December 1, 2003
Players Are Haters
According to Matt Drudge, a group of Hollywood elite will be meeting tomorrow night in an event titled "Hate Bush": Top Hollywood activists and intellectuals are planning to gather this week in Beverly Hills for an event billed as 'Hate Bush,' the DRUDGE REPORT has learned! Laurie David [wife of SEINFELD creator Larry David] has sent out invites to the planned Tuesday evening meeting at the Hilton with the bold heading: 'Hate Bush 12/2 - Event' The event is being chaired by Harold Ickes, a former Clinton chief of staff, and Ellen Malcolm, who founded Emily's List. Among the intellectual luminaries invited are: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose career stalled out after "Seinfeld" went off the air; Lyn Lear, Norman's wife; actor Daniel Stern; Marge Tabankin, described by Drudge as "Barbara Streisand's philanthropic and political guru"; and Heather Thomas, best known as a pin-up model in the 1980s. Also on the list...
December 2, 2003
Howard Dean: All Hat, No Cattle
You have to love Chris Matthews; even though his loud and brash approach can wear on me after a while, it's that attitude that really exposes pretenders such as Howard Dean. Matt Drudge has posted an excerpt from the Hardball installment with Dean, where Dean announced that he would "break up giant media enterprises" out of a concern "how deeply media companies can penetrate every single community" in America. Not surprisingly, since Matthews works for one of those "giant media enterprises" (GE), Matthews attempted to pin Dean down on specifics: MATTHEWS: Well, would you break up GE? DEAN: I can`t -- you... MATTHEWS: GE just buys Universal. Would you do something there about that? Would you stop that from happening? DEAN: You can`t say -- you can`t ask me right now and get an answer, would I break up X corp... MATTHEWS: We`ve got to do it now, because now...
Howard Dean: All Hat, No Cattle, Take 2
After visiting Hugh Hewitt, Mickey Kaus and Best of the Web, I've discovered that the Hardball interview had a lot more landmines for Howard Dean than I first saw. First off, he seems to be flunking post-Cold War geography: The key, I believe, to Iran, is pressure through the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is supplying much of the equipment that Iran I believe mostly likely is using to set itself along the path of developing nuclear weapons. We need to use that leverage with the Soviet Union, and it may require us buying the equipment the Soviet Union was ultimately going to sell to Iran, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union, you may recall, disappeared in the early 90s. Dr. Dean may have been in surgery that day -- who knows? -- but if George Bush had made a reference to "East Germany" in the...
Jeff Jarvis and Hugh Hewitt React to Dean's Hardball Interview
Jeff Jarvis isn't pleased with Howard Dean, by any stretch of the imagination: Howard Dean says he'd "break up" media companies. This is the worst of political pandering: Big media companies have been made into the boogeymen du jour and so he announces he'll go after them. No legal basis. No constitutional justification. Just because they're there. Jarvis quotes the same part of the transcript that I posted earlier, and reaches much the same conclusion I did, although he puts it more directly: Translation: He's going to meddle in news. He's going to decree who can and can't own media outlets. He's going to break up companies for sport and political pandering. He's not concerned with the First Amendment. He's not concerned with the realities of the media business today (if you don't allow some level of consolidation, then weak outlets will die). Yes, I work in big media. But...
December 4, 2003
Gephardt Campaign Gets A Little Desperate
I've heard of playing hardball, but Gephardt's staff seems to be trying to win an award for it: A top aide to Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri threatened political retaliation this week against union leaders in the home state of the Democratic presidential candidate if they aided Howard Dean, underscoring growing tensions in the 2004 race. It's assumed that those groups who back the losing horse will lose some clout with the eventual winner; that much is true in any election, primary or general, presidential or local alderman race. Explicitly stating it is considered poor form. In this case, though, Gephardt's staff went even further, threatening to take specific legislative action to punish those who stray from the flock: The letter said [Joyce] Aboussie also told the local union officials not to campaign for Dean in Missouri, which holds its primary on Feb. 3 and which Gephardt, as native...
Lileks Wonders About Dean
Okay, okay, I know that James Lileks isn't taking December off, no matter how much I libel him in verse. He doesn't have to keep proving it with excellent essays like this one on Howard Dean: So it was an interesting moment on MSNBC's "Hardball" when Chris Matthews asked Gov. Dean whether Osama bin Laden should be tried in the United States or by the World Court. For a presidential candidate, this is not a difficult question. It requires no long cogitation, no disquisitions about the role of international law from the Wilsonian perspective. It doesn't require any second-guessing. You say that bin Laden attacked America, and he deserves to be tried there by Americans. That's what you say if you want to be president of the United States, anyway. But as we all know, that's not what Governor Dean said, in his interview that included his contention that he...
December 6, 2003
Kerry Gets Really F***ing Desperate
I don't have "virgin ears", but I expect presidential candidates to behave publicly with decorum and respect. I don't need to hear them talking as though they were in a locker room or hanging out at the bar. If that's what John Kerry thinks will make voters support him, then we know something about his contempt for the electorate.
December 7, 2003
Hewitt: Dean Lacks Seriousness
Hugh Hewitt doesn't think much of Howard Dean or his campaign, but then again, that's no surprise. Hugh writes extensively today on his blog about the false sense of singularity amongst the Deanies: The Dean people are too young to know what a rel "movement" looks like. This is a nice campaign, one likely to capture the nomination and get swept aside in a landslide for an incumbent President backed by a booming economy, significant legislative achievements, and a serious commitment to national security. At the close of business in November, these warriors of December '03 will look at each other with blank or dazed expressions. They never saw it coming. Because they never read a book on campaigns past. Just read the whole thing and remember this when you keep hearing about the "historic" nature of the Dean campaign....
December 8, 2003
Dean's Fiscal Conservatism: Fiction?
Jon at QandO has an excellent post deflating -- a bit -- the idea that Howard Dean is a tax-cutting conservative. He quotes from this Boston Globe article: On the campaign's website, Dean is even more specific, saying that his two cuts reduced the state's top income tax rate from 13.5 percent to 9.5 percent. But an examination of Dean's record as Vermont's governor has found that the bigger tax cut was in fact signed into law by his Republican predecessor, Richard Snelling. In 1991, Snelling signed legislation authorizing higher tax rates that would "sunset" two years later. Dean, then lieutenant governor, took over after Snelling died, and the rates dropped automatically at the end of 1993. While the section of Dean's website on his fiscal record highlights his role in eliminating the sales tax on clothing items, it omits the fact that the overall sales tax was raised from...
Top 10 Howard Dean Flip-Flops
I got into a big debate the other day with a Howard Dean fan about the merits of his presidential campaign. I think because he saw that I'm a white, tech-savvy, moderate-to-liberal east-coaster, he assumed I'm a Dean supporter. Once he became aware of my skepticism about the good doctor, he asked me to give him one good reason Dean shouldn't get the nomination.
The first thing that came to mind was Dean's incessant flip-flopping on a variety of issues. (This is not to say there aren't other reasons; it's just the first thing I thought of.)
Dean's fan acknowledged that a few of his candidate's policy positions have "evolved" over time, but rejected the notion that Dean is a serial flip-flopper. At a minimum, he said, Dean is no worse than any of the other Dem candidates.
My challenger had a point, at least about Dean's rivals. All presidential candidates waffle and flip-flop sometimes. It's been this way for as long as we've had presidential campaigns as candidates need to make the adjustment from representing a state or a district to appealing to an entire nation.
The current field of Dems has some candidates who've offered a few doozies. When Dick Gephardt first came to Congress, for example, he said that "life begins at conception" and proposed a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions. Now Gephardt is ardently pro-choice.
John Kerry said in 1992 that affirmative action "has kept America thinking in racial terms," and lamented "the costs" the policy has had on the country. Today, however, Kerry considers himself as a champion of affirmative action.
Carol Mosley Braun said in 1998 that she'd never run for public office again, yet she's a presidential candidate now.
Dennis Kucinich had a dramatic conversation before entering the presidential race on the issue of reproductive rights. As Common Dreams reported, "Twice in the past three years, NARAL gave him a rating of 'zero.'" As recently as 2001, Kucinich agreed with a Bush proposal to withhold international family-planning funds from international organizations that even discuss abortions. In 1999 and 2000, Kucinich agreed with the Right to Life Committee on 19 of 20 votes. Now Kucinich, perhaps the campaign's most liberal candidate, says that he is definitely "pro-choice."
(And don't even get me started of George W. Bush, whose entire presidency has been one huge flip-flop. Remember the candidate in 2000 who bragged about a foreign policy driven by "humility," who emphasized "compassion," who boasted of bringing Democrats and Republicans together, and ran on a platform of a balanced the budget and a robust job market?)
Yet, despite these examples, I would argue that Howard Dean has flip-flopped more times, on more issues, than any of the Dems running for president. It's a continuing problem that may ultimately come back to haunt his campaign. In fact, it's so bad I decided to make a list.
I'm not talking about Dean's mistakes or apologies. I don't care that Dean mysteriously called Latin America "the most important hemisphere in American history" last week. It's easy to overlook the fact that Dean, when asked last month if he supported gay marriage, said, "I never thought about that very much." It may not matter that Dean said Saddam Hussein's fall from power is "probably a good thing" earlier this summer. No one will remember that he falsely accused John Edwards of avoiding talk of his support of the Iraq war before an anti-war Dem audience in California.
I mean straight up, direct examples of Dean holding one position and then deciding he believes the opposite shortly thereafter. It's happened often enough the last couple of months for me to create...The Carpetbagger Report's Top 10 Howard Dean flip-flops (in no particular order).
1. North Korea
In January, Dean said on CBS' Face the Nation that he approved of Bush's policy towards North Korea and agreed with the president that the approach will be successful.
"I concur with most of the president's policy on North Korea," Dean said, to the surprise of many Democrats and supporters who had criticized Bush's approach. "We have substantial differences on Iraq, but I like the idea and I believe in the idea of multilaterals. And the president's pursuing a policy in cooperation with the Chinese, the Russians, the South Koreans and the Japanese, which we ought to see bear fruition."
Just one month later, Dean flip-flopped without explanation, describing Bush's North Korea policy as "incoherent, inconsistent and dangerously disengaged."
2. Social Security retirement age
At a candidate forum hosted by the AFL-CIO in August, Dean faced criticism from Kucinich for considering moving the Social Security retirement age. Dean responded forcefully that he wanted to "tell everybody that I have never favored Social Security retirement at the age of 70, nor do I favor one of 68."
In 1995, Dean praised then-Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) for recommending changing the retirement age to 70. At the time, Dean said, "I believe that Sen. Packwood is on exactly the right track." A month later, Dean said "moving the retirement age to 70" was a way to help reduce the deficit and balance the budget.
Far more recently, in June 2003, Dean said on Meet the Press, "I would also entertain taking the retirement age up to 68."
3. Public Financing and Campaign Spending Limits
In March, Dean promised to raise a fuss if any of the other candidates decided to abandon spending limits and skip public financing.
"It will be a huge issue," Dean said in March. "I think most Democrats believe in campaign finance reform.... [I've] always been committed to this. Campaign finance reform is just something I believe in." As recently as June 7, Dean wrote to the Federal Election Commission that he will abide by spending limits in the primaries.
Last month, Dean said his campaign was "exploring" the possibility of opting out of the public financing system because of his success in raising money and his desire to spend more in the primaries than his opponents. He said he "didn't remember" making earlier promises to the contrary and said his campaign was free to "change our mind."
(Actually, Dean's flip-flopped on this issue twice. In addition to the recent conversion as a presidential candidate, Dean also did a reverse on spending limits while governor of Vermont. In 1997, Dean helped create a system whereby statewide candidates would agree to a spending cap and participate in public financing. At the time, Dean vowed that the bill would "change the way campaigns are run" in Vermont. When it came time for Dean to run for re-election in 2000 under the campaign finance system he helped create, Dean rejected public financing and exceeded the spending cap by 300 percent.)
4. U.S. trade standards
In August, Dean told the Washington Post that China and other countries could get trade deals with the United States only if they adopted "the same labor laws and labor standards and environmental standards" as the United States. When a reporter from Slate asked if he meant just general "standards" or "American standards," Dean insisted that he would demand that other countries adopt the exact same labor, environmental, health, and safety standards as the United States.
Last week in the DNC debate in Albuquerque, Dean shifted gears and said he doesn't believe that our trading partners have to adopt "American labor standards," saying that international standards would work.
5. U.S. policy on the Cuban trade embargo
Dean, up until fairly recently, was one of many politicians from both parties open to easing trade restrictions with Castro's Cuba. He admitted as much in response to a question from a reporter last month, saying, "If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have said we should begin to ease the embargo in return for human-rights concessions."
According to an Aug. 26 article in the Miami Herald, Dean has "shifted his views" on Cuban trade now that he has "surged to the top of the race" for the Dem nomination. Dean said he believes the U.S. can't ease Cuban embargo restrictions "right now" because "Castro has just locked up a huge number of human-rights activists and put them in prison and [held] show trials."
6. "Regime change" in Iraq
In March, before the U.S. invaded Iraq, Dean sounded a lot like Bush on the possible war, suggesting that disarming Saddam Hussein, with or without the United Nations, should be America's priority.
According to an interview with Salon's Jake Tapper, when Dean was asked to clarify his Iraq position, Dean said that Saddam must be disarmed, but with a multilateral force under the auspices of the United Nations. If the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable, but unavoidable, choice.
When the U.N. chose not to enforce its resolutions, Bush followed Dean's position and launched a unilateral action against Iraq.
Since then, Dean has held himself out as someone who has opposed the war all along.
7. Death penalty
In 1992, Dean said, "I don't support the death penalty for two reasons. One, you might have the wrong guy, and two, the state is like a parent. Parents who smoke cigarettes can't really tell their children not to smoke and be taken seriously. If a state tells you not to murder people, a state shouldn't be in the business of taking people's lives."
In 1997, his position was beginning to "evolve," but he insisted, "I truly don't believe it's a deterrent."
In June 2003, however, Dean had abandoned his earlier beliefs. He said, "As governor, I came to believe that the death penalty would be a just punishment for certain, especially heinous crimes, such as the murder of a child or the murder of a police officer."
8. Repealing Bush's tax cuts
A year ago, Dean started out saying he'd repeal all of Bush's tax cuts. Asked about how he'd pay for increased spending in health care and education, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, Dean "doesn't hem or haw" when answering the question. "'By getting rid of the President's tax cut,' Dean says. Not freezing it, mind you -- getting rid of it. All $1.7 trillion worth."
Then Dean began to equivocate. In July 2002, Dean said on Meet the Press, "[T]here's a few little things I wouldn't repeal. There are some retirement investment pieces I wouldn't repeal, although I would have to add some so that lower-income workers could help pay for their retirement, not just people like me."
Dean's position changed a little more in March, saying his tax policy would be to "repeal the president's tax cuts for people that make more than $300,000, with a few exceptions."
In May, Dean came full circle, saying that he's back to wanting to repeal "all" of the Bush tax cuts.
9. Troop deployment in Iraq
In June, Dean said on Meet the Press, "We need more troops in Afghanistan. We need more troops in Iraq now."
In August, Dean said U.S. troops need to stay in Iraq. "It's a matter of national security," Dean said. "If we leave and we don't get a democracy in Iraq, the result is very significant danger to the United States."
In last week's debate in Albuquerque, Dean completely reversed course, saying, "We need more troops. They're going to be foreign troops, not more American troops, as they should have been in the first place. Ours need to come home."
10. Civil liberties in a post-9/11 America
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, while Dean was still governor of Vermont, he suggested a "reevaluation" of civil liberties in America.
Specifically, Dean said he believed that the attacks and their aftermath would "require a reevaluation of the importance of some of our specific civil liberties. I think there are going to be debates about what can be said where, what can be printed where, what kind of freedom of movement people have and whether it's OK for a policeman to ask for your ID just because you're walking down the street."
More importantly, Dean said he didn't have a position on whether these steps would be good or bad. When asked if the Bill of Rights would have to be trimmed, Dean said, "I haven't gotten that far yet."
In March 2003, Dean told The Nation's David Cord that he believes "portions" of the USA Patriot Act "overreach," but added, "I haven't condemned Congress for passing" the legislation.
On August 19, however, Dean accused Ashcroft of taking advantage "of the climate of fear and adopted a series of anti-terror tactics that go far beyond protecting our country and erode the rights of average Americans." He added that the U.S. should "roll back" the USA Patriot Act.
I'm not reporting all of this to help Karl Rove and the Republicans, so spare me your emails. The truth is the bad guys already know all of this. I'd hazard a guess that Rove has dozens of college students locked up in the basement of the OEOB, sleeping on cots, and spending their waking hours chronicling every word every Dem candidate utters. Rove and the RNC don't need The Carpetbagger Report; they have an extensive research operation that blows my little blog away.
The point, rather, is for those of us who want a new president in 2005. Rove may know all about Dean's flip-flops -- he's probably already started crafting the TV ads -- but it's Dem voters who seem unaware of the good doctor's policy problems. We need to consider whether this is a problem before we vote for our nominee. Do Dean's flip-flops mean that he lacks conviction? A problem with discipline? These are questions that Dems should consider before we settle on our choice as a party.
Just as importantly, should Dean get the nomination, we need to know what the GOP will be using against our presidential pick once the election season heats up next year. Hiding public truths in the hopes that the GOP won't notice isn't an effective plan for success.
Howard Fineman Rips the Other Howard
I swear to you that this will not be the Anti-Dean blog, but the man just gives so much material that it's hard to keep up with it all. On MS-NBC, Howard Fineman writes a splendid and pointed article on Dean's adventures in truthtelling, in this example regarding the closed files of his governorship (via Instapundit): Dean’s public reaction to the mini-furor was revealing. When Matthews asked about the records, Dean—with a straight face—came up with this defiant howler: He had had the records sealed not to protect himself, God forbid, but to protect the privacy of HIV-AIDS patients. I think Chris was too stunned to laugh. As it turns out, the identity of such patients is automatically shielded; and, of course, Dean had long since gone on record with the refreshingly candid admission that the advent of the presidential campaign was the real reason. Politicians never seem to get...
Somewhere in Washington, Karl Rove is Delighted
Former VP Al Gore has decided to endorse Governor Howard Dean: Former Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) will endorse Howard Dean (news - web sites) for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a dramatic move that could tighten Dean's grip on the front-runner's position and usher more support from wary party elite. As stated several times in the article, this all but assures Dean of the nomination. While I highly doubt that Al Gore is anywhere near as popular with his party as the writer would have you believe -- let's not forget that this was the man who couldn't carry his home state when he was running on eight years of prosperity and relative peace -- he's correct about the effect of this announcement on the media, which inexplicably still thinks he's a man of political substance. He's not a man who stands by his friends, even...
December 12, 2003
Kinsley: Democrats Between Iraq and A Hard Place
Michael Kinsley describes the Democrats' dilemma in the coming year regarding Iraq in today's Washington Post. It's vintage Kinsley, sneering and mocking towards the Bush administration, but saves it real venom for the incoherence coming from the Democratic presidential candidates: Among the Democrats, Howard Dean's position is almost coherent. He opposed the war before it started, and he believes it has not turned out well. There is a tiny question of why Dean bothers to have a "seven-point plan" for Iraq instead of just one point: Bring the troops home. After all, Iraq is less of a threat to international order and its own citizens than when Saddam Hussein was in power. If it wasn't worth American lives to improve the situation then, why is it worth more lives now? It's downhill from Dean. Joe Lieberman probably comes next. He was a strong supporter of removing Hussein by force --...
Like Lemmings Over The Cliff
The New York Post has polling results from New Hampshire, and even though the Republican re-election machine has not turned a single gear there, the results are staggering: Bush gets 57 percent to Dean's 30 percent among registered voters in the American Research Group poll. In fact, Dean, from neighboring Vermont, does worse in the Granite State than a generic "Democratic Party nominee" who loses to Bush by 51 to 34 percent. Another ARG poll this month showed Dean with a 30-point lead over Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) for the Jan. 27 New Hampshire primary, the second test after the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses. The new poll seems sure to fuel claims by rivals that Dean would be another George McGovern debacle for Democrats in the general election. New Hampshire tells the story about the difference between primary voters, who tend to be the true believers, and general election voters,...
December 13, 2003
Chickens Coming Home to Roost?
Dick Gephardt, who may be the only Democrat now running for President with a shot at stopping Howard Dean, takes aim at the Vermont governor and his secret files: Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt demanded Saturday that front-runner Howard Dean release records of meetings and phone calls about tax breaks given to corporate villain Enron, which Dean denies he did. Visiting with local Democrats in this town near the North Carolina border, Gephardt alleged that Dean, while Vermont's governor, "met regularly with the corporate chiefs who benefited from the tax windfall he created for them. A chief beneficiary of his tax cuts for corporate special interests was Enron." Enron is synonymous with evil for the fringe-left, and Gephardt's attack does two things, if successful: it puts a wedge between Dean and his most ardent tinfoil-hat supporters, and it highlights the unusually long seal on his records as governor, which will...
December 16, 2003
Howard Dean: Iraq-Proof?
Hugh Hewitt and Power Line have written interesting posts regarding Howard Dean's tin-eared declaration yesterday that Saddam's capture didn't make America any safer. Despite the objective falsity of the comment -- we have lived with the possibility of Saddam's retaliation for so long, it seemed inevitable until Sunday morning -- it's unlikely to dislodge the vast majority of Dean supporters, nor is it likely to dissuade Democrats from supporting Dean in a general election, if he makes it that far. It's not that Dean himself is Iraq-proof as much as it is that Bush will always be a bigger bogeyman than Saddam or anyone else, in the eyes of the passionate left. Why should this be? It is a symptom of a polarized electorate; quite simply, more and more people associate with political movements on a tribal basis rather than a rational basis, and this is true on the right...
December 17, 2003
Some People Have a Lot of Nerve
The story of how MoveOn.org attempted to infuse its operation with foreign cash has gotten a lot of press the last couple of days [second item]. For Americans to knowingly sell out our electoral process to people from other countries is hardly an act of patriotism, and such an underhanded and even traitorous action -- we are at war -- should reflect on its preferred candidates, Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, just as badly as it does on the organization itself. That aspect of this scandal has already been covered by other bloggers. What irks me is the unmitigated gall that these Swedes have in attempting to interfere with our political process. These same people would be screaming bloody murder if so much as an editorial about Swedish politics were published in the New York Times, screeching about cultural imperialism and other varieties of crap that the Europeans are oh...
Haddayr's New Column: Tantrums and Politics
My friend Haddayr Copley-Woods has a new column out at the Minnesota Women's Press, and while I strongly disagree with her politically this time, she is a brilliant writer and her column will instantly resonate with anyone who has a child ... or grandchild ... who has reached the tantrum stage: “Look,” I said. “No more mittens. See?” I hung the mittens around my own neck. This gesture undid Arie completely. He arched his back and began banging his head on the sidewalk. I scooped up Arie, receiving bruise #1 in the shins; I headed homeward at a brisk pace. Arie flung himself backwards, shrieking. He then began, somehow, to cartwheel through the air while remaining in my arms. How he did this is difficult to describe, but it was definitely painful and caused bruises 2-5. Read the whole thing, and she's right about both parties throwing tantrums, as I...
December 18, 2003
Does a Presidential Candidate Require Foreign Policy "Experience"?
Howard Dean’s odd contention that the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer has generated a lot of heated discussion about foreign policy experience and its status as a prerequisite for the Presidency. John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Dick Gephardt have all made statements this week asserting that Dean is unqualified for the Presidency because of his complete lack of experience in this arena. But is it really a prerequisite at all, and will this argument really help derail Dean? The Constitution sets few legal prerequisites to the Presidency. Any candidate must be 35 years of age or older and a native-born US citizen. It wisely leaves all other qualifications to the individual voter to decide and judge. Historically, looking at the pattern of not only Presidents, but mainstream presidential candidates, there are a few other “prerequisites” as well: * Male * White * Between 50 and 65...
December 22, 2003
Now, Now, Gentlemen, We're Mostly Democrats Here
Apparently, there's been a miscommunication between Howard Dean and General Wesley Clark regarding the potential VP slot on the Democratic ticket: Speaking in a taped interview on ABC's "This Week," Clark said Dean had asked him to be his running mate should Dean win the Democratic nomination in a conversation before Clark entered the race. Unfortunately for Clark, Dean's campaign doesn't recall ever having that conversation, and spokesman Joe Trippi said so shortly after Clark's comments were made. This prompted a testy retort from Clark's campaign: "Joe Trippi may want to check in with his candidate before talking," Matt Bennett said in a statement from Clark headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. "Howard Dean did in fact offer Wes Clark a place on the ticket in a one-on-one meeting that Trippi did not attend." This offer supposedly took place in a meeting over three months ago, when Dean's campaign still looked...
Clark: We'll Give Up Our Sovereignty If I'm Elected
I got this from Blogs for Bush, who got it from Andrew Sullivan -- but it is still so shocking that I had to consult the source to see if this was taken out of context. Unfortunately, it's not. General Wesley Clark stated on Hardball two weeks ago that if he were elected President, he would offer Europe a veto over our national security policies: CLARK: Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can’t do right now, because he’s already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we’ve had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as...
December 23, 2003
Right of First Refusal: Meaning?
Either Clark's stance on Iraq and the process that led to it is incoherent, a sort of "I'll be Bush without Bush" -- the most likely explanation -- or he really believes that we should subordinate our foreign-policy and national-security concerns to a European consensus that will never be achieved. Neither reflects well on his character nor on his qualifications as president.
Nader Rules Out Green Party Run in '04
Ralph Nader made a curious announcement today on his intentions for next year's Presidential race: Ralph Nader, the third-party candidate viewed by many Democrats as the spoiler of the 2000 election for taking votes away from Al Gore, has decided not to run on the Green Party ticket next year, a party spokesman said Tuesday. Nader, who garnered nearly 3 percent of the national vote in the last presidential election, has not ruled out running for president as an independent and plans to make a decision by January. Which begs the question: would he run under an independent banner, or that of another party? Apparently it's not off the table, but something must have happened to disenchant him with the Greens. The Greens, according to the article, are disappointed in this decision. I suspect that Nader may not have wanted to spend money on a primary campaign, and other Greens...
Russo-American Mission Retrieves Stranded Nuclear Fuel
Remember how a few of the Democrats complained recently about Bush's lack of attention to nuclear material that had not been tracked after the fall of the Soviet Union? Somehow, this story won't make them very happy: A Russo-American team of nuclear specialists backed by armed security units swooped into a shuttered Bulgarian reactor and seized 37 pounds of highly enriched uranium, in a secret operation intended to forestall nuclear terrorism, U.S. officials said Tuesday. ... It was the third time since last year that U.S. and Russian authorities have teamed up to retrieve highly enriched uranium from Soviet-era facilities. U.S. authorities have begun stepping up such joint operations with the Russians. In August 2002, a team from the two countries retrieved 100 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from an aging reactor in Yugoslavia. The second uranium seizure took place three months ago, when 30 pounds was removed from Romania. It...
Ed Koch: I'm Voting Bush
Former New York Mayor and lifelong Democrat Ed Koch recently gave an impromptu speech regarding his support for George Bush for President. Koch apparently wasn't satisfied with the report printed in the Sun about his speech (although he blames himself for the confusion) and wants to set the record straight with this column in NewsMax: After 9/11, the President announced the Bush Doctrine, which in my opinion rivals in importance the Monroe Doctrine, which barred foreign imperialism in the Western Hemisphere, and the Truman Doctrine, which sought to contain Communism around the world. The Bush Doctrine, simply stated by the President before a joint session of Congress, is “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” The President has applied that doctrine in Afghanistan and Iraq and has put other countries on notice that he will do so elsewhere, if necessary....
December 24, 2003
A Warning We Also Should Heed
Jonathan Chait, in his TNR blog, wrote on Monday regarding the Dean bubble. Chait, who is no fan of the governor, diagnoses why the Dean campaign will remain parochial and detached from all but the true believers: One of the most disturbing things about Dean and his hard-core supporters is that they give the impression that they know nothing at all of why President Bush is successful, and therefore what it takes to beat him. Read the pro-Dean blogs, and the you come away with the view that Bush is strong because he's ruthless and has lots of money, and therefore if the Democrats are also ruthless and raise lots of money, they can beat him. This ignorance is compounded by the fact that many Deanies seem to exist in a isolated cultural milieu in which everybody is secular, socially liberal, and antiwar. They can't fathom why those things might...
December 26, 2003
Harold Ickes, The Consummate Insider
Hugh Hewitt points out an intriguing profile of the Democrats' Karl Rove, former Clinton Chief of Staff Harold Ickes. Colorful, profane, and driven, Ickes promises to deliver cash -- loads of it -- to the Democratic effort to unseat George Bush through 527 committees. Now he has emerged as a major power in the Democratic Party, a broker whose media money could make the difference in the 2004 election. When the Supreme Court gave its blessing to the McCain-Feingold law that bans "soft money" — unlimited contributions from corporations, individuals and labor unions — to political parties, Ickes became a player, right up there with his father and namesake, Harold L. Ickes, who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Interior secretary — and troubleshooter. "The Supreme Court just made him one of the 10 most important people in the Democratic Party," said Mike McCurry, Clinton's former press secretary. Don't miss this...
December 27, 2003
Pots and Kettles
John Kerry published a statement today that shows both a stunning grasp of the obvious and a remarkable lack of self-analysis: With a month to go before the New Hampshire primary, John Kerry says voters must choose between Democratic front-runner Howard Dean or a more centrist candidate like himself. The Massachusetts senator said he would fare better than Dean against President Bush in November. ... Aides to Kerry note that Dean fares poorly against Bush in head-to-head matchups. While they're looking, have aides to Kerry noticed that the difference in Bush's lead over both Dean and Kerry falls within the margin of error? Neither of them stand a chance against Bush because neither of them are getting any traction on him now, when Bush isn't even campaigning. Why? Because both men have demonstrated that they will say anything to anybody to get elected. Kerry has spent his entire campaign running...
