salon and accidentally overdid it.

Brit Hume on Fox, after showing some video of Kerry with his new color, even went out of his way to say that Fox had done nothing to make him appear that way. They didn't want to be accused of doctoring up the image to make him look bad.

A Little Presidential Election History

From Peter Robinson at National Review's "The Corner":

The nation has experienced four wartime presidential elections in which a candidate who was, broadly speaking, anti-war challenged a candidate who was, by contrast, pro-war. In brief: During the War of 1812, Governor De Witt Clinton of New York attempted to unseat President James Madison, who was running for a second term. Whereas Clinton and his supporters derided the conflict as “Mr. Madison’s war,” Madison insisted instead that the war had proven “just and necessary.”

Madison won.

In 1864, General George McClellan attempted to deny President Abraham Lincoln a second term, accepting the nomination of a Democratic Party that denounced the Civil War as “four years of failure.” Although McClellan argued for a continuation of the war, he attempted to have the issue both ways, making it clear that he remained open to some form of negotiated peace. Lincoln insisted instead on outright victory.

Lincoln won.

In 1968, Hubert Humphrey proved increasingly critical of the war in Vietnam as election day approached. By contrast, Richard Nixon remained committed to the defense of South Vietnam.

Nixon won.

In 1972, George McGovern proved unambiguously dovish, calling for an withdrawal from Vietnam, while Richard Nixon remained, once again, committed to American war aims.

Nixon won.

My point? That in attempting to portray Iraq as a second Vietnam, John Kerry is not only making obvious mistakes on the substance—the military situation in Iraq is entirely different from that of Vietnam, and even now we have suffered only as many casualties during the entire conflict in Iraq as we suffered in Vietnam every two months. Kerry is also demonstrating an astonishing ignorance of the character of the nation.

When the country is at war, Americans reject vacillation, voting for strength.

Sshhh! It's a Secret!

Thanks to "Slings and Arrows" for this list of secret plans as alleged by the Democrats:

According to Democrats, Bush has "secret plans" to:

• Hurt Milk Producers
• Privatize Social Security
• Bring Back the Draft
• Call Up More Troops
• Wage Nuclear War
• Cut Social Services
• Create Jobs By Blowing Stuff Up
• Manipulate Oil Prices to Benefit the Saudis
• Cut VA Benefits
• Cut Education Funding
• Send Jobs Overseas
  

Judging by all these people who know all about his "secret plans," the President should work a bit on keeping his secrets, well, secret. The next thing you know everyone will find out about his secret plan to invade the moon.

Ooops. Did I let that slip out?

Poll Position

Thanks to the fine reporting at RealClearPolitics.com, here are the latest poll numbers in the presidential race:

ABC News/Wash Post: Bush 51, Kerry 45, Nader 1 Bush JA at 52%
Gallup: Bush 52, Kerry 44, Nader 3 Bush 52, Kerry 44 Bush JA at 54%

With 52%+ job approval, President Bush is heading into Reagan '84 territory, and certainly is looking better than Clinton '96.

There are many other polls at RealClearPolitics.com, including various state polls and senate races.

The Next First Lady

Best of the Web Today has some excerpts from Teresa Heinz Kerry's foray to Colorado the other day:

John Kerry's second wife was in Colorado Friday, where, as usual, she had many ridiculous things to say. "Day One of his presidency, every child in America will have health care. Period," Teresa Heinz Kerry told an audience in Fort Collins, according to the Coloradoan, the local paper. Apparently she doesn't realize that this would require an act of Congress--or perhaps she intends to pick up the tab herself.

She also offered this wisdom on education policy: "Tests should be a measure that is enabling, not disabling. Tests that are a trap are sinful." Huh?

And in Pueblo, the Associated Press reports, she had this advice on how to fight terrorism:

"The way we live in peace in a family, in a marriage, in the world, is not by threatening people, is not by showing off your muscles. It's by listening, by giving a hand sometimes, by being intelligent, by being open and by setting high standards."

Yeah, that'll throw a scare into al Qaeda.

W is for Winner

"Desperately seeking a winning issue, Kerry has called the attention of the electorate to the fact that Bush's middle initial -- W -- stands for wrong. (As in Bush is leading America in the 'wrong direction.') But this seems a risky ploy for a candidate whose middle initial is F" -- blogger and columnist Joseph Sobran, writing at Sobran.com.

