SNL gets it right too!

Am I living in Bizarro world? First the Washington Post slams Democrats, then Saturday Night Live has a skit with Al Gore “endorsing” Howard Dean and saying things like “only Howard Dean has the courage to massively raise taxes.” And I typed this dialogue in as it was spoken:

Gore impersonator: “As Paul Krugman said, George Bush is the worst leader of any nation on earth going back more than 500 years”
Dean impersonator: “Really, worse than Hitler?”
Gore: “#3”
Dean: “Pol Pot?”
Gore: “#6”

Now that’s fair and balanced satire.

"Haven't you done enough harm to the party already?"

This political roundup in the Washington Post could have been written by the RNC. Wow, it’s brutal on the Democrats from Gore to Kerry.

Mark Steyn declares: "It's been a good year"

Twelve months ago, Saddam Hussein was sitting on his solid gold toilet. He’s now on the run, moving every few hours and unlikely ever again to feel even a standard black plastic seat against his bottom. His sons are dead, so there’s no possibility of dynastic succession. There has been a noticeable decline in the number of suicide bombings against Israel, suggesting the intifada is having some problems without its sugar daddy. Conversely, there’s been an increase in pressure on the Saudi Arabian and Iranian regimes.

I think the most striking thing about the past year is the new clarity. The United States is no longer going to turn a blind eye to terrorist states and Saudi back-channel funding of Islamofascism. Also, we're not going to say that our allies are allies when they don't do a single thing to help us when we ask (and, in fact, actively campaign against our goals). It's a new era of political incorrectness and it feels so good.

Past, present and future

Yesterday, George Will asked this rhetorical question:

For the July-September quarter, economic growth was 8.2 percent, the fastest since 1984, productivity growth was 9.4 percent, the fastest since 1983, and manufacturing reached its highest level since 1983. Is it pure coincidence that in 1983-84, as today, the nation was deep into the first term of a tax-cutting Republican administration?

Later in the day, the Conference Board seemed to answer it:

Revising its year-end economic forecast sharply upward, The Conference Board today projected that real GDP growth will hit 5.7% next year, making 2004 the best year economically in the last 20 years.

Of course, we all remember that 20 years ago Ronald Reagan squeaked out re-election over Walter Mondale. Will history repeat itself for the current Republican president? We’ll see!

The new Toast-O-Meter is up - yay!

Lots of Gore today

The Boston Globe: “Gore hurts Democrats with premature nod”
Slate: “Why Al Gore was wrong to endorse Howard Dean”
Krauthammer: “Gore’s role as Kingmaker”

Al “I invented voice mail” Gore’s Lieberman snub

Via Betsy’s Page comes the “he said, she said” story behind how Al Gore failed to tell Joe Lieberman that he was endorsing Howard Dean. Karenna Gore Schiff describes how the former veep was trying to get Joe on the phone “the whole night.” Understandably, the Lieberman people see the story quite differently.

The Gore side sounds so phony. What, the Lieberman campaign doesn’t have answering machines, voice mail, cell phones, text messaging, fax machines, PDAs, BlackBerrys, or E-mail? No little pink pads reading “While you were out” lying about the campaign bus? Geez, the excuse is worse than the snub.

James Carville slams the Dean campaign – John Hawkins is there

Survivor update – Grrrrrl Power rocks!

Lil, Darrah, and Sandra join forces to defeat evil

Burton wins reward and takes Jon to something with food (I didn’t watch) making the critical error of leaving the women together to plot. Finally, Sandra gets through to dopey Lil and church-mouse Darrah that their best strategy is to get rid of one of the men.

When the men return from food and rest, they realize their error because the women are putting on the worst acting performance since Jennifer Lopez in “Gigli.” “No, we didn’t talk to Sandra!” Knowing full well that all women do is gab and chatter, this causes a small panic between Burton and Jon who scramble to re-assemble alliances. Jon goes to Sandra and swears on his not-dead grandmother that he’ll carry her to the final three. Sandra swears on her kids that she’ll mumble..mumble..mumble. Only in confessional do we hear the whole thing: “I swore on my kids I’ll screw over Jon and Burton” Awesome!

Darrah wins immunity (third in a row!) and we see the men both vote “Lil.” Now I’m concerned because I know that bastard Mark Burnett likes to play with your head. But (hooray!) the chick-alliance holds and they kick off the strongest Survivor, Burton. With the Burton-Jon partnership gone, my feeling is that the empowered women will stick it to Jon next week unless he wins immunity. This seems an unlikely scenario since he has never won any challenge except for the one where he shamed everyone into rolling over because of his (not) dead grandmother.

When it's Lileks, do you even have to say "must read"?

Hooray! Mark at Random Nuclear Strikes found some non-Bleat Lileks today. Here's a longish excerpt:

Item! Dean, talking to Diane Rehm -- the Mother Teresa of Beltway radio -- excoriated Bush for undue privacy in the Sept. 11 investigation. It produced some "interesting" theories, Dean said, such as the idea that the Saudis warned Bush of the imminent attack. Very clever, this; it allowed Dean to move the charge from the fever swamps of Internet forums to the national spotlight. Did he believe it? Oh, no -- but it's interesting, he said, and can't be disproved. OK, then: Dr. Dean sealed his gubernatorial records, and this makes some suspect he was an abortionist who sold the sundered remains to Satanists for Black Mass rituals. Hey, it's an interesting theory. Until we see the records, who knows?

All these items are part of a disquieting trend: the mainstreaming of the extreme. Think of the GOP at the peak of its pique in the '90s. The Republicans didn't nominate a ranter who trafficked in "interesting" theories about Bill Clinton whacking Vince Foster for discovering the family coke ring. They nominated decent old Bob Dole, America's Poster Dad for erectile dysfunction. The party's nut jobs seethed in the margins -- which is why Bush could later win on the "Kinder-Gentler 2.0" program of compassionate conservatism. Republicans didn't want revenge so much as they wanted to win.