December 28, 2003
Your Lips Say No ...
Senator John Edwards of South Carolina insists that he is not interested in the lower half of the Democratic ticket in 2004: Asked if he would agree to run in the second slot with one of eight candidates to be the Democrats' presidential nominee, Edwards said: "I'm absolutely not interested in being vice president. No, the answer to that question is no." Uh-huh. Let me explain two things to you that make this statement an absolute farce: 1. John Edwards won't be in elective office after 2004, only having served one term in the Senate. 2. John Edwards is from the South. It's hardly a secret that Democrats are stumbling badly in the South as the electorate there seems to have finally recognized that the socialist, isolationist leftists have grabbed control of the party. A Northerner will take the top spot, and it's likely to be Howard Dean or possibly...
December 30, 2003
Democrats Unimpressed with Dean's Complaints
Howard Dean's complaints about the tenor of the campaign over the past month fell on mostly deaf ears this wek, the LA Times reports: Democratic Party National Chairman Terry McAuliffe has no plans to play referee to what has become a vitriolic presidential primary, saying through a spokeswoman Monday that voters would decide whether the negative campaigning was good politics. A number of other Presidential hopefuls had some pointed barbs for Dean after his suggestion that McAuliffe force them to tone down their attacks. For instance, Joe Lieberman pointed out that if Dean was quailing at this primary campaign, then perhaps he's not ready for the championship round next fall. "If Howard Dean can't stand the heat in the Democratic kitchen, he's going to melt in a minute once the Republicans start going after him." John Kerry pointed out yet another Dean hypocrisy, which seem to appear on an almost...
December 31, 2003
Where's the Beef?
The Washington Post issued a smackdown to a couple of Presidential candidates this morning with an editorial chastising them for grandstanding on "mad cow disease", or BSE: Democratic front-runner Howard Dean announced that the discovery of an infected cow in Washington state "raises serious concerns about the ability of this administration to protect the safety of our nation's food supply." Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) helpfully urged President Bush "for once not to listen to the demands of corporate America and act on behalf of the health and economic needs of all Americans." All of this may be good politics for candidates who have to campaign in farm states such as Iowa. The trouble is that, at least at this stage, there is no particular reason to think that the regulatory systems designed to prevent an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in this country didn't function as intended. So far,...
Power Line Deconstructs Dionne
While I had intended to write on this topic yesterday, Power Line beat me to it, asking for an answer as to why someone so benighted is still afforded column space in a major broadsheet.
The Question of the Bottom of the Ticket
Due to my exchange with Eric at Nuts and Dolts regarding the 2004 election, I've been reconsidering the issue of the Republican ticket in 2004. After reading Peter Schramm's post on No Left Turns (via Powerline), I've decided that this issue is much more critical than it looked earlier. First, Schramm is correct in asserting that Dean is remaking the Democratic Party into a radical-left political organization. As Hugh Hewitt predicted in his NRO column and blog today, Dean has energized this subset of the left so much that disengaging them by trying to drag them to the center probably isn't an option, and probably isn't where he wants to go anyway. Schramm predicts that if Dean can coast to the nomination, he will stay left and bring on another McGovern-style catastrophe. Hillary will stand on the sidelines and allow the debacle to unfold, establishing herself as a Churchill-in-the-wilderness figure...
January 2, 2004
The Race Education of a White Guy
Howard Dean inserted his foot yet again, this time on the subject of race, and Mickey Kaus is all over it: "Dealing with race is about educating white folks." Howard Dean seems to have said this. That'll bring in those Southern pickup guys! They love being singled out for 'education'! ... Is there really nothing in "dealing with race" that involves changing African-American attitudes along with white attitudes? Dean's comment would be more depressing if weren't also the sort of cluelessly pre-Clinton utterance that virtually guarantees he will never be president. It's the sort of mindless pandering that has become emblematic of the Dean campaign. He wants to bolster his standing among African-Americans, but in his greed, he steps on his tongue again. Dean wants to return to the demonization that has characterized race politics for decades, something that Clinton tried to change. The problem with race relations and civil...
January 3, 2004
Not Everyone Agrees With Me
What a shocker that headline is, eh? Jon at QandO wrote an excellent response on his blog to my analysis of the Republican ticket in 2004 and its impact on long-term strategy. He likes my analysis but disagrees with my conclusion that Condoleezza Rice will make the best VP candidate for Bush in 2004: Here's where we'll part ways. I'd agree that it would be a strategic benefit in '08 to have a VP who can run for office. But I suspect it might be a strategic blunder to switch horses in mid-stream during the '04 election. One doesn't do that without drawing a great deal of negative attention...not the sort of thing that Presidential candidates like to do. More importantly, it just doesn't seem like Bush's style. He's a loyal and "stick to the plan" sort of fellow. I just don't see him abandoning a team member in a...
PoliBlog's Toast-O-Meter
Steven at Poliblog has a funny and informative running series on the presidential election called the Toast-O-Meter, designed to predict which candidate is fresh bread goodness, and which are toast in the primaries. Check out the Toast-O-Meter and the plethora of links PoliBlog provides. Obviously, Dean's listed as the freshest bread in the bakery, while candidates like Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley-Braun, uh, crumble under the analysis. Steven's added Veep Toast as well, although I disagree with him on his assessment of John Edwards, both as a candidate in general and on his Veep potential. (However, the Quayle analogy crossed my mind as well.) I've also added PoliBlog to the blogroll, if for no other reason than to keep it one step ahead of Kicking Ass. Check it out!...
January 4, 2004
Pioneer Press: We're Onto You
Art Coulson, editor-in-chief of our smaller but significantly more intelligent local newspaper, the Pioneer Press, writes in today's Opinion section that they have had enough of canned letters to the editor: We welcome letters to the editor from readers on just about any topic and written from just about any perspective. ... What we don't welcome, and won't publish if we can help it, are letters signed by but not written by the sender. These include forwards of messages bouncing around the Internet, cut-and-paste jobs from political Web sites and outright frauds sent by special interest organizations over false names and addresses. For some reason during this particular election cycle, activists on all sides have discovered the Letters to the Editor section of their local newspapers and insist on filling them with all sorts of one-off blurbs for their candidate or cause du jour. Instead of featuring reader response to...
Does the GOP Have a Chance with African-Americans?
Today's Washington Post has an interesting editorial by Jonetta Rose Barras that persuasively argues that the Democrats may be losing their iron grip on a traditional base of their power: In 2002 the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a liberal think tank, asked black respondents in its national survey to identify themselves as either Democrats, independents or Republicans. Although 63 percent claimed to be Democrats, the number was down from 74 percent in 2000. The decrease occurred in nearly every age group, including among respondents 65 and older (where the drop was from 82 percent to 75 percent). There was a significant increase in those calling themselves independents, especially between the ages of 26 and 35. Respondents identifying themselves as Republicans also increased: Between ages 26 and 35, the share tripled, going from 5 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2002. These changes occurred during an administration...
Economy Coming Up Roses for Bush
It will be interesting to see how Democratic hopefuls spin this: In many ways, the economy is on a more solid footing than five years ago, as many of its excesses have been wrung out. Companies have cleaned up their balance sheets and pared their payrolls to the bone. Any upturn is flowing rapidly to the bottom line. Recent months have profited investors more than workers (the stock market posted its first positive year since 1999 in 2003, rising more than 25 percent), but that could change soon. Facing increased demand, confirmed last week in a report showing a sixth straight month of rising manufacturing activity, businesses are finally beginning to add workers. Even the "jobless recovery" is becoming no more. The Labor Department reported last week that the widely watched four week moving average of jobless claims fell to its lowest level since early in 2001. That number, 355,700,...
January 5, 2004
AP Review of Debate: Smoke and Fog
The AP writes an unusually critical review of yesterday's Democratic debate, noting the lack of honesty and factual argument that has become the rule rather than the exception, especially in regard to Howard Dean: For a brief time in their debate Sunday, Democrats seemed to be hewing to a New Year's resolution to stick more carefully to the facts on taxes, the budget and more. But old habits die hard. ... Dean repeated his frequent claim that middle-income Americans have not seen their taxes go down under Bush: "There was no middle-class tax cut," he declared. In fact, their taxes did go down. But Dean went on to explain what he really meant — that most people are worse off because college tuition, health care premiums, property taxes and other state and local taxes or fees have gone up by more than Americans have saved under the Bush tax cuts....
Has the Democratic Establishment Thrown In the Towel?
Further confirmation of Dean's inevitability will be forthcoming as early as tomorrow, as the AP reports that former Senator Bill Bradley, who vied with Al Gore for the nomination in 2000, will endorse Howard Dean: Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, who lost the Democratic nomination for president to Al Gore in 2000, is expected to endorse front-runner Howard Dean, party officials said Monday. ... Dean has changed his campaign schedule to appear Tuesday in New Hampshire for a surprise announcement, state campaign director Karen Hicks said Monday. Dean can now claim endorsements from both major Democratic contenders from the last election, and even though Bradley represented the more liberal wing of the party -- until Al Gore decided to swing left over the past couple of years -- his endorsement has to be seen as an Establishment endorsement, perhaps even more than Gore's. Bradley commands respect across the political spectrum...
January 7, 2004
Poll: Dean Losing Ground, Bush Approval Ratings Up Again
A new poll from CNN, USA Today, and Gallup shows that while Howard Dean's plurality in the Democratic race is holding steady, the campaign of former Gen. Wesley Clark has emerged as the closest challenger, now polling within 4 points of Dean: He has the support of 24 percent of registered Democrats who responded. In December, Dean had 27 percent. The difference, however, is within the poll's margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percentage points. Clark had the support of only 12 percent of registered Democrats in December and is now within 5 percentage points of Dean, with 20 percent. "Clark is the only Democratic candidate to show momentum in the past month," Schneider said. "The attacks on Dean from his fellow Democrats could be taking a toll on the front-runner." The numbers seem to show that Dean's support isn't wavering as much as Clark has drawn support from other...
Dean Gathers Some Establishment Momentum
The AP published a poll of Democratic "superdelegates" -- those electors who by Democratic Party rules are free to vote their own mind regardless of primary/caucus results in their state -- and Dean has done surprisingly well, capturing 31% of those who have decided on a candidate: In the first "ballots" cast of the 2004 race, the former Vermont governor has endorsements or pledges of support from 80 Democratic "superdelegates" — elected officials and other party officials who will help select a nominee at this July's convention. Rival Dick Gephardt, the former House Democratic leader who has served as Missouri congressman for 28 years, has the backing of 57 superdelegates. Four-term Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has the support of 50. Among the remaining candidates, three-term Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the 2000 vice presidential nominee, has 25 superdelegates, while Wesley Clark, the retired general who has never held elected...
January 8, 2004
Immigration Reform
George Bush took another bold and controversial step, this time challenging his base on the subject of immigration reform: Saying the United States needs an immigration system "that serves the American economy and reflects the American dream," President Bush Wednesday outlined an plan to revamp the nation's immigration laws and allow some eight million illegal immigrants to obtain legal status as temporary workers. "Over the generations, we have received energetic, ambitious optimistic people from every part of the world. By tradition and conviction, our country is a welcoming society," he said. "Every generation of immigrants has reaffirmed the wisdom of remaining open to the talents and dreams of the world. As a nation that values immigration and depends on immigration, we should have immigration laws that work and make us proud," he said. "Yet, today, we do not." So far, what I've seen and read on Bush's new immigration initiative...
January 10, 2004
This Is How Dean Can Win
I don't recall a primary season starting with so many players getting double-digit support: In Iowa, the former Vermont governor was at 30 percent, with Dick Gephardt at 23 percent and John Kerry at 18 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times poll of likely Iowa caucus goers. John Edwards, a North Carolina senator, was the only other candidate in double digits, at 11 percent. ... A New Hampshire poll showed Dean holding a lead of about 20 points over his closest competitors. The poll done for the Concord Monitor by Research 2000 found Dean with the support of 34 percent, with Clark at 14 percent and Kerry at 13 percent. Others were in single digits. Normally at this point in a presidential election cycle, the party running against an incumbent has already eliminated all but two or maybe three choices. In Iowa, you would expect the two choices to...
Bush Continues to Build Strength in the 'Religious' Vote
Continuing the discussion below, the Religious News Service reports that George Bush has built a considerable strength among those voters who consider themselves religious, as reprinted in the Star Tribune: Polls indicate Bush holds a commanding lead among the most religious voters, a 2004 advantage he did not enjoy over 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore. In a Gallup Poll conducted Nov. 10-12, Bush held a 67 to 30 percent lead among religious voters over the Democratic front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Dean. In hypothetical head-to-head races with Gephardt and Clark, Bush's lead was 65 to 33 percent. ... The shift could be significant, particularly in the South and Midwest, where religion can spell the difference in a close election. According to Gallup polls, religion is "very" or "extremely" important to the voting decisions of about one in three nationally. And among these Americans, it's advantage Bush. The article reviews the controversy...
Infinite Monkeys: The Democratic Dirigible
RB at Infinite Monkeys posted an interesting analogy about Howard Dean and the Democratic Party, based on a comment made by Hugh Hewitt on his radio show: The Hindenburg went into service on March 4th, 1936. It met its fiery end on May 6th, 1937, only 14 months later. About the same length as a political campaign. Read the rest of RB's brilliant post to find out exactly how that all plays out and how Dean figures into it. The Elder at Fraters Libertas also thinks you should read this, and please note that I've added Infinte Monkeys to the Battleships section....
January 11, 2004
Iowa: Patron State of Lost Causes?
Iowa's major newspapers published their endorsements today -- and they neatly managed to avoid picking a winner: Iowa's largest newspaper endorsed North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for the Democratic presidential nomination while three other Iowa newspapers went for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in weekend editions. Note the complete absence of names like Dean, Clark, Gephardt -- it seems that Iowa newspapers are determined to extend this primary race as much as possible. It's very surprising that none of the broadsheets saw fit to endorse Gephardt, a progressive Midwestern who has a strong record of supporting labor and a centrist national-security outlook. It's almost as if they deliberately chose lost causes to keep some hope alive for these stumbling campaigns. After all, four Democrats are polling in double digits, and Edwards isn't even one of them. Remember -- the longer that there are more than two or three viable candidates in...
Power Line Puts O'Neill in Perspective
Deacon at Power Line writes an excellent post putting former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's comments on George Bush and his administration in perspective: Bush was under no obligation to allow O'Neill to read him and, in fact, O'Neill admitted to Time that it may have just been Bush's style to keep his advisers guessing. Moreover, it seems rather odd to expect Cheney not to have adjusted his economic views in light of developments since the heady days of Gerald Ford (for example the success of the economy under Ronald Reagan, about which Cheney tried to remind O'Neill). O'Neill's underlying complaint seems to be that Bush and Cheney favored Reaganomics over the economic policies of Ford (remember "whip inflation now?"). Whether one adjudicates between these competing approaches through ideology, expediency, or "evidence and analysis", it is difficult to dispute the administration's preference. Besides offering this election's strangest metaphor ("like a blind...
January 12, 2004
Power Line: O'Neill and Suskind Deception
Hindrocket at Power Line reports on an e-mail from Laurie Mylroie exposing a deception on the part of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and his cowriter, Ron Suskind, on evidence of a conspiracy to invade Iraq: "Suskind claimed he has documents showing that preparations for the Iraq war were well underway before 9-11. He cited--and even showed--what he said was a Pentagon document, entitled, 'Foreign Suitors for Iraq Oilfield Contracts.' He claimed the document was about planning for post-war Iraq oil (CBS's promotional story also contained that claim)[.] "But that is not a Pentagon document. It's from the Vice-President's Office. It was part of the Energy Project that was the focus of Dick Cheney's attention before the 9/11 strikes. "And the document has nothing to do with post-war Iraq. It was part of a study of global oil supplies. Judicial Watch obtained it in a law suit and posted it,...
Secret Documents Inquiry Launched
After Paul O'Neill's appearance on 60 Minutes included a document labeled "SECRET," Treasury officials have requested an investigation into its release: The U.S. Treasury requested a probe on Monday of how a possibly secret document appeared in a televised interview of Paul O'Neill, as a book criticizing the Bush administration that uses material supplied by the ex-Treasury secretary hits the stores. ... "It's based on the (CBS program) '60 Minutes' segment, and I'll be even more clear -- the document as shown on '60 Minutes' that said 'secret,"' Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols told reporters at a weekly briefing. Nichols said the probe will focus on how possibly classified information appeared on a television interview as one of O'Neill's papers. While this is going to look vindictive, no matter what Nichols says, once that document appeared on TV, an investigation cannot be avoided. Classified information can't just be tossed around, and...
January 13, 2004
Max Boot: Don't Break Out The White Cane Yet
Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, provides an amusing and trenchant response to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's weird comment that George Bush is like "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people": The breathless revelation from former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the president was disengaged at Cabinet meetings — like "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people" — reinforces the old stereotype that George W. Bush is a taco or two shy of a combination platter. And, in a way, the charge is warranted. Bush definitely must have been asleep on the job to have hired a whiny back-stabber like the former Alcoa chief as his Treasury secretary and have waited two whole years before canning him. Boot continues by looking at the oddly partisan charge of stupidity, noting as I did two days ago that the Left loves to...
Democrats: Feel The Love
MoveOn finally held its awards presentation last night, and the Drudge Report has a partial transcript from the event. The Democrats apparently intend on cornering the election market in hate this year: MARGARET CHO (Comedian) -- * "Despite all of this stupid bullsh-- that the Republican National Committee, or whatever the f--- they call them, that they were saying that they're all angry about how two of these ads were comparing Bush to Hitler? I mean, out of thousands of submissions, they find two. They're like fu--ing looking for Hitler in a hawstack. You now? I mean, George Bush is not Hitler. He would be if he fu--ing applied himself." big, extended applause) "I mean he just isn't." CHUCK D (Rapper -- Public Enemy) * "But truly, seriously, quite frankly, the people are smart enough to realize that the world is important and we only have one life [or right,...
January 14, 2004
Socialism: The Minnesota Explanation
Yesterday I did some driving around in the afternoon when I'd normally be working and I caught a little bit of Michael Medved on the radio. I'm not a big fan of Medved's show, but yesterday he had a pretty provocative subject: Who voted for Bush in 2000 that won't vote for Bush in 2004? After all, polls among major demographic groups all show Bush and Republicans making inroads, some pretty significant, over the past three years, and if that's true, the Democrats have to find people switching the other way. Alternately, they could claim to be energizing a large group of people who didn't vote at all -- that's Howard Dean's claim -- which theoretically could counterbalance these Republican gains. Those would have been intelligent answers. What Medved got was a procession of silliness: callers mouthing empty slogans like "Bush lied, people died," with no discussion of policy at...
The Commissar Smokes Out a Ringer
The KGB had nothing on the Commissar from the Politburo Diktat. (In both meanings of the phrase.) Comrade Commissar, using his secret network of spies, has discovered a plot amongst Agonist readers to funnel global resources into the fight to remove Goerge Bush. It's unclear from the message whether that relates to financial resources, which would be illegal, but it certainly does not rule them out: I further believe that the present Bush administration poses a serious threat to world peace and is incapable of doing other than "stirring up the pot" by its involvement. ... During the past months I have studied both the history and activities of both George W. Bush, and his administration, and have come to the conclusion that they are dangerous to world peace, and should either be impeached or voted out of office a.s.a.p. Being a non-American, you may wonder at my audacity; yet...
January 15, 2004
Braun To Quit Race, Endorse Dean
Carol Mosely-Braun, the former ambassador to New Zealand and one-term senator who struggled with ethics issues, will drop out of the Democratic primary race and give her support to Howard Dean: Braun was to officially endorse the former Vermont governor Thursday afternoon during an appearance at Carroll High School in Carroll, Iowa, said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi. Dean said Wednesday that he welcomed the endorsement of the former senator from Illinois. "She's a principled person. We just hit it off. I like her a lot," Dean told reporters at a hotel in Fort Dodge, where he was spending the night after starting a statewide bus tour. "It's going to be a big help to us," he said. Mosely-Braun's help will be hard to gauge. On one hand, Braun had received endorsements from NOW and the National Women's Political Caucusa and of course could provide more of an entree to...
Chafets: Sharpton Skewers Dean for Payback
According to Zev Chafets, the "race harpoon" that Rev. Al Sharpton tossed with such effectiveness at Howard Dean was no spontaneous target of opportunity, but a well-planned revenge for ignoring the Reverend on his home turf -- and the fun may have just begun: A month ago, when Howard Dean came up to Harlem to get himself endorsed by Al Gore, Al Sharpton, the political proprietor of 125th Street, was not invited to the ceremony. It was clear even then that Dean would pay for disrespecting the Rev. On Sunday night in a nationally televised debate in Iowa, he got the bill. ... This time, he called Dean on it. How many blacks and Hispanics, he asked, did you appoint to your Cabinet in Vermont? The answer, of course, is none. Dean was forced to admit this sin against diversity, and he did it with a moose-in-the-headlights expression. Not since...
Clark Testified For Iraq War Before Congress
Despite basing his campaign on his anti-war stance, General Wesley Clark told Congress in 2002 that the war was justified while they debated the resolution that gave Bush authority for armed action: Less than 18 months ago, Wesley Clark offered his testimony before the Committee On Armed Services at the U.S. House Of Representatives. ... "And, I want to underscore that I think the United States should not categorize this action as preemptive. Preemptive and that doctrine has nothing whatsoever to do with this problem. As Richard Perle so eloquently pointed out, this is a problem that's longstanding. It's been a decade in the making. It needs to be dealt with and the clock is ticking on this." Clark explained: "I think there's no question that, even though we may not have the evidence as Richard [Perle] says, that there have been such contacts [between Iraq and al Qaeda]. It'...
January 16, 2004
Power Line Explains Where All The Hippies Have Gone
The Big Trunk at Power Line relates a great e-mail from one of their regular readers, Dan Freeborn of the Star Tribune, who has listened to the Iowa caucus debates and found them all too familiar: It's all clear to me now. These guys are 1960s re-enactors but they have the ethos all wrong. Instead of the summer of love, they're promising the summer of crankiness. Call them The Unmerry Cranksters. With his shallowness and frequent fits of girlish pique, Howard Dean is their Un-Kesey. One pill makes you angry and one pill makes you small and the things that Howard tells you make no sense at all. Read the whole thing, and if you're not reading Power Line regularly, you should be....
January 17, 2004
Pickering: The Smear Continues
After my post yesterday on the recess appointment of Charles Pickering to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, a lot of the buzz from the left side of the blogosphere has been about Pickering's purported "perjury" in 1990 while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. So far, this has mostly manifested itself in the comments section at various blogs, including at Blogs for Bush, but most of the impetus comes from People For The American Way, a radical and hysterical leftist political action group: Moreover, evidence indicates Judge Pickering did have contact with the Sovereignty Commission. At the time of Judge Pickering's 1990 confirmation hearing, the records of the Sovereignty Commission were still sealed, pursuant to the legislature's directive. However, several years ago, in response to litigation, the courts in Mississippi ordered that the Commission records be made public. A review of those records has uncovered documents indicating contact between...
Does This Sound Anti-War To You?
General Wesley Clark has spoken many times during the campaign, especially recently, regarding his opposition to the war in Iraq. On Thursday, Clark's testimony before Congress on Iraq in 2002 surfaced, testimony which hardly seemed at odds with the Bush Administration's own position: attempt to get the UN to finally enforce its own resolutions after 12 years, and if not, get as many nations together as possible and take action outside the UN. Clark's representatives deny this, claiming that there is nothing in Clark's testimony that demonstrates anything except his opposition to the war. They must not have read the general's own article, published after the fall of Baghdad in the London Times: Can anything be more moving than the joyous throngs swarming the streets of Baghdad? Memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the defeat of Milosevic in Belgrade flood back. Statues and images of Saddam are...
January 18, 2004
Ted Kennedy Loses His Mind
Ted Kennedy writes a puzzling and dishonest column in today's Washington Post, ironically entitled, "A Dishonest War." The long-time Senator from Massachussets takes Paul O'Neill's recent memoirs and goes the full tinfoil-hat monty: Of the many issues competing for attention in this new and defining year, one is of a unique order of magnitude: President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq. The facts demonstrate how dishonest that decision was. As former Treasury secretary Paul H. O'Neill recently confirmed, the debate over military action began as soon as President Bush took office. ... The events of Sept. 11, 2001, gave advocates of war the opening they needed. They tried immediately to tie Hussein to al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld created an Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon to analyze the intelligence for war and bypass the traditional screening process. Vice President...
The Iowa Hokey Pokey
Ever wonder how the Iowa Caucuses work? So have I; they aren't elections in which people vast secret ballots. Instead, as CNN explains, it's more like musical chairs, where caucusers walk around in each precinct until the music stops, forming groups that indicate support for each candidate (except maybe Kucinich). Those candidates who do not have at least 15% of the entire caucus must release their caucusers for the next round of the game. In between rounds, the candidates and their representatives harangue the participants with speeches, pleas, and promises in order to get already-committed caucusers to change their minds -- which they can do at any time. Only when all caucusers are committed to "viable" candidates do the precincts send these representatives on to the county conventions, which aren't held until the middle of March. In fact, Iowa doesn't actually decide on its final slate of delegates until the...
January 19, 2004
Carter Plays Coy
Today's Washington Post describes in detail Howard Dean's trip to Plains, GA to meet with the man who has spent the last two decades as a pariah in his own party come Presidential election time -- and who oddly feels the need to play coy: Jimmy Carter spent much of the past quarter-century as a pariah among fellow Democrats. ... But presidential reputations move in cycles. Today, the former outcast was hailed as a hero by former Vermont governor Howard Dean. No longer shunned by politicians, Carter said he was flattered by the attention for a "has-been politician" -- but he also seemed eager to ensure that Dean did not take liberties in his pursuit. ... Pressed in recent interviews about why he would leave Iowa at crunch time, Dean said he could not turn down an invitation to appear with a former president he admires. But when a visitor...
Reiner and Sheen Write Another Comedy
Hollywood heavyweights Rob Reiner and Martin Sheen wrote an opinion piece in today's Boston Globe in support of Howard Dean in New Hampshire's upcoming primary: AS THIS PRESIDENTIAL campaign began, we knew that something fundamental was at stake: Our country faces a growing threat to our liberty and justice in America. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison spoke of the fear that economic power would one day seize political power. That fear is now being realized -- under the Bush administration, pharmaceutical companies draft our Medicare laws. Oil executives sit in the vice president's office and write energy bills. A majority of the reconstruction contracts in Iraq have gone to the president's campaign contributors. This president has squandered the goodwill of the world abroad while pursuing reckless fiscal policies here at home all for his personal agenda and that of his campaign contributors. Those zany Hollywood limousine liberals! They're experts because...
Iowa Predictions
Okay -- even though I could just post this tomorrow with a publish date of today and try to get a reputation as a Carnac the Magnificent, I'm going to make my prediction now about the Iowa caucus results ... Here's how I see it panning out tonight: Dean - 27% Kerry - 23% Edwards - 21% Gephardt -18% And what would this result mean? Dean's organization will ultimately be strong enough, I think, to win the day in Iowa -- but his stumble here will reverberate throughout the first part of the primary season. That will keep more candidates in the race for a longer period of time as they feel that Dean can be beat. However, that will eventually help Dean in the long run. His nationwide organization is too strong and already too entrenched, and as Professor Bainbridge noted earlier, his fundraising allows Dean to run a...
Edwards = Kucinich?
Senator John Edwards, making a surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa caususes thus far, made an odd statement to the press as he and Rep. Dennis Kucinich made a strategic alliance to share caucusers this afternoon: "Both of us believe in a lot of the same things, and we like each other very much," Edwards said. "But both of us also recognize at the end of the day, caucus-goers will have to make their own decisions about this." Edwards seems to just be after the all-important children's book endorsements that Kucinich has monopolized thus far. More on the Blogs for Bush website....
Iowa Stunner
Howard Dean laid an egg: Shaking up the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts won the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, according to CNN projections. John Edwards, a first-term senator from North Carolina whose once listless campaign gained new life in Iowa, was in second place, according to initial party results. Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont and presumed front-runner in the Democratic race, was in third place. Iowa normally favors the strongest organization, which undoubtedly Dean brought, but coming in at less than half of Kerry's turnout. Dean could have escaped with little or no damage with even a strong second-place showing, but a distant third suddenly spotlights all of Dean's weaknesses. Iowa, in general, is overrated as an indicator and most of the time Iowans get it wrong. As former DNC chair and current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell just said on Fox News,...
January 20, 2004
Clark: The Big Iowa Loser
Evangelical Outpost lists five reasons why Clark was the big winner in Iowa, and I'm all wet. Fair enough! His track record's better than mine this week.
State of the Union Address Tonight
President Bush delivers his State of the Union address to Congress tonight, starting at 9 pm EST. I'll be watching tonight on C-SPAN and intend on posting stream-of-consciousness commentary during the speech and a wrap-up at the end. I hope you'll drop by and check it out. Assuming, of course, that I can stay awake ... it's been a long day....
