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Sunday, February 29, 2004
Academy Awards I don't care what they say the rest of the night (e.g. "tanking" economy, Air National Guard) - the opening sequence where Michael Moore was crushed by a LOTR elephant was awesome! Predictions: Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins Best Supporting Actress: Renee Zellweiger Best Actress: Charleze Theron (sp?) Best Actor: Bill Murray (my big dark horse pick!) Best Director: Peter Jackson Best Picture: Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King Update: I'm actually posting this after the first two major awards, but I told Mom this morning so I'm sticking by 'em. Tim Robbins gave an unpolitical speech (whew!) and the guy who won for "Finding Nemo" gave the best speech ever to his wife: "I'm repeating in front of a billion people the same thing I said in a note when we were in the 8th grade: I love you." Priceless. Update again: It looks like a LOTR evening, winning every non-acting Oscar so far. Good night! Even the Canadians are weary of Kerry's invocation of Vietnam: "I would argue that Kerry keeps Vietnam at the forefront of his campaign because it is just about all he's got." Dog bites man: Kerry's Spending, Tax Plans Fall Short - Review of Proposals Shows Expenditures Exceeding Savings by $165 Billion I'm shocked, shocked! Signs you’re losing a debate: Terry McAuliffe was on Fox News Sunday this morning, going head-to-head with RNC chair Ed Gillespe. McAwful felt the questions (which were all very general an open-ended) weren’t going his way and at one point whined: “Are we going to talk about President Bush? I mean, I know this is Fox News, but come on.” Wuss. Mark Steyn lists: THE JOHN KERRY CANCELED WEAPONS SYSTEM OF THE DAY - Thrilling tales of America’s fighting men and women in action using stuff Senator Kerry didn't want them to have! Overheard on David Letterman Friday night (from memory): “Did you see that John Kerry has now come out and said that he opposes gay marriage in Massachusetts? This guy has more positions than a Paris Hilton video.” Friday, February 27, 2004
Don't mess with the Devils New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur waves to a friend in the stands as he leaves the ice after beating the Buffalo Sabres 8-2 in their NHL game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, February 25, 2004. Brodeur got his 30th win of the season, which set an NHL record for goaltenders with at least 30 victories in nine straight years. Jay says: “I hate the Mets, Jets, Islanders, Nets and the Devils.” Hey, don’t you mean the World Champion New Jersey Devils? I thought so, punk. Oh, and the Rangers suck. Proving the theory: the more people know about Kerry…. ….the less they like him. From the Rasmussen tracking poll: As Super Tuesday approaches, North Carolina Senator John Edwards is once again gaining ground on Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry. The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll shows Kerry leading by 14 percentage points, 48% to 34% among Democrats nationally.Go Speed Racer! After “I’m rubber, you’re glue” Kerry turns to “He started it!” From the NY Times account of the Dem debate last night: Mr. Kerry, of Massachusetts, attacked Mr. Bush for raising the issue [of gay marriage] in the first place.Can we call this a lie? Sure, why not. And it’s one that Charles Krauthammer disposes of in today’s WashPost: Who is dividing the country? Was it the Republican National Committee that told the Massachusetts court to make May 17, the midst of a hotly contested election year, the day on which gay marriage is to be imposed for the first time in America?We didn’t start the fire. Byron York in “John Kerry’s Time Warp”: “Kerry's penchant for looking back would not be a good trait in a president who will have to deal with a distinctly 21st century, post-9/11 world. America faces threats that were unheard of in Kerry's formative years. While those threats build, Kerry is turning on Hendrix, toking on an imaginary joint, and telling you about Vietnam.” Here’s the normally annoying Derrick Jackson in the Boston Globe: “Kerry is no Gandhi on corporate donations” Can you feel the energy!?! American Prowler picks up on John Kerry’s "The scariest moments have been when he's doing one of his Q&A sessions with folks," says the staffer. "He'll give this incredibly long-winded answer, then the people just sit there. No applause, no feedback, no nothing. And he just stands there. You can hear a pin drop. That's not good in campaign settings."Christopher Hitchens also comments on the attenuated support for Senator Splunge: One reason I think this campaign is very lame -- it's supposed to have momentum, I wouldn't say it had much enthusiasm behind it -- he gives the impression that it's kind of his turn to be president and that he has a feeling of entitlement to the job.Is it too late to get Dean back? (Hat tip to Tim Blair for the Hitch quote). Thursday, February 26, 2004
Dennis Kucinich: A Man of Integrity Maybe it’s because he has no chance at the nomination and therefore nothing to lose, but Dennis Kucinich impresses because he lays out a bold vision dramatically different than what the Republicans (or the Democrats) promote. At tonight’s CNN debate, he advocated free college education, withdrawal of troops from Iraq, universal health care – the whole socialist she-bang. There was something endearing about this mini-Quixote tilting at the establishment; you have to admire his cojones. At that brings me to my bete noire, John Kerry. He offers nothing different. If you read through the transcript of tonight’s debate, you’ll discover that on nearly every issue he doesn’t fundamentally disagree with any policy of the Bush administration. He only disagrees with the way these policies are being executed. Over and over again, he uses the words: “broken promise” or “fully funded” or “loopholes” that “aren’t being enforced.” At one point, Kerry was asked about his “flip-flops” and he flippantly replied [paraphrasing] “If I have two sides on issues, the president is on the wrong side on every issue.” Bravo, Senator. At least the President chooses a side. When you pick every team to win the World Series, you’ll never be wrong. Jeff Jarvis on “The Death of Broadcast” and the rise of satellite radio. Interesting read about how government regulation will enervate commercial radio into oblivion. Nick Gillespe has more on the Howard Stern “Then he sought to clarify his position…” A variation of that statement appears in just about every article on John Kerry. Every day, another issue emerges where Senator Splunge either vacillated, equivocated, flip-flopped, or lied. Today’s there’s two! The WashPost (where the quote on top appears) has “Kerry Donors Include 'Benedict Arnolds' - Candidate Decries Tax-Haven Firms While Accepting Executives' Aid” And the American Spectator has “The Kerry ERA” and his support for the Equal Rights Amendment back in the 70s: So if Kerry, as he says today, is opposed to constitutional amendments which touch on marriage, why did he support ERA as it threatened to upend marital laws? Kerry is opposed to Bush's support for a marriage amendment not because he finds the amendment process dubious or that marriage is a matter for the states but because its goal of protecting marriage is one he does not support.Kerry is sure to respond: “What is it about these Republicans who have only married once, attacking those of us who have married into money twice?” Update: Yet another pesky clarification (or “staff mistake”) via Little Green Footballs The Beatles on XM Have I mentioned I love my new satellite radio? This morning, I was tuned in to a BBC special called “Beatles: A to Zed” where they were playing all the Beatles tunes in order, punctuated by little vignettes about the Fab Four. There was this great story recalled by recording engineer Norman Smith about one of the first meetings between the young Beatles and producer George Martin. After a brief recording session, Martin and Smith met with the Beatles and discussed what was expected of them as recording artists. Martin then asked if they had any questions or comments for him. After an uncomfortable pause, George Harrison spoke up. “I like your tie.” Bonus trivia I did not know: Ringo Starr stormed out during the recording of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” so Paul McCartney played the drums on that track. Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Oh Mickey you’re so fine – Viking Pundit passes 100K visits  Well, I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but a fortuitous link from none other than Mickey Kaus pushed Viking Pundit decidedly over the 100,000 mark today. As always, I’d like to thank everyone for reading. And a big shout-out to Moe Freedman who basically set up this page for me a little more than a year ago. It’s totally been a blast and I’m still a little amazed (and humbled) that so many people visit on a daily basis. - Eric Wednesdays are for W I’ve mentioned that I’m a one-issue voter and I agree with the guy in Wisconsin who said: “'None of us will have jobs if we're dead. Only Bush will keep us safe.” But the Democrats are bound to whine that Bush is trying to get re-elected on the war, so here’s another compelling reason to vote for Bush in November: clarity. On issues domestic and foreign, President Bush has offered a lucid policy. For example, on Social Security, Bush has advocated Personal Savings Accounts. This is a topic for debate. The Democrats have, in turn, offered…no solution. Bush has “Leave No Child Behind” while the Dems have no education policy. You may disagree with the need to open up ANWR for oil development, but at least it's a genuine approach to energy independence. Domestically, Bush offers reform while the Dems call for (surprise!) more spending. On nearly every international issue (Kyoto, ABM, Iraq), the Dems crave the world’s approval over our national interests. And then there’s the presumptive Democratic nominee who offered this convolution: "If we hadn't voted the way we voted, we would not have been able to have a chance of going to the United Nations and stopping the president, in effect, who already had the votes and who was obviously asking serious questions about whether or not the Congress was going to be there to enforce the effort to create a threat."Support President Bush, the steady hand at the helm, by volunteering or donating to his re-election campaign. Then visit the other bloggers who have joined in the “Wictory Wednesday” effort. Thanks. WWKD After reading this passage from Robert Samuelson’s latest WashPost article - “A Phony Jobs Debate” – I wondered “What Would Krugman Do?” Facing a weak economy, a government can do three things: cut interest rates; run a budget deficit; and allow -- or cause -- its currency to depreciate. The first two promote borrowing and spending; the last makes a country's exports cheaper and its imports costlier. All these weapons have been deployed.For that matter, what would Kerry do? His latest ploy shows he’s entirely unserious about job creation: Democratic front-runner John Kerry proposed Wednesday requiring a three-month warning before factory jobs are exported.More regulation. Great idea. The Man Sans Qualities finds a quote critical of John Kerry’s votes on military systems…from John Kerry. “How dare Senator Kerry impugn his own patriotism and challenge his own military record this way!” Because answering “yes” or “no” never takes five minutes I loved this graf from a Boston Globe article: “Even in victory, Kerry’s caution is seen as risky” Later, Kerry led a question-and-answer forum with workers at a Youngstown manufacturing plant, where the senator drew polite applause at points but also some lengthy silences. He answered seven questions over 27 minutes; three of his answers lasted more than five minutes apiece.As John Ellis noted, every word Kerry says is a regurgitation of his stump speech: Veteran Kerry watchers are also resigning themselves to another grim JFK fact. He never says anything even remotely new or interesting. We're not even to March yet and Ellisblog is already bored to tears. Everything is boilerplate.I caught a bit of Kerry on the news last night, extending an eager hand to a worker at an Ohio factory. This guy’s body language was classic: he was slouched over and only gave his hand (slowly!) out of politeness. Not a fan of Senator Splunge, I gathered. Waffles for everyone! Senator Splunge tries the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” defense: “Kerry labels Bush a ‘Contradiction’” He then quickly added "Or maybe he's not." Then there's this: “I oppose the security wall that’s a legitimate act of self-defense” Another pesky clarification from Kerry, via the Cracker Barrel Philosopher. It’s all over but the shouting: Real Clear Politics has updated Super Tuesday polls and Senator Splunge has a huge lead everywhere. The only thing that could help Edwards now is an endorsement from Howard Dean. Or Al Gore could endorse Kerry. ABC News: "Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 man have moved out of Pakistan and are believed to have crossed the mountainous border back into Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS." I'm dubious of the accuracy of these reports on Osama...but there sure seems to be a lot of them lately. Boston Herald: “Kerry’s Loan Twice as Nice” – Essentially, the Herald is alleging that Kerry inflated the assessment of his "co-owned" Beacon Hill townhouse to secure a loan for his campaign. Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Et tu, Village Voice? When John Kerry’s courage went M.I.A. - Senator covered up evidence of P.O.W.s left behind. The ACLU: Lying for Justice Somehow I got on an ACLU mailing list and their latest pitch for money came today. Here’s something I didn’t know: “Attorney General John Ashcroft is waging a relentless campaign to undermine our freedom.” Whew. Are they still pissed because Tim Robbins wasn’t invited to the “Bull Durham” celebration at the Baseball Hall of Fame? This paragraph smacks of unsubstantiated scare-mongering: “Thousands of Americans who have done nothing more than attend a particular church service or peace rally have come under surveillance. Others have been placed on “no-fly” lists with no explanation from the government. College students and retirees have been interrogated by Secret Service or FBI agents because of anonymous tips about their anti-Bush statements or the posters on their walls.”Notice the unprovable qualifiers in that graf such as “nothing more” – does the ACLU have some omniscient power to know that “thousands” of people are beyond suspicion? Do they have moles at the FBI bearing witness to these anonymous tips? Doubtful. And the whole “no fly” list story is an urban legend. The ACLU is playing the whole JFK-conspiracy card: no matter how bad you think it is, it’s even worse and everybody in the government is in on it. Send cash! Losers: In “The Kerry Cascade” Duncan Watts explains the psychology of how Senator Splunge looks like a winner, so he wins primaries, which make him look like a winner, and the Democrats all think they have a winner, because he’s winning. John Kerry sure hangs out with some unsavory characters (warning: these may be Photoshopped – I’m not sure.) The “Do Over” for the State of the Union speech Former Clinton speechwriter David Kusnet really liked Bush’s speech last night (from the New Republic): When it comes to making his case for another term, last night's speech was Dubya's do-over--and this time he got it right. Where his State of the Union speech had been partisan and pedestrian, devoid of what his father called "the vision thing," his new stump speech is both presidential and political; it makes the case for the Bush presidency--and against John Kerry and John Edwards--in forward-thinking, rather than defensive, terms.There’s something else about the Bush’s speech: he was self-assured and relaxed. In every way, he gave the appearance of a confident leader. He joked, he jabbed, he jelled. Bush played to one of his great assets: people really like him as a person. Now that the Democratic attacks are no longer going unanswered, I predict Bush will see a rebound in his poll numbers. Winds of Change has a good roundup of action along the Afghan-Pakistan border (Task Force 121 is on the way!) I’m keeping my expectations low but – as long as I live – I’ll never forget that morning when my wife woke me up and said: “They got Saddam.” The Back-Seat Driver The WashPost has an article too good to excerpt: “Past Votes May Dog the Kerry Campaign” Question: Are Americans really going to swallow Kerry’s argument that although he supported many of Bush’s policies, he bemoans the execution? That sort of backbiting seems…un-Presidential, shall we say. It’s like Bush saying: “We’re driving this car to the future!” and Kerry carps: “You didn’t fill the windshield wiper reservoir.” Quip of the Day goes to Tim Blair: "If consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, John F. Kerry’s mind must be freaking enormous." Runner-up for quip of the day – Bush at the Republican Governors Association dinner: “The governor of California is new to politics, so he's still getting used to all the cameras and lights.” Mickey Kaus stole my punditry! I was going to say that Bush's speech pretty much freezes out John Edwards by elevating Senator Splunge. Kaus' headline this morning: "Bush boosts Kerry over Edwards - The President drowns out the man he really fears" Yep. The right strategy takes shape From President Bush's speech last night: "The other party's nomination battle is still playing out. The candidates are an interesting group with diverse opinions," Bush said. "They're for tax cuts and against them. They're for NAFTA and against NAFTA. They're for the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act. They're in favor of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts." His supportive audience erupted in laughter and applause.Good. Don't go for Liberal/Dukakis II - hammer Kerry on the "Senator Splunge" issue. You can read the entire speech here. Monday, February 23, 2004
A nation of laws or maverick politicians? A year ago, when this blog was read by…me, I wrote a post about the MCAS exam in Massachusetts. The MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) is a test that must be passed before anybody in the Bay State can earn a high school diploma. At the time, the Berkshire Hills school committee voted to essentially ignore the law and hand out diplomas to kids who didn’t pass the MCAS (they were later forced to back down under pressure from Boston). Back then, I was stunned that “elected officials – the putative leaders of the land – openly disregard[ed] both the letter and the spirit of settled law.” I really have no strong feelings on the issue of gay marriage; if pressed, I would have to come down on the side that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But I’m in full-throated agreement with the Wall Street Journal noting: “San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to throw away the rule of law and declare it was his duty to recognize marriages between gay couples, despite a 2000 voter initiative codifying the traditional definition of marriage.” This sentiment was shared by Mark Shields (!) who raised the gay marriage issue in his Capital Gang “Outrage of the Week” on Saturday: Liberals could learn some political self-discipline from conservatives. For example, the conservative National Rifle Association has never been so self-indulgent as to insist that George W. Bush or any other conservative be photographed brandishing an AK-47 assault weapon to prove that conservative's devotion to the NRA cause. But as openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, a strong supporter of Senator John Kerry, rightly points out, San Francisco's rush of gay marriages promotes the notion that laws you don't agree with you can simply ignore or break. And it gives the conservatives a large issue. [Emphasis added]And the WSJ Opinion Journal article expands on Barney Frank’s concern: Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the first openly gay member of Congress, says he warned Mayor Newsom that his stunt would fail legally and would also force more-mainstream politicians to support a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. He is aware there has been a backlash since the Massachusetts court decision, and San Francisco's civil disobedience may accelerate that. A December poll by CBS and the New York Times found that 61% of Americans opposed gay marriage, up from 55% in July. Opposition to gay rights was the highest since the survey began asking the question in 1992.The issue of gay marriage is one that should be decided by debate and legislation, not by judicial fiat. And no matter how well-intentioned their motives, elected officials have a solemn duty to uphold the law or invite anarchy. Extra: Dodd adds his thoughts on "Instant Gratification" Zarqawi Bomb-Maker Killed in Iraq: “The top bomb-maker for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in Fallujah, Fox News learned Monday.” “My guess is that Kerry will be a bigger disaster for the Dems than Dukakis was.” Robert Musil thinks that the Republicans are keeping their powder dry on Kerry while they collect information, poll voters, and run focus groups. I also wonder if there isn’t a twisted Rovian strategy at work, allowing Kerry the limelight so that he thoroughly exasperates voters with anachronistic and irrelevant references to Vietnam. Al over at Sasha Castel’s blog is “Admiring Terry McAuliffe” and, in particular, his appearance on “Face the Nation” yesterday: “I'm talking about his ability to just plain flat out lie his ass off, with a straight face, no matter what the facts are.” More American dichotomy: William Safire portrays the battle between Optimistic and Pessimistic America. Joshua Muravchik on “Kerry’s Inner Dove” Once he has the nomination in hand, Kerry is likely to resume his tack toward the center (as candidates from all sides are wont to do). He cannot, however, renounce an entire record that bespeaks the deeply dovish beliefs he brought home from Vietnam. Perhaps his heroism in the war will make voters comfortable with that outlook. But with fears of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, that may not be enough.Like Mark Steyn, I largely consider myself a one-issue voter. What bothers me about Kerry is that he’s a September 10th candidate, blathering on about how the "exaggerated" war on terrorism is a matter of “law enforcement.” Senator Splunge would say that he’s actually a Sept. 11th candidate, but he probably means September 1972. A Vietnam vet says: "John Kerry ain't my brother": "Does it matter to me that he is a Vietnam Veteran? Not in the least, because he hasn't shown me that he has taken that experience and turned it into any meaningful commitment to the things that are important to the people of my state and, more importantly, our country." Heat shield deployed John Ellis notes that when the thin-skinned Senator Splunge is confronted with uncomfortable details - like his record of voting against defense and intelligence programs - he deploys his Vietnam heat shield. There is, one supposes, a certain pre-emptive logic to Kerry campaign broadsides against the "GOP smear machine." It might, just might, deflect the criticisms incoming. But as a rule, you don't want a candidate who whines when he is attacked. And surely complaining about Senator Chambliss's attack comes under the general category of "whinery."I find it bemusing that whenever Kerry is confronted by his record, his campaign sends out a press release saying something like "The Senator will fight against these smears." But there's never an actual rebuttal - it's always "we're gonna fight" and Vietnam. And Vietnam again. That's not Flipper! So many good corrections in the NY Times today, but this one was best: A picture in Arts & Ideas on Feb. 7 with an article about homosexual behavior in animals, including bottlenose dolphins, was published in error. It showed killer whales.Heh. Sunday, February 22, 2004
Kerry wants to control the narrative of his From the Sunday Times: Book reopens Kerry war wounds VIETNAM has been the defining issue for John Kerry. His status as a decorated war hero has helped to propel him to the front of the pack of Democrat candidates seeking to evict George W.Bush from the White House. Conservative critics believe he has been given a free ride for too long on his war record, however, and are planning a fightback.Kerry will of course simply dismiss the Boston Globe as part of the “right wing” media conspiracy against him. “Americans don’t vote retrospectively” – George Will responding to George Stephanapoulos about whether John Kerry gains anything by bringing up Vietnam. (On This Week this morning) Extra: Jettison gets it right in this post. Kerry position on foreign policy is: “Doesn’t matter: I was in Vietnam.” Nine more months of this. The new Toast-O-Meter is up. I think Steven's going to have to retool the format after Super Tuesday. Saturday, February 21, 2004
Gay gun nut backs Bush Jeff Soyer at Alphecca doesn’t like President Bush. But he loathes John Kerry because of his anti-gun positions: “Aside from ridiculous "hunting" photo-ops, this guy has voted FOR every single anti-2A bill that's ever crossed his desk.” Also see his older post, back before Kerry was even a candidate, tracking Senator Splunge’s position on gun control (possibly the only issue he hasn’t vacillated on). (Hat tip to Rosemary) Alleged Kerry 1984 campaign memo found “Finally, John thinks it’s time for a Senator who will stand up for what’s right and not go along with what’s expedient.” Hahahahaha!!!! Oh yeah, and he wanted to cancel a lot of defense programs. Check this out and more at NoJohnKerry. Mark Steyn asks: "So which would America rather have: Pretty Boy or Long Face?" Edwards is condescending. Kerry is far too grand to condescend. But both are agreed that America is a vast wasteland of unemployed, shivering, diseased losers. For single-issue guys like me, Edwards barely says a word on Iraq and the war, though I am inclined to think he'd be better than Kerry. The latter seems eager to do whatever Chirac and Kofi want, whereas with Edwards there's always the possibility he will wind up suing the UN Security Council for emotional distress. More importantly, even as he's painting his heart-wrenching portraits of starving children, Edwards is sunny, albeit in a grotesque and mawkish way. And, as a general rule, the sunnier disposition wins (see Bush/Gore, Clinton/Dole, Reagan/Mondale).Hat tip to Ryne. Jay Solo has named Viking Pundit “your source for all things Kerry” Well, let's get to work then, starting out with this quote by Andrew Sullivan: "The Clinton administration's feckless attempts to get Osama are, to my mind, a huge neon warning about what might happen if John Kerry becomes president." I don’t believe this story myself, but I wonder how many staffers over at the DNC or the Kerry campaign are saying “Gosh, I hope it’s true!” Follow-up: Little Green Footballs has the DU response. “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog” - Harry Truman  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush's dog Spot, the 15-year-old English springer spaniel who had remained eager to please despite increasing health troubles, died on Saturday. So long, old girl. Kerry and Edwards to debate on February 29th. I think this may be a huge mistake for Kerry. His less-than-impressive win in Wisconsin was traced back to his terrible performance in the debate a couple of days before the primary. Now Kerry's going to go head-to-head with Senator Handsome and the full glare of the "frontrunner" spotlight on him. Go Edwards! Friday, February 20, 2004