Democrat Wedgie

A favorite pasttime of Republicans during the weeks before a major election is to force votes on "wedge" issues that create real problems for Democrats if they vote the way they really believe. In an article in the Washington Times, "GOP forcing votes on wedge issues", the writers explain some of the issues that are giving the Dems heartburn. Here is an excerpt:

Rep. Charles W. Stenholm, Texas Democrat, has voted repeatedly against President Bush's tax cuts -- so it was surprising when he voted Thursday for a $146 billion package to extend some of its most popular middle-class provisions.

Republicans chalked it up to another pre-election conversion -- something they say they expect as they force Congress to vote on popular but contentious bills during the next few weeks.

From flag-burning to the Pledge of Allegiance and the definition of marriage, House and Senate leaders say they will make Democrats choose between their party principles and their constituents.

"You want to draw distinctions between the parties," said Stuart Roy, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican. "Republicans get re-elected when we act like Republicans. Democrats get re-elected when they act like Republicans. For us, the best way to draw distinctions is to paint with bold lines and bright colors."

The Peanut Farmer Strikes Again

Apparently Jimmy Carter is quite content with the recent elections in Venezuela where the exit polls showed the presidential recall winning 58%-42% while the government's actual vote totals declared that the recall LOST 58%-42% (things that make you go hmmmm), but he just can't stand the idea of a Republican Secretary of State in Florida. Republicans just can't be trusted to run elections in the land of the free and the home of the recount.

The main problem - the Secretary of State allowed Ralph Nader on the ballot and doesn't want to allow convicted felons to vote. Imagine the nerve! You can read all about the Peanut Protestations here.

The Kerryness of Kerry

Mark Steyn, as usual, hits it right on the head with his article "The Kerryness of Kerry". It really tells you a lot about the candidate from a guy who watched him up close and personal during the primaries. Here's an excerpt:

I underestimated Kerry [as a primary candidate] because I made the mistake of seeing too much of him in 2003 – in Woodsville, Plymouth, Littleton and other obscure stops on the New Hampshire primary trail. He was awful. And he was just as awful in the huge auditorium at Nashua High School in late January as he’d been at the Barge Inn in Woodsville the previous summer. The only difference was that he was now awful with a full supporting cast – the “band of brothers”, Max Cleland, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Jeanne Shaheen… When the chorus line momentarily parted and you got a glimpse of the candidate, he still seemed like a plodding single-digit fifth-place guy.

Primary season gives the party’s electorate a chance to rattle the leading candidate and make him a better campaigner. This time round the leading candidates – Dean, Clark – rattled the electorate and in their stampede to the fire exits they wound up sweeping the quintessential “None of the Above” man to victory. They made a very basic miscalculation: Howard Dean was a dull centrist governor pretending to be nuts, John Kerry is a nut passing himself off as a dull centrist.

Good stuff! (hat tip Power Line)

Weekend Sports Final

As promised, here is an update of our favorite two sports:

1. The Mission Viejo Diablos High School football team obliterated Marina High 50-0. It would have been 120-0 but MV pulled all of its starters in the second quarter. MV is now rated #1 in California and will play the #2 team, Long Beach Poly, this Friday night (Oct. 1) in Long Beach. Should be a barn-burner.
2. Ryan Newman took the win at Dover in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. Jeff Gordon remains the points leader by a very slim 1 point margin over Kurt Busch, and just 18 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr. This week the series moves to Talladegah, AL, and if you've never watched a race before, this would be a great weekend to watch. You'll see 43 cars going 190 MPH 3 wide and bumper to bumper through much of the race around the 2 1/2 mile tri-oval. It's wild.

Debate Prep

Here's an article from Time Magazine on all the preparations and silliness that has gone into negotiations for the upcoming debates. I'll talk more about the debates, and my attitude towards them, later this week.

Paralysis by Analysis

Check out Hugh Hewitt's blog regarding Kerry's excrutiating decision making process. That might be okay for a Senator whose one vote of a hundred could be wrong 100% of the time and not hurt anybody, but it doesn't work for a president.

Show Me The Money

There's a good article today called "Why the 9/11 fund was a mistake" in the Boston Globe. As you will recall, the 9/11 fund was set up to compensate the family members of victims of the 9/11 attacks.

I've always had a problem with this fund. People suffer tragedies every day, and no one has set up a fund to help them. What about the family that lost a father and breadwinner in a traffic accident on 9/11? It had nothing to do with terrorism, but the family was just as devastated as the 9/11 families.

What about the Oklahoma City victims? Or the family of a man killed while working in a convenience store? I think the idea of the government handing out billions of dollars to the victims of one type of tragedy is simply bad policy. I worry about the precendent that was set by this fund, and what effect it could have our our economy should there be another attack.