The Captain, Unedited: Thoughts on the SOTU Speech
For tonight, I will be posting as I watch the State of the Union address President Bush will give to Congress. I'll update this particular post as the coverage on C-SPAN continues, perhaps even mixing in comments from the First Mate, who will try her best to stay awake for the entire event ... NOTE: You can read the entire speech at Blogs for Bush. And welcome to all Instapundit readers. 7:34 - Oddly, a former Congressional clerk, Donnald Anderson, is being interviewed by the CSPAN hostess, explaining the layout of Capitol building. Fascinating (yawn) stuff! No wonder C-SPAN tops the prime-time ratings. At least it's not Peter Jennings. 7:41 - They're filing into the Senate, slowly, mostly dawdling by the door. Or maybe they're filing out. Yep, they're leaving ... well, that was really fascinating, too. 7:45 - They're now filing into the House chamber, and Cheney and Hastert...
Continue reading "The Captain, Unedited: Thoughts on the SOTU Speech" »
January 23, 2004
Berkeley Supports Kucinich!
Hugh Hewitt had a caller last night from Berkeley who complained about Hugh's treatment of Dennis Kucinich. After assuming that Hugh would cut him off after declaring his support for Kucinich -- as if Hugh could pass up such an opportunity for radio comedy -- he challenged Hugh to say why he was so dismissive of Kucinich. Hugh told him that Kucinich was "loopy," which to anyone outside of Berkeley is fairly self-evident. Predictably, this infuriated poor Peter from Berkeley, who carried on about Hugh's lack of qualification for this judgment. Hugh treated the caller politely and indulgently ... which made it all the more hilarious. However, as a public service to all of our friends in Berkeley -- all two of them -- I will be happy to explain Why Kucinich Is Loopy, a handy guide to the Quixotean candidacy of the diminutive Ohioan. * A poem once said,...
Clark Stumbles Again
General Wesley Clark continues to turn this election into an emulation of the Little Bighorn by heedlessly charging into hostile territory without a clue as to what he's doing, and then expecting to succeed on sheer personality alone. (Talk about being unarmed!) Yesterday, Clark attempted a full-speed retreat on his previous statements on abortion: In his latest statement, Clark reaffirmed his support for abortion rights during an appearance at a Planned Parenthood conference timed to coincide with the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling upholding a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. ... Asked when Roe v. Wade stipulates that life begins, Clark said: "I'm not going to get into a debate on viability. . . . Viability is a standard determined by a doctor, and I'm not going to get into a specific time frame." When asked to explain Roe v. Wade, Clark said, "I...
January 24, 2004
Clark Tanks in Debate, Blames ... Republicans
General Wesley Clark, after his mediocre showing in Thursday's debate, blamed the alleged Republican bias of the moderator for his performance: Presidential candidate Wesley Clark on Friday complained that one of the moderators in Thursday night's debate was carrying out a Republican agenda by questioning his Democratic credentials. Brit Hume of Fox News Channel, who worked as both moderator and questioner during the two-hour debate with the seven candidates, pressed Clark about when he had first realized he was a Democrat. Clark told reporters Friday, "I looked at who was asking the questions, and I think that was part of the Republican agenda in the debate." Perhasps Clark hasn't realized this yet, but the office for which he is running is President of the United States, not DNC party chairman. That means that everyone has a stake in finding out as much as possible about the philosophy and policy goals...
Kerry's Long Record His Biggest Liability
Now that he has moved to the front of the pack, Senator John Kerry's long record of service in the US Senate may be both his biggest qualification and his greatest liability, according to a story in tomorrow's New York Times: The sheer length of Mr. Kerry's service means that he has built a paper trail of positions on education, the military, intelligence and other issues — stands that might have looked one way when he took them but that resonate differently now. For example, at the end of the cold war, Mr. Kerry advocated scaling back the Central Intelligence Agency, but after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he complained about a lack of intelligence capability. In the 1980's, he opposed the death penalty for terrorists who killed Americans abroad, but he now supports the death penalty for terrorist acts. In the 1990's, he joined with Republican colleagues to sponsor...
January 25, 2004
New Hampshire Prediction
Because I did so well predicting the Iowa Caucuses (ha!), I'll take a whack at New Hampshire to see how badly I can humble myself: Kerry: 28% Dean: 24% Edwards: 19% Clark: 15% All four will get delegates, Dean will claim rebound momentum, and Edwards will remain alive for South Carolina. Clark's campaign will begin to stall out, but he will stay in the race. Lieberman will withdraw, along with Kucinich if the Ohioan manages to get a moment of lucidity. UPDATE: Other bloggers are starting to line up as well. Check out the predictions at the Evangelical Outpost, who managed to predict an upset in Iowa. He's predicting a solid Kerry victory by 15 points. (Gulp!) Dan at California Yankee agrees with me on the order, but he's not predicting percentages ... wise man that he is. He's got tons more links to blog predictions. The Commissar at Politburo...
Is Kerry's Radical Past Fair Game?
Joe at the Evangelical Outpost, via the Sophorist, pointed out that Senator John Kerry wrote a book outlining his opposition to the Vietnam War, The New Soldier. Evangelical Outpost has a B/W picture of the cover on its post; the cover is dominated by a mockery of the Iwo Jima flag-raising, complete with an upside-down American flag, held by men trying their best to win Che Guevara look-alike contests. No doubt this image will resonate negatively with most Americans, and fortunately for John Kerry the book is out of print, or else all of his opponents would be tripping over themselves to produce the juiciest quotes possible. But this raises a troubling question: just how germane are Kerry's political views from over thirty years ago to this Presidential campaign? Aristide Briand once remarked that anyone who wasn't a Socialist at 20 had no heart, and anyone who is a Socialist...
January 26, 2004
Kerry: I Vote In Bizarro World
On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, John Kerry's inconsistencies seem to be catching up to him on the stump, if not quite yet in the polls. Facing a challenge from Howard Dean on his votes in 1991 against military action in Kuwait and in 2002 to authorize military action in Iraq, Kerry has come up with a novel explanation -- his votes meant the exact opposite of what they were: Kerry said Sunday that he supported the Iraq resolution 15 months ago because he believed President Bush would use force only as a "last resort." "The vote I cast was not a vote to go to war immediately," he said. ... Although Kerry said he "believed we ought to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait," uppermost on his mind in 1991, he said, was public ambivalence about sending U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf. "I said we ought...
January 27, 2004
Enjoy It While You Can, General
General Wesley Clark was pleased that he won the first primary in the nation ... in the tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch: Of the 15 people casting ballots in the Democratic primary, eight voted for Clark. Sen. John Kerry collected three, Sen. John Edwards had two and Sen. Joe Lieberman and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had one each. "This is a great way to begin the next day," said a smiling Clark in Dixville Notch at about 12:15 a.m. "This is the first election I've had since homeroom student council representative. This is a big step for me." Yeah, well ... he has nowhere to go but down the rest of the day, and I predict he'll go there rather quickly. Fourth place and out of the money. He'll be battling with Lieberman to hold onto that position, too....
NH Absentee Ballots Average, No Help to Dean
The New Hampshire Union-Leader reports that there has been no unusual demand for absentee ballots for this primary: Election officials from around New Hampshire have received an average number of requests for absentee ballots this primary season. ... “I would typify it as average,” Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said, regarding the number of requests for absentee ballots. Why does this matter? Absentee ballots are immune to last-minute eruptions, even going back a week or more, as voters complete them and mail them in early to assure their acceptance. Presumably, a large number of absentee voters marked their ballots prior to Dean's meltdown in Iowa and his odd acceptance speech. Since support ran stronger for Dean in the Granite State at that point, a high number of absentee ballots would have helped Dean. As it is, he can probably count on a small boost from absentee voters when they're...
Kerry: We Should Have Waited For Saddam Attack
Senator John Kerry continues to make odd statements about the Iraq war, trying to reconcile his vote authorizing it with his current anti-war platform: Kerry said that the administration had promised to go through the United Nations first, and then didn’t do it, but he added that at the time Saddam Hussein constituted a threat. “From 1991 to 1998, we had inspectors in Iraq blowing up weapons of mass destruction,” Kerry said. “A lot of people seem to have forgotten that. We destroyed plenty of weapons of mass destruction in those 7½ years. We found more weapons than we thought Saddam had, and evidence of a nuclear program. " Kerry is either lying or being deliberately obtuse. Bush went to the UN twice. In December, he pushed through UNSC resolution 1441, demanding immediate and full compliance from Saddam Hussein with the previous 16 UNSC resolutions. Inspectors were supposed to report...
Live Blogging New Hampshire Results
As Professor Bainbridge will attempt to do, I will be live blogging during the New Hampshire primary results once the polls close. I'll probably concentrate on media reactions and coverage (my channel-flipping skills will be put to the test tonight). The wise Professor also has his predictions and a list of others, including mine....
Captain's Log: New Hampshire Primary
All times CST... 6:56 - I've got Fox News on the TV and on the computer, getting set up to flip around and open several browser windows. I'm also hoping that Saint Paul comes around again to satirize me while I'm doing this. It's too self-important to resist. Anyway, on Fox News, I've already found what may wind up being the funniest line of the night: Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (search), who has been polling at 1 percent in most polls, said Tuesday his campaign has the money to carry beyond New Hampshire and insisted he won't drop out of the race. "We're going to do our best here and go on to the next state and the next state," Kucinich said while in Maine. "I haven't discounted the possibility of a surge in some of these other states." Stop it, Dennis, you're killing me. What qualifies as a Kucinich...
January 28, 2004
Edwards: I'm No Second Banana
Senator John Edwards, who finished in a virtual dead heat for third place in New Hampshire with General Wesley Clark, categorically rejects the idea of running in the #2 slot in November: Presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) on Wednesday rejected any notion of sharing the Democratic ticket with front-running rival John Kerry (news - web sites) — unless he is at the top. Asked on NBC's "Today" show if he would accept second place on the Democratic slate to face President Bush (news - web sites) in the fall election, Edwards said: "I think you've got the order reversed. I intend to be the nominee." Edwards said he would not be willing to be No. 2. "No, no. Final. I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president," he said. While candidates often pooh-pooh the idea of being a VP, this is the second time...
January 30, 2004
Poll: Kerry Edging Bush Among Minnesotans
A poll by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio shows John Kerry slightly ahead of George Bush among Minnesotans, and the only Democrat who would beat him at this point in the race: The poll, commissioned by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio, puts Kerry at 43 percent, Bush at 41 percent and undecided Minnesota voters at 16 percent. The poll was taken shortly after Kerry's victories in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, which have given him momentum versus the rest of the field. ... In Minnesota, Bush would defeat Gen. Wesley Clark by a 5-point margin, Sen. John Edwards by a 6-point margin, Sen. Joseph Lieberman by an 8-point margin and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean by a 14-point margin. Among women, however, Democrats would defeat Bush — except Dean, who lagged by 1 point with a margin of error of...
Kerry: Terrorist Threat Exaggerated
When we looked at the burning and collapsing towers behind the Statue of Liberty, the smoldering wreck of the Pentagon facade, and the pit made by the heroes of Flight 93 when they thwarted the hijackers, didn't we vow to remember? Did we vow to become vigilant and to take action to make sure that such a thing never happened again? Or did we all decide to write it off as "s**t happens" and assume that the UN will protect us from harm?
January 31, 2004
Kerry: Lobbyist Magnet
Far from being the scourge of special-interest lobbyists that he declares himself to be, John Kerry has raised more money from lobbyists than anyone else in the Senate over the past 15 years: Kerry, a 19-year veteran of the Senate who fought and won four expensive political campaigns, has received nearly $640,000 from lobbyists, many representing telecommunications and financial companies with business before his committee, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. For his presidential race, Kerry has raised more than $225,000 from lobbyists, better than twice as much as his nearest Democratic rival. Kerry claims that all that money can't buy his vote, but he may have trouble explaining the juxtaposition of this: One of Kerry's biggest -- and perhaps most controversial -- donors has been the Boston-based law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. The group, which lobbies on...
February 1, 2004
Dean Sinking in South Carolina, Won't Get Delegates
The Post and Courier report that Edwards and Kerry are locked in a statistical dead heat -- and Dean has fallen far off the pace (free registration required): Edwards, a native of South Carolina and a senator in neighboring North Carolina, was at 21 percent. John Kerry was at 17 percent, Al Sharpton at 15 percent and Wesley Clark at 14 percent in an American Research Group poll. Howard Dean was at 9 percent, Joe Lieberman at 5 percent, Dennis Kucinich was at 1 percent and 18 percent were undecided. South Carolina will hold its primary Feb. 3, a week after New Hampshire's Tuesday primary. Edwards has come up from 12 points to take the thin lead, but the real story is Dean. He's tumbled from 16 percent and a contending position, or at least in a position to get some delegates. Now he's in fifth place, behind Al Sharpton,...
February 2, 2004
Is Bush a Conservative?
Mitch Berg, my Northern Alliance comrade at A Shot in the Dark, asks us to blog on the question that may present George Bush his toughest political challenge in 2004 -- is Bush really a conservative, and if not, will the "true believers" bolt? While it's a time-worn principle for the media to call anyone to the right of Roger Moe a "Paleoconservative", Bush has clearly been no such thing at any point in his career. Oh, sure - he's a social conservative in all the ways that make the social conservative crowd happy; pro-death penalty, pro-life. There's nothing wrong with that - except the myopic notion that being socially conservative makes one conservative in any other way. He's also a conservative in the way that I expect any president to be; he favors a strong military (and acted on that belief even before September 11, thank God). But he,...
One Tin Soldier Rides Back In
Tom Laughlin, the actor better known as Billy Jack, has thrown his snakeskin-banded hat into the ring for President: The 72-year-old actor, who lives in Camarillo, is one of 13 candidates running against President Bush in the Republican primary. Laughlin, who first ran for president as a Democrat in 1992, said he's campaigning to draw attention to a two-party system he deemed "so corrupt it can't function anymore." He described himself as a "messenger" candidate and said he wasn't disappointed by the New Hampshire primary, in which he earned 154 votes to Bush's nearly 34,000. For those of us who suffered through the terminally saccharine "Billy Jack", the thought of the New Age-ish Laughlin running as a Republican inspires chortles of incredulous glee. Why not run as a Democrat, like Laughlin did in 1992? I suppose the novelty wouldn't be noticed in a crowded Democratic primary, and he might have...
February 3, 2004
Feb 3: Super Tuesday 1
John Kerry is poised to take five of the seven states going to the polls today and finish a strong second in the other two: After back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, Sen. John Kerry was hoping for a sweep in the biggest test yet for Democratic hopefuls, seven states holding primaries or caucuses. But the race's two Southerners were angling to slow the Massachusetts Democrat's gathering momentum. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was counting on a victory in South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary on Tuesday to keep his own campaign alive. And retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas hoped for a win in Oklahoma and a respectable showing in both Arizona and New Mexico to propel his campaign into the next round of contests. Howard Dean, of course, has already surrendered in these states, and has laid off even more campaign workers as his organization has burned...
Edwards Wins South Carolina, MS-NBC Suggests Kerry Withdraw
As expected, Senator John Edwards has won South Carolina, by a good 15-point margin, 45%-30% for Kerry. With 48% of the precincts reporting, Howard Dean only received 5% of the overall vote in South Carolina, finishing fifth behind Al Sharpton and Wesley Clark. Dean is now on TV explaining that he will not withdraw, although he acknowledges that his supporters are going to have a "tough night" tonight. Right at the moment, he's saying that in order to keep jobs in America, we have to stop giving tax breaks to companies that move offshore -- even though he himself set up a crucial tax break in Vermont for those very same corporations. The energy and enthusiasm of his supporters, is way down, and it sure seems that regardless of Dean's message, it will be very difficult to light the spark again. I just don't see the passion any more. I...
OKlahoma 8%: Clark, Edwards, Kerry
With 8% of all precincts reporting, Clark is slightly edging Edwards 30%-29%, and Kerry is hanging in with 23%, leading to a situation where Oklahoma's thin delegate total will be almost evenly split between the three candidates. This will not be enough to keep Clark's supporters energized, especially since Clark isn't finishing in the money anywhere else so far (party rules require 15% of the vote before being assigned delegates). It's possible that Clark may finish better in Arizona, but that appears to be his only other hope, and he's unlikely to finish on top there. In Delaware, with 29% of the vote in, Kerry is the only one finishing above 15% (he's got 50% so far), meaning that he could capture all of Delaware's delegates. Lieberman actually is edging Edwards for second place at 11%, and Dean is just ahead of Clark for fourth place at 10%. Now Oklahoma...
Kerry Wins Arizona Without Any Precincts Reporting
CNN and Fox are both calling Arizona for John Kerry, even though neither have any precincts reporting at all. Fox is also reporting that Joe Lieberman is about to address his supporters, which means he's about to thank everyone before he joins Dick Gephardt in looking for an analyst position with one of the networks. Arizona was the other key state for Wes Clark. Normally conservative, you could have expected Arizonans to come out in support of the former four-star general. However, Clark's continuing gaffes and stumbles ripped the momentum away from his campaign and allowed Kerry and Edwards to marginalize Clark as a somewhat unstable and unwelcome presence in the race. Clark has pulled slightly ahead of Edwards in Oklahoma with 37% of all precincts reporting, but edging out a win by a few hundred votes simply isn't enough....
Lieberman Withdraws
Senator Joe Lieberman, who had the most consistency between his policy statements and his record of any of the major candidates and who had the strongest credentials on foreign policy and national security in the Democratic candidates, announced his withdrawal from the primaries tonight. Chris Dodd spoke after Hadassah Lieberman's introduction, starting (oddly) with a chant of "Let's Go Joe!" Let's go where? Other than that, Dodd was an excellent speaker, staying optimistic while delivering a eulogy, no mean feat. Dodd seems pretty likable -- not his politics, certainly, but on the stump he's got charisma. Lieberman spoke next, graciously congratulating Edwards and Kerry on their victories, and then mentioning the rest of the candidates as well. He spoke about staying strong on defense and terror -- "we've been attacked by enemies who hate us more than they love life" -- an excellent line. He's standing by his centrism, and...
Oklahoma 66%: Edwards Edging Clark, Kerry Gaining
Oklahoma may be the Super Bowl of tonight's elections, with three candidates closing in on each other as more precincts come in. At the moment, 66% of the precincts have been counted, and Edwards is just ahead of Clark by 1200 votes. Kerry, who had been as much as 8% behind the two, has now closed to within 4% of the leaders. It's obvious that Clark did not get the big win he needed to continue, especially after almost emptying the magazines in New Hampshire. It certainly looks like the Democrats are about to nominate a Massachussets liberal to face off against the Texas centrist, although there's a lot more electoral battles left to fight, and Edwards may still carry some momentum if he wins Oklahoma; but if the margins remain the same, any win will only slightly change the delegate totals, and so Oklahoma may just be a wash....
Carl Cameron: Ted Kennedy Fighting to Stop Dean
Carl Cameron reports on Fox that Ted Kennedy, John Kerry's fellow Senator from Massachussets, intends to rally the Democratic mainstream to force Howard Dean out of the race so that he doesn't "sap enthusiasm" away from the front-runner. Kennedy and others -- probably the Clintonistas -- are concerned that Dean may be gathering his resources for one last two-week blast at John Kerry (and perhaps John Edwards) that will damage his/their chances in November. Pardon me, but if this is true, this has to be the stupidest campaign strategy so far in a year that has seen some very strange campaigning. Kennedy proposes to do what the first round of primaries could not: energize Dean's base and reverse his flagging momentum. Tonight's results have delivered a body blow to Dean's campaign -- he didn't win a single delegate so far, although he looks like he'll get some in New Mexico...
Mountain Time: Arizona, NM Precincts Reporting
Arizona and New Mexico are finally reporting their first precincts, and so far they favor John Kerry. With 42% reporting, Kerry is leading Clark, 41%-26%, with Dean coming in at 17%, just above the threshold. New Mexico, with 15% reporting, Kerry is leading with 29% with Dean and Clark tied at 25%. CNN is also showing Kerry ahead in the North Dakota caucuses, at least on TV, although they haven't updated their website yet. Edwards is off the radar screen in these states, questioning his electoral stamina outside of the South (depending on how you define Oklahoma)....
North Dakota Goes Strong for Kerry
The North Dakota caucuses are over, and with all precincts reporting, Kerry has taken half of the vote. Clark came in 26 points behind at 24%, and Dean came in a distant third at 12% and out of the money. Edwards finished just behind Dean, and while I don't think Edwards did a lot of campaigning in North Dakota, these results don't build confidence in his ability to have anything more than regional appeal. So far, Edwards has only won one state in his own backyard, South Carolina, and is running neck-and-neck with Clark in Oklahoma. Kerry has won in the mid-Atlantic region (Delaware), Midwest (Missouri), Upper Midwest (North Dakota), and Southwest (Arizona, possibly New Mexico). Outside the two states I mentioned and Missouri, Edwards hasn't finished better than third and is running fourth in Arizona, New Mexico, and North Dakota. No one seems to be talking about Kerry's national...
The General Wins A Pyrrhic Victory in Oklahoma
Wesley Clark finally did what Howard Dean has yet to do: he won a state primary. Clark just barely edged out Edwards in Oklahoma, Clark's so-called last stand, by less than 2,000 votes, and Kerry coming in three percentage points behind. Can we say recount? No need; the delegates will be split almost evenly between the three candidates, making Oklahoma a meaningless victory for Clark. The General needed to prove he could win a state outright after coming in third while focusing all his efforts in New Hampshire. He can point to this and claim victory, but in truth everyone knows that Clark cannot compete against Kerry nationally, or probably even Edwards regionally in the South. To emphasize this, he's coming in second in neighboring New Mexico, trailing Kerry 37%-23% and barely leading a dormant Dean by three percentage points. He's trailing Kerry in Arizona as well by a wider...
But What Did It All Mean?
Now that the final speeches are over for the evening and the races are more or less decided, even if the eventual delegate splits may still be a bit murky, let's take stock of the results and try to make some sense of the numbers. The big winner: John Kerry, no matter what the fools at MS-NBC think. In the past two weeks, John Kerry has won in every contested area of the country except the South, unless you count Missouri as part of Dixie. Edwards won one state in his own backyard and came close to winning another thanks to the "Little Dixie" area of Oklahoma, as one pundit on CNN put it tonight. He had a distant second-place finish in Missouri, the biggest prize of the night. Otherwise, Edwards failed to resonate anywhere other than the South, and while we all know that the Democrats need some star...
February 4, 2004
Kerry -- Champion Against Special Interests?
The AP reports an "exclusive" on an apparent conflict of interest involving Senator John Kerry from four years ago, when he blocked legislation and later received cash from a beneficiary of his action: 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. Over the next two years, the insurer, American International Group, paid Kerry's way on a trip to Vermont and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group Kerry used to set up his presidential campaign. Company executives donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns. The colleague was John McCain and the project involved was the Big Dig, a highway project often cited as an example of cost overruns and government inefficiency. McCain wanted some government funding of the Big Dig stopped...
February 7, 2004
Washington Caucus 21%: Kerry Leads, Dean 2nd
With 21% of all precincts reporting, Washington caucusers are giving John Kerry a large lead but giving Howard Dean a small sliver of hope. Kerry leads Dean, 44%-28%, with Dennis Kucinich perhaps looking at his first pledged delegates in the race, coming in third with 15%. John Edwards is trailing at an embarassing fourth with 5%. Fox News reports Kerry at 52% and Kucinich and Edwards tied at 7%, with the same number of precincts. Assuming the numbers do not shift significantly, Washington demonstrates that Edwards still cannot carry anything outside of the South and in fact shows poorly in any state that doesn't drawl, as I said last Tuesday. Dean will get a significant number of delegates, but Kerry will continue to add to his lead as well as to the regions in the US where he has won. Michigan, which is extending its caucus hours in Detroit and...
Michigan 11%: Another Kerry Runaway
As expected, with 11% of the precincts reporting, Kerry has a large lead over his competitors, taking in 56% of the votes counted in Michigan thus far. John Edwards, at 15%, barely edges out Howard Dean at 14%, although it's possible neither of them will be guaranteed pledged delegates. In related news, Dean's campaign took another body blow today when union giant AFSCME withdrew its endorsement of Dean, according to Democratic Party officials: Howard Dean (news - web sites), shut out in the primary season to date, suffered a fresh blow when the head of a major union decided to withdraw his support. Democratic officials said Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, delivered the news to the former front-runner during a meeting in Burlington, Vt. I'm not aware of any such withdrawal of an endorsement before; normally an endorsement of a losing candidate...
February 8, 2004
Bush on Meet The Press: C-
President Bush appeared on Meet the Press with Tim Russert this morning to discuss his decision to go to war in Iraq, intelligence failures, and the upcoming election. I had some qualms about Bush in an extemporaneous setting and at least in the first half of the show, my fears proved justified. The president appeared rattled during the entire span of Russert's questioning on the war and intelligence, stammering, leaning forward, repeating phrases time and again, and providing disjointed and borderline non-responsive responses. The inarticulate nature of George Bush is no campaign secret, although in prepared speeches he can often become inspiring. Even in press conferences, Bush usually presents a businesslike and efficient tone. In a one-on-one interview, however, he often has trouble forming complete sentences as he tries to organize his thoughts. You can almost see the wheels turning. He falls back on stock catchphrases, such as "Saddam was...
February 9, 2004
Kerry Takes Maine, Edwards Trails Kucinich -- Again
In yesterday's Maine caucuses, John Kerry again led the Democratic hopefuls, this time winning 45%-26% over Howard Dean: With 50% of the statewide vote tabulated, Kerry had 45% of the vote. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, had 26%, and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, making his strongest showing to date, had 15%. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark of Arkansas, neither of whom had focused on Maine, finished a distant fourth and fifth. ... His success in Maine pushed his total to 426, compared with Dean's 184, according to Associated Press. The votes of 2,161 delegates are needed to win the party's presidential nomination at the July convention in Boston. Dean, who didn't spend much time in Maine, scored his second runner-up finish of the weekend, while both John Edwards and Wes Clark finished out of the money in all...
Considering the Political Defensive
Since at this point we can consider John Kerry the Democratic nominee, absent a bimbo eruption or scandalous revelation (hint: his Senate record won't be good enough to derail him), it's time to also consider what attracts the Democrats to Kerry and to think about how to counteract it. Hugh Hewitt today takes Kerry to task over a number of issues, but mostly focuses on the larger war on terror. In his last two paragraphs, he wraps up the argument thusly: Kerry seems set on a strangely nostalgic course: An anti-war campaign by a Senator who voted for the war. Which is a bit like the war-hero who came back from war only to testify --falsely-- to the war crimes he and his colleagues committed. I get the sad sense that Kerry's going to be campaigning against himself for the next nine months, the sort of self-indulgent psycho-drama that the...
February 10, 2004
Bush's Numbers Rise With New Efforts
In a demonstration of what campaigning will do for George Bush, a new CNN/Gallup poll shows the President's numbers rising as he began to take his case directly to the people: As President Bush defended his record last week, his approval rating and his strength against the leading Democratic presidential contenders improved, according to a new poll, but the numbers still point to a close election. ... Bush's approval rating in the poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, was 52 percent, compared with 44 percent who said they disapproved. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. In a poll taken a week earlier, Bush's approval rating was at 49 percent -- the lowest of his presidency -- with 48 percent disapproving of Bush's performance. As I argued yesterday, Bush needs to start framing the debate in order to make sure it focuses on the appropriate and most...
We'll Be Awaiting Your Abject Apologies
George Bush released his records of service from his tour of duty in the National Guard, and they prove indisputably that he fulfilled his obligations: The White House, facing election-year questions about President Bush's military service, released pay records and other information Tuesday that it said supports Bush's assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam war. The material included annual retirement point summaries and pay records that the White House said show that Bush served. ... The documents indicate that Bush received credit for nine days of active duty between May 1972 and May 1973, the period that has been cited by Democrats as evidence that Bush shirked his military responsibilities. A memo written by retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd Jr, at the request of the White House, said a review of Bush's records showed that he had "satisfactory years"...
EIKIW: Calling All Democrats
I found this at a good local blog, Everything I Know Is Wrong, posting about being a lifelong Democrat until the mid-1990s. Sean's making a plea to Democrats everywhere to open their eyes and look at what his party has become: I started my life as part of a family of liberal Democrats. I grew up in the sixties with a decidedly liberal Democratic bent. I voted for Hubert Humphrey against Richard Nixon in my school's mock election (Humphrey narrowly beat Nixon - it was Minnesota after all). I watched the Watergate proceedings all through summer vacation one year. I had the feeling that history was happening right in front of my eyes. I was horrified by the way the Republicans rallied around such a corrupt president, though I was pleased, when the time came, that Nixon did the right thing and resigned. Their behavior cemented my feelings against them....
February 11, 2004
The Last Ride of the Strange Ranger? Maybe Not
After a losing effort in Tennessee and a disastrous showing in Virginia, General Wesley Clark has decided to bow to reality -- for possibly the first time in his campaign -- and withdraw from the race: Wesley Clark, battered by losses in his Southern base, was abandoning his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and heading home to Arkansas to exit the race. ... Of the contests to date, Clark was only able to squeeze out a narrow victory in Oklahoma. The final blow came after third-place finishes Tuesday in primaries in Virginia and Tennessee, states that were part of the Southern strategy he thought would ride him to the nomination. Clark had hoped to emerge as a Southern challenger to the front-running Massachusetts senator, but Tuesday's outcome erased any hope of that happening. He got 23 percent of the vote in Tennessee, but only 9 percent in Virginia. Today's...
Kerry Interview 1970: Give US Military Command to UN
John Kerry, when he first ran for elective office in 1970, told the Harvard Crimson that he was an "internationalist" who felt that the UN should retain command of the US military: “I’m an internationalist,” Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.” Kerry said he wanted “to almost eliminate CIA activity. The CIA is fighting its own war in Laos and nobody seems to care.” The Kerry campaign, celebrating primary victories in Virginia and Tennessee last night, declined to comment on the senator’s remarks. As a candidate for president, Kerry has said he supports the autonomy of the U.S. military and has never called for a scale-back of CIA operations. When a candidate takes elective office, they swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Nowhere in that document does...