XM: No static at all Have I mentioned that I love my new satellite radio? Suddenly my hour-long commute feels like nothing.... Songs I heard today: Graham Parker - "Nation of Shopkeepers" Aimee Mann - "Red Vines" The Toadies - "Possum Kingdom" Boney M - "Rivers of Babylon" Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Breaking the Girl" Belle & Sebastian - "I'm a Cuckoo" Awesome. If a “gaffe” is accidentally telling the truth, what word describes purposely stating the truth so plainly as to be irrefutable? (In Mr. Burns' voice) “Excellent” - Nader’s gonna run Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate who ran for president in 2000 as a Green Party candidate, will enter the 2004 race for the White House as an independent candidate, advisers told Fox News on Friday. Nader-Dean in 2004! John Kerry: the “Why Not?” candidate Kos on the Democratic matchup: But ultimately, Kerry's biggest weakness is that no one likes him, unlike the well-liked, charismatic Edwards. The exit polls have been clear -- people vote for Kerry not because they are inspired, agree with his policies, or otherwise find him an attractive candidate. They vote for him because they think he is "most electable". And that aura is fading. The attacks are taking a toll on him and that perceived "electability". And since his support is not deep, it's artificial and thin at best, he has nothing to fall back on. [Emphasis added]Wow! If that enthusiasm for Kerry can spread to the general electorate, there’s no stopping him! Wheeeee!!! Speaking of enthusiasm, Kevin Drum thinks it’s in short supply for the California primary vote. Will a suppressed turnout help Edwards? Or will the Left Coasters file in line for (hooray) Kerry? We’ll see. Disaffected Deaniacs! Are you looking for another slightly-unhinged candidate to support? Your man has arrived! Outraged by the truth Here’s Al Hunt with his Capital Gang “Outrage of the Week”: HUNT: Mark, a right-wing hit lady named Ann Coulter charged that Max Cleland, who won a Silver Star in Vietnam and is a prominent Kerry supporter, lost his three limbs while getting ready to drink beer with pals. She said it just as easily could have occurred in the Texas Air National Guard. That's irrelevant, that's vicious, and that's a lie. Captain Cleland lost his legs and an arm on a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam. They don't usually carry live grenades and M-16s in the Texas Air National Guard. This despicable venom was carried on the Heritage Foundation Web site.I’m temped to say that people don’t really care about what happened 30 years ago, but it’s the Democrats who have perpetuated this mythos. So take it away, John Hawkins. Follow-up: Romney rips bid to protect Kerry seat – “Governor Mitt Romney yesterday denounced a maneuver by Democrats on Beacon Hill to block him from naming an interim replacement if US Senator John F. Kerry wins the presidency and resigns his Senate seat.” See what happens when you add Viking Pundit to your blogroll? Betsy’s Page has moved up to “Large Mammal” status. The causality of this could not be more obvious. Charles Krauthammer today: "The Republicans have yet to go after Kerry on his most critical vulnerability, his breathtaking penchant for reversing course for political convenience." Endlessly entertaining! Dialect maps Homer: "Come on, Marge, I want to shake off the dust of this one-horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls. I'm sick of eating hoagies. I want a grinder, a sub, a foot-long hero...I want to live, Marge!" The Great Hollowing-Out Myth Sometimes it’s useful to get a perspective outside the American media so on Fridays I check the latest updates from the British magazine The Economist. Today they have a cogent and comprehensive article on job migration in America summarized thus: “Outsourcing to other countries has become a hot political issue in America. Contrary to what John Edwards, John Kerry and George Bush seem to think, it actually sustains American jobs.” The “jobless recovery” first, then. Despite strong productivity growth and an accelerating recovery from the recession of 2001 (the economy grew by an annual 4% in the fourth quarter of last year), jobs are being created at a feeble rate of 100,000 or so a month. The jeremiahs point out that a net total of 2.3m jobs have been lost since Mr Bush came to office.And, as three economists in the article point out, the American economy is in constant state of flux, “churning” out obsolete jobs and replacing them with new ones:  Churning, they point out, has being going on in the American jobs market for years, and “the creation of new jobs always overwhelms the destruction of old jobs by a huge margin.” Between 1980 and 2002, America's population grew by 23.9%. The number of employed Americans, on the other hand, grew by 37.4%. Today, 138.6m Americans are in work, a near-record, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the population (see chart).See also the accompanying article “The new jobs migration” – “The movement of jobs to the developing countries does not alter the overall level of employment in the advanced economies; however, the pattern of employment, to be sure, does change.” Hey, if it didn’t we’d still be a country of candlestick makers and livery stables. Thursday, February 19, 2004
Senator Splunge strikes again! Here’s part of the transcript of John Kerry’s remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in December 2003. AUDIENCE: Just to move back on shore for a minute, or off shore. Domestic employment - what's the best American policy with respect to outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, increasingly service jobs?Here’s the opening of Kerry’s response: KERRY: Well, any candidate for president who stands up and tells people, as some are, that they're going to just stop it by getting tough on trade or whatever, is lying to the American people.And here’s the conclusion of his answer: We also need to do a better job of negotiating those trade relationships, but it's not the only way to do it.He starts by dismissing trade negotiation and ends with…trade negotiation. This guy is the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I mean, he’s completely schizo. And by the way, the rest of his “solution” to outsourcing is changing tax policies (see the WashPost article on that matter - and my post here). He completely ignores the elephant in the room of wage variances between the U.S. and other countries. John Cole on Bill Moyers’ departure from PBS: “I only hope they replace him with someone slightly less partisan. Maybe Howard Dean or Al Gore.” Heh. One step forward and Saudi Arabia Nice find from Mary at Exit Zero - The Saudis insist they’re reforming as fast as they can but, in “Saudis warn U.S. on pushing for reforms” they’re not so keen on, you know, democracy. And they’re unimpressed with American education: "Even in your schools you prevent the use of the cane to teach students." Look who’s talking In today’s NY Times, Tom Friedman expands on the viewpoint that the liberation of Iraq has far-reaching consequences for the Middle East that, in turn, enhances American security: One major criticism of the Iraq war is that by invading Iraq, the U.S. actually created more enemies in the Arab-Muslim world. I don't happen to believe that, but maybe it's true. What the critics miss, though, is that the U.S. ouster of Saddam Hussein has also triggered the first real "conversation" about political reform in the Arab world in a long, long time. It's still mostly in private, but more is now erupting in public. For this conversation to be translated into broad political change requires a decent political outcome in Iraq. But even without that, something is stirring.How about this for a candid assessment (from an Egyptian official): "What we, as Arabs, should truly feel humiliated about are the prevailing political and social conditions in the Arab world — especially in Iraq — which allowed someone such as Saddam Hussein to . . . assume the presidency. We should feel humiliated that Saddam was able . . . to single-handedly initiate a number of catastrophic policies that transformed Iraq, relatively rich in natural, human and financial resources, into the poorest, most debt-ridden country in the Arab world, not to mention the hundreds of thousands killed and displaced. We should feel humiliated that some of our intellectuals, supposedly the representatives of our nations' consciences and the defenders of their liberty and dignity, not only dealt with Saddam, but also supported him. . . . The Arabs should have been the ones to bring down Saddam, in defense of their own dignity and their own true interests."What they really need is more bloggers – keep this conversation going. From the "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" department Mugabe installs more thugs in cabinet for coming crackdown This might be a good time to remind you to read the Atlantic's "How to kill a country - Turning a breadbasket into a basket case in ten easy steps—the Robert Mugabe way" Market confidence up: "Investors poured money into stock funds at the record clip of $60 billion in January, outpacing the previous monthly high notched nearly four years ago, at the peak of the bull market." The Democrats on jobs: they got nothin’ (a continuing series) Senator Splunge and the unsavory characters at the DNC have hammered President Bush on the issue of jobs. Almost universally, they’ve decried Bush tax policies as the root cause. But as the WashPost points out today in “Democrats can’t get firm grip on jobs issue” almost all the Democrats’ rhetoric is empty: Democratic presidential candidates have made the loss of U.S. jobs to international competition the centerpiece of their campaigns, but even some of the candidates' economic advisers acknowledge that remedies offered -- such as closing tax loopholes on overseas income and offering tax breaks for domestic hiring -- would probably do little to stop the bleeding.The issue is that no manner of tax tinkering will erase the immutable fact that wages are much lower in other countries: But virtually no one would say that taxes are a primary -- or even a significant -- factor in the movement of as many as 300,000 white-collar jobs and many more manufacturing jobs abroad in the past several years. No matter how sweet the tax incentive is to expand in India, for instance, it could not be more enticing than lowering a software developer's pay from $60 to $6 an hour, a figure cited recently by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.And George Will in “How to Kill Jobs” reveals the consequences of moral demagoguery supplanting economic common sense: Recently, Indiana Gov. Joseph Kernan canceled a $15 million contract with a firm in India for processing state unemployment claims. The next highest bidder was a U.S. firm that would have charged $23 million. Because of this potential 50 percent price increase, there would have been $8 million fewer state dollars for schools, hospitals, law enforcement, etc. And the benefit to Indiana would have been . . . what?Meanwhile (this just in!): “New jobless claims drop sharply”. I blame the Bush tax cuts. David Broder on Senators running for the Presidency: “But at some point in most elections, undecided voters are inclined to ask, "So what have you done that tells me you could handle the presidency?" That's when senators often have a hard time answering. The Senate is a remarkable place, but it's not the real world. And voters know it.” Mass. Dems seek to retain figurative empty seat with literal empty seat If the Republicans tried this move, the wailing of the Donks about “subverting Democracy” would be unrelenting: “Democrats eye plan to protect Kerry Senate seat” Massachusetts Democrats are devising a plan to keep John F. Kerry's US Senate seat in their party's hands by blocking Governor Mitt Romney from naming an interim replacement if Kerry wins the White House.Perish the thought! The New Republic reviews the Wisconsin numbers: “Judging from the way Kerry timed his victory speech last night to bump Edwards off the air mid-sentence, it sounds to me like he's getting scared. And he should be. John Kerry is riding a bubble, and bubbles have a nasty habit of popping.” Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Non-political intermission I finally succumbed to satellite radio yesterday and my verdict is thus: I should have gotten it a long time ago. The Delphi "Roady" receiver plugs straight into the car's cassette player and XM provides 100+ stations. It's like going from bread and water to a Roman feast. On my Tuesday commute to work, I heard four Elton John songs from the homogenized market-driven playlists of commercial radio. Today: "Reverend Jack and his Roamin' Cadillac Church" by Timbuk 3. Sweet. Poll positions Why sugar coat it? This should be a cause for concern for the White House. And it's not good enough to just dismiss it as a "blip" or a "biased poll." President Bush needs to abandon the "Rose Garden" strategy and start fighting back now. The good news is that the Democratic nominee (whether Kerry or Edwards) is still unknown enough to be the "undeclared" Democrat (the uber-candidate) that always trumps Bush. But the fact that Bush's numbers continue to slide absent any real definition of his opponent means that Americans are not voting for the Democrat: they're voting against Bush. Time to turn things around. BTW, Zogby's red state/blue state analysis should be more encouraging for Bush supporters. Now put down the Maalox.... Edwards ascendant Here’s a New Republic article on how Edwards, if he really wants the nomination, should drop the “Mr. Nice” routine and go on the offensive: And, make no mistake: attacking Kerry presents Edwards with a very real chance of success. Particularly if Edwards seizes on Kerry's greatest vulnerability -- his habit of taking both sides of every major issue. You can already see the press's growing unease with Kerry in the tepid reviews that they gave his performance in last weekend's debate -- and the schadenfreude they're enjoying after his disappointing Wisconsin finish.And the PoliPundit (by way of the Note) details the Edwards Scenario: Plus, and this is a big plus: Kerry is exhausted, by all our accounts, and while Edwards is tired, he seems fresher. Energy and verve will matter greatly during the next two weeks.Anybody but Lurch. Even more on the Kerry-Edwards showdown Enobarbus of FauxPolitik has a good rundown/analysis of the battle which includes this line: So the Kerry campaign has to kill this Edwards thing now. That's why they stepped on Edwards's speech last night.I didn’t see this display of bad manners but it’s getting a glancing mention all over the place. For example, Classless Warfare sniffs: “It was really nice of John Kerry to step all over John Edwards speech last night about a minute into it. What a class act.” Wonkette quips: “Something Gore would do.” Speaking of Gore, Jeff Jarvis notes: “The most amusing phone call of coming days will be Al Gore trying to endorse Kerry or Edwards. They, of course, should run far away fast.” Heh. Wednesdays are for W Poll after poll indicate that really the only thing that Democrats care about is defeating President Bush in November. It’s troubling that a whole group of Americans is bound by antipathy towards the President, rather than towards a common, positive vision for the future. But as Eric Hoffer once noted, hatred is the most accessible of all emotions to motivate mass movements, so there you go. Today’s the day that I ask my readers to donate or volunteer for President Bush’s re-election campaign. When you’re done, be sure to visit all the other bloggers who are helping out in this important effort. Thank you. Is the soufflé about to collapse? A couple days back, Viking Pundit presciently called John Kerry’s campaign “The Soufflé Candidacy.” Senator Splunge has been propped up by this aura of “electability” but the Wisconsin results may shake his support. Will Saletan has the numbers: But the exit polls show that, by and large, Democrats aren't voting for Kerry because they prefer him on the issues. They're voting for him because they think he's the Democrat most likely to beat Bush. What happens if they find out he isn't? What happens if they realize that Edwards is doing as well as Kerry among independents and is doing better than Kerry among crossover Republicans?And Mickey Kaus adds his analysis: Doesn't Edwards' appeal to potential swing Republicans and Independents make him more, you know ... what's the word ... electable? Is it really good news for Kerry that he doesn't travel well beyond the base?No, it isn’t! And John Ellis nails the issue: What they [the Kerry people] dread most of all is negative momentum, because (let's face it) the candidate has no strong base of support within the party. They're only for him because he's winning. Once he starts losing, he's a loser.I’m going to buck the conventional opinion and predict that Kerry will be facing a Wall Street-type selloff panic in the next couple of days. The Dems will be looking at those independent numbers, which broke 2-1 for Edwards in the final hours (thus completely surprising the pollsters). Then they’ll recall Senator Handsome is from the South. Then they’ll look at the latest Rasmussen poll numbers which indicate a sudden 6% shift in a Bush-Kerry matchup. And then, Howard Dean drops out of the race and endorses John Edwards. Although Dean is not a kingmaker, he can be the frontrunner-maker. By staying in through Super Tuesday, this anti-Warwick could ensure Kerry's nomination. By throwing his waning strength (and Web fund-raising) to Edwards, he could help transform a routine Boston coronation into a neck-and-neck race down the homestretch.The next two weeks are going to be a bacchanal for pundits. Morning headline: Kerry wins Wisconsin Edwards finishes strong! John Edwards is clearly the story this morning and Senator Splunge couldn’t keep Senator Handsome out of the headlines: Boston Globe: “Kerry slips by Edwards in Wisconsin vote” NY Times: “Kerry Holds Off Push by Edwards in Primary Vote in Wisconsin” Fox News: “Kerry wins Wisconsin, Edwards does well” WashPost: “Kerry captures Wisconsin, Edwards is a strong second” CNN: “Kerry ekes out Wisconsin win over Edwards” USA Today: “Kerry holds off Edwards in Wis. N.C. senator's surge means race isn't over” Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Wisconsin update At this writing, Senator Splunge has a wafer-thin 2% lead over John Edwards with about a third of the vote reported. Awesome. Kerry can spin his "victory" but the headlines tomorrow will be all Edwards. Meanwhile, Howard Dean weighs his options. Extra - Jonah Goldberg in the Corner: "The mantra that Kerry is the most electable -- or a particularly electable -- Democrat is hogwash." Didn’t Edwards get the memo? Uh-oh. The other day Zogby had Kerry up by 24% in Wisconsin and the Real Clear Politics composite poll had him up by 32%. But according to Drudge, early exit polls show Senator Splunge with only an 11% lead over upstart Edwards. (It’s all about expectations, you know.) We’ll know the full picture in a couple of hours. He was wrong about the intern "scandal" after all. Andrew Sullivan fisks John Kerry - 'nuf said From Sully's TNR article "Say Anything": Kerry is pro-war, except when he's antiwar. He votes for war against Saddam but opposes financing it. He's for equality for gays, but against equality for gays in marriage. And his attempts to explain his having it every which way only confuse matters even further.I'm going to make a bold prediction that Kerry will be creamed in the Presidential debates. And not because Dubya is a silver-tongued orator. Kerry's had it easy so far with these pre-fab multi-candidate "debates" and a compliant press. In the real debates, he'll finally have to explain his war vote and why the international force in Iraq is a "fraudulent coalition." Is the threat of terrorism really "exaggerated"? Yes or no on gay marriage? What income level constitutes "rich" when you talk about tax increases? These convoluted responses (they really can't be called "answers") won't wash with voters in November. Erick the Political Junkie: “I guess someone really never did teach John Kerry that being a Senator means you can draft legislation to attempt to accomplish something.” Meanwhile, in Afghanistan..... Taliban reduced to cowardly attacks U.S. general: Time ‘running out’ for bin Laden James Lileks: "Let's just be blunt: The North Koreans would love to see John Kerry win the election. The mullahs of Iran would love it. The Syrian Ba'athists would sigh with relief. Every enemy of America would take great satisfaction if the electorate rejects the Bush doctrine and scuttles back to hide under the U.N. Security Council's table." There's more, so read up. Kerry hopes that Americans (and Bay Staters) are idiots I cringe at the breathtaking cynicism of this defensive justification every time Kerry offers it (from U.S. & WR story, hat tip to BushBlog) "The special-interest senator." Kerry has indeed taken money from an array of lobbyists. "John Kerry has left himself open to a charge of hypocrisy because he says one thing and does another," argues Bush chief strategist Matthew Dowd. But Kerry responds that he doesn't take money from political action committees, which, he says, shows him to be a reformer.Oh! Mr. Clean takes money from noble lobbyists but not from those dirty, dirty PACs. Stand back, wicked special interests! Does Kerry seriously believe that this argument inoculates him from charges that he’s taken more money from special interests than any other Senator? Does he truly believe Americans can differentiate between PACs and lobbyists? I doubt it and I think he offers this up as the only defense he can make. But if your intelligence was only moderately insulted by that mendacity, check out this howler from MSNBC: “Candidate Kerry won’t quit Senate” Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Kerry, who has won 14 of the 16 Democratic primaries and caucuses to date, “will continue to fight for the issues important to the people of Massachusetts and all Americans” as he makes his bid for the White House.Steven the Poliblogger notes: “It never occurred to me that he would quit, although in many ways quitting to devote his full time to running would 1) show confidence that he will win the White House, and 2) give the people of Massachusetts an actual Senator for the rest of this year, because goodness knows that Kerry won't have time to actually serve while he is campaigning.” No kidding. Quote of the Day From the NY Times article: "Arabs in U.S. Raising Money to Back Bush": "He has saved Iraq," said Mr. Hosseini, who left Iran when he was 13. "He's the savior, if not of Iraq, but also of the other countries around Iraq. They want freedom. I am so sure of this because I am from that part of the world."Is this the emerging viewpoint in the Mideast? Hope so. From Business Week Online: "For the Dems, "Fired Up" won't cut it" Subheading: "It turns out the Republicans have the "intensity factor" on their side, too" Good read. Monday, February 16, 2004
Not my fault! From tomorrow's NY Times: "Kerry Promises Effort to Halt Flow of Jobs Out of the U.S." What's his grand plan? "Mr. Kerry replied that the problem was not Nafta [which he voted for] per se, but rather the Bush administration's failure to press compliance with nonbinding treaties that would raise labor and environmental standards overseas, making American companies more competitive." Kerry's sounding more and more like Leon in that Budweiser commerical: TV reporter: "So then your four fumbles didn't contribute to you losing?"True....true. Added to the blogroll: a brand new blogger called the New England Republican and "The ramblings of a lonely Republican stranded in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts." Welcome, brother: share the misery. Viking Pundit: 100% original material! I finally got around to registering for the Washington Post and reading this editorial about John Kerry called "Time for Clarity." It was so similar to my post below, I was afraid regular readers would think I simply re-worded it and presented it as my own. I did not and only read it a couple of hours ago. However, I'm happy to see that the Washington Post shares my concerns on Senator Splunge. “Unprincipled” versus “Steady Leadership” As readers of this blog know, one of my major gripes with John Kerry – whom I often refer to as “Senator Splunge” – is that he’ll take all sides of an issue. He refuses to answer a straight question with a straight answer. Yet he’ll be the first to take credit if things turn out OK and the last to claim responsibility if trouble starts. The Bush campaign has released a video (which I haven’t seen) called “Unprincipled” describing the flip, flops, and straddles of John Kerry. Apparently, Senator Splunge’s vacillations are wearing thin already – here’s Chris Suellentrop in Slate on the Dems last debate: How bad was Kerry's night? It wasn't disastrous, but it's as bad as I've seen him. He sounded like the meandering, orotund Kerry of last summer. His answers to questions about diversity and gay marriage were muddled incoherence, and he claimed that it wasn't his fault that the Bush administration has abused the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the congressional Iraq war resolution. But if you vote for broadly written laws that are abused by the administration in power when you passed them, aren't you at least partly to blame for the consequences? [Emphasis added]William Saletan agrees: John Kerry lost his lead in 2003 because he couldn't give straight answers to simple questions. Then the guy with the straight answers, Howard Dean, started giving answers so brutally straight (your taxes will go up, sit down and let me finish) that people decided a bit more diplomacy was in order. But Kerry has to watch his bad habits in this area. He never walks into a sentence without leaving himself a way out. His evasiveness smells fishy.I’ve heard the Kerry people blather on incessantly about how their man will “fight back” against the Bush “smear machine.” But how can they possibly do so when nobody can understand where Kerry stands on critical issues? His war policy is a jumbled mess, especially when viewed through the prism of his 1991 and 1998 positions in Iraq. And his energy, trade, and education positions have diminished into the clean-hands excuse of “Bush didn’t enforce the laws.” Yet, somehow, Bush managed to dupe Kerry over and over again. When you look at Kerry’s positions, both past and present, there’s really no other conclusion to reach than he took the most politically expedient position at the time and now he can’t square his record. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily wrong: it’s what politicians do. But Senator Splunge really can’t stand tall and define himself a “principled man” when his record tells a different story. No wonder he can’t answer a straight question. Kerry Vote Watch As Patsy Cline might sing: “Who’s AWOL Now?” The Senate convened for only two days last week, casting six floor votes in the process. Last week, Kerry had been off the campaign trail to “rest” in Washington and for a moment I thought he might actually do his job. No luck. Votes cast this session: 0 Voting percentage: 0/14 = 0% Days worked in the Senate: 0 I was home, watching "The Electric Company" Mark Steyn is the greatest: "You could hardly ask for a neater precis of the atrophied boomer heart of the Dems than their decision to fight the 2004 election on the oldies station slogan of ''Where were you in '72?'' Sunday, February 15, 2004