But the Democrats want revenge. For Florida. For Bush's refusal to let France and Germany decide American foreign policy. For invading poor, helpless, never-hurt-a-fly Iraq. For making the Dixie Chicks feel uncomfortable. Not for drilling in ANWR, but for wanting to. For this and a thousand other sins, Bush must pay -- and if al-Qaida detonates a nuke in the Baltimore harbor during President Dean's term, it'll be Bush's fault for toppling the fascists of Iraq without the approval of Syria and China.

GRTWT ASAP.

Dow 10K - Dow closes above 10,000

Al Gore: Saboteur for the GOP?

Here’s a letter to the editor in today’s NYT:

To the Editor:
As a liberal Democrat, I'm dismayed that Al Gore, whose inept 2000 presidential campaign gave us George W. Bush in the White House, has acted to promote Mr. Bush's chances again by endorsing Howard Dean, whom a great many of us believe cannot win.

It was bad enough that Mr. Gore, in an era of peace and prosperity, still could not beat a lightweight like George Bush. Does Mr. Gore have to compromise our chances of regaining the White House next year as well?

Al’s got a gross of “Gore 2008” bumper stickers in his basement.

George Will has some questions

Most of them are on the Democrats’ views of unilateralism, but he concludes with this jab at Dean:

In the past nine presidential elections (1968-2000), the 11 states of the former Confederacy, plus Kentucky and Oklahoma, have awarded 1,385 electoral votes. Democratic candidates have won just 270 (20 percent) of them. Which Deanisms -- the war is bad, same-sex civil unions are good, Americans are undertaxed -- will be most helpful to Democrats down there?

How about "stop voting with your guns"? They'll love that one.

Senator Splunge tries comedy

Today’s NYT:

Faced with a presidential race suddenly recast by Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean, Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and John Kerry sharpened their attacks against Dr. Dean, with Mr. Kerry accusing him of inconsistency on the Iraq war and Mr. Lieberman saying Dr. Dean represented the party's past.

That’s killer material there.

Weaken the law and invite chaos

You would think that a decision to curtail first amendment rights would send the press into a fit of indignation. Instead, the papers today are downright giddy about the Supreme Court decision to uphold the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The consensus seems to be that political corruption is so rampant and detrimental to the American political body that any measure to slay this monster is welcome. The NY Times ran an editorial today titled “A campaign finance triumph” and blithely noted: “Given the choice of seeing the law as a restriction on speech or as a needed corrective to corruption in politics, the court came down firmly on the side of considering it a corrective.” The Washington Post believes that the ruling affirms “that the Constitution does not require a broken democracy in which the government is impotent in the face of a culture of influence peddling.”

“Broken democracy”??? America sits astride the world, the most dominant economic and military force in the history of the planet. This country is a paradise of opportunity and a destination for thousands of immigrants seeking a better life in a nation built on rights and laws. But now, for the first time ever, our lawmakers have decided that we can withstand a little less freedom to proscribe, in the Court’s words, “the ill effects of aggregated wealth on our political system.”

Our legislators, President, and Supreme Court justices would have benefited from reviewing this dialogue from “A Man for All Seasons” before this crusade to destroy the Devil of “corruption”:

In his aptly-entitled play A Man for All Seasons, playwright Robert Bolt dramatizes a conversation between the impertinent William Roper and the discerning Thomas More. Roper, exasperated with the unwavering commitment of More to the rule of law, asks: "So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law?"

More responds:"Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?"

Roper, with all the sincerity of our own contemporary zealots of both the right and the left, retorts by exclaiming:"I'd cut down every law in England to do that!"

More replies: "Oh! And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you -- where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat! This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast -- man's laws, not God's -- and if you cut them down -- and you're just the man to do it -- do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake."

The continuing humor of the NY Times corrections page

A front-page article on Wednesday about the Pentagon's decision to bar French, German and Russian companies from competing for reconstruction contracts in Iraq referred incorrectly to Germany's role on the United Nations Security Council. It is a temporary member, not a permanent one.

Right there on the front page. Tsk tsk tsk.

The Boston Globe’s sole conservative Jeff Jacoby has an opinion piece today that is highly critical of “The Party of Big Spenders.” Hint: it’s not the Democrats.

Bloggers think the Supreme Court has gone loopy

And there’s some fair criticism of Bush also for signing a campaign finance reform bill while under the assumption that the USSC would just overturn it anyway. That would have been a good time for a veto. (David Wissing: “Free Speech Limited” and Matthew Hoy: “This is a sad day for democracy in our country.” Power Line: “an abomination”)

No word yet from law professor and bloggus emeritus Glenn Reynolds, but Eugene Volokh (in a post titled “Newspapers are corporations, too") cites a passage from Clarence Thomas’ dissent where he warns: “The chilling endpoint of the Court’s reasoning is not difficult to foresee: outright regulation of the press.”

This terrible decision, this Pandora’s box, cannot be understated. Paging Nat Hentoff!

Final note from John Cole: “I am going to try to make sure that I am one of the first people arrested next year for violating this law.”

GMTA alert - Here's Dodd striking a similar chord: "What I cannot understand is how they also saw their way clear to upholding "restrictions on political ads in the weeks before an election." How regulating what people can say about a candidate for political office during an election campaign squares with the First Amendment is, frankly, incomprehensible to me."

Bizarro world update: Supreme Court restricts freedom of speech

Today the Supreme Court upheld much of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law: “Divided Court says Government can ban “Soft Money.” I have to say that as an amateur legal pundit, I’m a little stunned. The Court has always upheld that money equals speech for the same reasons that, say, the government could not restrict the press from spending whatever they wanted. But the political money/political speech argument is at least debatable. On this issue, however, I was completely floored:

“The court also voted 5-4 to uphold restrictions on political ads in the weeks before an election. The television and radio ads often feature harsh attacks by one politician against another or by groups running commercials against candidates.”

As the kids say: “Duh!” Of course political opponents attack each other in the run-up to an election. The Supreme Court has now decided when and how much we can spend on free speech; is it a matter of time before they decide what we can say?