Kerry Senate Testimony Discovered
Hugh Hewitt dedicated tonight's program to the transcripts of John Kerry's Senate testimony on the Vietnam War in 1970. The document is fascinating as a historical snapshot of the times in which it occurred, but also a very disturbing insight into what drives John Kerry in politics. Hugh has covered some of the more ridiculous items, and Power Line goes over quite a few more, which I'll touch on in a moment. I'm more interested in Kerry's philosophy, not so much how wrong his analysis of the situation wound up being, although that's important, too. For instance, there's this nugget on page 195: I think that politically, historically, the one thing that people try to do, that society is structured on as a whole, is an attempt to satify their felt needs, and you can satisfy those felt needs with any kind of political structure, giving it one name or...
February 12, 2004
Powell: "You Don't Know What You're Talking About"
The normally even-tempered Secretary of State, Colin Powell, became angry at a Congressional hearing and scolded a Congressman and a staffer: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a retired four-star general known for his even temperament, paused yesterday during a congressional hearing to berate a Hill staffer for shaking his head as Powell offered a defense of his prewar statements on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The public scolding came after Powell had already endured a number of attacks by Democrats on the administration's Iraq policy during an appearance before the House International Relations Committee. He had just snapped at a member of Congress who had casually declared President Bush "AWOL" from the Vietnam War. The staffer, who sat behind the panel members, was shaking his head at Powell's testimony, a rude gesture by any stretch of the imagination, and after grinding his teeth throughout the angry and accusatory...
Not This Again!
Matt Drudge reports this morning that a new bimbo eruption is coming, and that John Kerry is the target. I'm not bothering to excerpt this story; if you're interested, click the link. Unless this story involves harassment, I'm not interested at all. I feel that John Kerry is a terrible choice for President. I think that marital infidelity shows a lack of moral fiber. But I don't feel that the two are related, nor should they be. It's faux-scandals like this that make it difficult to find people to serve in the public arena. Marital infidelity without illegal behavior is an issue between the Senator, his wife, and God. If being without sin will be a minimum requirement for President, I'd like to see that slate of candidates. What, then, is the difference between John Kerry and Bill Clinton? Plenty. For one thing, Clinton and his supporters turned businesses into...
Clark to Endorse Kerry
Wesley Clark will endorse John Kerry for the Democratic nomination, according to unnamed Democratic party officials: Wesley Clark will endorse presidential contender John Kerry, a high-profile boost for the front-runner as he looks to wrap up the party's nomination, according to Democratic officials. With next week's Wisconsin primary looming, Clark plans to join Kerry at a campaign stop in Madison, Wis., Friday to make a formal endorsement, said officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. If it seems a little early for Clark to give an endorsement -- after all, he just withdrew from the race yesterday morning -- it makes sense if he's looking for consideration as Kerry's running mate. Given that the bimbo eruption just occurred, if Clark stands by Kerry and winds up being the bridge Kerry needs to get past whatever scandal results from the Drudge story, he'll have earned Kerry's gratitude. Oddly enough, Clark himself figured...
February 13, 2004
Get-Tough Policy on Spending Starts With Roads
President Bush, stung by attacks on his spending from his base, drew a line in the sand yesterday when he threatened a veto for a highway-funding package that increased by half over the previous funding bill: States would get an additional $100 billion over the next six years to build roads, repair bridges and improve public transit under a Senate-passed bill that the White House says is extravagant in an age of record deficits. The Senate voted 76-21 Thursday to approve the $318 billion surface transportation bill, a winning margin that would be enough to override a presidential veto threatened by the administration. The current six-year highway spending bill, which expires at the end of this month, provided $218 billion. Bush wants no more than $258 billion spent, which is still a 20% increase from the previous version; spread over six years, that averages close to the rate of inflation....
Globe: Bush AWOL Accusers Lied
The Boston Globe reports today that key witnesses contradict allegations made by a central source for the Bush AWOL-coverup story: Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, who has been pressing his charges in the national news media this week, says he even heard one high-ranking officer issue a 1997 order to sanitize the Bush file, and later saw another officer poring over the records and discovered that some had been discarded. But a key witness to some of the events described by Burkett has told the Globe that the central elements of his story are false. George O. Conn, a former chief warrant officer with the Guard and a friend of Burkett's, is the person whom Burkett says led him to the room where the Bush records were being vetted. But Conn says he never saw anyone combing through the Bush file or discarding records. "I have no recall of that,"...
The Presidential Dating Game
No, I'm not talking about John Kerry's supposed dalliance. Last night, Dennis Kucinich appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and played a celebrity version of The Dating Game: The Ohio congressman asked questions of a trio of unseen women in a "The Dating Game" takeoff Thursday on NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Responses by Jennifer Tilly, actress Cybill Shepherd and Los Angeles radio talk show host Kim Serafin blended sexual innuendo with politics and references to Kucinich's environmental concerns. I don't recall this much attention being paid to Jerry Brown's bachelor status when he ran for President in the 80s, but due to his dating history (Linda Ronstadt, for one) and his good looks, people may have assumed he could get his own girlfriends. Kucinich has no such pedigree, but he does seem to have a good sense of humor about himself and has played along with...
Collapse, Continued
The Bush-AWOL story continues its collapse today, as more ex-Guardsmen come forward to not only acknowledge Bush's service with them, but also to note his volunteering for combat service: A retired officer with the Alabama Air National Guard says he witnessed President Bush serving his weekend duty in 1972 -- an account that could be significant given Democratic questions on whether Bush fulfilled his service obligations during the Vietnam War. Speaking on the phone Friday from Daytona Beach, Florida, John B. "Bill" Calhoun said he commanded Bush and that Bush attended four to six weekend drills at Dannelly Field in Montgomery. He said Bush was with the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Alabama in 1972. ... Joe LeFevers, a member of the 187th in 1972, said he remembers seeing Bush in unit offices and being told that Bush was in Montgomery to work on Blount's campaign. "I was going in...
February 15, 2004
Washington Post Hits The Nail On The Head
In the midst of running up big primary wins, John Kerry has managed to finesse his past policy contradictions and focus almost primarily on attacking George Bush. Today's Washington Post lead editorial pulls the string on Kerry and demands some explanations from the new front-runner: The most important confusion surrounds Mr. Kerry's position on Iraq. In 1991 he voted against the first Persian Gulf War, saying more support was needed from Americans for a war that he believed would prove costly. In 1998, when President Clinton was considering military steps against Iraq, he strenuously argued for action, with or without allies. Four years later he voted for a resolution authorizing invasion but criticized Mr. Bush for not recruiting allies. Last fall he voted against funding for Iraqi reconstruction, but argued that the United States must support the establishment of a democratic government. Mr. Kerry's attempts to weave a thread connecting...
Mark Steyn: A Tale of Two Tales
I missed this column from Mark Steyn last night, but fortunately The Big Trunk at Power Line didn't. Steyn notes the hypocrisy and blatant bias in American media in how they responded to two poorly-sourced scandal stories, and how only one of them actually pans out -- and that's the one they're not covering: Now let's consider the Kerry scandal: If you read the British newspapers, you'll know all about it. It's not about whether he was Absent Without Leave, but the more familiar political failing of being Absent Without Pants. It concerns a 24-year old woman - ie, 41 years younger than Mrs Kerry - and, with their usual efficiency, the Fleet Street lads have already interviewed her dad, who's called Kerry a "sleazeball". But if you read the US newspapers or watch the news shows there's not a word about the Senator's scandal. Though it seems to have...
February 16, 2004
Only the Captain Goes Down With the Ship, Dr. Dean
A key leader in the Dean campaign has publicly announced that he will defect to the Kerry campaign if Dean doesn't pull off a miracle in Wisconsin tomorrow: The chairman of Howard Dean's presidential campaign, Massachusetts Democrat Steve Grossman, said yesterday that he will switch allegiance to the campaign of fellow Bay Stater John F. Kerry if, as Grossman expects, Dean loses tomorrow's Wisconsin primary. ... "If Howard loses the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday night, I will either reach out to the Kerry organization, they will reach out to me, or there will be a simultaneous outreach effort by both sides. And I will make a public commitment to do anything and everything I can to help John Kerry become the next president of the United States, including, but not limited to, building bridges between the two organizations so John Kerry can benefit from the strength of the Dean organization,"...
February 17, 2004
Hugh Hewitt: The Danger of John Kerry
Hugh Hewitt played an audio tape of John Kerry's testimony before Congress as a 27-year-old anti-war activist and failed Congressional candidate, in a show I regrettably missed. Fortunately, Hugh posted during his final hour of the show and recapped the reaction from his listeners and his own excellent insight into the relevance of Kerry's politics circa 1971: I played John Kerry's 1971 testimony on the radio program, and the response was intense. The first two hours brought scores of calls and e-mails which denounced Kerry for his slander of the military that served in Vietnam and for his understanding of the war. Kerry has thus far successfully dodged a discussion of the specifics of his testimony, and it was very hard to find the audio --it took my producer Duane considerable digging to find the tape. The impact of actually hearing Kerry slander the military--his accent is unbelieveable, and his...
Wisconsin 7%: Edwards Ahead?
With seven percent of precincts reporting, John Edwards is edging John Kerry for the lead, 38%-37% in a state where he trailed by as many as twenty points. Fox News exit pollings predicts a five-point Kerry win eventually, but the steamrolling Kerry campaign suddenly finds itself not quite stalling, but certainly losing some of that steam in regards to Edwards. Howard Dean, meanwhile, is trailing far behind the two principals with 19% in a state where as recently as two weeks ago he said he had to win to continue. Dean fired a senior campaign manager for acting on this statement earlier this week, and Dean must face the fact that not only is he not winning key primaries but he isn't even coming in second anymore. Now with 11% reporting, Edwards is still leading by a single percentage point. Edwards, who would be a tougher opponent in November, may...
Dean's Self-Eulogy Starts Off Gracious, Gets Arrogant
Howard Dean took to the podium first, trailing John Kerry and John Edwards badly, and congratulated them on running excellent campaigns, and thanking his supporters for their hard work. After that, Dean gave an increasingly strident speech taking credit for changing the nature of the debate, some of which may be true, and oddly kept decrying corporations moving to Bermuda, when he made it easier for those same corporations to avoid the tax consequences of such moves by setting up tax shelters in Vermont. In that manner, but not in temperament, it was vintage Dean. I thought I heard a hint of a withdrawal in Dean's speech, almost eulogistically reviewing what he sees as the accomplishments of his campaign. With key staffers defecting and a string of poor showings in the primaries, even Dean sees that the game is about over for his Presidential campaign. The latter part of Dean's...
February 18, 2004
NBC: Kerry Unwittingly Assisted Chinese Spy
Yesterday afternoon, NBC reported that John Kerry provided material assistance to Liu Chaoying [spelled differently throughout the article], an arms dealer and espionage agent for China, in exchange for campaign contributions: In 1996, Senator John Kerry was locked in a hard-fought and close reelection campaign with Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Kerry was the policy wonk, noted for his expertise in international crime, arms and drug dealing, and intelligence. ... [Johnny] Chung gave $10,000 to Kerry's campaign -- most of it illegally -- hosted a fund-raising party in Beverly Hills, and threw in an extra $10,000 to honor Kerry at a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee event. Kerry eventually returned all the Chung money. In return, Kerry opened a door for a friend of Chung: Liu Chaoying. So the man who claims he opposes special interests and claims he can't be bought certainly seems available for rent when necessary. While helping contributors...
February 19, 2004
Kerry: A Man Who Just Can't Say No
For a man who claims not to be beholden to special interests, John Kerry certainly appears to enjoy thir fruits as often as possible. The Los Angeles Times -- not exactly big boosters of the Right -- reports today that Kerry wrote 28 letters on behalf of a defense firm that filled his coffers with illegal campaign contributions: Sen. John F. Kerry sent 28 letters in behalf of a San Diego defense contractor who pleaded guilty last week to illegally funneling campaign contributions to the Massachusetts senator and four other congressmen. ... Between 1996 and 1999, Kerry participated in a letter-writing campaign to free up federal funds for a guided missile system that defense contractor Parthasarathi "Bob" Majumder was trying to build for U.S. warplanes. ... Kerry's letters were sent to fellow members of Congress and to the Pentagon while Majumder and his employees were donating money to...
Kerry's Hypocrisy Defended on the Left
After a series of embarassing revelations about favors given by John Kerry to illegal contributors, Peter Beinart of The New Republic rides to his rescue -- sort of -- in today's TRB. Beinart argues that all these incidents demonstrate is politics as usual, but that to charge Kerry with hypocrisy is to charge everyone with hypocrisy. Beinart writes: Let's stipulate that Kerry has occasionally helped out his financial backers--sometimes at the public's expense. Brooks says this makes Kerry's attack on special interests "phony." But virtually every governor or member of Congress--which is to say, virtually every presidential candidate--has raised money from people with an interest in legislation and at some time or another has written a letter, or voted for a bill, on their behalf. In the 2000 GOP primary, Bush even argued that anti-special interest crusader John McCain was tainted by "all those fund-raisers with lobbyists" he had held...
February 20, 2004
It's About Time
While I highly doubt that the Bush re-election campaign looks to this blog for advice, nonetheless they are acting as I urged yesterday, launching their advertising blitz against the presumptive nominee, John Kerry: President Bush's reelection campaign has decided to focus its coming advertising barrage not only on John F. Kerry's record as a senator but also on his days as an antiwar activist, a House candidate and Massachusetts's lieutenant governor. ... Campaign officials said in interviews that they plan substantial positive advertising about the president, focused on his proposals rather than accomplishments, when they begin spending tens of millions of dollars on the airwaves next month. But they made it clear that many of the ads will accuse the Democratic front-runner of "hypocrisy," in McKinnon's word, in part by reaching back into his early career. Quite frankly, I think they're a bit late. The Democrats have been using Bush...
An Offer He Can't Refuse
Hugh Hewitt made an unprecedented offer to John Edwards on his radio show and his blog last night: My offer to Edwards to co-host my program any or all days from now until March 2 remains open. Given that I am on, among many palaces, in drive-time in L.A., San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, and in the early evening in Boston, Atlanta, Cleveland and Cinncy --all Super Tuesday markets-- I am certain he'd been tripling his exposure in those cities by coming into the studio, but I haven't heard from the campaign. Arnold, of course, used talk radio like a scalpel in the California recall. The talkers are probably the only way to communicate with the Golden State electorate especially, and candidates in radio studios bring television cameras with them. We'll see if Edwards has some cowboy in him. It would be hard to understand why Edwards wouldn't take Hugh...
February 21, 2004
The Bush Message to the Conservative Base
Yesterday, President Bush bypassed an onbstructionist Senate and used a recess appointment to place William Pryor, the Alabama Attorney General, to the federal appellate court: After three years of watching Senate Democrats block his judicial nominees, President Bush trumped them for the second time this year by installing Alabama Attorney General William Pryor on the federal appeals court. ... Bush on Friday gave Pryor an almost two-year stint on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, calling him a "leading American lawyer" and saying Democrats had used "unprecedented obstructionist tactics" last year to stop him and five other nominees. Democrats disliked Pryor for one reason and one reason only -- they felt his devout Catholocism would eventually mean that he would rule against abortion if given a chance, despite Pryor's record of upholding the rule of law. This ridiculous construct somehow allowed the Democrats in the Senate to...
John Kerry's 1971 Testimony Audio On Line Now
Hugh Hewitt has been playing the totality of the audio of John Kerry's prepared statement preceding his Senate testimony in 1971. The audio is now available from the Democracy Now! website. (via Instapundit) The website also has a streaming-video presentation on John Kerry and his anti-war activities hosted by Amy Goodman, although the take on Kerry is that his recent record is a betrayal of his anti-war roots. It contains some interesting video of Winter Soldier press conferences and other information, as well as pictures and video of the war interspersed with pictures of Kerry, then and now. It's not pleasant, so consider yourself warned....
Hmong Immigration Increasing in Twin Cities
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports today that a new influx of Hmong refugees will soon relocate to the Twin Cities, totalling over 14,000 in addition to the 42,000 that already live in the area: Anticipation of a new life abroad has gripped this village of about 14,400 -- some estimates run higher -- since the U.S. State Department announced two months ago that it had struck a resettlement deal with the Thai government. The Hmong who live on the grounds of this Buddhist temple north of Bangkok will start to arrive in the U.S. this summer. The arrivals are expected to continue for at least two years. The Hmong are a Laotian minority ethnic group that supported the United States during the Vietnam War and its incursion into Laos to drive out the North Vietnamese. Since then, as the Hmong Studies Internet Resource Center states, they have been a people without...
Kerry: I Can't Handle Criticism
John Kerry once again cried foul because the Republicans actually have the audacity to campaign against Kerry's record in the Senate: "President Bush through his surrogates, specifically through Saxby Chambliss decided once again to take the low road of American politics," Kerry said in Georgia, one of 10 states choosing electoral delegates on March 2. ... "No one is going to question my commitment to the defense of our nation," Kerry said. Former Senator Max Cleland, a triple-amputee from his service in Vietnam, got even nastier when Senator Saxby Chambliss (who beat Cleland in 2002) spoke out against Kerry's voting record on defense in the Senate, where Kerry has not only repeatedly voted to reduce defense spending but twice introduced legislation to cut funding for the CIA. Instead of addressing the issues, Cleland called Chambliss a coward: "For Saxby Chambliss, who got out of going to Vietnam because...
Considering Nader
Ralph Nader once again has the political world in a tizzy trying to figure out whether he will run again for President, this time as an independent rather than a Green. Reporters are camped out for the announcement, Democrats are speaking out against one, and Republicans pray for one: Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press," Nader, the Green Party's presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, is expected to announce whether he will make another White House bid, this time as an independent. Democrats who fear he could siphon off enough votes to tip the election to President Bush have been trying to talk him out of it. "We can't afford to have Ralph Nader in the race," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN on Friday. "This is about the future of our country. If you care about the environment, if you care about job growth, you've got to...
February 22, 2004
Meet the Press: Schwarzenegger and Nader, Together Again For The First Time
Tim Russert gave Meet the Press viewers a spectacular one-two punch this morning, interviewing both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and potential independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Shortly before air time, CNN anticipated Nader's decision and announced he was indeed throwing his hat into the ring. But first, Russert interviewed the Governator, who performed impressively in his segment. Despite Russert's attempts to put Arnold in the position of abandoning children and blind people for lower car taxes, Arnold turned it around and told Russert that the problem wasn't the car tax, it was that the legislature increased spending at a 43% clip over the last five years, far outstripping the 24% increase in tax revenues over the same period. He acknowledged that he would raise taxes in an emergency, but only then, and his implication was that he did not consider undisciplined legislators an emergency condition. Russert touched on the issuing of...
Nader Reaction On The Campaign Blogs
Ralph Nader may present his campaign as a populist attempt to wrest control of national politics from corporate control, but he seems to be an unpopular populist amongst the progressives in the Democratic campaigns. A review of their blogs shows the anger and resentment Nader provoked with his unusual go-it-alone Presidential campaign announcement this morning. From the Dean for America blog: "Parker": I really wish Nader was more vocal about the Democratic party. Because most people aren't going to put the pieces together that he is only running because Dean dropped out. "Kevin": Ralph Nader is the Ted Kazinski of the presidential candidates. He should grow a beard and go live in a shack in the woods. He is the Unibomber Candidate. "Candyce" [engaging in some oddball conspiracy theories]: and Bush... I am a nice person thinking bad thoughts about Bush. I dislike him so much, I at first thought...
February 23, 2004
Ringham: Nader, Meet Kucinich
Star Tribune Commentary editor Eric Ringham writes another column denunciating Ralph Nader in tomorrow's edition, blaming Nader for George Bush -- again -- and insisting that Nader has overlooked Dennis Kucinich: To hear Ralph Nader dismiss the Democratic field, as he did in announcing his presidential candidacy Sunday, you'd think he'd never heard of Dennis Kucinich. The Kucinich camp would blame the media for that. Campaign workers accuse the major media of "censoring" Kucinich, and it's true enough that he doesn't get much coverage. Kucinich doesn't get much coverage because he doesn't attract that many votes, and the reason is readily apparent from Kucinich's website. Serious candidates don't post endorsements from fictional childrens-book characters. They also don't propose to create an Orwellian Department of Peace that would corrupt basic education and completely disarm the US. Besides, if Ringham's exercised about Kucinich's lack of coverage, why doesn't Ringham publish more about...
February 24, 2004
Kerry About to Deliver Knockout Blow
The LA Times reports that their most recent poll shows John Kerry handily beating John Edwards, 56%-24%, in the upcoming California primary on Tuesday, March 2nd: A week before California's Democratic presidential primary, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry leads North Carolina Sen. John Edwards by a lopsided 56% to 24% among the state's likely voters in the race, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. ... Following the pattern set in other states, Kerry's support in the primary cuts across a broad range of demographic groups. He wins majorities of men, women, liberals, moderates, Latinos, union members and senior citizens, among others. Even primary voters who cite the economy or jobs as their No. 1 issue a group that has tilted toward Edwards in other states prefer Kerry to his main rival, 69% to 26%, the poll found. These numbers spell doom for the Edwards campaign, unless he...
What If They Held a Primary and No One Came?
Did you know that three states hold primaries or caucuses today? Apparently, neither did the presidential candidates: In contests that largely have been overlooked by the candidates, voters in three states decide Tuesday who they want to see as the Democratic presidential nominee. ... Hawaii and Idaho are holding caucuses and Utah is holding a primary. A total of 61 delegates are at stake, just 3 percent of the total needed to win the nomination at the Democratic nominating convention in July. In a sign of how little attention these contests are getting, not one of the major Democratic presidential hopefuls were in any of those three states Tuesday. If these contests are so inconsequential, why did the Democrats schedule them so far up the calendar? Wouldn't it make more sense to put California and a couple of the other states from next week to this week? I'm sure that...
February 25, 2004
Kerry Sweeps 'Obscure Tuesday' States
John Kerry won all three Democratic contests last night in Hawaii, Idaho, and Utah, which together represent less than two percent of all delegates going to the Democratic Convention in July: Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts added three more wins to his victory column Tuesday, sweeping contests in Utah, Idaho and Hawaii over his remaining major rival, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. The trio of small-state contests, which have been largely overshadowed by next week's Super Tuesday delegate bonanza, were the first since the Democratic race narrowed to essentially a battle between Kerry and Edwards. Both Kerry and Edwards treated this as a bye week, but for Edwards, that may have proved a bit of a mistake; Dennis Kucinich outclassed Edwards in Hawaii, finishing second with 30% to Edwards' 13%. That momentum-killer is the last thing Edwards needs while he's getting stomped in California, New York, and...
February 26, 2004
Kerry Flips and Flops In One Day
This has to be a record -- I don't think that even Howard Dean reversed himself this quickly. Here's John Kerry during tonight's debate: Democrats debating each other Thursday night accused President Bush of proposing a constitutional amendment against gay marriage to distract voters from more important issues such as the economy. "He's trying to divide America," said Sen. John Kerry . "This is a president who always tries to create a cultural war and seek the lowest common denominator of American politics because he can't come to America and talk about jobs, he can't talk to America about health care because he doesn't have a plan." Here's John Kerry yesterday in an interview with the Boston Globe: In his most explicit remarks on the subject yet, Kerry told the Globe that he would support a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit gay marrriage so long as,...
February 27, 2004
Eggs Benedict
John Kerry storms around the country with a populist message of righteous anger at those companies who incorporate offshore in order to take advantage of legal tax shelters. Continuing his theme of irrelevant patriotic qualifications, he's called the CEOs of such corporations "Benedict Arnolds", after the Revolutionary War general who tried to give West Point to the British. Yesterday, the Washington Post and MS-NBC reported that some of Kerry's biggest donors were the CEOs of such companies, leaving the candidate with some egg on his face: Executives and employees at such companies have contributed more than $140,000 to Kerry's presidential campaign, a review of his donor records show. Additionally, two of Kerry's biggest fundraisers, who together have raised more than $400,000 for the candidate, are top executives at investment firms that helped set up companies in the world's best-known offshore tax havens, federal records show. Kerry has raised nearly $30...
Edwards Refuses to Release Contributor List
At least John Kerry released the names and contribution levels of his biggest fundraisers; John Edwards refuses to do so, making the Los Angeles Times question where he gets his money: A campaign finance watchdog group on Thursday called on North Carolina Sen. John Edwards to release the names of his top presidential fundraisers before Super Tuesday a request the Edwards campaign said it would decline. ... "We're not releasing any names. That's our policy," said Edwards' campaign spokesperson Kim Rubey. Edwards' reluctance to disclose his contributor list stands in stark contrast to bot Kerry and President Bush, who have released the names and contribution levels of all those who have raised more than $50,000 for their campaigns. Early on, the Edwards campaign was rumored to be existing on a higher percentage of maxed-out contributors -- those who donated $2,000 dollars -- than any other candidate. Dean, for instance,...
Kerry's Number One!
Drudge reports that the National Journal has ranked John Kerry's 2003 Senate voting record as the most liberal of all, outdistancing Hillary Clinton and even Ted Kennedy: The results of Senate vote ratings show that Kerry was the most liberal senator in 2003, with a composite liberal score of 96.5 -- far ahead of such Democrat stalwarts as Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. NATIONAL JOURNAL's scores, which have been compiled each year since 1981, are based on lawmakers' votes in three areas: economic policy, social policy, and foreign policy. "To be sure, Kerry's ranking as the No. 1 Senate liberal in 2003 -- and his earning of similar honors three times during his first term, from 1985 to 1990 -- will probably have opposition researchers licking their chops," NATIONAL JOURNAL reports. For the fourth time in 19 years, Kerry's record reflected the most radical agenda in the Senate, in this...
February 28, 2004
Steyn: Good Thing Kerry's No Leader
Thanks to reader Cybrludite, I found this interesting article by Mark Steyn, telling stories about how soldiers, sailors, and airmen were kept secure and completed imported missions using the weapons systems John Kerry voted to kill. Make sure you read the whole thing....
March 1, 2004
Why I Oppose Kerry and Support Bush
Mark asked me a direct question yesterday in response to my post about the laughably transparent Iranian attempt to influence the election Friday: And what do you have against Kerry? Or has Bush really fought to improve your way of life? I wrote later that his question was valid, and rather than point to a collection of earlier posts on various incidents, I think it would be more honest for me to put together a comprehensive argument for my position on this election. I will address this in two parts, just as Mark asked: why I oppose John Kerry, and why I support George Bush. Primarily, I don't trust John Kerry, and I never have. He's spent most of his Senate career carrying Ted Kennedy's water and regularly competes with Kennedy for the most liberal voting record -- a contest he won last year, according to the National Journal. He...
March 2, 2004
Definition of 'Is', Part II
Senator John Edwards, whose presidential run will likely run onto the shoals tonight, has made a lot of noise about refusing money from lobbyists, especially in the wake of a number of scandals involving frontrunner John Kerry. However, it turns out that Edwards and Kerry have more in common than first thought: While Democrat John Edwards boasts that he hasn't taken a dime from Washington lobbyists for his presidential campaign, he has accepted thousands of dollars from people in the capital's lobbying profession or their spouses and children. ... Even if donors lobby at the state level or run firms or organizations that lobby Congress, their money is accepted by Edwards as long as they are not personally registered. For instance, Edwards, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, received a $500 donation from National Education Association executive director John Wilson. Wilson himself isn't a registered...
No Kerry Sweep; Edwards to Withdraw
It appears that the ghost of Howard Dean has appeared in Vermont to spoil John Kerry's dreams of Super Tuesday sweeps, according to CNN: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean -- who dropped out of the race two weeks ago -- won his home state, CNN projected based on the exit polls. It appears that Kerry will easily beat Edwards in most of the other contests. So far, Edwards leads in Georgia, but that's all. The only other state that Edwards had any momentum at all, Maryland, looks like it will go solidly for the Yankee rather than the Southerner. Breaking news has John Edwards withdrawing from the race tomorrow. Finally, we get the two-man race we always wanted: John Kerry vs Dennis Kucinich....
Cheney: I'm Not Going Anywhere
Speculation has swirled about the status of Dick Cheney in this election, with some suggesting that the Vice President may be an albatross in the general election. Cheney has been a lightningrod for controversy in the run-up to the war in Iraq, with the lunatic fringe -- and others -- charging that the war only served to inflate Cheney's Halliburton holdings. (Way out on the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe, Ted Rall thinks that Cheney went to war in Afghanistan so his buddies could build an oil pipeline.) But today in Washington, Cheney told MS-NBC that Bush has asked him to run again: "He's asked me to serve with him on the ticket again for the next 4 years,'' Cheney told Fox News in one of a series of cable television interviews. "I'm happy to do that as long as I can be of assistance and he wants me...
March 3, 2004
Kerry Strong Among Base, Not Holding Independents
In what could portend disaster for the Democrats in November, John Kerry -- the most liberal Senator in 2003 -- seems to fall short in attracting independent voters: Yet even in California, Kerry did not run nearly as well with independents who were eligible to vote in the Democratic primary as he did among party members. This trend was more pronounced in Tuesday's voting in Ohio and Georgia, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International. In that way, the results underscored Kerry's ability to mobilize Democrats and the challenge he may face with independents as the campaign's focus shifts to the battle against Bush. The LA Times exit polling showed the same trend throughout most of the contests yesterday and points out the folly of nominating a candidate from the extremes. John Kerry's record of attacking military and intelligence spending plays well in San Francisco...