President Bush accosted at Daytona by angry crowd President Bush patiently answers questions from hostile NASCAR drivers about his National Guard service. Poor guy can't catch a break.... An embarrassment of riches There’s all sorts of good stuff on Kerry today! Mark Steyn quips: “If character is the issue, Bush can relax. And, if doing your bit for national security is the issue, then John Kerry's been Awol for two decades.” George Will has some questions. The Cracker Barrel Philosopher has the best breakdown of how Senator Splunge must repay the loan against “his” Boston condo before the Donk convention. And, in a “2 good 2 be true” moment: the Sun (UK) screams: “Kerry girl tells all!” (I’ll believe it when I see it). Two words to scare Democrats that aren’t “gay marriage” I just got back from my weekend jaunt to Boston and there’s no way to overstate the travesty of the “Big Dig.” As the Dems meet in Beantown in July, the GOP should hammer away that this boondoggle is the pinnacle of Democratic pork, patronage, and poor planning. We passed through several of the vaunted tunnels, each one with their own toll (I was gouged electronically with Fast Pass!) Still, the traffic was horrendous for a weekend. As we walked over an overpass near the Museum of Science, there was a line of cars at least a mile long at 1 P.M. on a Sunday. And everywhere you look is the eyesore of destruction where they’re tearing down the old highway. The union kickbacks for this project must dwarf even Ted Kennedy’s bar bill. The Republicans should highlight this long sap on the federal and state budgets as an example of how Democrats handle the taxpayers’ money. Hell, the GOP might even win Massachusetts. Saturday, February 14, 2004
Nader’s gonna run! From the Seattle Times: “Nader candidacy expected” Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is poised to declare that he will seek the presidency again this year, this time as an independent and despite a vigorous effort by the left to dissuade him, according to friends and associates.And today’s my birthday! Hooray! Friday, February 13, 2004
More Democratic lies Tonight, I received a fundraising letter from the DNC (don't ask) that included this line: "Poll after poll shows Bush's numbers plummeting as Democratic candidates take their positive visions of America directly to the people." As I've noted here and here (and many other places) the Democrats have no positive vision. They are all about Florida, anger, and a red-faced, screamin' Al Gore. Keep that AWOL story alive, boys! Jay summarizes Krugman’s column today, which is good because I won’t read it. Apparently, he wrote some critical things about President Bush. Huh. John Kerry calls for openness on sex allegations "We are being tested here," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Let's tell the American people we are not going to cover up and we're not going to have a double standard."Oops! That’s his position on Republican sex scandals. Nevermind...nothing to report here. America is safer because of a “justified mistake” A new WashPost poll shows that Bush’s numbers have slumped and “a majority of Americans believe President Bush either lied or deliberately exaggerated evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to justify war.” But here’s a key graf: While 21 percent said they believe that Bush lied about the threat posed by Iraq, a larger number -- 31 percent -- thought he exaggerated but did not lie. Indeed, six in 10 Americans believed, as Bush did, that Iraq had such weapons.I think we can dismiss much of that 21% as the Democratic wing that wouldn’t vote for Bush if Osama Bin Laden was captured tomorrow. It’s understandable (although not necessarily forgivable) that Bush over-perceived the threat in Iraq, but to think he deliberately lied is simply slander. As Jonathan Rauch noted in the Atlantic: “The War in Iraq was the Right Mistake to Make,” everybody thought they saw a gun: A policeman shoots a robber who has killed in the past and who brandishes what seems to be a gun. The gun turns out to be a cellphone. The policeman expects a thorough investigation (and ought to cooperate). In the end, if he is exonerated, it is not because he made no mistake but because his mistake was justified. Reasonable people, facing uncertainty, would have thought they saw a gun.And what is the end result of, as Rauch puts it, the “justified mistake?” As Charles Krauthammer notes in “The Other Shoe,” we haven’t had another terrorist attack in America, minor or major: Add to that a forward strategy of attacking not only the terrorists but the states that support them. Maybe al Qaeda does lack the capacity for even simple terrorism on U.S. soil. If so, it speaks well for an administration that, immediately after Sept. 11, designed and carried out a radically new strategy, both offensive and defensive, to fight the war on terror.It’s impossible to measure the abstract of a free Iraq versus 500+ dead American soldiers. I’d like to think they died to prevent another 9/11, another U.S.S. Cole, another Khobar Towers. I’d also like to think the world is a safer place without Saddam Hussein, Libya giving up their weapons, Syria on the ropes, and Al-Qaeda on the run. Speaking of non-denials: "Journalist Alex was in Kenya last night refusing to comment." Say no more! The non-denial: I didn't see Imus this morning, but according to the posters on Free Republic, John Kerry was asked about the Drudge Report and he responded: "There's nothing to report." Update: Matt saw the "undenial" also. Here's Betsy's take: she's not happy with Imus. Gentlemen, start your search engines: "Alex Polier" From the UK Sun: PRESIDENTIAL hopeful John Kerry was branded a “sleazeball” last night by the parents of a young woman he allegedly tried to woo.Not a lot on Google, but the hits all list "Associated Press writer" which fits the description. Thursday, February 12, 2004
The Wild Card Election Projection notes: "If she [Teresa Heinz] decides to make a fuss, Kerry will probably implode as Wesley Clark predicted. If she swallows her pride and opts to go along, Kerry can still pull this off." I don't think anyone, including Teresa, knows what she'll do. If she sticks by past statements, she'll be bolting tomorrow. But I'm sure she's being heavily sedated right about now and various Kerry staffers are urgently whispering: "You can be the First Lady if you just shut up." What a sad statement on the Democrats and the feminist movement. Survivor All Stars: Very briefly, how much of a bitch is Alicia? Jenna M. decided to drop out of the game to be with her dying mother and all Alicia can say is "I never would have come to play this game...blah blah blah" Finally, Kathy had to cut her off. Appalling. The Watchblog called it a week ago! – “Rumor has it that John Kerry (D) is going to be outed by Time Magazine next week for having an affair with a 20 year old woman who remains unknown. The affair supposedly took place intermittently right up to Kerry's Fall 2002 announcement of candidacy.” Counterintuitive conspiracy theory: Half the blogosphere is blaming Karl Rove and the other half is blaming Chris Lehane. How about this: Kerry knew this allegation would surface and he leaked the story now that he’s the presumptive nominee. The Democrats would have to decide whether to stick with their guy (which could be bad) or shift support to another candidate (which could be worse). My feeling is that if there’s a kernel of truth to this story, it will be the end of Kerry. Crazy Teresa would divorce him in a second, enforce her pre-nup, and demand that wad of cash back from the mortgaged townhouse. The Democrats, who never really warmed up to Kerry, would flee from the ghost of Clinton into Edwards’ waiting arms. From the Corner: Teresa on adultery Her views on marital fidelity: "I don't think I could have coped so well" with a mate's philandering as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has. "I used to say to my husband, my late husband, 'If you ever get something I'll maim you. Not kill you, just maim you.' And we'd laugh, laugh, laugh." Heinz adds that she has never had any reason to suspect either of her husbands. "Not for one day, because what I expect of them, they have a right to expect of me. Maybe I'm into 18-year-olds." At which Heinz's campaign handler, former political journalist Chris Black, cautioned bleakly: "That was a joke."Good one! Instapundit: “My one fearless prediction: "JFK" jokes will abound.” The conspiracy theorists will be attacking Karl Rove any minute now, taking note that this bombshell came just days after Kerry pretty much captured the nomination. I’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for the Democrats who condemned the disclosure of Dubya’s drunk driving arrest a couple of days before the 2000 election. Look what happens when I go to lunch First, on the drive back to work, I heard Rush Limbaugh say that Bill Clinton had called John Edwards urging him to “stay in the race” but no further context was provided. I came back, checked my Sitemeter. Hmmm…a couple of hits from Ryne McClaren. Let’s see what he’s got. This is what he’s got: CAMPAIGN DRAMA ROCKS DEMOCRATS: KERRY FIGHTS OFF MEDIA PROBE OF RECENT ALLEGED INFIDELITY, RIVALS PREDICT RUIN And then, reflexively, a Rick Springfield song parody started playing in my brain: “I wish that she was Kerry’s girl Where can I find a woman like that?” Didn’t I say yesterday that Kerry was toast? Advantage: Viking Pundit! Extra: The headline at “John Kerry for President? You must be kidding” is “Maybe this blog won’t last as long as we thought” Ha-ha! Undeniably true quote of the day: “A vote for Kerry is, in effect, a vote for Kennedy, as well as the East-coast elitism that has never successfully governed the country…or understood the world as other than a very contentious faculty meeting that can be calmed with the judicious application of soothing words and the distribution of small perks.” Dubious quote of the day: "You can't talk about Vietnam every day until November" John Kerry’s shifting stands An absolute must read by Jeff Jacoby in today’s Boston Globe: “In the 2004 presidential field, there is a candidate for nearly every point of view. His name is John Kerry.” Reviewing the bidding, then, Kerry's position is that he voted against a war he was really for and voted for a war he was really against. But the war he was really for he never said he was for at the time. Except when he was writing to voters to say that he was. And that he wasn't.As noted here repeatedly, the Democrats have picked John Kerry because he’s tall and doesn’t scream at campaign rallies. Jacoby notes: “Massachusetts residents have known this about their junior senator for a long time. Now the rest of the country is going to find out.” Massachusetts debates gay marriage There was lots of heated debate last night but no real progress during the Constitutional debate on gay marriage in the Massachusetts legislature. Outside the chambers, some expurgated words were exchanged: Then the name-calling began. A black teenager in the church group yelled an antigay slur at the man. The man returned fire with a racial slur. "How do you like it?" the man said, as the boy retreated to the back of the group, shocked.Oof! Never bring a knife to a gun fight. Angry Dean re-emerges From the Boston Globe: “Upset at Iowa ads, Dean questions Kerry’s electability” – it looks like Dean is taking the gloves off because disgraced New Jersey senator Robert Torricelli gave cash to a group than ran anti-Dean ads in Iowa: The website "PoliticsNJ.com" first reported that Torricelli, who abandoned his reelection bid five weeks before the 2002 election amid a fund-raising controversy, donated $50,000 in November from his leftover Senate campaign account to Americans for Jobs & Healthcare. The group ran more than $500,000 in ads against Dean this winter. One ad questioned Dean's foreign policy credentials while displaying an image of terrorist Osama bin Laden.The Kerry campaign responds: “We don’t know nothin’ about nothin’” Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Have I mentioned lately that I *heart* Terry McAuliffe? John Hood in the National Review in “The Democrats’ Dixie Lullaby” Why was it a good thing to wind down the Democrats' national Bush-bashing infomercial/party early for this? And why should party leaders be pleased with a process that, once the voting actually started in Iowa, took a scant few weeks to pick an unexciting, blue-blood left-wing senator from Massachusetts as their standard-bearer?