This is a shameful, backwards opinion and a genuine erosion of first amendment rights. I can’t wait to read Justice Scalia’s comments and the next George Will article. (Question: does Scalia have to conclude his dissent with: “My name is Antonin Scalia and I approve of this dissent”?)

Liberal radio is on the air…and off - "Democrats' radio try sputters after 2 days" (Hat tip to Rantburg)

Rest in Peace: Only a handful of days after being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Wall Street Journal editor and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert L. Bartley died today at age 66.

A Simpsons/Futurama reference for every occasion

In response to this – “Europe tackles U.S. over Iraq contracts” – let me respond with this:

Horst: [threateningly] We Germans aren't all smiles und sunshine.
Burns: [recoils in mock horror] Oooh, the Germans are mad at me. I'm so scared! Oooh, the Germans!
[hiding behind Smithers] Uh oh, the Germans are going to get me!
Horst: Stop it!
Man 2: Stop, sir.
Burns: Don't let the Germans come after me. Oh no, the Germans are coming after me.
Man 2: Please stop the `pretending you are scared' game, please.
Horst: Stop it! Stop it!
Burns: [brief pause, then resumes] No! They're so big and strong!
Man 2: Stop it.
Horst: Stop it, Mr. Burns.
Man 2: Please stop pretending you are scared of us, please, now.
Burns: Oh, protect me from the Germans! The Germans...
Horst: Burns, STOP IT!

Extra: Moe sends over this wav file for fun. Thanks Moe!

In the words of Bender: “We’re boned”

From Slate’s “Meet the Greedy Grandparents”

Retirees eyeing this bounty feel no pangs of guilt, thanks to their unshakable conviction that they earned every dime by sweat and toil. In fact, economists Laurence Kotlikoff and Jagadeesh Gokhale say that a typical man reaching age 65 today will get a net windfall of more than $70,000 over his remaining years. A luckless 25-year-old, by contrast, can count on paying $322,000 more in payroll taxes than he will ever get back in benefits.

More like the “Grabbiest” Generation.

Wednesdays are for W

Yesterday on CNN, I caught a bit of what George Soros’ money is paying for: a commercial by MoveOn branding Bush as a Santa Claus for special interests. Now that Democrats are prevented from raking in large sums of cash from Hollywood millionaires, “advocacy” groups like MoveOn are the Dems best method of circumventing campaign finance laws. After watching this laughable ad, I was secretly hoping that Soros and Streisand continue to pour all their treasure into this feckless propaganda.

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Help to counter the Dems circus sideshow by donating or giving your time to the campaign to re-elect President Bush. Also, visit or join Blogs for Bush and visit these bloggers who are supporting the “Wictory Wednesday” effort. Thank you.

Gore and Dean – birds of a feather

Here’s William Saletan on Dean’s performance last night:

Dean's problem is that his fibs are increasingly conspicuous. He accused Koppel of spending the debate's first 75 minutes on Iraq, a statement whose falsity was obvious to anyone who had watched from the beginning. Dean also blamed Fox News for having prompted him to talk about the "theory" that Bush had been warned beforehand about 9/11, when in fact Dean had broached that idea on NPR's Diane Rehm Show. Memo to Dean: Clean up your accuracy, or you'll go the way of the guy who just endorsed you.

Zing! The Boston Globe was also unimpressed. How’s this for a headline: “Dean mumbles and rambles.”

Terry McAuliffe: Human excrement

From yesterday’s edition of CNN’s Crossfire:

CARLSON: Terry, one of the reasons so many Washington Democrats don't like Howard Dean, apart from the fact he doesn't like them, is because they recognize he can't win because he's too radical.

Case in point, a week ago, a week and a half ago, he suggested, implied, that President Bush may have been informed about 9/11 ahead of time by the Saudis. He kept open that possibility. That's out of bounds and outrageous, isn't it?

MCAULIFFE: No, it's not.

I dislike Howard Dean for so many reasons, but one is that he has publicly stated that he wants to purge the DNC of Clintonites like Terry. Please, Howard, don’t do it!

Great headline: "Dems Criticize Bush, Omit Facts Sometimes"

In other words: "Democrats Gripe and Lie"

Irrational exuberance?

Coming on the heels of the Dow’s brush with 10K today, Jane Galt has a great post on the 1990’s stock market and how our mindset changes when we avoid reality for too long. Meanwhile, Rob at Business Pundit wonders whether we’re seeing a real estate bubble now.

The answers are "No and yes"

The questions asked by Jonah Goldberg: "Am I nuts or is Terry McAuliffe the worst major party chairman in modern memory?"

Senior writer Dan Balz answered some questions for the WashPost on Election 2004: is Gore taking the Nixon route to the presidency and what’s up with Kerry’s campaign?

Fun with adjectives

Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy are mad.
I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas
'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad.

Al Gore today: “Saddam Hussein is a bad guy”

Allegedly, Saddam put a tack on teacher’s chair, hid a frog in sister’s bed, and, oh yeah, murdered 61,000 Baghdadis.

Somebody snitched on him!

Gosh darn it, people like Bush

Here's Mort Kondracke: "2004 Shaping Up To Be McGovern Versus Reagan"

This looks to me like a deja vu presidential election, with the Democratic candidates all resembling their party's past losers and President Bush setting himself up for a 1972- or 1984-style landslide.

Kondracke also makes the case that, just like Reagan, Americans generally like President Bush as a person. This is going to contrast sharply with the angry Democratic base and their tempestuous, razor-tongued candidate Howard Dean.

Breathtaking cynicism on the Dean bandwagon

I'd like to write more about the Gore endorsement (just saw it on TV) but I have to run off this morning. But I will note this: although Al Gore eventually said that he agreed with Dean on the Iraq policy (we were helpfully informed that Saddam Hussein was a "bad man") Gore spent the first portion of his speech saying that his endorsement was based on the fact that Howard Dean energizes Democrats on the grass roots level.

That is, Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean not because of his policies but because Dean's campaign has a lot of momentum. Then the former VP offered up the "freeze the field" advice of "speak ill of no Democrats" - which is great advice if you're the front-runner.