Kerry'd Away
Hey, I know John Kerry has to say something to convince people to vote for him, and so far, all he's had to say was that he hates George Bush, Bush is evil, Bush is inept -- well, things like this: "This president has in fact created terrorists where they didn't exist," he said. "And I believe this president has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country. And we need to hold him accountable." Hugh Hewitt notes tonight that Kerry apologist Joshua Micah Marshall insists on validating that ridiculous notion on Hugh's show, so apparently this will be the catchphrase up through the convention, and perhaps beyond. Let's test this by looking at highlights of the past 40 or so years, which I assume would satisfy Kerry's "modern" qualifier. 1961 - President John F. Kennedy implements a leftover plan from...
March 4, 2004
The Myth of 3 Million Jobs
Sean's excellent blog, Everything I Know Is Wrong, explodes the myth of the three-million-job loss during the Bush administration in a funny and well-sourced post from last night. Apparently, Sean did what John Kerry's entire staff was unable to do and check out the data at the Bureau of Labor Statistics: It took about as long to do it as it took you to read about it. Take a look at the left side of the table; the column marked Jan. Now look down to the rows marked 2001, 2003 and 2004. The Jan 2001 figure is 137,790,000 (the numbers are all in thousands) and the Jan 2004 figure is 138,566,000. That means that there are 776,000 more jobs now than there were in the first month of George Bushs administration. Look at the Jan 2003 number, 137,477,000, which means there are 1,119,000 more jobs than this time last year....
At Least the North Koreans Are More Honest About It
Last weekend, I incurred the ire of Pandagon readers by suggesting that the Iranians were attempting to influence the presidential election by claiming John Kerry sent them e-mail and then putting out a phony report that Bush had Osama locked up but was waiting until the fall for the maximum political impact. Readers on the Left interpreted my post as an attack on John Kerry's patriotism, for some reason, instead of an attack on the Iranian leadership's intelligence. Now another member of the Axis of Evil has publicly made its choice for the American President known, and surprise, surprise, it ain't W (via Hugh Hewitt): North Korea's state-controlled media are well known for reverential reporting about Kim Jong-il, the country's dictatorial leader. But the Dear Leader is not the only one getting deferential treatment from the communist state's propaganda machine: John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate, is also getting good...
March 5, 2004
California In Play?
While President Bush still regularly polls below John Kerry in the Golden State, the LA Times publishes an op-ed today by Robert Grady that analyzes the state ballot results from this week and sees red flags for Kerry's campaign: The state Democratic establishment, which backed and advises Kerry, also put its full weight behind Proposition 56, which would have reduced the vote required for the Legislature to pass the budget and taxes from two-thirds to 55%. ... The voters were not fooled. Proposition 56 was crushed 65% to 35%. It lost by well over a million votes. The message is clear, both for Kerry and George W. Bush: California voters like voters nationwide are overwhelmingly against tax increases. If Kerry thinks this is a fluke, he might consider the results of California's recall election last year. ... Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock captured 49% and 13% of...
Independent: Kerry More Popular Where People Can't Vote
The Commissar at the Politburo Diktat links to an insipid article in yesterday's Independent that begins with this statement: If the human race as a whole, rather than 50 states plus the District of Colombia, could cast a ballot this coming November, John Kerry would surely win the presidency by a landslide. Unfortunately for President Bush-haters around the world, only the 200 million United States citizens of voting age will have that right - and the outcome is anything but sure. As I responded in the Commissar's comments, if the human race as a whole could cast a vote, we wouldn't need George Bush in the White House. Until that time, we can't afford John Kerry....
March 6, 2004
Kerry Goes Cajun
From the LA Times, an amusing portrait of the presumptive Democratic nominee trying desperately to make inroads in the South: Friday, Kerry accused the president of ducking his record, saying Bush's new television commercials featuring images of the destroyed World Trade Center were an attempt to avoid domestic issues. "As you know, George Bush wants this whole deal just to be about war," Kerry said. "His first advertisements have pictures of ground zero." The crowd booed. Yes, and since Kerry has been all over the map on the war on terror, it's the last issue the Democrats want to debate. Lieberman was consistent, and Dean was at least consistent throughout the primaries. But Kerry has tried to have his cake and eat it too all along, trying to explain how a vote authorizing military action actually demonstrated his opposition to it and a vote denying funding for the deployed troops...
March 7, 2004
Kerry Not So Eager to Volunteer After All
John Kerry, who has made his volunteer service in Vietnam the centerpiece of his Presidental campaign 35 years later, apparently was not so eager to serve as he has led people to believe, the UK Telegraph reports: Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper. He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s. The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to...
Telegraph: John Flip-Flop Kerry
In another article on the presidential race, the UK Telegraph has an excellent review of John Kerry's flip-flops -- the kind of research that the US media seems reluctant to do: Forget the occasional about-face on defence policy and the Iraq war, in the mawkish world of American politics one of the most fundamental questions a candidate can face is: Do they have any Irish blood? ... In a speech to the Senate in 1986 he even said: "For those of us who are fortunate to share an Irish ancestry, we take great pride in the contributions [of] Irish-Americans." When presented with proof that Mr Kerry's grandfather was the Jewish-born Fritz Kohn, the senator's aides reversed their position without a backward glance. "He has never indicated to anyone that he was Irish and corrected people over the years who assumed he was," said Kelly Benander, a Democrat spokeswoman. While this...
March 8, 2004
Bush Goes On Offense, Hits Kerry on Proposed Intelligence Cuts
As expected, President Bush went to offense now that John Kerry has cleared the field in the Democratic primaries, and points out Kerry's record of antagonism towards intelligence services: Bush, during a fund-raiser in Dallas, called attention to a 1995 bill that Kerry sponsored to trim intelligence spending by $1.5 billion over five years. The cut was part of what Kerry called a "budget-buster bill" to strip $90 billion from the budget and end 40 programs that he said were "pointless, wasteful, antiquated or just plain silly." Kerry's proposal, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and calls for a peace dividend after decades of spending to thwart the Cold War opponent, never came up for a vote. "This bill was so deeply irresponsible that it didn't have a single co-sponsor in the United States Senate," Bush said. "Once again, Senator Kerry is trying to have it both ways," Bush...
John Kerry: Not A Black Man After All
A few days ago, John Kerry tried on the Bill Clinton approach to civil rights, noting that Clinton had sometimes been called the nation's "first black President" for his humble Southern beginnings as well as his affinity to African-American leadership, and said that he wouldn't mind being known as the second black President. Oddly enough, having a rich, white, power-born politician describe himself as black didn't sit to well with those who actually are black -- and they're not just giving Kerry disapproving glances: The head of a civil rights and legal services advocacy group wants Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to apologize for saying he wouldn't be upset if he could be known as the second black president. "John Kerry is not a black man he is a privileged white man who has no idea what it is in this country to be a poor white in this...
March 9, 2004
Kerry Flip-Flops on Arafat
In an interview with the Associates Press, John Kerry backpedaled away from his 1997 assertion that Yasser Arafat was a "statesman" who was a role model for aspiring leaders of oppressed people: In a 1997 book, Kerry described "Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman." But in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday he said he no longer views Arafat favorably. "Obviously, Yasser Arafat has been an impediment to the peace process," said Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting. "He missed a historic opportunity and he's proved himself to be irrelevant." ... Referring to the Palestinian leader as a statesman would be potentially damaging in Florida, which has a heavy Jewish population and a Democratic primary Tuesday. Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas also hold primaries Tuesday. "He was (a statesman) in 1995," Kerry said, recalling frequent White House meetings between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in search of peace in the Middle...
Is John Kerry Trying to Torpedo US Foreign Policy?
John Kerry, according to a Reuters story that got a lot of attention yesterday, claims that foreign leaders are telling him that he's their preferred candidate: Kerry opened another front against Bush on Monday when he said foreign leaders have told him privately that they are eager for him to win. "They look at you and say, 'You've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,' things like that," he said in Florida, Reuters reported. Kerry declined to name those leaders. That's because, as Hugh Hewitt notes, no one has been able to substantiate a recent meeting between John Kerry and any foreign leader. Since Kerry isn't elaborating, we can assume one of two things: either Kerry is lying, or Kerry is telling the truth. Option 1: Kerry Lied -- If Kerry lied, then this is an egregious lie. It would be a...
March 10, 2004
The Folly of Campaign Finance 'Reform'
This year, we all will have front-row seats to watch the folly of campaign-finance reform in a nation whose first ideal is freedom of speech. Round One kicked off this week, as the New York Times reports: Three advertising campaigns by political groups harshly critical of President Bush are getting under way in 17 states, in an effort to counter Republican commercials that began showing last week. The largest campaign opens on Wednesday, paid with $5 million in unlimited donations that political parties can no longer collect. Republicans say the tactic is an illegal way to support Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, contending that it violates campaign finance laws. Stepping in to help Mr. Kerry's campaign offset what has been Mr. Bush's 10-to-1 fund-raising advantage, these groups are part of a handful of committees that some critics call a "shadow" political party. Since Congress passed McCain-Feingold as the latest act...
John McCain: Smoking the Drapes?
What in the world is John McCain thinking? "John Kerry (news - web sites) is a close friend of mine. We have been friends for years," McCain said Wednesday when pressed to squelch speculation about a Kerry-McCain ticket. "Obviously I would entertain it." But McCain emphasized how unlikely the whole idea was. "It's impossible to imagine the Democratic Party seeking a pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist, deficit hawk," the Arizona senator told ABC's "Good Morning America" during an interview about illegal steroid use. "They'd have to be taking some steroids, I think, in order to let that happen." Senator McCain must be taking something himself to even start such a rumor. I supported McCain in 2000, but now I'm wondering if he's in full command of his faculties. If he wants to be considered for the Democratic presidential ticket, I would assume the first step would be to change party affiliation. Even...
John Kerry: Bush/Cheney "Most Crooked...Lying Group"
Senator John Kerry revealed an ugly and poorly controlled side of himself when he thought he was off-mike this afternoon while speaking with AFL-CIO union workers in Chicago: Sen. John Kerry, all but officially the Democratic presidential nominee, called Republicans he is battling "crooked" Wednesday. ... "Keep smiling," one man said to him. Kerry responded, "Oh yeah, don't worry man. We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you -- we're just beginning to fight here. These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I've ever seen." Simply appalling. In the picture above, you can see a Kerry aide hurriedly trying to disconnect the microphone, to no avail, which leads me to wonder what else John Kerry says when he thinks the mikes are off. Does he speculate on Roswell? Discussing alien abductions? Kerry's campaign immediately retreated into damage control, saying that Kerry was referring to...
And the Oscar for Hypocrisy Goes To ...
In attempting to spin John Kerry's ugly, sotto voce smear earlier in the day, Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade blamed unnamed Republicans instead: Afterward, Kerry campaign official David Wade told reporters that Kerry did know his microphone had been on when he was speaking. ... Wade also pointed to a doctored photograph that placed Kerry alongside Jane Fonda during protests of the Vietnam war. That doctored photograph surfaced after an authentic photograph surfaced that showed Kerry sitting several rows behind Fonda at an anti-war rally. Wade blamed all such incidents on a GOP attack "machine." Of course, this must be the work of the "machine" on John Kerry's official campaign web site: Not only does it appear that the Kerry campaign does most of the Photoshopping, but they've also stolen the image of the Oscar -- something to which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn't take kindly:...
March 11, 2004
Broder: Bush Ads, Campaign Mild Compared to FDR
David Broder, writing in today's Washington Post, takes apart the notion that the Bush campaign is out of line for mentioning 9/11 in its advertising, and takes us back to the campaign of the last president that experienced a massive foreign attack on American soil to compare: I went back, with help from Washington Post researcher Brian Faler, to 1944, when Franklin D. Roosevelt, almost three years after Pearl Harbor, was running for reelection. What you learn from such an exercise is that Bush is a piker compared with FDR when it comes to wrapping himself in the mantle of commander in chief. ... Keynoter Robert Kerr, then governor of Oklahoma, declared that "the Republican Party . . . had no program, in the dangerous years preceding Pearl Harbor, to prevent war or to meet it if it came. Most of the Republican members of the national Congress fought every...
Glenn Reynolds on John Kerry
Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, also writes a regular column for MS-NBC/Slate and in this installment, he discusses yesterday's Kerry outburst: Kerry's bluster is disturbing, but the media treatment is revealing: It's been largely ignored. Imagine the reaction if Bush had said these sorts of things. He'd be savaged for viciousness, and people would wonder if that sort of macho posturing suggested a temperament unfit for the White House. Glenn then goes on to link back to my post from yesterday: John Kerry needs to put up or abjectly apologize. If Kerry has evidence of corruption or lying, then put it out for all to see. Then we can all be enlightened and investigate it, and determine if Kerry is right or a full-fledged member of the Tinfoil Hat brigade. If he refuses to do so, then he is a coward and a sneak, a mumbler who won't take responsibility for...
March 12, 2004
Bush Attends 9/11 Memorial, Families Don't Object
In a stunning development, the families attending a 9/11 memorial didn't protest when George Bush arrived, and even supported his right to talk about it during the upcoming campaign: Ernest Strada, the mayor of Westbury, N.Y., was waiting in line to attend the groundbreaking with his wife, Mary Anne. Their son, Thomas Strada, was on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower during the attacks. He was 41 years old when he died. Ernest Strada said he had no problems with Bush using Sept. 11 imagery in his campaign ads or coming to East Meadow for the groundbreaking. "It's important that everybody in the country, led by the president, continue to remember what happened 2 1/2 years ago," Strada said. "I think the memory of that has waned since it occurred." Rosemary Cain of Massapequa was waiting in line with a large poster of her son, George...
March 13, 2004
NY Sun: Kerry Quit VVAW After Assassination Proposal
Yesterday's New York Sun published a front-page article on a little-known chapter in the history of Vietnam Veterans Against the War -- a proposal to assassinate conservative politicians who supported the war or who opposed anti-war activities. These plans were drafted by Scott Camil and debated at the November 1971 VVAW meeting in Kansas City, which John Kerry denies attending. However, at least two people who were there -- one of which heads Kerry's veteran support in Missouri -- claim that Kerry was there for the debate: The anti-war group that John Kerry was the principal spokesman for debated and voted on a plot to assassinate politicians who supported the Vietnam War. Mr. Kerry denies being present at the November 12-15, 1971, meeting in Kansas City of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and says he quit the group before the meeting. But according to the current head of Missouri Veterans...
Post: Kerry Won't Disclose Big Fundraisers
Today's lead editorial in the Washington Post demonstrates again the hypocrisy of the John Kerry campaign. After publicly referring to George Bush and Republicans as the "most crooked ... lying group," Kerry still stonewalls on the people who collect money for him -- unlike President Bush, who regularly updates his list of donors: Facing the Bush campaign's outsize war chest, the Kerry campaign is planning a 20-state, $15 million fundraising blitz; overall, it is aiming to raise another $80 million by July. To get there, Mr. Kerry will have to rely heavily on both his own big financiers and those of his Democratic rivals. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) -- who repeatedly rebuffed our requests for a list of his top fundraisers -- introduced Mr. Kerry to about 100 of them at a meeting on Thursday. Likewise, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), who was similarly unforthcoming with a list of big...
Following the Money
After George Bush's use of 1.5 seconds of 9/11 footage in his initial campaign ads, several families of 9/11 victims protested loudly, receiving a great deal of publicity from their accusations that the Bush campaign was acting inappropriately in mentioning 9/11 during the campaign. Only after some digging did the press mention that these same families had long since formed the "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" -- an antiwar campaign funded by George Soros, the main MoveOn.org financier and a man who has pledged to buy the presidency for the Democrats. As the March 9th New York Post puts it: Leading the rhetorical charge has been an outfit called September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows - which, the group admits, has only a few dozen members and represents relatives of no more than 1 percent of the 9/11 victims. More to the point, the group was formed specifically to...
Network News Biased Against Bush
A study released today by Mediachannel.org demonstrates the media bias of the national broadcast news networks -- and the disparity of treatment of George Bush and John Kerry isn't subtle in the least: The report reveals a strong negative cast to ABC, CBS and NBC news coverage of the president thus far in 2004. Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry, Bush's certain opponent for November, has received more positive coverage by the same three networks. According to data compiled for MediaChannel.org by international media monitoring firm Media Tenor, network news broadcasts in January and February contained on average nearly three times more negative news statements about President Bush than about Senator John Kerry. This trend is demonstrated on all three major network news broadcasts, but none so pronounced as on CBS, where 35% of statements about Bush were negative, as opposed to 8% positive. In contrast, CBS was positive about John Kerry...
Kerry's War Record Under Fire
Tomorrow's Telegraph runs a story that puts John Kerry's war narrative of a highly-decorated combat veteran at odds with the recollection of one of his crew, who charges that Kerry displayed cowardice under fire: The testimony of Steven Gardner, a gunner's mate on the first patrol boat commanded by Mr Kerry in the Mekong delta, contradicts accounts of the senator's military career that depict him as a brave and aggressive lieutenant who won three Purple Hearts and which are a key element of his campaign against George Bush. "He absolutely did not want to engage the enemy when I was with him," Mr Gardner said in an interview with the Boston Globe, which contacted him about the presidential candidate. "He wouldn't go in there and search. That is why I have a negative viewpoint of John Kerry. "His initial patterns of behaviour when I met him and served under him...
March 14, 2004
Powell: Don't Poke The Bear, Kerry
Today, on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell fired a warning shot across the bow of John Kerry and his campaign, ridiculing the gossip and mumbling that has become the hallmark of the most classless campaign in modern American history: [John] Kerry, the all-but-certain Democratic presidential nominee, said at a fund-raiser last week in Florida that he's heard from some world leaders who quietly back his candidacy and hope he defeats President Bush in November. [Colin] Powell expressed skepticism on "Fox News Sunday" when asked about Kerry's assertion. "I don't know what foreign leaders Senator Kerry is talking about. It's an easy charge, an easy assertion to make. But if he feels it is that important an assertion to make, he ought to list some names," Powell said. "If he can't list names, then perhaps he should find something else to talk about." Later in the same interview,...
Kerry: None of Our Business
John Kerry found out tonight that town meetings can be fraught with danger, a danger about which his newest bestest buddy Howard Dean should have warned him: The town meeting was contentious at times, with 52-year-old Cedric Brown repeatedly pressing the candidate to name the foreign leaders whom Kerry has said are backing his campaign. "I'm not going to betray a private conversation with anybody," Kerry said. As the crowd of several hundred people began to mutter and boo, Kerry said, "That's none of your business." Well, if it was none of our business, why did he bring it up in the first place? Kerry seems to open his mouth without thinking about things first; he's shot himself in the foot about half a dozen times this month already. At least he didn't yell at the guy, but scolding him about MYOB on an issue Kerry himself brought up looks...
March 16, 2004
The Invisible Poll
A new CBS/New York Times poll shows George Bush suddenly ahead of John Kerry by eight percentage points in a three-way race, although it must be the quietest poll ever announced. In fact, the headline on the NY Times' story this morning sounds a lot bleaker than the final numbers indicate -- "Nation's Direction Prompts Voters' Concern, Poll Finds": With Mr. Nader in the race, Mr. Bush leads Mr. Kerry by 46 percent to 38 percent, with Mr. Nader drawing 7 percent of the votes. In a sign of the polarized electorate Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry are facing, three-quarters of supporters of each candidate asserted they would not change their mind before the election. The nationwide telephone poll of 1,206 adults, including 984 registered voters, was taken from last Wednesday through Sunday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. The questioning was...
March 17, 2004
Clintons Climb Aboard the Bandwagon
For those who still insist that the Kerry campaign is nothing more than a Trojan horse for a Hillary Clinton rescue in July, this news shows that Kerry is consolidating his support, even with the Clintons: Former President Bill Clinton and a cast of other Democratic heavyweights began an Internet-based drive on Tuesday to raise $10 million for Senator John Kerry in the next 10 days. ... "We're not going to yield an inch to the Republican attack machine when it comes to defining what this campaign is all about," Mr. Clinton wrote on Tuesday in his e-mail message to supporters. "It's our chance to give John Kerry the kind of immediate, dramatic support he needs to stand toe to toe with the president." And it's not just Bill: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota and the strategist...
March 18, 2004
Cheney Gets Serious, Shows Kerry Isn't
In dueling campaign appearances, John Kerry experienced his first blast of Dick Cheney, as the eloquent and wry Vice President made his first foray into this year's re-election effort. Cheney wasted no time going after Kerry, painting him as a waffler who would prove dangerous as President: "At least this much is clear: Had the decision belonged to Senator Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today in Iraq," Cheney said, in an aggressive defense of Bush's record as a war president. "In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in Kuwait." ... In a rejoinder that began a half-hour after Kerry finished, Cheney mocked the Massachusetts senator's disparaging comments about nations that have joined the United States. By calling the Iraq alliance "window dressing" and a "coalition of the coerced and the bribed," as Kerry has done, Cheney said the Democrat was "ungrateful to nations that have...
McCain Torpedos Bush Again
The degradation of Senator John McCain continues, as earlier today he spoke out to defend John Kerry's record on national security and scolded both candidates for running a "bitter, partisan campaign": Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday he did not believe Democratic candidate John Kerry, a friend and Senate colleague, was weak on defense or would compromise national security if elected president. ... Asked on NBC's "Today" if he thought Kerry was weak on defense, McCain said: "No, I do not believe that he is, quote, weak on defense. He's responsible for his voting record, as we are all responsible for our records, and he'll have to explain it. But, no, I do not believe that he is necessarily weak on defense. I don't agree with him on some issues, clearly. But I decry this negativism that's going on on both sides. The American people don't need it." Later on...
March 19, 2004
Kerry: Sourpuss?
John Kerry can't even vacation without making an ass out of himself, according to the New York Times and ABC's The Note. While playing on the slopes and chatting with members of the media, Kerry got knocked off his feet snowboarding after getting tangled up with a member of his Secret Service security detail. While most people would choose to make a joke out of such an incident, Kerry reminded the nation that he's never the one at fault for anything: His next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on skis just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men, who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow. When asked about the mishap a moment later, he said sharply, "I don't fall down," then used an expletive to describe the agent...
Kerry Waters Down Denial, Acknowledges Presence at "Assassination" Meeting
John Kerry's campaign has backed off their earlier denials that Kerry was not present for the VVAW meeting in Kansas City, November 1971, where the "Phoenix Project" was brought to debate and a vote: Senator Kerry of Massachusetts yesterday retreated from his earlier steadfast denials that he attended a meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which a plan to assassinate U.S. Senators was debated. The reversal came as new evidence, including reports from FBI informants, emerged that contradicted Mr. Kerrys previous statements about the gathering, which was held in Kansas City, Mo. in November 1971. John Kerry had no personal recollection of this meeting 33 years ago, a Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, said in a statement e-mailed last night from Idaho, where Mr. Kerry is on vacation. The historian Gerald Nicosia, who happens to be a Kerry supporter, released the minutes of the VVAW meeting, as well...
Mickey Kaus Discerns a Kerry "Crumple"
Mickey Kaus, in his kausfiles entry for today, also notes the descent of Kerry's numbers, now even in the Rasmussen poll which shows Bush ahead of Kerry head-to-head outside of the margin of error: ... it's different when the drop is comes at the same time as a) a candidate whom no large group is enthusiastic about and b) whom Democratic voters in a truncated and unconstitutionally inhibited* primary process haven't bothered to find out much about c) is first exposed to the general electorate. Then the voters may simply be discovering they don't like him! By July 26 it could be clear to everyone except about 3,000 delegates to the Democratic convention that Kerry is not cutting it against Bush ... Mickey earlier (3/16) linked back to my post on the CBS/NYT poll and how it showed that the numbers had slid precipitously for Kerry; against Bush and Nader,...
AP Attacks Kerry on Defense Spending, Temperature in Hell Reportedly Dropping
The John Kerry Week From Hell continues this afternoon with an additional slam from an unlikely source. The AP's John Solomon analyzes Kerry's proposed $43B defense-spending cuts from 1994 and opens another wound in Kerry's flank: When John Kerry offered a surprise plan to trim $43 billion in spending a decade ago, he encountered some harsh resistance: The cuts would threaten national security. U.S. fighter pilots would be endangered. And the battle against terrorism would be hampered, opponents charged. And that's just what Kerry's fellow Democrats had to say. Solomon details the response from prominent Democrats in the Senate at the time, and they were hardly complimentary to the future Presidential candidate: "We are putting blindfolds over our pilots' eyes," Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, a decorated World War II veteran, said of the impact of Kerry's proposed intelligence cuts... "The amendment offered by the senator from Massachusetts would reduce the...
Kerry's Theme Song: Call Me Irresponsible
Call me irresponsible, Call me unreliable, Throw in undependable too ... Do my foolish alibis bore you? John Kerry may have to adopt this as his new campaign theme song, now that ABC News has captured yet another John Kerry flip-flop on videotape: In an interview several weeks before he voted against $87 billion in funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., seemed to argue that such a vote would be reckless, irresponsible, and tantamount to abandoning U.S. troops. ... Asked if he would vote against the $87 billion if his amendment did not pass, Kerry said, "I don't think any United States senator is going to abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running. That's irresponsible." Kerry argued that his amendment offered a way to do it properly, "but...
March 20, 2004
Can the Dems Dump Kerry?
With the very bad month that John Kerry has had so far, some people are questioning whether Kerry can actually survive to the the convention to be nominated. It's a question we were asked on our radio show last week, and one which we summarily dismissed. I still think it to be extremely unlikely, as it would be very damaging to the Democrats to dump someone who received a majority of primary votes. But is it possible? To answer this, I spent some time this morning going through the controlling documents of the Democratic convention and nominating process (Acrobat reader and No-Doz required). It's not as unequivocal as I had previously thought, at least not in the regulations. I had believed that there was a hard first-ballot requirement for pledged delegates to cast their vote for their candidate, in the same manner as the Electoral College, but the language in...
March 21, 2004
Kerry: Flip-Flop Partisan Hack All The Way
Glenn Kessler writes a fairly balanced piece on John Kerry's foreign policy experience and philosophy in today's Washington Post. At least, Kessler's article provides more balance than those I've read before on Kerry and his election run, especially in the East Coast media. The general tone can be summed up in this excerpt: Throughout his career, Kerry generally had been rated among the left-of-center members of the Democratic caucus on foreign policy issues, according to organizations such as the National Journal that rank lawmakers based on key votes. Kerry displayed skepticism about costly weapons systems, such as the B-2 bomber and President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (though he supported a 1999 bill to deploy a national missile defense). He supported measures promoting human rights in China and questioned U.S. support for the contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s. At the same time, he also embraced free trade pacts, such...
March 22, 2004
Power Line on Richard Clarke
I wanted to write a detailed debunking of Richard Clarke, but I found Power Line's Hindrocket has already written the best one I've seen -- much better than I could have written. Here's a taste of Rocket Man's in-depth expose: But let's pursue a little further the question, who exactly is Richard Clarke? What do we know about him? First, we know that before September 11, he was professionally committed to the idea that al Qaeda represented a new form of "stateless terrorism" that could never cooperate with a country like Iraq: Prior to 9/11, the dominant view within the IC was that al Qaida represented a new form of stateless terrorism. That was also the view promoted by the Clinton White House, above all terrorism czar, Richard Clarke. To acknowledge that Iraqi intelligence worked with al Qaida is tantamount to acknowledging that all these people made a tremendous blunder--and...
March 23, 2004
Kerry, The FBI, and The Phoenix Project: The Whitewash Continues
After the Los Angeles Times ran their story on the FBI surveillance of John Kerry in yesterday's paper (reprinted dutifully by the Star Tribune, of course), it was inevitable that other outlets would pick it up. One would hope that the larger news organizations -- ones that write their own content rather than reprint what comes across the wires -- would investigate the issues on their own and provide better context. Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case. For instance, the Washington Post put two reporters on this story, and came up with essentially the exact same article that the Times ran. The New York Times' David Halbfinger -- the same city as the paper where Thomas Lipscomb first revealed the Phoenix Project, a VVAW assassination plot against American politicians -- actually managed to come up with less than the LAT. As the story was carried worldwide, even less...
Continue reading "Kerry, The FBI, and The Phoenix Project: The Whitewash Continues" »
John Kerry Strongarms Witnesses to 1971 VVAW Meeting?
Yesterday's New York Sun ran a story by Thomas Lipscomb following up on the attendance and participation of John Kerry at the November 1971 Vietnam Veterans Against the War debate on whether to assassinate several pro-war politicians, including Senators John Stennis, John Tower, and Strom Thurmond. Unfortunately, it requires a registration -- but Lipscomb kindly authorized my Northern Alliance colleague, Big Trunk at Power Line, to post it in its entirety today. One witness to Kerry's participation tells Lipscomb that the Kerry campaign may be engaging in a bit of witness tampering: A Vietnam veteran who said he remembers John Kerry participating in a 1971 Kansas City meeting at which an assassination plot was discussed says an official with the Kerry presidential campaign called him this month and pressured him to change his story. The veteran, John Musgrave, says he was called twice by the head of Veterans for Kerry,...
March 25, 2004
Kerry's Phoenix Project Connections Debated on MS-NBC
The work that Thomas Lipscomb has done at the New York Sun exposing John Kerry's participation in a debate on whether to assassinate several US politicians in 1971 may be gaining some traction. Last night on Joe Scarborough's show, Lipscomb himself appeared with Pat Buchanon and Lawrence O'Donnell, who apparently couldn't keep from going into hysterics over the questioning, according to Tim Graham at The Corner: "Scarborough Country" was a little wild on MSNBC last night, since usually calm liberal Lawrence O'Donnell was yelling and refusing to shut up. The topic? Whether young John F. Kerry was present at a meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War when they debated assassinating pro-war politicians. O'Donnell was loudly protesting that no one can remember what they were doing 33 years ago, so why would anyone focus on what Kerry did in 1971? Youthful indiscretion! Youthful indiscretion! It would have been nice if...