Plays Well With Others??

Yesterday one of the bravest men in the world came to Washington to speak to a joint session of Congress. That man is Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq. This guy is the target of untold assassination plots as he attempts to guide Iraq from tyranny to democracy.

Allawi gave a great speech to Congress and more than held his own at a White House press briefing. One question, however, where was Kerry?

Here was the perfect opportunity to elevate his stature and make himself look presidential had he simply showed up for the speech and then arranged a private meeting with the Prime Minister. It would have put him on a par with the president.

Instead, he stayed in Ohio (Bush by 11 points as of the last polls) and took cheap shots at the Prime Minister and Bush in a news conference held just 30 minutes after the speech in Congress. Basically, he called both the Prime Minister and Bush liers and suggested that the Prime Minister didn't know what was going on in his own country. This is how Kerry treats our friends.

There's another interesting article out there today. Charles Krauthammer, simply one of the brightest guys around, writes today about the efforts of Kerry's sister to undermine the Howard Administration in Australia. National elections down under are scheduled for Oct. 9, and Howard's opponent wants to cut and run from Iraq. Read the whole article - it's pretty good (free registration required).

Don't you find it kind of peculiar that Kerry has no use whatsoever for the allies who are helping us in Iraq (remember his "coalition of the bribed and coerced" comment), while he claims to be able to bring new allies into the mix should he be president? There's a cartoon out there that kind of says it all:

The cartoon shows "President" Kerry on the phone, saying something like: "Bonjour, Jacques, I'm calling to ask you to send some troops to help fight the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Ain't going to happen, folks. (Hat tip - Power Line)

Sports Update

There is more to life than politics. This time of year two specific sports - high school football and NASCAR - are favorites of this reporter (I've always wanted to say "this reporter". It makes me sound like Dan Rather without the lying.)

We're blessed to live in the neighborhood of Mission Viejo High School, ranked #1 in Orange County, #2 in California, and #3 in the country. The Diablos face Marina tonight, and in a couple of weeks will face off against De La Salle, the #1 ranked team in California. With a daughter in the marching band, we try to make as many games as we can.

The NASCAR Chase for the Championship heads to Dover, DE this weekend. This is a 1 mile high banked concrete oval that always makes for good racing. All the NASCAR news you want can be found here.

I'll post a sports update on Monday with the results of the weekend's activities.

You Say Tomato....

James Taranto of Best of the Web Today ran a little reader contest to see who could come up with the best new slogan for Heinz Ketchup (the company is seeking to "spice up" their label). Here are some of the best ones:

• "Only an idiot would use mustard."
• "Our flavor is stronger at home and respected in the world."
• "Foreign leaders prefer ketchup."
• "Ketchup: C'est magnifique."
• "The taste that's smeared--smeared--in your memory."
• "For your papases fritas, your pommes frites, your patate fritte and your fritadas francesas."
• "Mustard: The wrong condiment in the wrong place at the wrong time."
• "By the way, served in your kitchen."
• "Too good for the common man."
• "Hunt's is for scumbags."

Florida Flashback

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal has a great column which warns us that 2004 could be a repeat of the Florida fiasco of 2000. The candidate with the most lawyers wins. Could be ugly.

If you want to refresh your memory about the Florida recount, there's no better source than Bill Sammon's book "At Any Cost, How Al Gore Tried to Steal The Election". I've read it several times and just sit and shake my head at all the shenanigans that took place during those 35 days in 2000. Every day was a roller coaster of emotions as the legal battle ebbed and flowed.

On December 8th as the battle was winding down to it's inevitable conclusion, I performed for a Christmas show and recited the following poem which had been written in the same format as "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I wish I had written it myself.

'Twas three weeks after Election Day and all through the land,
All the votes had been counted, some recounted by hand,
They counted and counted, recounted some more,
But Bush/Cheney was ahead, and not Leiberman/Gore.

The Florida democrats had caused quite a stir,
When their candidate of choice had lost it, for sure.
They wouldn't admit to their narrow defeat,
So they demanded a hand count or the election repeat!

"It's not fair, it's a lie, it can't be!" They all shouted,
And they whined and they fussed and they cried and they pouted,
"The ballots were confusing, we punched the wrong chad!"
But the rest of the country knew they were just mad.

They were made to look stupid, all the fuss that they made,
When a child could have done it without any aid.
The ballot was simple, there is no excuse,
Could the voters have had just a screw or two loose?