Before the annoucement, Jonah Golberg noted: "More important, it underscores how unserious Al Gore has become on the war on terrorism." [Emphasis added] That adjective is one I use often for the Democrats and there has been nothing in their words or actions to disabuse me of that characterization.

Ramesh Ponnuru on the Corner: "Come to think of it, the Ds now have a candidate with McGovern's foreign policy, Mondale's domestic policy, Dukakis's regional background, and Gore's arrogance. How perfect is that?"

More on Gore from the Wash Post

"This is huge," said Donna Brazile, Gore's 2000 campaign manager. "This gives Dean the credibility he's been lacking, from someone from the inside of the party. This will give Dean a tremendous boost in locking down the nomination."

The Wash Post article hints that Gore may have endorsed Dean as a way to unify the Democratic party behind one candidate. (And what a candidate!) The flip side of that is Dean can look forward to almost a full year of Republican attacks.

The worst holiday season John Kerry ever had

How much worse can things get for Kerry? He leads in none of the early primary states and in New Hampshire he's fighting for second place (a distant second place, I might add.) His one hope to turn things around might have rested with Al Gore who has a biography nearly identical to Kerry's: both are sons of privilege raised in exclusive schools, both are Vietnam vets and U.S. Senators. I'm curious to hear Gore's rationale for backing Dean.

I know there's not a chance of this happening since campaigns tend to have their own inertia, but how great would it be if Kerry just calls it quits tomorrow? He's going to lose anyway, but if he bows out now he can do so with an iota of dignity. On the other hand, if Kerry goes out on that stage tomorrow night, he's going to unleash a firestorm of anti-Dean rhetoric that is going to make him look desperate and small. And you know that no matter what the others throw at Dean, he'll stand there like a stone Buddha. The game is over.

Oh yeah, him too: As Matt Welch reminds us, this is a huge snub for former VP man Joe Lieberman also.

Gore to endorse Dean - It might be too late but the final Dem debate in New Hampshire tomorrow night is going to be a drag-out, last-ditch, bare-knuckle brawl. This is the last chance the other candidates have to stop Dean.

Dow 10K approaches

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks look set to float upward next week, with the Dow closing in on the psychologically sensitive 10,000 level, as investors expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at its Tuesday meeting, keeping the economy pumped with cheap money.

Fred Barnes explodes the Donks’ agitprop on patriotism: “The Last Refuge of the Democrats.” – “The claim that Democrats are targets of a political low blow by being labeled unpatriotic has become a Democratic refrain.”

Correction: Dodd's breaking my chops about Nader. If he runs in 2004, it will be his third try for the Presidency. Thank you, Miserable Failure.

(Thought I forgot, didn't you?)

Life imitates a Brady Bunch episode: Library book returned 94 years overdue.

Robert Tagorda has moved his Priorities to MT. Update your link.

Green upset in San Francisco?

After losing the governor’s mansion to the GOP in a humiliating recall election, California Democrats are flying in national figures to fend off a threat from the left. Green candidate Matt Gonzalez is within striking distance of winning the mayoral race in San Francisco, thus knocking off Willy Brown’s protégé Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom. Boots and Sabers welcomes the coming train wreck and American Prowler touches on the superficiality of SF voters.

A Green victory in San Francisco could (in my opinion) have national implications. First, if Gonzalez makes good on his promise to raise the minimum wage in Frisco to the “highest in the nation” it would be a dream for conservatives who would surely chart the flight of businesses from the Bay Area. Also, it would be intolerable for egomaniac Ralph Nader to be the second-best Green candidate in the country. A Gonzalez win could force Nader back into the limelight for a second run at the Presidency, which would be a huge boost for Bush’s re-election.

Extra: More on SF from Hedgehog Report and Rantburg.

I now predict that Kerry will come in third in New Hampshire – From the Boston Globe today: “Kerry camp lowers N.H. expectations – Behind in polls, senator now seeks spot in ‘top two’”

Money for nothing and your pills for free

Also from the Boston Globe today (2nd item): “Clark pledges hike in family income”

KANSAS CITY -- Democrat Wesley K. Clark, focusing his presidential campaign on domestic issues, said yesterday he has plans to raise family income by $3,000 a year and provide health coverage to 30 million more people. The retired Army general did not give details about his domestic proposals.

Woo-hoo! A secret plan for forced wage increases – love it!

Dean update: The Washington Post says “Dean crafts own Southern strategy”. It basically involves telling Southerners to stop going to church and gun shows.

Some Dean supporters privately say Dean's admonition for southerners to stop voting based on "guns, gays, God and school prayer" is offensive to many voters.

Meanwhile, Mickey Kaus hints that Iowa Senator Tom Harkin may be about to endorse Howard Dean. After losing the big union endorsements, this could be the death knell for Dick Gephardt.

It wasn't my imagination

Here's at least one other person posting on John Kerry's blog wondering why the Senator claimed he voted "no" on the Medicare bill:

Did anyone catch the fact that Kerry stated that "he voted no" on the medicare bill. He stated this in Florida yesterday before thousands of people, not once, but at least 3 times that I counted. Of course, I realize he was against the bill. However, he did NOT vote at all.

Followed by this, um, interesting clarification:

In the Senate you do not have to vote on a final bill in order to have voted for or against it. Sounds weird, but that is how the Senate works. Kerry voted no on the medicare bill.

I see.....

Now could you tell us where they are? The UK Telegraph has an article titled "The Truth, at last" that declares: "There can now be little doubt that Saddam possessed chemical and biological weapons." As a minimum, it explains how Tony Blair came to the conclusion that Iraq needed to be confronted.

A bald-faced lie

First it's the profanity, and now outright falsehood. I caught a couple minutes of John Kerry on C-Span tonight as he answered questions for the Florida Democrats. There was a question on the recent Medicare bill and he said: "I voted NO on the Medicare Bill." (I don't have a transcript right now, but I'm sure one will be available soon.)

As I noted here, John Kerry did not vote on the Medicare bill. (And don't give me your nonsense about how you "would have" voted against it: I pay your salary to represent me in the U.S. Senate and vote on important measures.) Kerry's statement is wrong.