March 26, 2004
Kerry Embraces Tax Cuts?
John Kerry, trying to tack back to economic issues, issued a promise to create 10 million new jobs over the next four years, using corporate "tax incentives" to promote job growth: "Today, I'm announcing a new economic plan for America that will put jobs first. We will renew American competitiveness, make tough budget choices, and invest in our future. My pledge -- and my plan -- is for 10 million new jobs in the next four years." Kerry's Jobs First plan will call for the "most sweeping international tax law reform in forty years" that would give tax incentives to companies that create jobs in the United States. Kerry has spent most of the past year railing against the Bush tax cuts, which have put money back in people's pockets, and has already committed to rolling back a portion of them, especially those he's decried as "corporate welfare". Now he...
March 27, 2004
The Brewing War Over Judicial Nominations
In two articles today, one in the New York Times and the other from the Wall Street Journal, the battle lines over judicial nominations are being drawn in ever-starker terms. In the NYT, Democrats threaten to completly hijack the judicial confirmation process if President Bush doesn't swear to forego the recess appointment process: "We will be clear," the Democratic leader, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, told his colleagues Friday morning in a pointed speech on the Senate floor. "We will continue to cooperate in the confirmation of federal judges, but only if the White House gives the assurance that it will no longer abuse the process." ... The breakdown, members of both parties said, came after Mr. Daschle met with the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, this week to warn him that Democrats would block all future nominees unless they received assurances from the White House...
March 28, 2004
Kerry VVAW Files Stolen From Historian
After having spent eleven years collecting documentation on the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, historian Gerald Nicosia lost a chunk of it in one night: FBI documents about FBI surveillance of John Kerry in the early 1970s have been stolen, according to their owner, a historian who lives near San Francisco, California. Gerald Nicosia, who spent more than a decade collecting the information, said three of 14 boxes of documents plus a number of loose folders containing hundreds of pages were stolen from his home Thursday afternoon. ... "It was a very clean burglary. They didn't break any glass. They didn't take anything like cameras sitting by. It was a very professional job," Nicosia said. "Was it a thrill-seeker who wanted a piece of history? It could be," Nicosia said. "You'd think there was a very strong political motivation for taking those files. The odds are in favor of that."...
March 29, 2004
WSJ: Kerry/Phoenix Project Connection Being Ignored
John Fund writes an excellent column in today's Wall Street Journal op-ed site, OpinionJournal.com, where he notices a double standard between the coverage of the public-service records of Bush and Kerry, and how the national news media speak volumes in their silence on the Phoenix Project: Reporters spent days hounding White House spokesmen for records on the subject. In the end, it became clear that Mr. Bush chose to serve stateside during the war, was lax in attending guard duty during his last year, and had to feverishly make it up before he was honorably discharged. It's clear President Bush doesn't want to talk about his service, but reporters pressed for answers anyway. It's time they do the same for Mr. Kerry, who has laid down his actions in the Vietnam era as a marker for his character and, according to the Boston Globe, has refused to release his military...
March 30, 2004
Kerry Continues to Slide: Poll
After a week in which former national security and counterterrorism apparatchik Richard Clarke helped the Democrats beat up on George Bush by claiming he was uninterested in terrorism prior to 9/11, a new poll by CNN/Gallup/USA Today shows that someone's being hurt by it -- but it's not George Bush: Among likely voters surveyed, 51 percent said they would choose Bush for president, while 47 percent said they would vote for Kerry, within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. (Full story) Three weeks ago, as Kerry was cinching the Democratic nomination with a string of primary victories, he led the president by 8 points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup among likely voters, 52 percent to 44 percent. While that's technically within the outer reaches of the margin of error, it is the first time that Bush has polled over 50% since John Kerry won the...
March 31, 2004
Kerry Flip-Flops On Gas Prices, Campaign Tone
We may have the most gymnastic presidential candidate ever fielded in modern American history. John Kerry has mastered the art of the flip-flop, changing positions with blinding speed on such issues as the war in Iraq, funding the troops, gay marriage, and corporate taxation. Now Kerry has changed positions on the gas tax in a desperate bid to find an issue on which to recapture any momentum possible to reverse his free-falling poll numbers: Seeking to drive down crude oil prices, the Massachusetts Democrat called for a policy in which the United States applies greater pressure on oil-producing nations to increase production and said U.S. officials should temporarily suspend filling U.S. oil reserves. ... Kerry argued that diverting oil intended for U.S. reserves directly to the market will help depress gas prices, although analysts say that probably would have a negligible effect. ... The political ad released today by the...
Kerry Losing Ground In Key Swing State
In a state that George Bush would love to win and Kerry can't afford to lose, Kerry has dropped seven points in the past five weeks: John Kerry's numbers have slipped in Pennsylvania, a statewide poll released Tuesday shows. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee lost ground to President Bush in the latest poll conducted for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Keystone poll by Franklin & Marshall College showed Bush leading Kerry 46 percent to 40 percent among 565 registered voters. Kerry lost 7 percentage points since the last Keystone poll in February. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. The drop mirrors the free-fall that Kerry has experienced nationwide over the same period of time. Kerry dropped from 47% to 40% while Bush's numbers held firm at 46%, and Kerry's disapproval numbers went up the same amount. Nader's entry has pulled 3% of voters...
April 2, 2004
Slate: Cleland Poster Boy for Victimization
Michael Crowley, the assistant editor for the New Republic, writes today in Slate about one of the sacred icons of the 2004 Democratic Party, former Senator Max Cleland. Kerry has used Cleland as an example of how eeeeeeevil Republicans get when they're on the campaign trail, but Crowley questions the basis of the Dems' almost religious belief in Cleland's victimization: Cleland's image as Bush's ultimate victim suits Kerry's campaign all too well. There are no bold new ideas in the Democratic Party today, no coherent policy themes. Even Kerry's supporters are hard-pressed to explain what he stands for. What does define and unify the party is a sense of victimhoodand a lust for revenge. ... Bush and Chambliss hammered at the fact that Cleland was voting with Senate Democrats against Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department because of its infamous provision limiting union rights. The message was that Cleland was kowtowing...
April 3, 2004
Nader: The Magical Mystery Tour Is Dying to Get Off The Ground
The Washington Post profiles Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate-cum-presidential wannabe, who's busy trying to get himself on the ballot around the country. As Brian Faler notes, Nader isn't helping himself with his go-it-alone strategy: Nader's task would be easier if he accepted the presidential nomination of one of the minor parties that already have spaces reserved on some states' ballots. Some members of the Green Party, which has yet to choose its presidential candidate, want to support Nader. The Green Party nomination would give access to ballots in 23 states, thanks to the party's performance in previous elections. The Reform Party, founded by Texas billionaire Ross Perot, has offered Nader its top spot, along with its seven ballot spots. The Natural Law Party is also considering giving him its nomination and 12 ballot lines, according to John Hegelin, the group's former presidential candidate. But Zeese said Nader will not accept...
Kerry Didn't Always Master the Rope Line
Today's New York Times runs a puff piece -- typical weekend fare -- on John Kerry, this time on his supposed skills as a flesh-presser on the campaign trail: Mr. Kerry, the all-but-nominated Democratic presidential candidate, has been criticized throughout his career for an aloof, inaccessible style on the stump, and his stemwinders are a constant worry for supporters of his White House bid. Yet he is proving adept at the more intimate political ritual of the rope line: the inevitable postspeech meet-and-greet over a rope placed as a security measure to keep the crowd from the candidate. It is a daily dance that has become a central, even dominant element of his schedule. In fact, he sometimes spends more time in that kind of chitchat than in delivering substantive speeches. Jodi Wilgoren doesn't mention Kerry's most well-known rope-line moment from this campaign season, however (link to my post here):...
April 5, 2004
Kerry Flip-Flops on Education Reform
Who wrote these words about education reform? "It bothers me," the reformer wrote, "that some Democrats have resisted the idea of making educational outcomes the skills and knowledge our kids obtain from the educational system as important as educational inputs the adequate funding, the good facilities and the higher teacher pay we all want." The answer? John Kerry, in his campaign book he published just last year. However, Kerry the Candidate has reversed course and now campaigns against No Child Left Behind because of its "punitive" provisions for schools that fail to raise educational outcomes. However, the Los Angeles Times' Ronald Brownstein -- who usually acts as a reliable spin doctor for the Democrats -- unspins Kerry on this issue: After voting for President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, Kerry, during his race to the nomination, joined the mob of Democrats condemning the education...
April 7, 2004
Kerry: Terrorists Have "Legitimate Voice"
John Kerry continues his quest towards self-destruction today in an NPR interview this morning, as he described a radical Islamist currently attacking American troops in Iraq as a "legitimate voice" who shouldn't necessarily be arrested if encountered: In an interview broadcast Wednesday morning, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry defended terrorist Shiite imam Moqtada al-Sadr as a "legitimate voice" in Iraq, despite that fact that he's led an uprising that has killed nearly 20 American GIs in the last two days. Speaking of al-Sadr's newspaper, which was shut down by coalition forces last week after it urged violence against U.S. troops, Kerry complained to National Public Radio, "They shut a newspaper that belongs to a legitimate voice in Iraq." Never mind that this "legitimate voice" used that newspaper to call for an armed revolt against the Coalition and the Iraqi provisional government. John Kerry isn't concerned with that. John Kerry sounds...
April 12, 2004
McCain Finally Gets Categorical
John McCain, who stirred up so much controversy a month ago by telling reporters that he would "entertain" an invitation to join John Kerry as his running mate, has finally gotten around to making an unequivocal statement of support for George Bush: "No, no and no. I will not leave the Republican Party. I cherish the ideals and principles of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan," he said on NBC's "Meet The Press." ... McCain said Sunday that he believes Bush "deserves re-election." "Have we agreed on every issue? Of course not. We didn't agree on every issue when we ran against each other in a primary," he said. "I am not embarrassed to say that John Kerry is a friend of mine, but I want George Bush to be re-elected president of the United States." CNN notes that McCain is running for re-election to the Senate. I...
April 14, 2004
Hate Speech From the Left
Florida Democrats in St. Petersburg have spent too much time in the fever swamps. They ran an ad in a weekly newspaper calling for the assassination of Donald Rumsfeld, prompting outrage from Republicans and -- to their credit -- demands for an apology from the John Kerry campaign (via Drudge): The ad, appearing in last Thursday's edition of the Gabber, a weekly paper covering the Pinellas County community of Gulfport, included a lengthy criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and then singled out Rumsfeld. "And then there's Rumsfeld who said of Iraq 'We have our good days and our bad days.' We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say 'This is one of our bad days,' and pull the trigger," the ad read under a banner "St. Petersburg Democratic Club." It won't be long before the increasingly irresponsible mouthfoaming coming from what...
April 15, 2004
The Monochromatic John Kerry
In an unusual broadside, CNN's Carlos Watson reports on an embarassing and potentially mortal flaw within the Kerry campaign -- the striking lack of diversity among his advisors: Seizing on the nation's diversity -- the country is almost one-third non-white -- Bush has appointed African-Americans, Asians, Latinos and women to senior and non-stereotypical roles: Secretary of State, national security adviser, Transportation Secretary, White House Counsel. Unlike Al Gore whose campaign manager, political director and finance director were African-American, the Kerry campaign, as of yet, has no one of color in the innermost circle, including Kerry's campaign manager, campaign chairperson, media adviser, policy director, foreign policy adviser, general election manager, convention planner, national finance chairman, and head of VP search team. This is another case of Kerry speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and a particularly egregious one at that. Democrats have long smeared Republicans with race-baiting tactics; recently,...
April 19, 2004
Gallup Poll: Bush Leads By 6
While it's still a bit too early to take polling numbers seriously, the new CNN/Gallup poll is remarkable given the attacks that the Bush administration has endured over the past few weeks: President Bush's lead over Democrat John Kerry has widened a bit in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll despite two weeks that have been dominated by a deteriorating security situation in Iraq and criticism of his administration's handling of the terrorism threat before the Sept. 11 attacks. The survey, taken Friday through Sunday, showed Bush leading Kerry 51% to 46% among likely voters, slightly wider than the 3-point lead he held in early April. The shifts were within the margin of error of +/ 4 percentage points in the sample of likely voters. The president's job approval rating was steady at 52%. The pollsters attribute the lack of movement to a polarized electorate, but you may just as well say...
Kerry Flip-Flops Again, Readies His Petard
Big Trunk at Power Line (and yes, it's really Big Trunk) notes that Kerry is misunderstood: he's a political comedian! I'd just say he's a joke.
April 20, 2004
Woodward Says No Secret Oil Deal, Suggests Kerry Learn to Read
After skimming Bob Woodward's new book, "Path to War," Democrats led by John Kerry have charged that the Bush administration concocted a secret deal with the Saudi royal family to lower oil prices prior to the election. Kerry ranted about the subject repeatedly over the past couple of days. But the White House, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and even Bob Woodward himself say that his book never made that claim: The charge that Saudi Arabia made a secret pact with President Bush to lower gasoline prices in time to help him in the November presidential election was denied Monday by the White House, the Saudi ambassador to the United States -- and even by journalist Bob Woodward, who raised the specter of such a quid pro quo in a book released Monday. "I don't say there's a secret deal or any collaboration on this," Woodward told CNN's "Larry King...
April 21, 2004
John O'Neill: Kerry No War Hero to Veterans
John O'Neill, who took over John Kerry's command of the swift boat he commanded in Vietnam after Kerry's return home, spoke out on television for the first time in over 30 years on CNN yesterday: "I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero," said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam. "He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11." ... In an interview Tuesday on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports," O'Neill said allegations about atrocities made by Kerry after his return render him "unfit" to be president. "His allegations that people committed war crimes in that unit, and throughout Vietnam, were lies. He knew they were lies when he said them, and they were very damaging lies," said O'Neill, adding that other former sailors from the same...
April 22, 2004
I'm With Stoopid
Normally I wouldn't post on something that the Best of the Web has already covered, mostly because I figure you'll have already seen it. However, this was just too delicious to ignore. This is the level of intelligence you see at anti-Bush protests these days: This guy can't even copy a bumper sticker without screwing up. Is this the poster boy for No Child Left Behind or what? He can't spell and doesn't know when to use an apostrophe, but he wants to call Bush an idiot. This picture should appear in Webster's Dictionary next to the definition of ironic. I'll bet he probably bought twenty copies of the paper and gave them to all his friends anyway... UPDATE: If you follow the link to the newspaper, you'll notice that I cropped the picture down a bit to focus on the sign in question. However, this hilarious photo essay from...
Drudge: Kerry Flipped On Abortion ... Long Ago
The Drudge Report has published a "developing" story that John Kerry has flip-flopped on abortion during his political career -- but the effect of this flavor of waffle will be muted or nonexistent: Kerry claimed in an interview he was "opposed to abortion." Kerry told the LOWELL SUN in October, 1972: "I would say also that it's a tragic day in the lives of everybody when abortion is looked on as an alternative to birth control or as an alternative to having a child. I think that's wrong. It should be the very last thing if it has to be anything, and I say that not just because I'm opposed to abortion but because I think that's common sense." Kerry declared: "I think the question of abortion is one that should be left for the states to decide." Drudge also reports that Kerry spoke with Sun reporter John Mullins in...
OK, Now He's Against Gas Guzzlers
Oh, that wacky John Kerry! According to his campaign website, which copied a glowing Detroit Free Press article from February 1st, Kerry's principled stand on higher corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards has made him the "nemesis" of Michigan automakers, but damn it all, he stands firmly for the environment: However, Kerry's efforts over the years to raise fuel-efficiency standards could cause him problems among some Michigan voters. In a state that is home to the auto manufacturers, Kerry is well known for his fight to tighten these standards on cars and light trucks enough to produce a fleet average of 36 miles per gallon by 2015. That would be a dramatic increase from the current 27.5 m.p.g. now required. A measure that would have raised those standards to 40 m.p.g. failed last summer to pass the Senate, which instead required the Transportation Department to consider an array of issues...
April 24, 2004
Phoenix Project Finally Makes the NY Times
After weeks of allowing Thomas Lipscomb and the New York Daily Sun to stand alone, the New York Times has finally decided to consider the notion that a presidential candidate once participated in assassination debates is news. David Halbfinger reviews the Phoenix Project in the much larger context of John Kerry's anti-war protest career but winds up, much like Candy Crowley's CNN piece yesterday, drifts towards apologetics rather than reporting (via Power Line). It starts off promising, though, raising questions about the Kerry campaigns attempts to pressure witnesses to stay silent or renounce their earlier statements: When questions were raised last month about whether a 27-year-old John Kerry had attended a Kansas City meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War where the assassination of senators was discussed, the Kerry presidential campaign went into action. It accepted the resignation of a campaign volunteer in Florida, Scott Camil, the member of the...
April 25, 2004
Drudge: Kerry Lied, Again
John Kerry told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that he had never even implied that he threw his own medals over the fence at the White House to protest the Vietnam War. However, Matt Drudge reports that ABC has video from 1971 that will prove Kerry lied: In an interview published Friday in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry claimed he "never ever implied" that he threw his own medals during a Hill protest in 1971 to appear as an antiwar hero. But a new shock video shows John Kerry -- in his own voice -- saying he did! ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA is set to rock the political world Monday morning with an airing of Kerry's specific 1971 boast, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. The video was made by a local news station in 1971. Can this man ever tell a straight story, for Pete's...
April 26, 2004
Brownstein: Kerry Not Nuanced Enough
In today's Los Angeles Times, political reporter and Kerry supporter Ron Brownstein makes an unusual case that John Kerry eschewed nuance just when he needed it the most, as the late Randy Van Warmer once sang. Brownstein takes Kerry to task on the one issue where Kerry communicated a clear policy position, scolding him for being a bit too much like President Bush: Bush's meeting with Sharon seemed precisely the sort of unilateral, headstrong gesture that Kerry has in mind when he accuses Bush of pursuing the most arrogant and ideological foreign policy in U.S. history. So jaws dropped across Washington when Kerry responded with just one word after host Tim Russert asked him on "Meet the Press" whether he supported Bush's promises to Sharon. "Yes," Kerry said. "Completely?" Russert followed. "Yes," Kerry said again. Not much ambiguity there. Kerry probably hasn't answered an important question in so few words...
April 27, 2004
Power Line Debunks D-Bunker - Again
My colleague Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson at Power Line provided a terrific look at the Orwellian nature of the Kerry campaign by posting two screenshots of Kerry's "D-Bunker" section of his website. The first screenshot showed the D-Bunker entry on the medal-tossing exploits of the presidential candidate before his ABC appearance, while the second showed an unannounced modification by Kerry's campaign. The difference? The updated D-Bunker entry had this phrase removed: John Kerry is proud of the work he did to end the Vietnam War, and he has been consistent about the facts and the symbolism of the medal-returning ceremony. This morning, Big Trunk notes that the changes go even further back than that, and directs readers to two blogs that captured what we think are the originals. Don't miss it!...
FactCheck.Org Missing Expertise on Defense Matters (plus "Captain Ed" Defined)
FactCheck.Org, run by the Annenberg Foundation, normally does a pretty good job of providing a balanced look at the controversies of the day and applies logic and facts instead of volume and hyperbole. However, in the case of FactCheck's defense of Kerry's own defense record, they made a monumental goof that deserves a solid response: It is true that when Kerry first ran for the Senate in 1984 he did call specifically for canceling the AH-64 Apache helicopter. What the ad lacks is the historic context: the Cold War was ending and the Apache was designed principally as a weapon to be used against Soviet tanks. And in fact, even Richard Cheney himself, who is now Vice President but who then was Secretary of Defense, also proposed canceling the Apache helicopter program five years after Kerry did. The short answer to this is that there was a huge difference between...
JFK on WMD: WTF?
John Kerry can't decide what he believes about the Iraqi WMD issue, on today's Hardball with Chris Matthews. First he says he agrees with Matthews that WMD didn't exist at the time of the invasion and leverages that into a tirade against the Bush administration's honesty -- but then he executes a curious, partial reversal, as Hugh Hewitt noted on his show tonight: Key portion of the Hardball exchange this evening: Matthews: "If there was an exaggeration of WMD, exaggeration of the danger, exaggeration implicitly of the connection to al Qaeda and 9/11, what's the motive for this, what's the 'why?' Why did Bush and Cheney and the ideolouges around take us to war? Why do you think they did it?" Kerry: "It appears, as they peel away the weapons of mass destruction issue, and --we may yet find them, Chris. Look, I want to make it clear: Who knows...
April 28, 2004
Democratic Dirty-Tricks Campaign To Target NY Convention
The New York Times runs a story today on a campaign by anti-Bush protestors to infiltrate the Republican Convention in New York by signing up as volunteers, and then doing their best to disrupt the event -- a clear sign of both desperation and of a lack of respect for the political process: "Really?" said Kevin Sheekey, president of the New York City Host Committee, when told that protesters were talking about flooding the ranks of volunteers to disrupt convention operations. The city is obligated to find a total of 8,000 New Yorkers to volunteer to help things run smoothly, and would-be protesters are hoping that by signing up, they can work from the inside during the convention, scheduled Aug. 30 through Sept. 2. For some reason, the Times headlines this article "G.O.P. Protesters Plan to Infiltrate Convention as Volunteers," leaving the impression that the protestors are Republicans. However, even...
April 29, 2004
Kerry's Diversity Problem, Part II
CNN's Inside Politics continues its look at the Kerry campaign's diversity problems, which I described on the air on the Northern Alliance Radio Network as The Incredible Whiteness of Being. Since Carlos Watson's original piece appeared on CNN talking about the fact that almost all of his campaign's decision-making positions have been filled with Caucasians, representatives from traditionally Democratic minority groups have begun to make their displeasure known. Typically, the same people who would scream bloody murder if Bush's campaign or his cabinet had a similar composition are now busy making excuses for Kerry: Some black officials and independent analysts expressed concerned about the campaign's lack of racial diversity. Campaign officials and the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus said the criticism was unfounded. "I am concerned about diversity, but more importantly I am concerned about the experience in that diversity -- senior policy people who know people from one...
April 30, 2004
Kerry's Diversity Problems Grow: NYT
In a sign that John Kerry may be experiencing some real damage from his monochromatic senior campaign staff, the New York Times covers criticism from minority groups on the Kerry campaign's lack of diversity in much greater detail than CNN's article from yesterday. The normally supportive Jodi Wilgoren writes in today's Times that not only is the protest more widespread than CNN reported, but more passionate as well: For weeks, Senator John Kerry savored a Democratic Party that was unified in rallying behind his presidential candidacy. But in recent days, influential black and Hispanic political leaders whom the campaign had counted on for support have been openly complaining that Mr. Kerry's organization lacks diversity and is failing to appeal directly to minority voters. Even as Mr. Kerry spoke here on Thursday to the National Conference of Black Mayors an appearance his community outreach team viewed as critical to building...
May 1, 2004
Kerry Foreign Policy: A Distinction Without A Difference
John Kerry continued his attempt to differentiate himself from George Bush on Iraq policy yesterday in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, following Dick Cheney's widely-criticized political speech last week at the same venue. The Los Angeles Times reports that Kerry continues to expound on "international cooperation" without explaining how that differs from what the US is doing now: Sen. John F. Kerry challenged President Bush on Friday to engage in personal diplomacy to try to repair relationships with other influential nations and gain their support for an international mission in Iraq. During a 30-minute address at Westminster College here, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee pledged to support his rival's policy in Iraq if Bush pursued that effort. ... He urged the president to form a political coalition with the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and other nations to endorse the effort to stabilize Iraq and back the...
Are The Vultures Circling?
While George Bush has taken a pounding for the past several months from an extended Democratic primary run-up, the fallout of overblown insurgencies in Iraq, and the release of two tattletale books from former advisors, the Kerry campaign has managed to move backwards in its battle against the President. In fact, the Kerry campaign has been so inept that even Democrats are willing to go on record to discuss their concerns, as the New York Times reports in tomorrow's paper: "George Bush has had three of the worst months of his presidency, but they are stuck and they've got to move past this moment," said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. While Ms. Brazile said she thought Mr. Kerry had the time, the political skill and the money to defeat what many Democrats described as a highly vulnerable president, she said, "This is a very crucial moment...
Imagine No John Kerry, It's What They'd Like To Do
John Tierney reports in tomorrow's New York Times, while waxing lyrical, that political scientists have confirmed that the Democrats shot themselves in the foot by front-loading their primaries to coalesce support early in the race behind one candidate. An experiment shows that their process selected the wrong one: IMAGINE there's no Iowa. No New Hampshire, too. Imagine the Democratic Party, instead of relying on a few unrepresentative voters to quickly anoint John Kerry, had allowed people across America to vet the candidates and contemplate the issues. Then Mr. Kerry might well not be the nominee, and the Democrats would stand a better chance of reaching the White House, at least according to the results of a novel experiment during the primary season. The experiment involved allowing a group of 700 people to take a longer time to get to know all of the candidates, meet to discuss their relative strengths...
May 2, 2004
Kerry Hypocrisy Writ Petty
The Boston Globe has an unintentionally hilarious piece on John Kerry this morning, which covers his efforts to wring as much political juice as he can by continued griping about Bush's National Guard service and the "Mission Accomplished" banner anniversary yesterday. Raja Mishra starts his report by noting the Senator's scattershot thinking: John F. Kerry walked into a diner here yesterday morning for a breakfast with fellow veterans, old soldiers gathered for a quiet discussion of war, death, and suffering on a day charged with political significance. He sought a low profile, but in a rare, unscripted conversation with those gathered, the Massachusetts senator questioned President Bush's wartime moral authority, suggested that Vice President Dick Cheney would face harsher scrutiny for potential war-profiteering if Democrats were in control of Congress, and vented about the tone of the presidential race [emph mine - Ed]. And all that was before he finished...
For A Guy Who Doesn't Fall Down ...
... John Kerry spends a lot of time suddenly appearing in the horizontal. This time, the SOB appears to be sand: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry took a spill from his bicycle after hitting a patch of sand during a ride Sunday afternoon, but he was uninjured, campaign officials said. Kerry was riding south on a two-lane road at about 1:00 p.m. in the direction of Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord, a quiet, suburban town about 18 miles northwest of Boston. He was approaching a stop light at the intersection with Route 2 and was slowing down when he veered left into the oncoming lane and fell, according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed him fall. Secret Service agents and local police immediately stopped traffic while Kerry and a handful of bicycling companions moved to the shoulder. The Secret Service detail apparently stayed off the bicycles, which meant...
May 3, 2004
LA Times: Kerry Losing Ground With Latinos
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Kerry campaign has stumbled significantly in its strategy towards the Latino community in four key states, allowing the Bush campaign to get far ahead of them. In Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Florida, the Bush campaign has already built networks of precinct staffs and regional management to court Latino voters, while Kerry has none in any of these states: In each of the ... battleground states where the Latino vote is pivotal Arizona, [New Mexico], Nevada and Florida the same is true: Bush has staff and headquarters; Kerry does not. Bush also has run television ads in Spanish in each of those states; Kerry has not. Kerry's slow start in appealing to Latinos has complicated his quest to keep Bush from making inroads with a voting bloc that's expected to play a key role this year in determining who wins the...
Brownstein Clueless on VP Candidates -- Or Kerry Is
The LA Times' Ron Brownstein, who normally has good connections to the Democrats, comes up with two laughable candidates for the VP slot: Bob Kerrey and Wesley Clark. Not that these two wouldn't have their supporters -- but based on recent experience, they would only add to John Kerry's liabilities instead of balancing the ticket. Brownstein sees it differently: Conspicuously missing from that list are candidates who could reinforce Kerry's national security credentials. But two might deserve more attention than they have received. Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who won a Medal of Honor in Vietnam, was an early hawk on Al Qaeda and Hussein and has reemerged through the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks as a powerful voice for a comprehensive assault on terrorism. Even more intriguing is a name that has attracted even less attention: former NATO Supreme Commander and 2004 Democratic presidential contender Wesley K. Clark....
Bad-Blood Brothers
John Kerry may take more pounding on what supposedly is the strength of his presidential-candidate resum -- his service in Vietnam. CNS News reports that a band of Kerry's brothers in the service, which includes all of his former commanding officers and most of his colleagues during his in-country service in Vietnam, have formed a group which plans on declaring that Kerry is unfit for office: Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed letter that he is "unfit to be commander-in-chief." They will do so at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday. "What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical in dimension," John O'Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com . The event, which is expected to draw...
May 4, 2004
Canelos to Kerry: Exploit Vietnam Vets Now, Not Later
Peter S. Canelos must have missed reading the news yesterday, which can be the only explanation for his column in the Boston Globe this morning. Canelos wonders what happened to John Kerry's "band of brothers," a tiresome phrase that has gone from Shakespearean to sappy in the space of a few months. The BoB haven't made an appearance since Kerry clinched the nomination, and Canelos exhorts Kerry to bring them back now: The mute testimony of the veterans ennobled Kerry, shining more light on his character than the loyal gazes of Nancy Reagan or Laura Bush could ever confer on their men. Kerry seemed to grow more formidable, and his sudden surge to the nomination coincided with the veterans' arrival at his side. Now, Kerry mostly campaigns alone, with aides, local politicians, and a cranky, sleep-deprived press corps as his entourage. His much-decorated service in the Vietnam War has become...