And just when we thought all the media was through,
Who should appear but ol' "you know who,"
A man with no eyebrows, as stiff as a tree,
(Some even believe that's what he might be)!

With a voice loud as thunder, he called to us all,
"You ain't seen nothing yet! I won't take the fall!
I'll fight till the death, I will not give in!
We'll recount every ballot until I DO win!"

Then, to his advisors he turned without shame,
He whistled and shouted and called them by name,
Now, Wexler! Now, Daley! Now Dershowitz, go!
"On Warren, On Jessie! Let's give quite a show!"

And throughout it all, they continued to say,
"It's the Will of the People! They must have their way."
So the electoral votes all hung in the breeze,
Who would have thought they'd get caught in palm trees?

It's time to fix up all the messes they've made,
Their corruption their lies, the tax dollars we've paid.
Perhaps now our country will lean more to "The Right,"
Happy Election to all, and to all a good night!

It's Getting Drafty in Here

Kerry went out yesterday and boldly stated that if reelected, Bush would reinstate the draft. What? Has anyone in the Bush adminstration even remotely suggested that a draft would be necessary. No - just the opposite. In fact, the only people actively promoting a draft are a handful of Democratic congressmen who have introduced a bill in the House to do just that.

This could make for some real fun in the upcoming debates. James Lileks says it best:

Senator Kerry, you’ve said that President Bush intends to reinstate the draft. On what evidence do you base this assertion?

“This president has consistently underestimated the nature of the threat, and the nature of the forces we need to deal with, and confront, in this new century, and in doing so has placed us in a position where we find ourselves overextended. And alone. And we’re the target. I have a plan to bring our allies to the table, to forge new alliances as well as strengthen old ones, in such a way that fills out our options and gives us the flexibility to meet the changing needs of today with a military that will not be asked to shoulder the burdens of the world, when the world itself has a stake in these obligations. That’s what I meant when I suggested that there might be a draft in a second term of this president. He has boxed us in to a situation where our only solution to our go-it-alone policy might well be forced conscription of our young people, and I’m against it.”

Thank you. President Bush?"

There won’t be a draft."(Pause) (Pause.) (Pause) (Bush grin) (Scattered laughter)

"I don’t know what else there is to say. There won’t be a draft. We’re going to move some forces around, uh, change our strategies. My opponent wants more German participation, and that’s fine with me. You know, they have a draft. Nine months, have to serve. I’d rather American men and women choose to join, choose to serve. Peace Corps, National Guard, our Armed Forces, however. But it’s up to them. Choices. We have the greatest armed services on the planet, and see, it’s because they want to serve. Love of country. And that’s a tradition I want to maintain. If my opponent has some inside information about plans to bring back the draft, I’d be happy to take a look, as long as he didn’t get it from some fellow in Texas who says he found the plans in a wastebasket."

It's bad enough that Kerry has no real plan of his own, but to go around making up plans for Bush??

Blowin' in the Wind

Have you seen the latest Bush/Cheney TV ad "Windsurfer"? (you can see it at www.georgewbush.com) It shows Kerry windsurfing one direction and then the other to the tune of the "Blue Danube Waltz" as the narrarator describes his many flip-flops on key issues. The tag line: "John Kerry. Whichever way the wind blows." Devastatingly funny.

It must be hitting a nerve. The Dems rushed out their own ad calling it "juvenile" and John Edwards just about broke into tears as he complained to the press that the president was making jokes while Americans were beheaded. Grow up, John! This is big-time politics.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather see a campaign skillfully using humor rather than the relentlessly negative attacks being offered by all the former Clintonistas at the Kerry campaign.

Best of the Web Today has it right:

The Kerry ad is really just another manifestation of the Democrat's narcissism. The message is: Don't you dare make fun of me in time of war! (On the other hand, we're supposed to believe that badmouthing the commander in chief and the war effort is "patriotic" "dissent.")

Surely, though, if we stop mocking John Kerry, the terrorists will have won.

There's More Than One Fantasyland in Florida

Kerry just told a Florida audience that "I have one position on Iraq", and implied that Bush is the one who has been inconsistent. Even if I wanted to I couldn't come up with anything funnier than that.

The Full Howie

Kerry's speech in New York was supposed to, once and for all, tell us what his policy is for Iraq. This is, of course, the umpteenth iteration of his "policy". Not long ago Kerry was asked if, knowing what we know now, he would vote to approve war with Iraq. He said yes, and the Bush campaign scored a big win as it forced Kerry to take a stand.