The New York Times gets an ombudsman!

The age of Howell Raines is officially over: the Times has somebody "charged with publicly evaluating, criticizing and otherwise commenting on the paper's integrity". In this article, he introduces himself and notes:

One of my oldest friends is boycotting The Times because of what he considers its conscious hostility to conservatives and its "institutional inaccuracy."

"Hostility to conservatives?" That's an understatement.

"Talk about a party in the pits"

An editorial in Florida Today surveys the declining fortunes of the Florida Democratic Party: "Democrats' state meeting shows party in bad shape"

Democrats just can’t shake off Florida

Way back in May (when nobody was paying attention to me) I wrote a post called “Why the Democrats will lose big in 2004”. Here’s an excerpt:

For the Democratic Party, the contested 2000 presidential election was their bad beat and, two-and-a-half years later, they still can't shake it off. At a recent campaign event, Senator Joe Lieberman declared that he knows he can beat President Bush in 2004 because "Al Gore and I already did it." DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe uses every speech to paint Bush as an illegitimate president. The Democratic Convention next year will be dominated by a party base that takes it as an article of faith that Al Gore really, truly won the 2000 election. For these politicos, their hatred of President Bush will crowd out any reasoned dialogue and debate over real policy issues.

And now, as the Donks meet in Florida this weekend, all that tired, overheated rhetoric comes spilling forth again:

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — In the state that decided the 2000 presidential race, Democratic leaders on Saturday accused Republicans of stealing the bitterly contested election and pledged to avenge that loss next year.

"Al Gore won the state of Florida in 2000, and we should never forget it," Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe told a cheering, whistling crowd of state Democratic convention delegates. "We're going to beat George Bush again in the state of Florida in 2004."

Rock on, Terry. You’re the bomb.

Ralph Reed, a GOP strategist who was defending Bush in hallway interviews, said the Democrats' strategy of political vengeance will fail as it did in 2002, when Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was re-elected despite McAuliffe's promise to defeat him.

"People want their leaders ... to talk about the future. They don't want anger and pessimism and personal attacks. They want a positive vision from leaders looking forward," Reed said as several delegates swarmed his informal news conference and chanted, "No GOP! No GOP!"

Democratic candidate Richard Gephardt seemed to agree with the GOP consultant. "We can't just dwell on the past. We've got to look forward," the Missouri congressman told reporters. His was a minority view at this gathering of Florida Democrats.

Gephardt then proceeded to dwell on the past, attack the president, and offer no forward-looking proposals. What a party - running on empty.

The latest “Bush in Iraq” testimonial

Susanna at Cut on the Bias has another eyewitness account of Bush’s meet and greet with the soldiers in Iraq. A must read:

Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the cheering, I could clearly see tears running down his cheeks. It was the most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron being born. Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world, spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six days before.

Just to spend two hours with his troops. Only to get on a plane and spend another 17 hours flying back. It was a great moment, and I will never forget it. He delivered his speech, which we all loved, when he looked right at me and held his eyes on me. Then he stepped down and was just mobbed by the soldiers. He slowly worked his way all the way around the chow hall and shook every last hand extended. Every soldier who wanted a photo with the President got one. I made my way through the line, got dinner, then wolfed it down as he was still working the room.

By the way, earlier today I commented on this Tim Blair post that while Bush said he was “looking for a warm meal” there’s no evidence he ever ate while meeting with soldiers in Iraq. (Quoth Tim: “another Bush lie!”) My point was that Bush was much more concerned about meeting with the soldiers; Susanna’s post confirms this.

(P.S. - Sorry about your commute, Susanna! I can relate, believe me.)

What's up with that? - Bridget Fonda marries Danny Elfman? Single White Female no more.

No snow yet....

Steven the Poliblogger has an updated Toast-O-Meter out (expanded!)

Poll: Optimism on Economy Boosts Bush

From the AP:

WASHINGTON - Americans are growing more optimistic about the economy and that shift is beginning to improve President Bush's standing with voters, according to an Associated Press poll.

People are increasingly comfortable about job security for themselves and for those they know — 44 percent now, compared with 35 percent in early October.

And more approve of the way Bush is handling the economy — 50 percent compared with 45 percent earlier, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Support for his handling of other domestic issues like education, health care and the economy, at 47 percent, has not shifted significantly.

The president's re-election numbers have slightly improved, with 41 percent saying they will definitely vote for him and 36 percent definitely against him. One in five is considering voting for someone else. In mid-November, people were evenly split, 37 percent for and against.

In response, the DNC put out this press release: “Yeah, well what about the turkey? Tell the truth about the turkey, Mr. President!”

Unemployment rate dips below 6%

The nation's unemployment rate slipped to 5.9 percent in November, the lowest level in eight months. (AP Graphic)

For serious political wonks only: State polls for Democrats

Real Clear Politics has updated polls from individual states for the Democratic candidates running for president. Most interesting is the Kerry Katastrophe: while most candidates can claim front-runner status in at least one state, Kerry can’t even say that about his home state of Massachusetts. Now, with humiliation looming in New Hampshire, Mickey Kaus has launched the Kerry Withdrawal Contest soliciting the best excuse for Senator Splunge to pull out of the race.

Here’s mine: “Over the past year, I’ve been accused of taking contradictory positions on many issues. However, there is one issue on which I pledge to stay consistent: my inconsistency. In that spirit, I hereby declare that I am not running for President. All past statements are now null and void, except for the ones that are still operational. Thank you.”

As a slogan it needs work: Viking Pundit – Zonitics third choice for “Most Underrated Blog” yet not good enough for Right Wing News’ “Top 25 Blogs that didn’t win anything.” Sigh.

What’s Howard Dean hiding? Both the NY Times and the Boston Globe have editorials today urging Dean to open up his files.