John Kerry Courts The Jewish Vote
Sometimes it's hard not to feel sorry for John Kerry as he stumbles his way through the early part of the campaign, but he has only himself to blame. In the same day, he managed to put his foot squarely in his mouth in comments aimed at garnering the Jewish vote. As Hugh Hewitt and my colleague Big Trunk at Power Line point out, Kerry made this incredible gaffe regarding their religion: For all of its history, ADL has been self-asked to live up to one of the oldest most fundamental principles of civilization. It is actually one of the Commandments as we know: "Love your neighbor." No, it's one of the commandments as we Christians know, because it came from the lips of Jesus himself. For Jewish activists at the Anti-Defamation League, this must have been a rather jarring note. Jews have a well-founded fear of cultural domination by...
May 5, 2004
Why Not Just Have Nader Endorse Kerry?
Bruce Ackerman, opining in today's New York Times editorial section, attempts to chide Ralph Nader into making his presidential campaign completely pointless. Okay, well, making it more pointless: With Ralph Nader bobbing along at 2 percent to 7 percent in the polls, now is the time to consider whether our system is flexible enough to avoid another election in which a candidate loses the popular vote but wins the presidency. The answer is yes if Mr. Nader chooses to cooperate. In November, Americans won't be casting their ballots directly for George Bush, John Kerry or Ralph Nader. From a constitutional point of view, they will be voting for competing slates of electors nominated in each state by the contenders. Legally speaking, the decisions made by these 538 members of the Electoral College determine the next president. In the case of Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry, electors will be named...
Bullish on Bush, Bearish on Events
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll holds an interesting trend for the presidential race -- half of the electorate are pessimistic about the direction of the country, but don't seem to be blaming Bush, who continues to slowly move farther ahead of John Kerry: Only a third of American voters believe the nation is in sound shape, but they are largely not blaming President Bush, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday, which showed Bush running slightly ahead of his Democratic opponent for president, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. The poll of 1,012 registered voters, conducted Saturday through Monday, found that 50 percent of Americans believe that things are off on the wrong track, compared with only 33 percent who said things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction. The rest said that prospects were mixed or that they were not sure....
May 6, 2004
Foreign Endorsements: Not Everyone Roots for Kerry
John Kerry got into hot water for telling a whopper earlier this year about foreign leaders who supposedly told him that he had to win this election so Bush would be out of the picture. Not only did he refuse to name any of these leaders, but he made an ass of himself by shouting down a voter who questioned him at a town-hall style meeting. Kerry continued to insist, when news organizations proved he hadn't had an opportunity to even be in the same city as a foreign leader for over a year, that one could meet up with foreign leaders in restaurants. Well, now Bush has a public endorsement from a foreign leader, and it comes from a surprising source -- conservative, Islamic Pakistan: [Pakistani Prime Minister] Zafarullah Khan Jamali's comment was a rare taking-of-sides by a world leader in another country's election, and one that is particularly...
A Moment To Acknowledge Our Humanity
Hindrocket at Power Line directs our attention to a story, with accompanying photograph, from the Cincinatti Enquirer about a moment on the campaign trail where we can remember that despite all of the partisan vitriol and rhetoric, we are all Americans. George Bush, making a campaign appearance in Lebanon, OH, shook hands with the crowd who had gathered to enthusiastically greet him. As he did, the following incident briefly made everyone forget about campaigns and speeches: Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke: "This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11." Bush stopped and turned back. "He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and...
May 7, 2004
The Kerrys Toss Out A Deadly Red Herring
The New York Times reports that Teresa Heinz-Kerry told Barbara Walters that she once almost had an abortion in the 1970s but a miscarriage made it unnecessary, in an interview that will be aired tonight: Teresa Heinz Kerry told a television interviewer this week that she had planned to have an abortion in the mid-1970's after discovering that cortisone she took while unaware of her pregnancy could cause birth defects but that she had a miscarriage the night before the scheduled procedure. "I'm pro-choice, because I'd like to have that choice myself," Mrs. Heinz Kerry, the wife of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, told Barbara Walters in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Friday night on the "20/20" program on ABC. "I presume that most women will look at a choice like that as a terrible choice. But they should be given the chance to make...
May 9, 2004
Torricelli Option Goes Mainstream
Howard Kurtz, the political correspondent for the Washington Post, writes in his column tomorrow about the Torricelli option, perhaps the first time it has received mainstream attention. Kurtz notes the despair and panic amongst the Democrats about just how bad a candidate Kerry really is, and how the alternatives are being considered: "John Kerry Must Go." That Village Voice headline may be a tad dramatic, but stories about disaffected Democrats are spreading like wildfire through the media forest. ... Strange as it seems, given that Kerry swept to the nomination, at least a few chattering-class members are discussing the Torricelli option, a reference to the replacement of scandal-scarred Robert Torricelli on the New Jersey ballot late in the 2002 U.S. Senate campaign. "Look for the Dem biggies, whoever they are these days, to sit down with the rich and arrogant presumptive nominee and try to persuade him to take a...
May 10, 2004
Zogby Falls Down
John Zogby writes an entertaining essay explaining why, in his opinion, the presidential election belongs to John Kerry. Zogby, whose polling data provided equal parts entertainment and incredulity in past elections, makes the strange assumption that a focus on the economy in the middle of an expansion will hurt the incumbent: First, my most recent poll (April 12-15) shows bad re-election numbers for an incumbent President. Senator Kerry is leading 47% to 44% in a two-way race, and the candidates are tied at 45% in the three-way race with Ralph Nader. Significantly, only 44% feel that the country is headed in the right direction and only 43% believe that President Bush deserves to be re-elected - compared with 51% who say it is time for someone new. In that same poll, Kerry leads by 17 points in the Blue States that voted for Al Gore in 2000, while Bush leads...
May 11, 2004
NYT Indulges in Pointless Red/Blue Rhetoric
Rick Lyman writes an odd analysis for the New York Times this morning regarding the supposedly red-meat rhetoric that the two major candidates for President use when preaching to the choir. Lyman sets up his analysis based on the red/blue state paradigm, but then assigns Louisiana blue-state status when Bush carried it by 8 points in 2000 and leads by 14 points now. He seems to get closer by referring to Ohio as a red state, as Bush edged Gore there by 4 points, but only leads by 2 now. If Lyman's research is poor, the rest of his analysis is equally suspect, as he quotes the candidates and their supporters using pretty much the same rhetoric they use anywhere: To applause and angry shouts, Mr. Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, told them not to be discouraged by Bush campaign efforts to paint him as an out-of-touch Northeast liberal....
May 12, 2004
The FEC Calls For A Punt
Faced with a tidal wave of unchecked money flowing to 527s in this election cycle, the Federal Election Commission response has revealed it to be completely unprepared to deal with the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reforms enacted in the last session of Congress. Now FEC lawyers want even more time to review the law before making decisions on how they apply to the 527s, even though the decision would then come far too late to have any significant effect on this election: Federal Election Commission lawyers recommended Tuesday that the agency hold off on deciding whether to impose new fund raising and spending limits on tax-exempt groups, which would allow them to spend millions on ads and other activities in this year's presidential race. FEC lawyers urged the commission to take at least three more months to review the issue. If the FEC approves the recommendation, it would make it unlikely the...
If He Can't Figure This Out ...
John Kerry continued his irresponsible rhetoric this morning on the Don Imus show, again insisting on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and claiming that changing DoD leadership in time of war would have no effect: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) said Wednesday any number of people, including Republican Sens. John McCain and John Warner, could replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, rejecting concerns that a change in Pentagon (news - web sites) leadership could hurt the war effort. "If America has reached a point where only one person has the ability in our great democracy to manage the Pentagon and to continue or to put in place a better policy even, we're in deeper trouble than you think," Kerry told broadcaster Don Imus. "I don't accept that. I just don't accept that. I think that's an excuse. The fact is that we need a...
Nader May Accept Reform Party Endorsement
In a move that has to worry Democratic Party leadership, the Reform Party officially endorsed Ralph Nader for President today, allowing him access to ballots in seven states: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been endorsed by the national Reform Party, giving him ballot access in seven states, including Florida and Michigan, party leaders announced Wednesday. Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said Nader welcomes the support but plans to continue running as an independent. He said Nader would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept the ballot lines in each state. The Democrats need to win both Florida and Michigan if they are to win the White House in 2004. Michigan went to the Democrats in 2000 by 4 points, about the same lead Kerry has in a two-way race right now. Florida, of course, went to Bush -- eventually -- by the slimmest of margins in 2000, and many...
May 15, 2004
A Great Example Of The Left's Hypocrisy On Race
The Left tosses another double standard at the Republicans today in an op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times. Lawrence Weschler, author and academic, writes a smirking, breathless piece on the audacity of George Bush to include pictures of black people on his website. Oh, the scandal! Of course, the lack of minorities in John Kerry's inner circle never quite comes up: Quick. Before they take it down. Go to your computer, log on to http://www.georgewbush.com the official Bush/Cheney '04 reelection website. ... Nice big picture of Bush merrily shooting the breeze with two black teenage girls. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll find a quadrant labeled Compassion Photos, with the invitation, "Click here for the Compassion Photo Album." Do so. And let's see, what have we got? First one up: short-sleeved Bush, holding a black kid in his arms, a bleacher full of black...
McCain: The Canary In The Mine of Democratic Desperation
The New York Times continues to insist that John Kerry wants Republican Senator John McCain to fill out the bottom of the Democratic ticket in November. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and reliable Kerry hack Jodi Wilgoren report from that even some Democrats often named as potential VP choices dream abut a Kerry-McCain ticket: Despite weeks of steadfast rejections from Senator John McCain, some prominent Democrats are angling for him to run for vice president alongside Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, creating a bipartisan ticket that they say would instantly transform the presidential race. The enthusiasm of Democrats for Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, is so high that even some who have been mentioned as possible Kerry running mates including Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator are spinning scenarios about a "unity government," effectively giving Mr. Kerry a green light to reach across the...
May 20, 2004
Navel-Gazing In New Jersey
Everyone says the same thing about polls in the spring -- they don't mean anything, it's still too early, lots of things could change, yada yada yada. They may not make a good predictor of the eventual outcome, but they certainly indicate how campaigns are performing -- and in heavily-Democratic New Jersey, the Kerry campaign has just received a shock: Forty-six percent of the respondents support Kerry, 43 percent back Bush, and 5 percent would vote for independent candidate Ralph Nader. The poll, released Thursday, has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Among independent voters polled, Kerry and Bush are about even in the race for New Jersey's 15 electoral votes. Kerry's favorability is poor in New Jersey, which Al Gore won by 16 percentage points in 2000. Twenty-seven percent approve of the Democrat, 28 percent don't and 33 percent are mixed, according to the...
May 21, 2004
Kerry, The Reluctant Bride
The presumptive Democratic nominee for President, John Kerry, wishes to remain "presumptive" as long as possible, it seems. Party activists now propose to have Kerry wait as long as possible to accept the nomination in order to avoid campaign-spending limits that kick in once the nomination is made: Sen. John Kerry may postpone accepting his party's presidential nomination at the July Democratic convention -- a tactic aimed at reserving his campaign war chest for the fight against President Bush. Under federal campaign rules, once a candidate accepts the party nomination, the campaign is limited to spending around $75 million. So, just as with the proliferation of 527s and MoveOn, we have the party of campaign-finance reform manipulating the rules on which they insisted for their own gain. If nothing else illustrates the futility and hypocrisy of classifying money into silly little categories, the spectacle of a major-party nominee addressing a...
If They're Unhappy Now ...
Boston reacted in disbelief and anger at the proposed closing of major highways for the four-day Democratic National Convention in July, and some businesses now may furlough workers during the week and close down: Boston business owners and area motorists reacted with disbelief and fury on Friday to plans to shut down major highways for security reasons during this summer's Democratic National Convention. ... Convention planners had already said one of Boston's two main train stations and some roads would close during the event. But on Thursday, officials unveiled a more draconian set of traffic restrictions involving several miles of highways. At the same time, they launched a new public relations campaign entitled "Let's Work Around It" which urges residents to adjust travel plans and asks businesses to let employees work from home or take vacation. In response, Boston's radio airwaves echoed with howls of protest from angry commuters, and...
May 22, 2004
Boston Awakes To A $15 Million Scam
The Boston Globe carries local reaction this morning to the Democrats' surprise announcement yesterday that the Democratic nominating convention may not produce a nominee. Needless to say, for a city that spening millions of dollars and proposing a week of major highway blockages and business shutdowns for the convention, the prospect of suffering all of this for a "pep rally" does not amuse Bostonians in the least: Local organizers were caught off-guard by the Kerry campaign yesterday. Mayor Thomas Menino told WBZ-TV, "I was very suprised by it." This week's announcements of road closings for the convention have already taken a toll, he said. "After being beat up two days, and now this. . . . It's just a question about why this wasn't brought up earlier." ... Raising the stakes for the city and state, too, the Democratic Party has received about $15 million in taxpayer funds to hold...
Village Voice Flashback: Kerry Obstructed POW/MIA Investigation
John Kerry released new advertisements this month designed to shore up his credentials on foreign policy and veterans' affairs. Among the statements made in the advertisements made in his support promoted Kerry's efforts in investigating the POW/MIA issue, along with John McCain, whose partnership Kerry's ads also promote. As Kerry says on his campaign blog: John Kerry and Senator John McCain chaired the country's most thorough investigation into the fate of POW/MIAs in Southeast Asia. Kerry has personally pressed Vietnamese officials to cooperate in ongoing efforts to get answers for families. And he also sponsored POW/MIA Recognition Day. Kerry's Senate committee pressed for unparalleled declassification of documents, increased excavation work in Vietnam, and gathering of testimony from 144 witnesses. According to the Boston Globe, "the effort produced real answers for the some 120 families who had lived for decades without knowing whether a loved one was still alive in Southeast...
Al Franken Calls For Voter Fraud To Elect Kerry
Ben Wikler, from Al Franken's Air America blog, has called for Democrats in safe states to move to so-called "battleground states," using Civil War imagery to promote the strategy of voter fraud in the latest example of left-wing contempt for democratic process (posted here and scroll down to 5/18/04, at the Permalink-deficient Air America website: Just as 1850s Kansas became a battleground in the fight against slavery, so has 2000s Ohio become a battleground state--in fact, some say, the battleground state--in the fight for the White House. If we win in Ohio, we almost certainly win the entire election. And we can win. But it will take some work. The most important factor, of course, is the work being done by Ohioans. But those of us in the rest of the nation could tip the balance. As the office of the Ohio Secretary of State notes, only 30 days of...
May 23, 2004
John Kerry, Wiseguy
Drudge has a report this morning that John Kerry remarked to a group of reporters about George Bush taking a tumble off of his bike on Friday at his Crawford ranch. According to Drudge: Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record... Developing... Hmmm. Well, in case anyone has forgotten, the paragon of athletic accomplishment has two tumbles to his credit -- one on his own bicycle earlier this month, and one off his snowboard in Idaho. (Actually, make that last one six falls.) Regarding the Idaho incident, Kerry handled that with as much grace as he apparently shows for Bush's tumble. As I blogged at the time: As Senator John Kerry carved his Burton snowboard down a green rated Upper College run, another skier interrupted his stride, colliding with the...
The Kerry Fire Drill Strategy
The Washington Post reviews the latest weather-vaning going on at the John Kerry campaign in an article humorously titled "Kerry Broadens Scope of His Pitch." Instead, Jim VanderHei and Dan Balz document the essence of the Kerry campaign as it has bounced between constituencies like a pinball at the arcade, promising centrism to one audience while defending leftist policies to another, and all the while with Democrats excusing his shiftiness as necessary to win the White House regardless of his misrepresentations. For example, Kerry's allies have not only pressured John McCain to accept the VP role but also Chuck Hagel, another Republican, despite significant policy differences. The Post never mentions anything about Kerry's outreach to Democrats, leaving the impression that Kerry's handlers believe that only a bipartisan ticket will win in November. In other policy venues, Kerry continues to play both sides of the fence, with increasing shamelessness: Despite the...
May 24, 2004
Bostonians Not Pleased With The Empty-Convention Tactic
John Kerry may be on the road today for his presidential campaign, and as far as some Bostonians are concerned, he should stay there. Beantowners aren't pleased at all to have spent a fortune on a nominating convention that won't nominate anyone, and both Boston dailies blast Kerry this morning. First, we have Adrian Walker in the Globe offering to write Kerry's non-speech for his non-nomination: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, delegates. Thank you, you suckers from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and FOX, for attending our nominating -- pardon me, our four-day "unity conference." ... I'd like to say a few words about my good friend Tom Menino, the mayor of this great city. Mayor, all Democrats owe you a debt of gratitude for your tireless efforts in shaking down everyone in town to raise money for this fabulous shindig. People will say it was all for nothing, that...
Ralph Nader, Political Advisor to Democrats
John Kerry has been given plenty of advice on selecting his candidate for Vice President; pundits and politicos alike have weighed in on the matter. Some even have suggested picking a Republican, apparently convinced that there are no qualified Democrats. (I've suggested that they need to address the same problem at the top of the ticket.) The AP reports today that one more politico has met with Kerry and extended his advice -- only the man in question intends on running against John Kerry in the general election: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said he had advised John Kerry to choose North Carolina Sen. John Edwards or Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt as his running mate on the Democratic ticket. ... "They're very careful," Nader said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "They're not going to cause him any embarrassment. And they do bring an additional voter support for him." The advice...
May 25, 2004
Nader, with Tinfoil Hat
Ralph Nader made a campaign detour through Tinfoil Hatville on his way to Manhattan, calling for President Bush's impeachment -- five months before the general election -- and saying that the terrorist threat to the US has been exaggerated mere blocks away from Ground Zero: Ralph Nader, the independent candidate for president, condemned President George W. Bush yesterday as a "messianic militarist" who should be impeached for pushing the nation into a war in Iraq "based on false pretenses." Mr. Bush's actions "rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors," Mr. Nader said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan. He said Mr. Bush had exceeded his authority in the face of widespread opposition at home and abroad. "The founding fathers did not want the declaration of war put in the hands of one man," he said, contending that United States foreign policy goals are...
The Libertarian Threat?
CBS News makes quite a splash today with an analysis of the presidential election and the impact that the Libertarian Party will have on conservative voters this fall. Despite a decades-long history of utter futility and the consistent selection of obscure candidates, suddenly CBS thinks that a Libertarian challenge to Bush's war and budget policies could spell the difference between his re-election and his defeat: With conservatives upset over the ballooning size of the federal government under a Republican White House and Congress and a portion of the political right having opposed the war in Iraq from the start or else dismayed at how it's being handled the Libertarian nominee, who will be on the ballot in 49 states, may do for Democrats in 2004 what Nader did for Republicans in 2000. It is a hypothesis not yet made in the mainstream media. But interviews with third-party experts...
May 26, 2004
John Kerry, The Lonely Guy
Another Democrat makes it clear that no one from his party is as qualified to be Vice President as a Republican by again suggesting John McCain as Kerry's running mate. Only this time, the Democrat making the suggestion is presumed VP short-list candidate Dick Gephardt: Representative Richard A. Gephardt, the Missouri Democrat who has often been mentioned as a running mate for Senator John Kerry, is talking kindly about another choice: Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Asked after a speech in California on Monday what he thought of Mr. McCain's potential for the Democratic presidential ticket, Mr. Gephardt described him as a "very attractive figure in American politics" who "would be accepted by the Democratic Party," according to CNN. Mr. McCain is "someone a lot of Democrats could get interested in," Mr. Gephardt said at the Leon Panetta Center in Monterrey. Gephardt's comments come just days after Ralph Nader...
Well, If It's Not Too Much Trouble
John Kerry has deigned to accept the nomination for the Democratic presidential ticket at the nominating convention, apparently deciding that playing games with both his hometown power base and the $15 million in federal funding would be too stupid, even for his campaign: Bowing to pressure, John Kerry decided Wednesday to accept the nomination at the Democratic presidential convention in July, scuttling a plan to delay the formality so he could narrow President Bush's public money advantage. ... The statement ended four days of controversy over an idea that was supposed to remain a secret for several more weeks. This ends yet another tone-deaf episode for John Kerry and his campaign staff, who demonstrated that they have no talent for national politics, and possibly even state and local politics are beyond them. Not only is this illustrated by the entire foolish notion of delaying the acceptance of the nomination, but...
May 27, 2004
The Nader Effect
As the LA Times reports in its analysis today, John Kerry's campaign strategy on Iraq has come under fire from both sides, as George Bush continues to push for greater international involvement in Iraqi reconstruction and Nader stumps for withdrawal, an option increasingly popular with Kerry's base: From one side, Kerry confronts calls from growing numbers of Democrats to establish a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. That idea will receive a major boost today when Win Without War, a coalition of 42 liberal groups, launches a campaign urging the U.S. to set a date for ending its military presence in Iraq. From the other direction, Bush has come much closer to Kerry's view that the U.S. should rely more on the United Nations to oversee the transition from occupation to a sovereign Iraqi government, thus blurring the contrast between the two men. In the long run, these shifts...
May 28, 2004
Kerry: Looking Backwards On Security
John Kerry talks about strengthening security and fighting terrorists, saying earlier this week that those who plan to attack us should understand that he would hunt them down and kill them, if he became president. However, The New York Times reports today that the foreign policy/national security team he has assembled for his campaign represents a flashback to eight years of the so-called "law-enforcement approach" that culminated in the 9/11 attack: Seated in leather swivel chairs in the glass-walled conference room at Senator John Kerry's Washington campaign headquarters two Fridays ago was a veritable reunion of President Bill Clinton's national security team: Madeleine K. Albright, Samuel R. Berger, William J. Perry and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili. Richard C. Holbrooke joined his former colleagues via conference call from Tokyo. ... Besides the Clintonites and Mr. Biden, those in the loop or on its fringe include former Senator Gary Hart, who ran...
May 29, 2004
Kerry: Democracy Not Important
In words that echo his 1971 Senate testimony on the Vietnam war, John Kerry told the Washington Post that establishing democracy would not be a priority of a Kerry administration, preferring to work on more pressing issues other than liberty and freedom: Sen. John F. Kerry indicated that as president he would play down the promotion of democracy as a leading goal in dealing with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China and Russia, instead focusing on other objectives that he said are more central to the United States' security. ... In many ways, Kerry laid out a foreign-policy agenda that appeared less idealistic about U.S. aims than President Bush or even fellow Democrat former president Bill Clinton. While Kerry said it was important to sell democracy and "market it" around the world, he demurred when questioned about a number of important countries that suppress human rights and freedoms. He said securing...
A Clinton Rescue?
You won't read this in American newspapers, but the London Telegraph reports that the John Kerry presidential campaign has decided that they need Bill Clinton to energize the lackluster candidate that John Kerry has proved to be: Top advisers to the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, have asked Bill Clinton to play a starring role in the final months of the Massachusetts senator's campaign. ... "There has been talk about the danger of Bill Clinton overshadowing John," said a senior Democrat last week, "but the decision has been taken to accept him as being centre stage and hope that some of the magic rubs off". After spending the past few months worrying that the release of Clinton's memoirs, due in mid-June, would drown out the struggling Kerry campaign as Clinton attracted all of the limelight, the Democrats now appear to hope that Kerry gets buried. As has been remarked by...
May 30, 2004
CBS Poll Skewed, Biased Against Bush
Note: This originally was going to be an update on my post from yesterday noting the desperation at the Kerry campaign and their plan to bring in Bill Clinton to boost Kerry on the stump. After being challenged in the comments about polling numbers, I intended on giving a brief explanation ... but you know how 'brief' I can get ... The recent CBS News poll, published May 24th, showed a dramatic increase in support for John Kerry and an equally significant drop in George Bush's approval ratings. It looked as though John Kerry had finally achieved some traction in the race, using his new advertising campaign to attack Bush at a vulnerable point and building some momentum towards the convention. CBS' poll got massive exposure in the mainstream media and generated a huge amount of buzz in the blogosphere. The poll only has one problem. It lies. Just to...
John Tierney Attempts Spin Control
The New York Times' John Tierney reviews the John Kerry nomination two-step in his political roundup today, noting that the episode has some of the earmarks of a trial balloon. If that's the case, Tierney's piece has all of the indicators of spin control, trying to give the Kerry campaign a boost it doesn't deserve for this debacle: The news broke on a Friday afternoon, politicians' favorite time for leaking problematic stories they hope will not get noticed by the public over the weekend. At first glance, it looked like a radical idea being put out discreetly to test reaction among the chattering classes a classic trial balloon. But campaign officials have steadfastly insisted, on and off the record, that the leak was not authorized, and other Democrats say they believe them. As one well-connected Democratic strategist noted, it was hard to believe professionals would have planned this one....
May 31, 2004
Libertarian Nonsense No Threat To Two-Party System ... Again
Jon at QandO points out that the Libertarian Party has nominated its selection for President -- the selection that CBS News breathlessly suggested last week would create a threat on the Republican's right flank. Jon, who regularly blogs on libertarian issues and philosophy, can't wait to not support Michael Bednarik: I mean, really. It's like the LP is competing with PETA to see who can appear more ridiculous in pursuit of Idealism. 10 out of 10 for standing on principle, but minus a few thousand for doing it in a clown costume. Why does Jon get so cynical about the Libertarian Party? As Jon suggests, take a look at the approach on issues that their candidate espouses, and try to think how these will go over with either the left or the right of the political spectrum in November: Children take drugs because criminals actively sell them. Criminals sell drugs...
June 1, 2004
Trouble Brewing In New Jersey For Kerry
The Washington Post's Evelyn Nieves analyzes John Kerry's poor polling in New Jersey, a traditional Democratic bastion of support that Al Gore carried by sixteen points in 2000. Recent polls indicate Kerry's support drifting downwards, to the point where the Quinnipiac poll of 5/10-16 shows Bush within the margin of error in a three-way race. Democratic activists proclaim their confidence in the safety of New Jersey, but as Nieves reports, privately they express concern over the lack of momentum in the Kerry campaign: Democratic Party officials here and nationally dismissed the poll as a fluke. They pointed to the fundraising records that Kerry is breaking, to the polls that keep looking better for him as they get worse for Bush, and to the attention that Kerry will receive when the news focuses more on the campaign. One poll in New Jersey, they added, will not stand up when the state's...
Can We Just Stick To The Debate?
The ever-reliable NewsMax (hah!) ran a story today that my friends on the right just can't resist -- that John Kerry, in the middle of a presidential campaign, with every major media outlet haunting each step, on a day honoring fallen American soldiers, flipped the bird to a protesting veteran: Democratic senator - and certain presidential nominee - John F. Kerry gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning, NewsMax.com has learned. ... Just then Kerry - in front of the school children, other visitors and Secret Service agents - brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley and then yelled out to everyone, "Sampley is a felon!" Look, as anyone who reads my blog knows, I am no fan of the most liberal Massachussetts Senator. I think he's dangerously vacillating, pompous, and narcissistic. But he's no idiot, and the last thing John...
Raines Rants, Advises Kerry To Lie Better
Howell Raines writes an editorial in tomorrow's London Guardian expressing serious concerns about John Kerry as a candidate, and in the process exposes the obvious bias he inculcated into the New York Times as editor-in-chief before his ignominious fall from the Jayson Blair affair. Raines' Bush-hatred comes through, loud and clear, even while he argues persuasively that John Kerry hasn't demonstrated any of the requisite skills to beat the incumbent. First off, though, Raines displays an amazing lack of historical knowledge that explains why the New York Times only discovers homelessness during Republican administrations: As America's first war-hero candidate since John F Kennedy, he ought to be leading the national discussion on what went wrong in Iraq. Raines either forgets or never knew that the first President Bush flew fighter missions in World War II, was shot down in the Pacific, and didn't come back to the US afterwards to...
June 3, 2004
Kerry Campaign Violated Copyright, Paper Says
The presidential campaign of John Kerry, who earlier this week got flack from the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth over the use of members' images in Kerry commercials, ran into a similar issue today when a Texas newspaper accused the campaign of stealing copyrighted photographs and demanded an apology: Corpus Christi Caller-Times is asking Democrat John Kerry to apologize for what it says was the unauthorized use in a Kerry campaign commercial of photos copyrighted by the newspaper. Editor Libby Averyt said Thursday that the ad, which is not running in Texas, appeared to use photos from "South Texas Heroes," a book on veterans published by the newspaper. "No request was made to the Caller-Times for any of the photos," Averyt said. ... The newspaper's attorney, Jorge C. Rangel, on Thursday asked Kerry in a letter to stop using the ads and to apologize to the soldiers' families as...
June 4, 2004
So How Badly Do We Want To Win?
The London Telegraph reports on Republican efforts to increase their support in the African-American community, and notes that Ed Gillespie has won an endorsement from a well-known celebrity. He's a man who has been in the public eye for decades, known for his glib manner of speaking and his hairstyle. Oh, yeah, he's been convicted of manslaughter and indicted for fraud, too: This week found Mr Gillespie, a former lobbyist, on the stage of a Philadelphia jazz club, addressing the city's black business elite. He was flanked on one side by last year's Miss America, Erika Harold, statuesque in a brocade suit. On the other stood the boxing promoter, Don King, his trademark silver quiff combed a good six inches above his head. Mr King held an American flag in one hand, and wore a Stars and Stripes tie round his neck, set off by a large crown-shaped pendant, set...
Open Thread: John Kerry Says US Military Backs Him
Earlier today, John Kerry told an audience in Minneapolis that he could carry the military vote in November, despite conventional wisdom: "You'd be amazed at the number of active duty personnel who are coming up at events around the country, greeting me in ropelines or coming to rallies and telling me how important it is for us to stand up and fight for those who are not able to speak out for themselves right now for obvious reasons," Kerry said. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee added: "But the numbers of active duty people quietly coming and saying we need a change, we need to build a modern military, we need to do the things necessary to protect our troops, we need to have all our allies on the ground in Iraq ... that's what this race is about." I'm not qualified to comment on this (like that's ever stopped me)...