(Hat tip to Dodd) Speaking of the Dems: Josh at BushBlog notes that they’ve been having trouble raising soft money. Terry McAuliffe replies: “But look at my office at the brand new DNC headquarters! That’s real teak there!” Kerry is toast! Let’s move on to Edwards Only a couple of hours after John Kerry pretty much sewed up the Democratic nomination, there’s a chorus of “How the hell did that happen?” Here’s WashPost Editor Robert Kaiser in a Q&A session: Washington, D.C.: "How did this race end so quickly? I haven't made my decision yet, but I feel like its already been made for me. Is there any hope they we will have any true choices come Super Tuesday?"Kerry’s “accomplishment” could be a disaster for the Democrats because the compressed primary schedule has short-circuited the normal decision process. Here's Andrew Sullivan: I infer that most Dem voters so far have been conned into voting for the idea of Kerry, not the reality. And the idea is that he is more electable. And that has become almost self-fulfilling.William Saletan crunches the poll numbers and pretty much confirms it: Democrats were duped into voting for Kerry not because they agreed with him on issues, but because they thought they could win. John Kerry has won 12 of the 14 primaries and caucuses held so far. And why has Kerry won these contests? Not because voters agree with him on the issues. The reason, according to exit polls, is that voters think he's the candidate most likely to beat President Bush. There's just one problem: The same polls suggest this may not be true.D'oh! And there are other problems that the Donks didn’t have time to consider (or suppressed). Matt Welch: Other than all that, this Kerry avalanche strikes me as pretty bad news for the Democrats. Competition creates interest; interested attention on Democrats creates pressure on Bush, and Kerry is about as inspiring as a bag of kelp.And here’s Terpsboy on Kerry’s unexamined record: More to the point, there are so many examples like this, of Kerry’s manipulative inconsistencies, that the guy is DOA, but doesn’t know it yet.A sentiment joined by Mickey Kaus: This year, I'm constantly struck by the number of otherwise informed Democrats who are totally unaware of basic Kerry vulnerabilites--who are surprised, for example, to learn that he threw someone else's medals over a wall in his famous anti-Vietnam protest. ... When Clinton's early Gennifer Flowers troubles didn't stop him, he was inoculated on the womanizing issue for the remainder of the campaign. Kerry is so not inoculated. The antiseptic primary has left the Democrats not knowing whether their likely nominee has a healthy immune system or none at all.Which brings us full circle: the shortened primary season forced the Democrats to pick a candidate quickly and, as a result, they’ve blindly grabbed at the first one who appears Presidential. If they had taken the time for a more reasoned analysis, the Donks might have chosen Edwards (who, according to Saletan, could have been a real contender): How well has Kerry done among these voters [independents who decide elections]? In absolute terms, well enough. But in relative terms, the numbers show a disconcerting pattern. By and large, the closer you move to the center and center-right of the electorate, where the presidential race will probably be decided, the worse Kerry does. The opposite is true of Edwards.We’ve already disposed of Dean and Clark: let’s move on to attacking Edwards. If the Democrats come to their senses in time, we’re ahead of the game with opposition research. If we’re wrong, we’re “stuck” with 50-cent gas tax, soft of defense, no-show Senator Kerry. “Bring it on”? You bet. Nearing Bin Laden? From Time magazine: A knowledgeable U.S. intelligence official tells TIME that a recent spike in intelligence has given government officials greater reason for hope than at any time since bin Laden escaped U.S. clutches in Tora Bora at the end of 2001. "There are some channels that are very active," this official says, declining to give details for fear they might "dry up." He adds, "There are a lot of people very confident that they have him narrowed to a certain sector."Hope this isn't more bad intel. Things Democrats can say, but Republicans can’t Page 206 of John Kerry’s testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 22, 1971 (warning: link is very slow to load – 3MB) Senator Symington: “It isn’t quite that open in this country [the purchase of drugs]; do you think?”Ha ha ha!!! Wednesdays are for W Look at the picture and quote below. Now, volunteer or donate to President Bush’s re-election campaign. It’s not complicated: you can have a president who does what’s best for America no matter what, or you can have one that subjugates authority to the United Nations. When you’re done, visit some of the other bloggers in the “Wictory Wednesday” blogroll. Hangin’ with Hanoi Jane  “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.” – John Kerry, 1970. Viking Pundit: 10% cutting edge Albums I have on the Village Voice Pazz and Jop Top 40: #2 – The White Stripes “Elephant” #3 – Fountains of Wayne “Welcome Interstate Mangers” #18 – Belle and Sebastian “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” #21 – Warren Zevon “The Wind” I keep hearing a good buzz about the New Pornographers “Electric Version” (#7) – I’ll have to add it to my Amazon list. Pazz and Jop top singles of 2003 here. William Safire on the Zarqawi document: “… a message that demolishes the repeated claim of Bush critics that there was never a "clear link" between Saddam and Osama bin Laden.” We’ll see. The continuing humor of the NY Times Corrections page The On the Road column in Business Day yesterday discussed the recent incident in which an airline pilot made a public address announcement evangelizing for Christianity. The column's opening sentence, discussing the probable unease among some passengers, imagined a situation in which an announcement from the cockpit was a shouted "Allahu akbar!" The column said that while the phrase translates "God is great," it is also "known as a terrorist battle cry."Don’t they have any editors over there? Daniel Okrent, call your office! Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Kerry: all shouting, no answers Well, it looks like the fat lady has sung: Kerry will be the Democrats nominee. Which, much as I loathe him, is OK with me because I’m sure he’ll lose to Bush. The anchorless Democrats have picked a candidate solely because of his “electability” and Kerry is enjoying the popularity of a blank slate since nobody knows what he stands for. Example: tonight in a victory speech Kerry was waving the bloody shirt of American military action in Iraq and swearing that he will never send an American soldier into action because of dependence on foreign oil. [I’m doing this from memory but that was the gist.] Kerry monotoned that he had a plan to reduce American dependence on foreign oil so this would never happen again. Fine. I went to Kerry’s web site and clicked on the link reading “Reducing our dependence on foreign oil.” After some generalized statements, here’s Kerry’s plan: We can, however, develop and deploy clean energy technologies that will make us more efficient and allow us to capitalize on domestic and renewable sources of energy. John Kerry’s plan for a renewable energy trust fund to invest in the development of renewable energy will reduce our oil dependence by more than 2 million barrels of oil a day – about the same amount we import from the Persian Gulf.That’s the answer: we’re going to invent our way out of the problem. And what’s this nonsense about “renewable energy will reduce our oil dependence?” Nearly half the petroleum we use is refined and used for gasoline (the remainder is used in petrochemicals and heating oil). What “renewable” energy sources will replace the internal combustion engine? Also, we’ve been developing renewable energy (solar, wind) since the first oil crunch in 1973 and non-hydroelectric renewables still account for less than 1% of all energy generation in America. For all its (perceived) faults, at least the Bush plan to inconvenience some caribou and open up ANWR is a genuine step in the right direction. As a minimum, it’s an honest answer. Kerry’s plan is pure fantasy, based on the hope that scientists will find a way to save us from the grips of OPEC. And if the scientists and engineers fail, then what will we do? As I’ve said many times before: these are times that require clarity. On this issue and many others, John Kerry has chosen the path of moral ambiguity and vapid grandstanding. The Three of Diamonds captured in Iraq Official Centcom press release: CAPTURE OF NUMBER 48 Is our children learning? Via Joanne Jacobs comes this story from an Oregon school: children were separated into groups to eat either a full meal at a prepared table or a small bowl of rice on the floor. This little lesson in political correctness concluded when the “rich” countries shared their food with the “poor” countries – and everybody got lasagna. It would have been so much more realistic if a warlord came jumping out of a closet and seized the food in transit from the “rich” kids to the “poor” kids. On a related note: a group called the Diploma Project has concluded that a high school diploma is nearly useless in the real world. The report charges that employers and postsecondary institutions "all but ignore the diploma, knowing that it often serves as little more than a certificate of attendance," because "what it takes to earn one is disconnected from what it takes for graduates to compete successfully beyond high school."Dumb, yet full of self-esteem! Drip drip drip….even more special interests for Kerry From ABC News: “Kerry Funds Raise Questions” Kerry makes a point of arguing that he has never taken any money from political action committees, or PACs.How soon before "buyer’s remorse" hits the Democrats? David Brooks has a great piece today on what he wishes Bush had said during the “Meet the Press” interview. Another Bush “scandal” goes pffffft From the Boston Globe this morning: “Bush credited for Guard drills” President Bush received credit for attending Air National Guard drills in the fall of 1972 and spring of 1973 -- a period when his commanders have said he did not appear for duty at bases in Montgomery, Ala., and Houston -- according to two new documents obtained by the Globe.While driving home yesterday, I heard an interview with John Kerry on NPR and he was asked about his allegations about Bush’s service. Kerry completely backed off and said something like “this is not what my campaign is about.” Hmmmm….advance knowledge of the Globe article, or was the baseless allegation hurting his campaign? Tim Blair says it best: “Al Gore is out of his tiny robot mind.” Matthew Hoy: “This gets filed under: "If a Republican said it about a Democrat, it'd be hate speech." Monday, February 09, 2004
Charity begins at the imported motorcycle shop Bitter notes that in 1993 John Kerry gave a grand total of $135 to charity, but leaves out this important detail: In 1993, for instance, living on a senator's salary of about $100,000, he managed to give a total of $135 to charity.You can argue about whether or how much a public figure should give to charity, but my take is this: John Kerry doesn’t believe in religion. No man – even if he doesn’t physically attend services – would give such a pittance to his church. Oh, I’m sure Kerry writes some big checks to the Catholic Church now, but “Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.” November 2004 Wild Cards Ipse Dixit points the way to this Election Projection list of 21 reasons why Bush will win in November. Some are dubious (#16: Governor Schwarzenegger?) but quite a few are encouraging for the GOP (I especially liked #10: “Florida is much more Republican now”). Dodd then adds this one: With only one exception since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, no one has been elected president who took more than 14 years to climb from his first major elective office to election as either president or vice president.That’s good trivia, along the lines of “An incumbent who runs for re-election in a year ending in a 4 never loses.” Allow me to throw in some “wild cards” that would tip the balance even further to Bush (but change nothing if they don’t happen): 1.) Osama Bin Laden is caught or killedI'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of for now. Of course, #1 would be a dark day at the DNC. Will the Green Monster defeat another Boston player? From the American Spectator Prowler: Former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean and his advisers are looking into options that would allow him to run for president on the Green Party ticket should he fail in his bid to wrench the Democratic nomination away from Sen. John Kerry.How great would that be? Maybe we can get all three (Kerry-Dean-Nader) running! Another trial for GOB? Disney bans Segways. (That was a gratuitous "Arrested Development" reference, by the way). There's a rumor going around that Moby (the "musician") is a dog humper. While I personally don't believe he's a dog humper it certainly possible that he is, in fact, a dog humper. This moment of clarity brought to you by the Cracker Barrel Philosopher who, by the way, is not a miserable failure. The bitterness and the bile of the Democrats From Slate: “Al Gore thinks it’s 1976 all over again” "We have seen an administration which in my view more closely resembles the Nixon-Agnew administration than any other previous administration," he said. "There's a reason I say that. I don't offer that as simply a casual slur." The crowd laughed. "I'm not above a casual slur," Gore added, in a "mind