Chaos for the Democrats in Boston

The NY Post’s Page Six reports that the planning for the Democrats’ National Convention in Boston is a complete mess: no press facilities, no hotel rooms, no money. The one thing they have in surplus is anti-Bush rhetoric. Herewith is a frightening microcosm of how they would run the country:

December 5, 2003 -- THE Democrats brought 500 journalists into Boston to check out the media facilities for the party's July presidential convention - but there weren't any. There's barely room in the Fleet Center for the delegates. Dem honchos said the press might have to use a parking lot, giant tents, office buildings or a mix of them all. No one is sure which yet because money is a problem, as the visiting journos learned from a front-page story in yesterday's Boston Herald. (The situation is the opposite in New York, which is doing just fine raising the bucks to host the Republicans next summer.) What's more, insiders say Boston is short of hotel rooms. Instead of showing the nonexistent facilities, the Dems yesterday served up Bush-bashing speeches, endured in stony silence by the press. Boston convention CEO Rod O'Connor even took a swipe at New York, saying: "All indications are that the Republicans have gone to New York to exploit a terrible moment in our history." Of course the Dems also contemplated coming here - and probably should have.

Boston was a much better choice…for the GOP.

Survivor update

At the risk of royally ticking off the Bitch Girls and some other female readers: the broads on this season of Survivor (with the exception of Sandra) have got to be the biggest dingbats on the planet.

Going back a couple of weeks, there were five women and two men. You're nearing the end of the 36 days on the Pearl Islands. You're getting food at a more regular pace (the rewards are more lavish as the game goes on) so you don't need a Burton or even a Rupert to go fishing everyday. Vote off the two remaining men (Burton and asswipe Jon) and you can go to the finals with an equal chance. Otherwise, there's a good probability the men will win the physical challenges and vote the women off one by one.

Two weeks ago, they vote off Tijuana - now it's 4 women and 2 men.
Tonight they vote off Christa - now it's 3 women and 2 men.
What are they going to do next week? I'll tell you: Lil - who is an absolute disgrace as a woman and a Boy Scout leader - will do whatever Jon says. Utterly clueless.

(Brief flashback to tonight's show: Jon, Lil and Darrah win a reward which includes dinner. Jon orders for the women and, in the confessional, Lil remarks how she likes a man to take charge and order for her. Sad.)

Anyway, next week is the last chance for the women to seize the power, but judging by that prominent nose ring in Lil's nose, I'm guessing that Sandra will be booted off next week. More's the pity.

At the urging of Owen, I checked out Note-It Posts. The very first post on top was one of my favorite quotes about the dangers of class warfare and confiscation politics. Nice.

The Brit magazine the Economist has their list of the best books of 2003. Some interesting choices from the other side of the pond.

The chicks at Right We Are! have packed it in. Oh well...Godspeed, girls.

Who said the recording industry is liberal? Bah!

The Grammy Award nominees came out today. From the official press release (with some emphasis added):

In an interesting twist, former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton are both nominated in Spoken Word categories. Best Spoken Word Album For Children nominees include Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (Eric Idle), Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Jim Dale), Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks (Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren), Tell Me A Scary Story (Carl Reiner), and Winnie-The-Pooh (Jim Broadbent). The Best Spoken Word Album nods go to Fear Itself (Don Cheadle), Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right (Al Franken), Living History (Hillary Rodham Clinton), The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection (Nikki Giovanni), and When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden (Bill Maher).

Three words: Bring back Napster

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Like a vulture, I was checking out John Kerry’s blog today and I was struck by how few comments there were for the individual posts. Maybe it’s a software thing, but take a look at the comment count on the last ten blog posts for Kerry, Clark, and Dean:

Kerry: 4+0+67+6+10+13+35+27+3+22 = 187 comments
Clark: 0+1+24+17+0+2+13+17+65+220 = 359 comments
Dean: 68+165+104+21+239+152+66+259+92+113 = 1279 comments

I don’t know how many of these are trolls or filler or what, but it sure looks like the Dean campaign has the Internet buzz.

Social Security reform – back on the table?

Probably not for the 2004 election, but the personal account proposal gains some support in this story:

WASHINGTON — A new report says Social Security reform envisioned by President Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign can work, leaving supporters encouraged that proposed measures that lost popularity following tough economic times and tougher critics could re-emerge as an issue in 2004.

I’d be satisfied if Bush passes a “Hands-off 401(k)s” law. As I’ve noted before, I’ve always felt that the inevitable insolvency of Social Security will force the federal government to start seizing money from personal accounts.

Mendacity, Big Daddy! - Kathryn Jean Lopez discusses the turkey controversy and Glenn Reynolds questions the credibility of Bush’s critics. Meanwhile, Bushblog reveals yet another Bush lie. Oh, the humanity.

I predict it will be as successful as Oslo

The indispensable Jeff Jacoby (the third conservative in Massachusetts) of the Boston Globe excoriates the Geneva Accord: “Geneva is a blueprint for war, not peace”

THE INTERNATIONAL applause greeting the so-called Geneva Accord -- the unofficial Israeli-Palestinian "peace" agreement formally presented in Switzerland this week -- is a vivid illustration of the world's contempt for the Jewish state. It is also historically alarming. For the fervent acclaim the accord has drawn resembles nothing so much as the jubilation that greeted the Munich Accord of 1938, when Neville Chamberlain agreed to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in order to placate Adolf Hitler.

This is the accord that Jimmy Carter suggested was a “final solution” to the Mideast problem. Nice choice of terminology, Jimmah.

Daaaaaammn! – Dean stretches lead over Kerry in New Hampshire primary to 42% - 12%.

Kerry is now perilously close to coming in third (or worse) in New Hampshire.

The Religion of Peace seeks uncommon ground

Lifted shamelessly from Andrew Sullivan this morning:

Here's a refreshingly candid take on exactly what we're up against in fundamentalist Islam. It's from an interview with Syed Munawar Hasan, the leader of Pakistan's largest Islamist political party in Asia Times Online:

ATO: "You reckon that there are so many contradictions between the West and the Muslim world, is there any chance of reconciliation and dialogue between the two civilizations?"
Munawar: "There is none…”

There’s more, but you get the gist.

Daily Kos re-shuffles his ranking of the Democratic candidates. Dean still leads, Clark has an “up” arrow, and Kerry’s shattered campaign sits in the basement.