Now Kerry has rethought his policy (or run it by another focus group), and has decided to start channeling Howard Dean. According to Kerry's speech, "We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure." In other words, the world is no safer without Saddam and the war was a mistake.

That's exactly what Howie said back in December when Saddam was captured. At that time Kerry was quoted as saying "Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe we are not safer with his capture, don’t have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president."

I couldn't agree more.

9/11 Commandments

Kerry gave a big speech in New York yesterday, and we'll talk more about that in another post. There was a moment in the speech that bothered (just one??). At one point Kerry had family members of 9/11 victims stand and be recognized, and then promised them that as president he would immediately implement ALL of the 9/11 commission's recommendations.

This has become a frequent campaign cry of the Dems - the 9/11 commission must be obeyed! They act as though the 9/11 report was handed down on stone tablets atop a smoking mountain.

My question is, with the exception of the men who wrote the Bible, what group of people have ever put out a document that is without spot or blemish? No committee made up of humans, especially humans with political biases, is going to put out a perfect product.

When this commission was put together, their charge from the president did not include a guarantee that everything they recommended would be implemented. Isn't it the job of the president to review the recommendations and implement those which make sense to him and will further the security of the country.

It's time to carefully review the report, and use what makes sense, but let's not just give a bunch of political hacks carte blanche to change our government any way they wish.

Fall Guy

There's an old saying that says "if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything". John Kerry seems to have taken an opposite approach that says "if you stand for everything, sooner or later you might be right!" With multiple flip-flops and enough course changes to make a veteran sailor seasick, Kerry seems to hope that the press will somehow quote the one occasion in which he might have actually said the right thing.

Kerry is this year's Democratic Fall guy...the guy the Dems have nominated to take the fall against Bush and the guy who's going to have a really bad Fall until he can quit campaigning on Nov. 3. Peggy Noonan described him as a "sad tree", and my own wife said that when he talks, he looks like one of those pictures in which the lips have been cut out and someone behind the photo is mouthing his words.

Let's face it - Kerry got the nomination because Howard Dean made him look normal. What a candidate....

C-BS Folds

I'm a big fan of the World Poker Tour, and recently watched several hours of the World Series of Poker. I've seen a lot of stone cold bluffs before, but they all pale in comparison to what C-BS has been trying to pull off for the last week.

They basically pushed all their journalistic capital in to the center of the table based on documents that their own experts refused to certify. The blogosphere called them before the flop and all C-BS could do is watch helplessly as card after card fell - each strengthening the blogosphere's hand. In poker parlance, C-BS was drawing dead.

In poker, if you lose an all-in bet, you're out. Dapper Dan, you need to pick up your stuff and leave the game.

It's the Commander in Chief Stupid!

I'm beginning to think the Democratic National Committee has much in common with chickens - they wake up in a brand new world everyday. They forget what happened yesterday (or on 9/11) and hope the huddled masses will lap up whatever drivel they put out in their latest press release.

We are now watching the third iteration of their attack on President Bush's National Guard service, which incidentally ended with an honorable discharge in 1972. We're supposed to believe that whatever someone did or did not do in the early 70's is the real essence of the man. The Dems certainly tried to make that case with John Kerry at their "Greatest Hits of Vietnam" convention in Boston. However, they have conveniently forgotten one rather important point: George Bush's service as a junior officer in the Guard rather pales when compared to his four years as COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF!

W is handling these partisan attacks perfectly. He just ignores them and keeps on doing his job while the Dems beat themselves to death with these silly assaults. It really points out which party is serious, and which one has gone over the cliff. November 2nd is going to be a very bad day in Dem land.

Rather Weird

Dan Rather's situation regarding the forged National Guard documents reminds me of some of those Animal Planet documentaries that I've seen where the old, sick wildebeast has been dragged down by the hyenas and is watching with a strange, shock-induced detachment as the predators begin to devour him. His bleats (not you, James) go ignored by the rest of the herd which is just happy to be able to saunter away unmolested. In the starring role as the wildebeast - Dapper Dan. Playing the hyenas - the new media.

Dan's no victim in all of this and the new media certainly aren't the bad guys. They're performing a much needed task of weeding out the weakest, sickest members of the mainstream media herd. Dan's fervor in trying taking a chunk out of President Bush's poll numbers apparently caused him to forsake the journalistic ethics and rigorous fact checking that's supposed to be the hallmark of a "real" journalist. Courage, Dan. It'll all be over very soon.