you" tone, to more laughter. "But I'm biased, I didn't vote for the guy." A man calls out, "Neither did America!" To which Gore responds, "Well, there is that."Here, in a snapshot, is why the Democrats will continue their streak and lose again in 2004: they’re the party of anger. As a result, they’ve coalesced around a candidate entirely because of his “electability” (see here and here); now they need to convince America to be as angry as Al Gore. No policies required: it’s just “Anybody But Bush” until November. Here’s Real Clear Politics on Gore’s speech: The Democratic party looks increasingly like a junkie strung out on Bush-hating drugs. They have no vision for the future, are unable to articulate any serious policy alternatives, and now live only for the next high, which usually comes in the form of slanderous, ad hominem attacks on the President like the one Al Gore delivered last night.The Democrats got nothin’. Here’s the home page for the Democratic National Committee: it’s entirely dominated by criticism of Bush’s policies with no alternatives presented, no positive vision in sight. In 2002, Terry McAuliffe (God bless him!) guaranteed that Governor Jeb Bush would be defeated for re-election because of lingering anger over the Florida recount. Jeb won by double digits (13%). The Democrats should take heed of this lesson if they think they’re going to ride anger to a win in 2004. Extra: Mark Kilmer has more on Gore. Understatement of the day: "Kerry has never been shy about discussing Vietnam." Meanwhile, Opinion Journal notes "Kerry's Medals Strategy" of trying to innoculate himself on national security by citing his service in Vietnam: We rather doubt this gambit will work, and it shouldn't. A candidate's service history is one window on his character, but far more important is his judgment on the major security issues of his time. In Mr. Kerry's case, he has taken the dovish side of nearly every foreign policy debate since he entered public life.Is it me, or isn't there a subtle undercurrent in Kerry's dialogue that unless you've been to the Big Muddy, you're less than a man? It certainly helps to explain his statement last week that serving in the National Guard was equivalent to running to Canada. Family: the most special special interest From today's NY Post Page Six: February 9, 2004 -- ON Wednesday, we reported that John Kerry's younger brother, Cameron, is such a longtime loyal supporter of his brother's political career that he was arrested in 1973, while Kerry was running for Congress, for breaking into a political opponent's headquarters. Apparently loyalty abounds among the Kerry siblings. During the Clinton/Gore administration, says a source, the senator procured a political patronage job for his sister, Peggy Kerry. When George W. Bush took office, Kerry "frantically finagled" for Peggy to be given a civil service title so that she could stay employed. She now works in the public affairs office of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and actively supports her brother's bid for the presidency in her time off — she could be seen standing behind him on television as he swept the New Hampshire primary. In other words, she defends Bush's foreign policy by day and campaigns against it by night. And isn't this the same John Kerry who's vowed to "end the era of special interests"?Wow...a whole Kerry article that didn't mention Vietnam. Oops! Sunday, February 08, 2004
Kerry Vote Watch Short week in the Senate: only two floor votes taken last week. No matter, Kerry wasn’t there anyway. That's my Senator: earning every dollar of salary. Votes cast this session: 0 Voting percentage: 0/8 = 0% Days worked in the Senate: 0 President Bush on “Meet the Press” I had taped the Tim Russert interview and finally watched it tonight. The pundits on the Corner are pretty down on Dubya, but I wholeheartedly and respectfully disagree with their assessment. Everybody knows that Bush is no Churchill and his halting style of speech can be…what?...exasperating? But he clearly stated that based on the intelligence available, Saddam Hussein was a threat. After 9/11, can we allow pan-Arab nutjobs like him to continue thumbing his nose at America and the world? No. Bill Clinton explained away the Democrats’ midterm losses in 2002 as: “When people are uncertain, they’d rather have someone who’s strong and wrong than right and weak.” I submit that the election of 2004 will be based on whether Bush was “strong and wrong” to go into Iraq and whether it makes America safer to depose Saddam Hussein. On the other side will be the Democrats who – and let’s be honest here – would have left Hussein in power to do God knows what, hoping HOPING against all of history, that he wouldn’t do anything to harm America. James Lileks is right: who do you think Al-Qaeda is rooting for in this election? The guy who stood up against the Taliban, the Husseins, and the Qadaffis? Or the party who criticized the defense of America through the democratization of the Middle East at every turn? In his own garbled way today, Bush made his case and more than ever, I’ll fight for his re-election. Patio Pundit on the mystery of Kerry’s appeal: “What is it that Dems are voting for? Kerry's health plan? His tax plan? His nuanced foreign policy? Nope. They think that he can beat Bush. That's it. I just find that surreal.” Saturday, February 07, 2004
Although I advertise Viking Pundit (me!) as "The only Conservative in Western Massachusetts" I notice that Yahoo classifies my blog as "the justified anger of the only Conservative in Western Massachusetts." Well, that's OK, I guess. (Hat tip to Power Line). Religion of Peace update - Via DGCI comes this Little Green Footballs post on the martyr-worship of the 9/11 hijackers. Sick. The “I know you are, but what am I” defense What do you do when your voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy’s? Answer: “Kerry says White House is engaged in extremism” Do you ever get the impression that when political consultant Bob Shrum meets with a candidate, he winks mischievously and says “I’ve crafted a strategy just for you.” Then he reaches into his near-empty desk and pulls out the only tactic in there: the “people versus the powerful” shtick. It looks like Kerry’s following the Shrum boilerplate now. The ghost of Robert Torricelli? David Brooks on “Kerry’s Special Friends” Oh, he sometimes pretends that he doesn't care about our special interests. He puts on that callous populist facade. But deep down he cares. Maybe he cares too much. When he's out on the stump saying otherwise, he's just being a big old phony.Many examples are cited where Kerry “helped out a constituent” (even Chinese colonels who are friends of Johnny Chung) and then – by sheer coincidence! – received thousands of dollars. Isn’t that special? Bonus: Zonitics notes that the Kerry campaign has brought the Torch on board to raise money. Politics - bedfellows - you get the picture. Friday, February 06, 2004
Taking a break from politics I gotta write about something else. So here goes: I love "Joan of Arcadia" on CBS. There's something so spiritual (and not sappy like "Touched by an Angel") about a teenager trying to fulfill a series of "missions" dictated by an all-knowing God. See my Blogcritics review of "Joan of Arcadia" - just posted! Super extra-bonus TV moment: Last night, I was letting the dog out very late and - while she did her "business" - I turned on some late show with Carson Daly. And there were the guys from "American Chopper"! Sweet. They had the 9/11 bike, the POW-MIA bike, and the "Black Widow" bike. An unexpected treat, like finding $10 in your coat pocket. Here's a Vietnam vet deeply unimpressed with John Kerry's tour of duty. (Hat tip to a faithful reader). John Kerry on the threat of Iraq Here’s a transcript of Kerry, along with John McCain, on “This Week” – found on Free Republic (no link provided but I found at least a portion here so it looks genuine). Here are some select quotes from the Senator: “If indeed he [Saddam Hussein] is as significant a threat, as you heard him characterized by the president, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense -- can threaten London, threaten the peace of the Middle East, that he is really a war criminal who is already at war with the civilized world -- then we have to be prepared to go the full distance, which is to do everything possible to disrupt his regime and to encourage the forces of democracy.”Holy cow! I had no idea that John Kerry was so gung-ho to march into Baghdad and depose Saddam Hussein. Plus, he really seemed to understand the dangers of weapon proliferation in the Middle East. His support for the President in facing down Hussein is admirable. The punchline (all together now!): the President was Clinton and these statements were made in 1998. Psyche! Gettin' better Not stellar, but heading in the right direction: "Jobless Rate falls to 5.6%" The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent in January to the lowest level in more than two years as companies added just 112,000 new jobs -- fewer than expected but enough to keep alive hope for a turnaround in the struggling job market.A summer burst of hiring would be just swell. He’s a fighter, not a Senator! Actually, he’s not much of either. By way of Betsy’s Page comes this FactCheck review of Kerry’s career which states: “He says he "led the fight" on several fronts, but few bills bear his name.” Betsy sums it up best: Factcheck notes all the time that Kerry says "I led the fight to....." and then refers to some bill that he supposedly led the fight to pass a good bill or block an evil Republican bill. It turns out that he had little if nothing to do with any of these fights.Anything else, Betsy? He's a blowhard.Oh my. Another appellate court nominee who won’t get a vote William Myers has been nominated for the ultra-liberal 9th Circuit (California). Dianne Feinstein has made up her mind. Why bother with hearings? Let’s just cut to the filibuster. Thursday, February 05, 2004
Prude Kerry (To the tune of “Proud Mary” by Credence Clearwater Revival) Left a good job in the Senate(Apologies to John Fogerty) I just spend my life living in a rock and roll fantasy – It’s the “Ultimate Rock CD” party over at A Small Victory. Cool, daddy-O. This is a Janet Jackson free zone Apparently, I’ve made a huge mistake by not talking about Janet Jackson’s boob. Although I try to stay a-breast of current events and the tit-for-tat of blogger punditry, I just didn’t see any point of talking about Janet Jackson. Plus, I think it’s hypocritical to try to boost traffic by writing about Janet Jackson, or Britney Spears, or Paris Hilton. Or any other kind of sexy sex topics. Especially Janet Jackson. Lileks wishes you a Happy Screedy Thursday Today in the Bleat, Lileks rains fire on Patrick Stewart and John Kerry, whom he describes as “a sopping-wet asbestos poncho.” Key excerpt: I’m waiting for an ad that simply puts the matter plainly: who do you think Al Qaeda wants to win the election? Who do you think will make Syria relax? Who do you think Hezbollah worries about more? Who would Iran want to deal with when it comes to its nuclear program – Cowboy Bush or “Send in the bribed French inspectors” Kerry? Which candidate would our enemies prefer?Emphasis in original. Read the whole thing, as they say. But wait...there's more! Via Page Six comes "Kerry Clan's Own Watergate" During Kerry's 1972 bid for Congress, his younger brother, Cameron Kerry, was arrested for "breaking into . . . the headquarters of a Kerry opponent," the New York Times reported on Sept. 19 of that year. Kerry's headquarters were in the same building in Lowell, Mass.There's a cancer on this candidacy. Washington Whispers: "Democratic presidential Wes Clark would make the "Be prepared" Boy Scouts of America proud. Insiders tell our Suzi Parker that he wasn't so sure he'd win Tuesday's Oklahoma primary. So he was given two speeches: One, the victory address he delivered, the other an exit speech. His victory was so small–just 1,220 of 296,169 votes–that he better keep that exit speech close by." Meanwhile, Political Wire reports that Clark's campaign is nearly broke. The Boston Globe weighs in on Kerry's AIG connection: "Critics question candidate's links to project's insurer" Wednesday, February 04, 2004