Bay State humor

A faithful reader whom I jokingly refer to as the other conservative Eric in Massachusetts forwarded this transcript between radio host Howie Carr and our Republican governor Mitt Romney. Carr was asking Romney about the recent MA Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage:

HC: So, Governor, there are folks who think this ruling might come into play in the 2004 Presidential race.
Governor: Well, sure.
HC: So, you agree?
Governor: Well, it certainly could be, that's for sure.
HC: So I'm wondering if you've heard where Senator Kerry stands on this issue?
Governor: Well (Pause). No. (Chuckle) But I think it's safe to say he'll follow his gut on this, and come down on both sides.

Zing! I hope they invite Mitt to the Democratic National Convention in Boston next year.

Roger the Angry Cyclist really doesn’t like Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe. Every article gets a fisking. Soon he’ll be accused of stalking.

BlogShares is dead. I've taken my button off. Too bad...I was doing pretty well there for a while.

Wednesdays are for W

I was so wrapped up in my anti-Communist rant, I almost forgot that today is Wictory Wednesday, where my blogger buddies and I ask readers to visit the George W. Bush re-election web site and volunteer or donate. It's important to support the President now - thanks.

100 million people

Last night, on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” fashion eye Carson pointed excitedly at a red, hammer and sickle T-shirt in a New York boutique. “Isn’t that great!” he gushed at the retro-CCCP logo. I winced.

For the past couple days, Andrew Sullivan has been fuming about the announcement that the U.S. postal service will honor Paul Robeson with a stamp next year.

David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the Postal Service, said there was strong support from the public for a stamp honoring Robeson, who was labeled a subversive for his mid-century activism against racism and anti-Semitism.

As Sullivan has noted, that wasn’t the reason Robeson was labeled a “subversive” - it was his unwavering allegiance for the communist cause. Robeson’s hero-worship of Stalin should be enough to disqualify him from any kind of national honor. Today Sullivan includes a long passage by Robeson and asks: “Would anyone who had written such things about Hitler in 1945 now be celebrated on a postage stamp?”

There is a critical disconnect between how Communism is viewed by the left and right in America. Since, in my opinion, the tenets of Communism are in step with the liberal positions of wealth redistribution and ubiquitous government control, it’s possible for stories like this to appear on the front page of the New York Times: “Leftist Causes Keep an Old-Age Home Active”

The library has an extensive collection of books on Marxism, Trotsky, Mao, and the Rosenbergs' trial, as well as the complete works of Shakespeare. There is a framed certificate from the American Civil Liberties Union honoring Sunset Hall's "tradition of activism" on one wall, a picture of Paul Robeson on another and, on a shelf, a bust of Lenin.

Aren’t those old commies adorable? The late columnist Michael Kelly observed: "If a Times reporter found a brave little band of aging Nazis, who kept a bust of Hitler in the living room and who declared that fascism would rise again, and wrote this up cute-well, this simply could never happen."

Conservatives, once again in my opinion, view the horrors of Mao and Stalin as equal to – if not worse – than the crimes of Hitler and the Nazis.

In his book, Death by Government, University of Hawaii professor R.J. Rummel catalogues the catastrophic record of the regimes so beloved by Sunset Hall residents. The Soviet Union, figures Rummel, killed somewhere between 28 million and 127 million people. His best estimate is 62 million. Even those who believe that Rummel's figures are exaggerated still offer mind-numbing figures - 20 million, according to French scholar Stephane Courtois's Black Book of Communism.

Rummel figures that the second most murderous regime, also surpassing the Nazis, was that of Mao Zedong. Rummel estimates that the communist Chinese killed somewhere between six million and 102 million people most likely about 35 million. Courtois actually puts Mao Zedong in first place, with between 45 million and 72 million dead. Rummel and Courtois also offer estimates for other great communist killers. Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, wiped out an estimated two million to 2.3 million people; the Vietnamese murdered 1 million to 1.7 million, while the North Korean regime killed 1.7 million to two million.

A hundred million people dead for a cause. The Communists starved and murdered a hundred million people with the help of Americans like Walter Duranty and Paul Robeson. That's the unvarnished, inescapable truth.

Nice find over at Power Line: Michael Crichton addresses a (possibly hostile) crowd at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and calls environmentalism the “religion of choice for urban atheists” that has caused much more harm than good. Crichton brands the EPA has “hopelessly politicized” and in need for a complete overhaul. Interesting.

“He’s not really a no-nonsense country doctor” – The Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh on Howard Dean’s shades of truth on Hardball. Even more on that appearance from Hoy and Maguire and Right Thinking.

David Broder on “Bush’s Holiday Hit”: “By occupying the symbolic heights as commander in chief, Bush puts himself in the catbird seat politically. And the Democrats can't even complain.”

Then Matt Kenseth pulled a donut on the South Lawn – Bush courts NASCAR fans with tribute to drivers

Bonus: Nice pic of the new White House limo on Boots and Sabers.

The NYT criticizes pandering Democrats in Iowa: “Swearing Fealty to Ethanol”

He’s wigging out

Does John Kerry have some secret death wish? Maybe deep down, he really doesn’t want to be President:

WASHINGTON - Vowing to reverse President Bush's foreign policies, Democrat John Kerry is outlining new plans to stem "a widespread and widening network of terrorists," such as targeting Saudi Arabia for sanctions and naming a special ambassador to the Mideast — perhaps Bill Clinton.

The presidential candidate from Massachusetts, in a speech Wednesday to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, said there are a handful of people he would consider naming to the post, including former Democratic Presidents Clinton and Carter as well as James Baker, secretary of state in the first Bush White House.

[Shiver]

“Private! You can either scrub latrines or meet with Hillary.”

“Sarge…what was that first choice again?”

From the always sophisticated Curmudgeonly and Skeptical comes this American Prowler story. Excerpt:

While President George W. Bush was embraced warmly by the more than 600 troops he served dinner to in Baghdad on Thanksgiving, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't get the same treatment.

In fact so few U.S. military personnel volunteered to meet and sit with her, that military leaders in Baghdad had to designate enlisted personnel and junior officers to spend time with the New York senator.