The Big Dig sinkhole claims another victim John Kerry: You got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do! A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project. John Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation.Oh no no no no no no no no! Well….yes. BTW, people in Western Massachusetts HATE the Big Dig because after it sucked up all the federal funds available, the Commonwealth started using state highway funds to cover the substantial cost overruns. Essentially, the rest of Massachusetts had to pay for this boondoggle. Word on the street is: the Freepers at Free Republic are saying that President Bush will be appearing on "Meet the Press" this Sunday. Doppelganger - Weird, somebody has started a Movable Type version of Viking Pundit. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or what (an eagle-eyed reader found this) The Soufflé Candidacy All day long I’ve been trying to find a particular Dilbert cartoon. It’s an older one but if I remember correctly, Dilbert is introduced to a new boss with impeccable credentials: he has an MBA from “Harfurd” University and (as the pointy-haired boss notes) “we think his hair will turn executive white!” Such is the thin reed of a résumé that the Democrats are depending to propel John Kerry into the White House. It’s an astonishing march of lemmings each making the cry of “electability” before taking the plunge. Robert Moran in the National Review details why Kerry has the aura of “electability”: He fought in Vietnam and is occasionally hugged by veterans.And his hair is a Presidential salt-and-pepper. But, whatever you do, don’t walk heavily around Kerry’s record since Vietnam. There’s almost no legislation bearing Kerry’s name and his votes in the Senate reveal that he’s a proxy for Ted Kennedy. For all his blather about “fighting” for Americans, Kerry has done precious little in the Senate to support his self-inflated image. Campaigns are about differences. The differences will be stark and polarizing, and these differences are more likely to pull Kerry's undefined vote support down than they are to impact President Bush. After all, the voters know who the President is, but they know very little about Kerry.They know, um, that he’s tall. After that, the deluge. Wednesdays are for W I miss Joe Lieberman already. Say what you will, as a minimum Joe understood that we’re living in a post-9/11 world and that the war on terrorism demands facing down evil wherever it may breed. He was unapologetic in his support for the war in Iraq, which most likely cost him any chance of the nomination, but at least he stood his ground. Unlike certain other candidates who contorted, equivocated, and justified their positions depending on the polls that day. But I digress.... Take a couple of moments to support President Bush by volunteering or donating to his re-election campaign. Then visit all the other bloggers who support “Wictory Wednesday.” Thanks. Whither Europe? Robert Samuelson has a great article in the WashPost today on “The European Predicament” which is that burdensome taxes and regulations are suffocating industry. As a result, the European governments cannot meet the commitments of the welfare state: In the past year, American-European relations have fixated on Iraq. Europe's loathing of the war distracted attention from its own failures. Its economic model could once be defended as a justifiable political choice. People could select their flavor of prosperity. America's flavor -- more competition and insecurity -- wasn't for everyone. Europe could pick less anxiety and more vacations. It could sacrifice some economic growth for a bigger welfare state (more jobless benefits, universal health care). This argument no longer works.There’s a lesson for America here also: “The predicament faced by Europeans -- one shared to some degree by all advanced nations, including the United States -- is this: Unless they take modestly unpopular steps today, they will be faced with hugely unpopular consequences tomorrow.” IMO, repealing the P.J. O’Rourke at Dartmouth: “"Kerry voted to threaten Iraq with force, but he thought that actually using force is wrong," O'Rourke said. "The technical political term for this is, of course, 'bull----.'" (Hat tip to Tim Blair) The NY Times shows great concern for the Democrats The paranoia detectors started clanging this morning when I read this opening graf from the Times’ lead editorial “Keep the Primaries Going.” Now that John Kerry has scored such a strong showing in yesterday's primaries, party leaders are going to become less than subtle in their hints that everyone else call it a day. But a few more weeks of campaigning for the nomination would give Senator Kerry useful preparation for the rigors of the race against George Bush. And Democrats will be able to watch his progress far more comfortably if they know there are still other options available.My sense is that the Times has less concern about the issues or the democratic process than preparing their candidate for the battle royale in November. “Elaine!!!” Real Clear Politics has conjured up the best visual today in “Marrying Kerry”: a young John Edwards screaming a la “The Graduate” as the Democrats enter into a loveless marriage with "insurance salesman" John Kerry. Chris Rock: "I was kind of sad when we caught Saddam Hussein. It was kind of like Wile E. Coyote catching Road Runner. Acme finally made something that worked." Overheard on NPR this morning: "I'm not terribly fond of him, but he's the best we have." - an Arizona Democrat on Kerry Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Zell Miller was right I don't have time for a full analysis here (too tired from shoveling snow!) but it's obvious that Kerry has had a great night. But he lost South Carolina by double digits and it's looking like he'll come in third place in Oklahoma. What's it all about, Alfie? Point "A": As John Edwards noted, no President has won the White House without capturing five Southern states. Point "B": The South doesn't appear to have warmed to Kerry. Point "C": His "I don't need the South" quip probably didn't help and Point "D": If Tennessee's Al Gore couldn't garner a single Southern state in 2000, what possible chance does Kerry have in 2004? And with that - good night! I had no idea, part II – Now that it’s been established that doughnuts are not diet food, Dodd has other startling discoveries. Heh. I had no idea - John Cole states: “I hereby assert that Joshua Micah Marshall buggers young children. I have no documentation that he has done otherwise, although a lot of people claim he does not, I want to see the paperwork. Until he comes up with paperwork that he does not, in fact, bugger small tykes, the charges stand.” Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen any proof that Terry McAuliffe doesn’t steal silverware every time he goes to the Olive Garden. Bastard. Oxblog demonstrates once again that the United Nations is useless. Corresponding story in the WashPost: "U.N. dissolves panel monitoring Al Qaeda" The American Prowler on Senator Splunge: “But despite all the fanfare and the seeming coronation as the Democratic Party's nominee, Kerry isn't very well liked.” A Little More to the Right on the Dubya AWOL story: “So why does the Hypocritical Left hang on tenaciously to this Bush urban legend? Because liberals don't care if it's true or not - as long as it's damaging.” The Truth about Massachusetts Why, it’s paradise! There are gleaming white trucks that play happy music all the time and on warm summer evenings they hand out ice cream. That’s the assessment of one-time Baystater, now inside-the-Beltway columnist E.J. Dionne in today’s WashPost who is clearly lost in some nostalgic time warp: My blue-collar hometown of Fall River, Mass., was solidly Democratic, but as conservative in its values as you could imagine -- family, church, neighborhood, hard work and patriotism were the drill. I'm grateful I grew up in such a pro-family environment. That's why the parody of Massachusetts as an exotic, left-wing place infuriates me.Here in Western Massachusetts, I often hear the lesbians in Northampton making the same complaints on their way to This is about more than John Kerry, who can defend himself. It's about how certain forms of cheap bigotry don't even get challenged. The right wing's attack on Massachusetts is a sign of intellectual laziness. It's easier to parody a people and a place than to defend a set of ideas.This past Sunday, DNC chair Terry McAwful took pains to show off his spiffy “ABB” pin, standing for “Anyone but Bush.” Meanwhile, the Democrats are in the throes of choosing a candidate based entirely on that person’s “electability” with nary a thought for ideology. The Democrats have no issues to bring to the table other than “not Bush” and yet somehow they’re the party of intellectual vitality. Please. The gloves come off Really it was inevitable. The candidate who frames every issue through the prism of Vietnam has decided to question the military record of President Bush. Memo to John Kerry: taking advice from Terry McAuliffe is the certain path to doom. But if Dubya’s record in the Air National Guard is open for analysis, surely we can talk about John Kerry’s mental condition of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Here’s Teresa Heinz in June 2002 on her husband’s cold-sweat nightmares: When Kerry is asked about the nightmares that haunted his sleep for years after he returned from Vietnam, he shrugs. "I don't think I've had a nightmare in a long time," he says. But then Heinz begins to mimic Kerry having a Vietnam nightmare.After 9/11, the “training” videos for Al-Qaeda surfaced with a smug Osama Bin Laden noting the lessons of Somalia and Bosnia: if you hit the Americans hard enough they will run away. Do we want to risk another president so battle fatigued by his life-defining experience, that he’s unwilling to strike back at our enemies for fear of creating another Vietnam? Would a President Kerry [shudder] have backed away from a war with the Taliban in Afghanistan? Would he ask for permission from France? Now I’m starting to have nightmares. Monday, February 02, 2004
Hey, what can you do? Duke Forrest (speaking about Frank Burns): “Everytime a patient dies on him, he says it’s ‘God’s Will’ or somebody else’s fault.” – “M*A*S*H” Saudi Hajj Minister Iyad Madani after 251 pilgrims were trampled to death during a "stoning" ritual in Mecca: "All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God's will." Return of the Kerry Vote Watch It’s a new session of the 108th Congress so it’s time to see how my Senator represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Or not. There were six floor votes in the Senate over the past two weeks including a vote on H.R. 3108, the Pension Stability Act which passed 86-9-5. Kerry was one of the five Senators “not voting.” Which shouldn’t be surprising since he hasn’t shown up for a vote since the Senate re-convened on January 20th. Votes cast this session: 0 Voting percentage: 0/6 = 0% Days worked in the Senate: 0 Best Superbowl commercials #5 – The referee who gets screamed at (Budweiser) #4 – Jenkins the Alien says “Use Fed Ex.” #1-3 (tie): The AOL spots with the guys from American Chopper. They probably didn’t click if you haven’t seen the show (right, Wind Rider?) but I laughed my ass off. Missed anything? IFilm has all the Superbowl ads here. So if you just can’t get enough of Mike Ditka talking about erectile dysfunction, check it out. Howard Dean: Crazy like a fox? The conventional wisdom is that Howard Dean’s campaign is irrelevant and his shift to the February 7th primary states such as Michigan and Wisconsin is a desperate “Hail Mary” gambit. But maybe Dean is giving the Democratic field some space (temporal and geographic) to see if a Kerry backlash sends his adoring fans back into Howard’s arms. Think of it as “Dated Dean, Married Kerry, became disenchanted, looked up Dean’s number again.” There’s clearly signs that Kerry is getting the Dean-type scrutiny now – see Howard Kurtz’s “Is Kerry next?” – and a mini-backlash is building. In the expectations game, Kerry’s momentum could be slowed if he loses Oklahoma to Clark and South Carolina to Edwards. If the second-guessing reaches a crescendo, Governor Dean may garner a second look. I’m not saying it’s likely: just possible. Keep up the pressure, Mickey! Extra - Via Duck Season, David Brooks says that “electability” trumps all: “Now Kerry is riding this great wave of electability, and he has a huge seething army of fanatical Kerry supporters who will follow him to the death, unless, of course, he stumbles — in which case they will abandon him faster than you can say "electability."” Champs again! Boston Globe: “Meanwhile, what's left for Brady? John Kerry's running mate? First man on Mars? Starting pitcher for the Red Sox when they finally win a World Series? The 26-year-old golden child becomes the youngest two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback and one of only four players to win the MVP Award twice. He completed 32 of 48 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns. He is 6-0 lifetime in playoff games.” Also from the Globe: “Perhaps the best Super Bowl ever played” Sure, why not? Sunday, February 01, 2004
Superbowl picks Me: New England 30 – Carolina 13 Jonah Goldberg: Cats 23 – Pats 13 Andrew Stuttaford: Brooklyn Dodgers 3 – Los Angeles Knicks 2 Brit Andrew adds: “At last I’ve got the hang of American football.” Every word he says is a lie including “and” and “the”: DNC chair Terry McAuliffe was on “This Week” this morning and barely a sentence passed his lips that wasn’t a flat-out bastardization of the truth. ABC doesn’t provide transcripts (if somebody finds one – please forward it to me) but from jobs, to “questioning the patriotism” of Democrats, to his impartiality towards Howard Dean, he was full of dung. Several times, he noted that the Donks intended on raising the spurious “Dubya was AWOL” argument once again. Well, go ahead, Terry – it worked so well for you in 2000. Review the so-called controversy behind President Bush’s Air Reserve service at Hobbs Online or the mirror site at Terpsboy (which seemed to load much quicker for me). Saddam is talking From ABC News: "Saddam said useful in U.S. interrogation" American officials have received useful information from direct interrogation of Saddam Hussein, a senior military official said Sunday.The Atlantic had an excellent article about interrogation and how it (at least the non-violent kind) involves wearing down a subject with time. Hopefully, this is the beginning of much more information. Well, that was fun.... I must had tried to add one too many sites to my blogroll because it scrolled off half of my Blogger code in the main template. Thank heaven I had an older saved template (although it took me a couple of minutes to delicately remove the old YACCS code). Let this be a lesson: if you're still on Blogspot, backup your templates on MS Word. |