I don’t know if it’s true, but it has that certain ring of veracity.

Howard Dean on Hardball

A frightened Patio Pundit notes: "And man, that guy has no class"
Little Green Footballs: "Howard Dean was just loathsome last night on the Chris Matthews show"

Who is better for the GOP than Terry McAuliffe? Ralph Nader is back, baby!

The Supremes unanimously overturn the 9th Circuit (again) and Justice Souter takes a dig: “We disapprove of the Court of Appeals four-part scheme…” The Volokh Conspiracy is there.

Via Faux Politik: 25 Albums that never should have been made

Number Six is not the Prisoner

According to Bloomberg: "Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, second in command to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, has been captured by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said."

We want information, information, information.

Dammit...nevermind: "Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the former Saddam Hussein deputy suspected of leading the anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq, was not captured or killed in a recent military operation, a U.S. military source told Fox News."

Misconceptions all around

Moe Freedman is one of my fave bloggers and Joshua Muravchik is one of my fave authors. So when Moe tells me to read a Commentary article by Muravchik, I’m there. Mr. M. writes about hate and hope in the Arab world and the blurred viewpoints prevalent about Israel and the Middle East. This was a good one:

An Egyptian girl pointed out that America could not be considered a real democracy because "no leftists are allowed to teach in American universities."

Oh boy.

Warlocks, vegetarians, and Catherine Zeta-Jones - Everybody’s a victim! John Leo has the wrapup of 2003’s notable victims.

People who write letters to the NY Times

Here’s part of a letter from Pound Ridge, NY: “The reason conservatives will not stay in power long is simple: the majority of voters do not agree with their basic tenets. Their success must therefore rest on deception. Eventually, voters will unmask the truth.”

It’s a particular mental condition of the bi-coastal liberal left to believe that the only reason Republicans win elections is through deception and conspiracy. Such is their state of consternation: it is simply inconceivable to them that conservative policies are more attractive than their moral positions of high taxes and fealty to the United Nations. Texans are as far away from the American liberal philosophy as Australian aborigines.

This mental illness doesn’t exist only in the comfortable enclaves of New York suburbs or Berkeley. It’s on display for all to see in Paul Krugman’s latest column. Poor lefties…what on earth are they going to do after the 2004 election? Perhaps we could sponsor a one-way cruise to France on November 3rd, 2004. Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, and Barbra Streisand: your ship is waiting!

Stocks are hot, Democrats are not

Via Fox News: “Stocks rise amid strong manufacturing data”

Stocks rose Monday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index hitting an 18-month high, after a report showed U.S. factories steaming ahead in November at their quickest pace since 1983 and amid growing hopes for a robust holiday shopping season.

In response, Presidential hopeful John Kerry has criticized the improving economy as a scheme cooked up by the Republicans (via Right Wing News):

Boston — At a Beacon Hill press conference this morning, Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry denounced the robust American economy as a Republican dirty trick.

Meanwhile, in New York, Paul Krugman wore out his backspace key while preparing his Tuesday column.

Eye on the Left asks: “What is Howard Dean hiding?”

And Blogs for Bush wonders why secrecy in government is verboten for everybody but Howard Dean.

Reform Social Security – Opinion Journal cites some new figures by the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and urges President Bush to take on the third rail of politics. Nothing will happen until after Bush’s re-election, but one can hope.

Apres Chirac, le deluge

Christopher Caldwell has a devastating piece in the Weekly Standard called “The Decline of France” about the economic, social and political descent of a once-relevant nation. Socialistic economic policies are driving the country into le crapper, the influx of Muslims is stoking France’s anti-Semitism, and a foreign policy of simply opposing anything that America proposes makes France look petty and irrelevant on the world stage.

I was particularly struck by this passage about the experiment to alleviate unemployment by going to a 35-hour work week:

The short week was meant to spread limited jobs around; it wound up doing the opposite, serving as what [“France Falling” author Nicolas] Baverez calls a "weapon of mass destruction for industrial production and employment." Today France has the highest youth unemployment in Europe, at 26 percent; only 37 percent of its over-55 population works, a world low. Its employment rate of 58 percent is at the bottom of the developed world. (The figure is 62 percent in the European Union and 75 percent in the United States.) And this grim employment picture is worsened--some would even say caused--by a political inequity. Over the past decade, public-sector employees have been able to enrich themselves in ways that private-sector ones cannot. Government employees can retire after 37.5 years on the job, versus 40 for private workers; they get 75 percent of their salary as a pension, versus 62 percent in the private sector; and the salary in this calculation is based on the best-paid six months for government workers, versus an average of their last 25 years for workers in private industry. So the latter wind up subsidizing the former.

The solution, of course, is for everybody to work in the public sector and increase the tax rate to 100%.

No honor among thieves

Over the past year, it’s been an axiom of the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein could not be trusted, could not be contained, and would stop at nothing to build up Iraq’s arsenal of weapons. Another oft-stated axiom is that it is useless to negotiate with North Korea’s resident nutcase Kim Jong Il. Today’s NY Times carries a story that certainly helps to bolster those positions: “For the Iraqis, a Missile Deal that went sour.” Here’s a nice summary from Slate’s Today’s Papers section:

The NYT says inside that Saddam had been trying to buy a complete missile production system from North Korea, rather than just some preassembled missiles as previously reported. After a $10 million down payment, Kim Jong Il stiffed him, arguing that the U.S. was watching too closely. The story, which relies on "computer files discovered by international inspectors and the accounts of Bush administration officials," says Saddam and the Dear Leader used Syria as a middleman. (Syrian President Assad told the Times, "This is the first time I have heard this story.") The article says the failed missile deal is the "most serious violation" weapons searchers have come across. After the long search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, one unnamed official said, "We've learned this much: Kim Jong Il took Saddam to the cleaners."

This story is self-written for a SNL skit: Saddam on the phone to North Korea asking where’s his missile factory, Kim blaming it on the UPS guy, a big fold-out instruction sheet. Bashar Assad’s quote up there is comedy itself.