June 6, 2004
The Kerry Response: Classy, And Something More?
John Kerry responded to the passing of Ronald Reagan with class and restraint yesterday, even deciding to allow for a pause in his campaign schedule to attend a Reagan memorial today and possibly for a few days more. Kerry, speaking about the opposition's greatest inspiration for generations, said this in a press release shortly after the news of Reagan's death went public: Even when he was breaking Democrats hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate," Kerry said in a statement. "The differences were real, but because of the way President Reagan led, he taught us that there is a big difference between strong beliefs and bitter partisanship. Another quote in the same release, however, has Kerry's political fingerprints all over it, and points towards a possible strategy for Kerry to use to attract swing voters with lasting affection for the 40th...
June 7, 2004
Republican National Convention Is On Line
The Republican National Convention has a new web site for those of us who want to keep close tabs on the events in New York this summer -- for whatever reason. I received an e-mail from the GOP this morning announcing its launch: While the convention will take place inside Madison Square Garden, people all over the nation will take part in the events through our Web site. Leading up to the first day of the convention on August 30, the site will be your source for convention news; web chats with special guests, convention staff, and New York City officials; delegate information and profiles; as well as logistical information for media covering the convention. When the gavel drops, the site will host live webcasts, broadcast video web chats, and provide programming between convention sessions. Our web team is also planning to launch interactive content that will break new ground...
June 10, 2004
John Kerry's Depression
The only possible explanation for John Kerry's continued talking about the Great Depression is that he's discussing his own state of mind. The new unemployment numbers came out today, and instead of affirming Kerry's charge that this is the worst jobs market since the FDR presidency, the Labor Department that the number of people receiving unemployment benefits has dropped to its lowest level since May 2001: Even though the Labor Department reported a slight rise in first-time jobless claims, the market wasn't alarmed, given that claims are still far lower than a year ago, and the number of people currently receiving unemployment insurance is at a three-year low. ... The Labor Department said there were 352,000 first-time unemployment claims last week, up 12,000 from the week before but down from 424,000 in the same week a year ago. In addition, the number of people drawing unemployment insurance fell by 106,000...
June 12, 2004
No Means No, Even For Senators (Sometimes)
John Kerry continues to embarrass himself by making passes at John McCain, fellow Senator and Vietnam veterran, trying through intermediaries to seduce him into joining the Democratic ticket as a VP choice. The AP reports this afternoon that McCain has now categorically told Kerry that he won't consider running on Kerry's ticket, no matter how much the Democrats beg: Republican Sen. John McCain has personally rejected John Kerry's overtures to join the Democratic presidential ticket and forge a bipartisan alliance against President Bush, The Associated Press has learned. Kerry has asked McCain as recently as late last month to consider becoming his running mate, but the Arizona senator said he's not interested, said a Democratic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because Kerry has insisted that his deliberations be kept private. A second official familiar with the conversations confirmed the account, and said the Arizona senator made it clear...
June 13, 2004
Maybe He Doesn't Know The Law
Ralph Nader, who gained fame as a consumer-advocate lawyer, appears to need a brush-up course on electoral and tax law. The Washington Post reports that Nader has housed his campaign headquarters in the offices of his tax-exempt charity Citizen Works since October: Tax law explicitly forbids public charities from aiding political campaigns. Violations can result in a charity losing its tax-exempt status. In addition, campaign law requires candidates to account for all contributions -- including shared office space and resources, down to the use of copying machines, receptionists and telephones. Records show many links between Nader's campaign and the charity Citizen Works. For example, the charity's listed president, Theresa Amato, is also Nader's campaign manager. The campaign said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that Amato resigned from the charity in 2003. But in the charity's most recent corporate filing with the District, in January, Amato listed herself as...
June 14, 2004
Gephardt? He Could Do Worse
US News and World Report have a cryptic, two-sentence, anonymously sourced report that John Kerry has decided to pick Dick Gephardt, the retired House Minority Leader, as his VP nominee: Labor leaders believe union friend Rep. Dick Gephardt has the inside track to be Sen. John Kerry 's vice president. We hear that AFL-CIO execs say it's a done deal. Gephardt makes an interesting choice for Kerry, and in some ways a very sensible one. Gephardt has decades of experience and more political heft than Kerry outside of New England, especially (as noted) with labor. Gephardt also ran towards the center on the war on terror; only he and Joe Lieberman actually gave wholehearted support to the removal of Saddam Hussein, although both felt the aftermath was planned poorly and made numerous suggestions for changes. Gephardt also could carry Missouri, which went for Bush in 2000 by four points and...
June 16, 2004
Boston's 3-Ring Circus Over Budget
Washington's WTOP website carries an AP report that the Democratic National Convention is a whopping $5M over budget, with six weeks to go before the festivities begin: The Democratic National Convention will be more than $5 million over budget due to increased construction costs and unexpected production expenses. Construction on the FleetCenter sports arena, site of the event, began last week after a delay due to union protests and is slated to cost $13.9 million, up from an original estimate of $10.7 million, according to Democratic National Convention Committee spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide. ... Convention organizers also approved a $9.1 million production budget this week, up from a projected cost of $6 million. Much of the increase stems from higher-than-expected labor costs, Wilhide said, and other additional expenses that were not anticipated two years ago when the budget was planned. Labor costs are 50 percent higher in Boston than Los Angeles,...
Still Missing His Rabies Shot
Alert reader and fellow blogger Marc from Cranial Cavity forwarded me this link to a Union-Leader article from Sunday, which reports on Al Gore's screech speech to a Manchester, NH Democratic fundraiser. It looks like what James Taranto calls the "erstwhile veep" has not yet stopped foaming at the mouth regarding his nemesis from 2000, George Bush: Al Gore last night charged President Bush has endangered Americas position in the world with a mistaken invasion of Iraq and by flaunting international convention. This was done in our name. This changes for many in the world the meaning of America, the image of America, Gore told 300 Democrat powerbrokers at a fundraiser for the city party. In a fiery 40 minute speech, the former vice president knocked the Bush administration for using wrong information to justify the invasion, in particular for relying on Iraqi dissident Ahmed Chalabi, who has since been...
June 17, 2004
AP: Vilsack VP Chances Muy Malo
The AP, analyzing the heightening suspense as John Kerry decides on his running mate, reports that Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's prospects look poor after a review of his record shows that Vilsack signed a measure making English the state's official language: Iowa's English-only measure and dozens like it nationwide draw virtually unanimous and vehement opposition from Hispanics, an important Democratic constituency, who view them as thinly veiled racism. Hispanics, the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, are being eagerly courted by Democrat John Kerry and President Bush. ... The English-only bill was hotly debated for two years before it passed the Republican-controlled Legislature in February 2002. Liberal and labor groups urged Vilsack to veto it and staged vigils at his home and the Statehouse. Backers cited polls showing overwhelming support for the bill and said they were hardly surprised that he signed it. The law makes English the state's official...
George and John, Together Again For The First Time
The Washington Post, having done almost everything imaginable to feed the rumors of a John Kerry-John McCain Democratic ticket until McCain finally scotched the rumor for at least the third time, now wants to backtrack and bring their meme into reality. Today's report by Dan Balz and Mike Allen now say that Bush and McCain have reached out to each other in the personages of Karl Rove and John Weaver: After being courted by John F. Kerry to consider joining the Democratic presidential ticket, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will join President Bush on Air Force One on Friday and introduce him at a campaign event in Reno, Nev., campaign officials said yesterday. Bush and McCain have had a frosty relationship ever since competing for the Republican nomination in 2000, and Bush aides have fumed at McCain's occasional barbs in televised interviews during which he was asked repeatedly about the vice...
Pew Poll Demonstrates Bush Hatred Subsiding
Hugh Hewitt directs his readers to the latest results of the Pew Research Center poll, released today for the polling period of 6/3-9. Far from the common perception that Bush has faded, the Pew poll shows resurgent numbers for Bush in most categories, especially in war support: Americans are paying markedly less attention to Iraq than in the last two months. At the same time, their opinions about the war have become more positive. The number of Americans who think the U.S. military effort is going well has jumped from 46% in May to 57%, despite ongoing violence in Iraq and the widening prison abuse scandal. And the percentage of the public who believes it was right to go to war inched up to 55%, from 51% in May. The new Pew survey indicates that many Americans are becoming less connected to the news about Iraq and possibly more hardened...
June 21, 2004
Kerry Takes Tainted Money, Returns It
Howard Kurtz (scroll way down) thinks this will be a problem for John Kerry: John Kerry's campaign collected a maximum $2,000 check from the recently arrested son of South Korea's disgraced former president, and some of its fund-raisers met several times with a South Korean government official who was trying to organize a Korean-American political group. The Kerry campaign said it did not know about the $2,000 donation from Chun Jae-yong or his background until informed by The Associated Press and has decided to return the money to avoid any appearance of impropriety. "We are sending the check back," spokesman Michael Meehan said. Eh. I don't share Kurtz's interest in this story. For one thing, according to the story, the Kerry campaign attempted to vet this donation as good as could be expected, especially in the heat of a fundraising hurricane. Now that they've discovered the problem, they're returning the...
June 22, 2004
WaPo/ABC Poll: Skip It
The new Washington Post/ABC Poll released yesterday is yet another poorly sampled poll in a season full of pretenders. In this case, the WaPo/ABC sample was not the most reliable type, likely voters, or even registered voters; it was the least reliable indicator of elections, "randomly selected adults": Public anxiety over mounting casualties in Iraq and doubts about long-term consequences of the war continue to rise and have helped to erase President Bush's once-formidable advantage over Sen. John F. Kerry concerning who is best able to deal with terrorist threats, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Exactly half the country now approves of the way Bush is managing the U.S. war on terrorism, down 13 percentage points since April, according to the poll. Barely two months ago, Bush comfortably led Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, by 21 points when voters were asked which man they trusted to deal...
Nader Picks Running Mate From California
Independent candidate and potential spoiler Ralph Nader made two major announcements yesterday, selecting his running mate and announcing his openness to the Green Party endorsement in the fall. For his dance partner in November, Nader selected Peter Camejo, a man who once ran for President with the Socialists and who was last seen vying for Gray Davis' job in the California recall: Nader's selection of Camejo gives further shape to a left-leaning, antiwar campaign many Democrats fear will spoil their effort to unseat President Bush. It bolstered Nader's quest to win an endorsement from the Greens at their national convention, which begins Wednesday in Milwaukee. If Nader succeeds, he could win ballot access in 22 states including California and the District of Columbia. Camejo also improves Nader's access to an important constituency. A fluent Spanish speaker of Venezuelan descent, Camejo plans to campaign vigorously for Latino votes coveted...
June 23, 2004
Who Asked You?
Senator Joe Biden really knows how to wear out a welcome, according to Reliable Source, the quasi-gossip column for politics edited by Richard Leiber in the Washington Post. Leiber notes the following report from the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone: Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) might not be invited back to the Oval Office anytime soon to do his Donald Trump imitation. In May he dispensed blunt advice to President Bush on whom he would fire. As Biden recounts in the new Rolling Stone: "I turned to Vice President Cheney, who was there, and I said, 'Mr. Vice President, I wouldn't keep you if it weren't constitutionally required.' I turned back to the president and said, 'Mr. President, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are bright guys, really patriotic, but they've been dead wrong on every major piece of advice they've given you. That's why I'd get rid of them, Mr. President...
Kerry's Dukakis Moment?
The Kerry campaign will scramble this afternoon with this AP report that one of their critical support groups has hired convicted felons -- in some cases, sex offenders -- to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives: A Democratic group crucial to John Kerry's presidential campaign has paid felons some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states. America Coming Together, contending that convicted criminals deserve a second chance in society, employs felons as voter canvassers in major metropolitan areas in Missouri, Florida, Ohio and perhaps in other states among the 17 it is targeting in its drive. Some of the felons lived in halfway houses, and at least four returned to prison. ... Although it works against the re-election of President Bush, ACT is an independent group not affiliated with the Kerry campaign federal law forbids...
A Poor Response
The AP has updated its story on the use of convicted felons in door-to-door canvassing for Democratic voter registration drives by Americans Coming Together. The story now includes a response from the Kerry campaign, which figures to be the beneficiary of ACT's $100 million effort this election cycle, a response that certainly does nothing to bolster confidence in Kerry's concern for public safety: Although it works against the re-election of President Bush, ACT is an independent group not affiliated with Kerry's campaign federal law forbids such coordination. Yet ACT is stocked with veteran Democratic political operatives, many with past ties to Kerry and his advisers. Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman with the Kerry campaign, said there is no coordination with ACT, and of the policy: "We're unaware of it and have nothing to do with it." The Kerry campaign site's press-release page doesn't mention it at all. Instead, today's entries...
June 25, 2004
Fox Poll Shows Bush Pulling Ahead
A new Fox poll of registered voters -- still not as reliable as likely voters, but better than the sampling done by the recent Washington Post/ABC poll -- shows Bush pulling ahead of Kerry by six points, gaining strength from the booming economy and the approaching transfer of sovereignty to Iraq: Even as insurgents increase their attacks in the days leading up to the June 30 handover, the publics belief that going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do is holding steady. Majorities believe there was a partnership between Saddam and Al Qaeda, and that military action abroad is necessary to protect from having to fight terrorists on U.S. soil. In addition, brightening impressions on the condition of the economy helped President Bush improve his standing against Democrat John Kerry this week, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. President Bush currently has an advantage over...
Democrat To Address Republican Nominating Convention
Every Republican's favorite Democrat, Georgia Senator Zell Miller, will speak to the Republican Nominating Convention in order to formally endorse George Bush's candidacy. Miller, who's hardly been shy about his disenchantment with his own party's direction, provides the "unity" campaign that John Kerry tried to build with John McCain, and failed: According to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Miller will give his address on Wednesday night of the four-day convention in New York that begins Aug. 30. The Bush-Cheney campaign was expected to make an official announcement later in the day. The speech by Miller, a former two-term governor, comes 12 years after he delivered the keynote address for Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, also held in New York. Miller, who is retiring in January, has voted with Republicans more often than his own party and has been a key sponsor of many of...
June 26, 2004
Greens Give Red Light To Nader
Ralph Nader recently reversed himself and publicly campaigned for an "endorsement" from the Green Party, the third-party outsiders who nominated Nader in 2000 and the candidate rejected last December. The Greens gave their answer today by blowing a raspberry at the consumer advocate and instead nominating David Cobb, a longtime party activist: The Green Party on Saturday refused to back Ralph Nader in his independent run for the White House, a move that could reduce his chances of being a factor in this year's election. Delegates to the half-million-member party's presidential convention voted to nominate party activist David Cobb, a California lawyer who led the delegate count going into the meeting. Nader had announced his selection of Green Party stalwart Peter Camejo as his running mate earlier this week in order to convince the Green's nominating convention to fall in with his proposed consolidation of various third-party movements. The Reform...
June 28, 2004
Kerry: The Failed Diplomat
John Kerry has made George Bush's supposedly failed diplomacy his major campaign theme this election cycle. Kerry's has trumpeted his long involvement in foreign relations as his main qualification for the Presidency. Now comes word that Kerry's personal diplomacy couldn't resolve a simple contract dispute between two of his own supporters, forcing him to cancel a campaign appearance: Caught in a labor dispute between his hometown mayor and the city's police and firefighters' unions, Senator John Kerry sided Sunday with the unions. Mr. Kerry had planned to give a speech here on Monday morning to the United States Conference of Mayors. But members of the city's largest police union, who have been working without a contract for two years, along with the firefighters, who are also in contract talks, have been picketing Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the host of the conference, wherever he goes, and were set to do so...
Two Tales Of One Poll
The CBS/New York Times poll results have been reported on the web sites of both news organizations, but from the divergent treatment given on each, a reader could be forgiven for thinking that they're discussing two completely different stories. First, the CBS article focuses on the main story, which is that even CBS/NYT's flawed polling shows a sharp increase in support for George Bush from a month ago: Despite concerns about his handling of Iraq, and an overall approval rating of 42%, George W. Bush is still running neck and neck with Democrat John Kerry as the choice of registered voters. Growing public optimism about the nations economy has helped lift support for the President. Kerry is the choice of 45% of registered voters, Bush the choice of 44%. This is a sharp turnaround for the Bush campaign in the span of just one month; in May, Kerry had opened...
June 29, 2004
Voting Themselves Into Irrelevancy
Extending the debate into the monochromatic nature of the John Kerry campaign, today's Washington Post again details complaints from the African-American community about the lack of access to the Democratic nominee and the paucity of its representation within his organization. At the same time, the Post inadvertently notes the reasons why Kerry feels little pressure to change: Although the Massachusetts senator has many black supporters, civil rights leaders and academics are grumbling about his absence from black communities and a lack of top black officials in his campaign. "You pick up the paper . . . and you see a picture where he's surrounded by all whites," Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who helped run two presidential campaigns, said of Kerry. "That's sensitive to black Democrats. It raises questions about the lack of blacks and Hispanics in his inner circle." Nine out of 10 black Americans voted...
Romney Steps In Where Kerry Fears To Tread
In a misstep that may demonstrate a critical lack of courage in the face of adversity, John Kerry left his political support twisting in the wind yesterday when he abandoned Boston Mayor Thomas Menino due to the presence of police pickets. While not technically on strike, Kerry nonetheless opted -- after failing to reach a diplomatic solution to the impasse -- to snub the Mayors' Conference led by his campaign co-chair Menino. Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney took the opportunity to speak in his absence, demonstrating an executive persona that Romney hinted Kerry lacks: First, John Kerry, the putative Democratic presidential nominee, decided Sunday not to attend the annual meeting of the nation's mayors here, refusing to cross a picket line of police union members feuding with Boston's mayor. Then, on Monday, Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino, who is not only a Democrat but also the host of the Democratic National...
Is Quid Pro Quo Latin For Gephardt's Out?
The other shoe dropped in the kerfuffle over John Kerry's refusal to cross the ersatz picket line outside of the Mayors' Conference Sunday. Today, the police union announced that it has dropped plans to picket the Democratic National Convention next month due to Kerry's sop to the union this weekend: Boston's main police union abandoned yesterday their threat to picket at the site of next month's Democratic National Convention, handing Senator John F. Kerry a major victory on the day he honored the union's picket line by not making a speech before a US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston. ... The shift in the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association's picketing strategy would allow Kerry and thousands of convention delegates and members of the media to enter the FleetCenter unimpeded, despite the city's ongoing labor woes. But Kerry's cancellation drew sharp criticism from both Democratic and Republican mayors, who angrily accused...
Speaking Of Irrelevancy, How 'Bout That Dead Guy For President?
Nominating conventions for political parties usually include a certain level of regional silliness; delegates wear outrageous outfits and cover themselves with buttons, shirts, and hats that represent their home state as much as their favored candidate. Delegate counts usually are coupled with sloganeering such as, "The great state of Texas, home of the Alamo and the world's largest spitoon, casts its 78 votes for John Doe!" It's all in fun, and the relentlessly upbeat messages contribute to the carnival atmosphere in which everyone wants to participate. Given all of that, the Greens certainly know how to take the party out of the Party: Major-party convention halls usually ring with unabashed pride and self-promotion as vote announcers remind everyone that "the great state of [fill-in-the-blank]" is home to this sainted man or that unparalleled mountain range. At the Greens' convention, though, the spin was a little different. Delegates were told, for...
Kerry Crosses Picket Line In Chicago
In what appears to be yet another flip-flop, John Kerry reportedly crossed a picket line in Chicago to speak at a Rainbow-PUSH meeting, Instapundit reports this evening: Northwestern Univ. Law Professor James Lindgren sends this email: As the New York Times reported yesterday, John Kerry refused to cross a picket line on Monday in Boston to speak to the National Conference of Mayors. He was quoted as saying on Sunday night: "'I don't cross picket lines,' he said. 'I never have.'" Yet this morning (Tuesday) in Chicago Kerry spoke at the annual meeting of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, which was being very actively picketed by a labor group, Voices of Morality (VOM). VOM is leading a labor discrimination protest against Daimler-Chrysler (the signs that the picketers were holding looked very much like ones in pictures on the VOM website). Jackson and the PUSH conference were being targeted because, according to...
Republican "Outsourcing" A Scam: RNC Complaint
The Republican National Committe has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming that a Texas non-profit falsely represented itself as a Republican organization in order to embarrass the GOP with its use of a call center in India for contribution collections: The Republican National Committee filed a complaint Tuesday accusing a Texas group of posing as a GOP organization to raise money by phone using an Indian telemarketing firm and through fund-raising mailings. The fund-raising telephone calls prompted false, widespread rumors that the RNC was outsourcing its donor phone calls to India, the committee's complaint to the Federal Election Commission says. The complaint accuses The Republican Victory Committee, based in Irving, Texas, of impersonating the Republican Party and fraudulently raising money by telling prospective donors it was being solicited by the GOP for use by Republican candidates. Jody Novacek, whom the GOP accuses of running this scam, insists...
June 30, 2004
CQ Prediction: Kerry Gains In Polling This Week
The AP notes that the John Kerry campaign will return to its most successful campaign strategy this week, although only briefly: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is taking a two-day break from campaigning and will spend the time at his wife's country estate preparing for his party's national convention next month. Kidding aside, the AP also notes that Kerry met with "potential running mate" Gov. Janet Napolitano from Arizona, who introduced him to the National Council of La Raza, a mainstream Latino interest group. I confess I haven't heard much about Napolitano as a running mate, but that choice makes more sense, at least superficially, than John Edwards and could be far more damaging to the Republicans. NCLR shows no information on Napolitano -- one would presume a Latino governor would get at least a mention on their website, so I'd presume Napolitano is Italian rather than Hispanic. Napolitano has...
Kerry Campaign "Incompetent": Boston Mayor
The Boston Herald got an exclusive interview with a hopping-mad Mayor Thomas Menino after a series of provocations from the John Kerry campaign left him questioning the competency of Kerry and his staff. Menino launched several attacks during his interview with David Guarino and Noelle Straub: Mayor Thomas M. Menino unloaded a searing attack on fellow Democrat John F. Kerry yesterday, calling his presidential campaign ``small-minded'' and ``incompetent'' - laying bare a years-old rift weeks before the city plays host to Kerry's FleetCenter coronation. Menino, in an exclusive Herald interview, let loose on the hometown senator two days after Kerry snubbed him by siding with union picketers outside a U.S. Conference of Mayors event. ... Menino said he was enraged to see a local newspaper item saying he hung up on Kerry Sunday. The mayor yesterday said Kerry's campaign floated the story, which he called untrue. "I wasn't angry with...
Nader: It's The Yahoods, I Tell You
Ralph Nader took a stroll from gadfly status to full-blown moonbat in a speech given at a conference titled, "The Muslim Vote in 2004". In pandering to the Muslims, Nader asserted that all of the ills of Washington could be traced to one source: "What has been happening over the years is a predictable routine of foreign visitation from the head of the Israeli government. The Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington. The Israeli puppeteer meets with the puppet in the White House, and then moves down Pennsylvania Avenue, and meets with the puppets in Congress. And then takes back billions of taxpayer dollars. It is time for the Washington puppet show to be replaced by the Washington peace show." I could almost see Nader delivering this speech. "The [cough cough] Israeli puppeteer ..." The Democrats should love this. After making a number of bogus allegations of Nazihood towards the Bush...
July 1, 2004
Democrats Discover Religion
One of the Republican strategies for this election is to energize the chuch base, one of their weak points in 2000 when a significant portion of the evangelical voters failed to come to the polls, mistrustful of George Bush's centrism. (One of the reasons Bush chose Cheney as his running mate was to shore up his conservative credentials.) The Washington Post reports that the Bush campaign has sent support material for their volunteers to get church congregations involved, sending up wailing and lamentations from Democrats that claim, among other things, that the outreach is "sinful": The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has sent a detailed plan of action to religious volunteers across the country asking them to turn over church directories to the campaign, distribute issue guides in their churches and persuade their pastors to hold voter registration drives. Campaign officials said the instructions are part of an accelerating effort to mobilize...
Richardson: No Thanks
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico publicly withdrew his name from consideration in the Kerry Veepstakes this evening, in a letter sent to Kerry's campaign office. Richardson, one of the most recognizable Hispanic officeholders in the nation, had originally promised to stay in office for his entire term as governor, he explained: Richardson said he wants to keep a promise to the people of New Mexico to serve a full, four-year term and noted that Kerry has "numerous experienced and talented leaders" from which to choose a vice presidential candidate. "It is with that knowledge and comfort that I must tell you that I respectfully remove myself from the selection process and withdraw my name from consideration for the vice presidential nomination," Richardson said. I was just discussing Richardson's potential with the Elder and Saint Paul at Keegan's this evening, where the duo invited me to fill in on their...
July 2, 2004
Deaniacs Threaten Floor Fight
Supporters of Howard Dean have launched a campaign to get their favorite candidate on the Democratic ticket as John Kerry's VP, and sent a message to the presumptive nominee -- pick our man or watch your unity festival dissolve into a floor fight: The National Draft Dean for VP Committee has not contacted either Dean or Kerry about its efforts, but it expects to approach the former Vermont governor before Democrats gather in Boston for the convention July 26. "Howard Dean shifts the dynamics of the race," said Michael Meurer, co-chairman of the draft committee, who argued that Dean on the ticket would stop progressives from voting for independent candidate Ralph Nader. Dean has shown up on few, if any, lists of serious contenders for the vice presidential nomination. Members of the draft committee say they believe their efforts to persuade Kerry through petitions to choose Dean will prove futile....
Kerry: The VP Is In The (E-)Mail
I guess if a politician puts people to sleep with the natural force of his personality, he'll try any gimmick to spice up his campaign. That's the only explanation that makes sense for John Kerry's latest folly: Democrat John Kerry plans to announce his vice presidential running mate in an e-mail to the 1 million subscribers to his campaign Web site. But he didn't say when ... Typically, a presidential candidate announces a running mate at a carefully crafted campaign event. But Kerry told KSTP, an ABC affiliate in Minneapolis, that his Web site would be the first vehicle. "The folks who are going to learn first about my choice are going to be the people on JohnKerry.com," Kerry said. "They're the people who've helped carry this campaign. They're the folks who've been part of our effort across the nation. And they'll be the first to know what my decision...
July 3, 2004
Democrats Walk The Fantasy Plank With Platform
The Democrats have put together their platform for the 2004 election and have submitted it to the full platform committee for final approval next weekend in Miami. The Washington Post's Dan Balz was granted a look at the proposal, and in his report notes that the Democrats seem prepared to continue their assault on the truth right up to November 2nd: The 16,000-word document skirts some potentially divisive issues within the party, particularly with regard to Iraq. A strong majority of Democrats believes it was a mistake for the president to launch the war in Iraq, but the platform says only, "People of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq." With polls showing many Democrats want to bring U.S. forces home as quickly as possible, the draft platform declares, "We cannot allow a failed state in Iraq that inevitably would become a haven for...
July 5, 2004
Kerry Flip-Flops On Life
Despite having a more consistent record on abortion than any other issue in his career, John Kerry yesterday tried to have it both ways again, flip-flopping on the definition of human life. Kerry tried to pander to Catholics and strict Christians but instead raised far more questions than he answered: But even as he tried to avoid making news Sunday, Kerry broke new ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortion rights and has taken heat from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper, "I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception." Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said that although Kerry has often said abortion should be "safe, legal and rare," and that his religion shapes that view, she could not recall him ever publicly discussing when life begins. "I can't...
July 6, 2004
Gephardt?
The New York Post has taken the first unequivocal leap for the mainstream media and claimed an exclusive on John Kerry's VP choice. In an unsigned article, the Post claims that it has learned that Kerry has selected Rep. Dick Gephardt for his running mate: John Kerry has chosen Rep. Richard Gephardt, the veteran congressman from Missouri, to be his running mate, The Post has learned. Gephardt, 63, a 28-year veteran of the House of Representatives, could be named by the presumptive Democratic nominee as the party's vice-presidential candidate as soon as today. The Massachusetts senator was set to announce the winner of the veep-stakes at a rally this morning in Pittsburgh, according to several reports last night. With the July 26 Democratic convention in Boston looming, Kerry is looking for some advantage in the polls, and is hoping his choice of running mate will be the answer. As I...
Gephardt's First Choice
All of this VP speculation reminds people of the big effort that John Kerry made to woo maverick Republican Senator John McCain to run as his VP. The Republicans are poised, reports the New York Times, to ensure that people remember that his final selection will be nothing but a consolation prize: President Bush's campaign strategists say they are planning to attack Senator John Kerry's running mate as a second choice no matter who it turns out to be and are preparing a commercial asserting that Mr. Kerry has made clear that his first choice was a Republican who still stands at Mr. Bush's side, Senator John McCain. "We think it's important that people understand that this is a ticket of John Kerry and his second choice," Nicolle Devenish, the Bush campaign's communications director, said. The effort to turn Mr. Kerry's flirtation with Mr. McCain against him is part of...
Edwards?
This may be the never-ending story, but now the AP reports that John Kerry has selected John Edwards for his running mate: John Kerry selected former rival John Edwards to be his running mate, picking the smooth-talking Southern populist over more seasoned politicians in hopes of injecting vigor and small-town appeal to the Democratic presidential ticket, The Associated Press learned Tuesday. Kerry offered Edwards the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket in a telephone call Tuesday morning, and the North Carolina senator accepted, said two senior Democrats familiar with the conversation. I suppose that the Post may be asking its reporter for its source in the next few minutes, as putting out a massive front-page story on the wrong pick can be just a tad embarrassing. Edwards, of course, may prove more embarrassing in the long run. He's a one-term Senator with no foreign-policy experience, no great ties to...
Kerry Dumps NEA Meeting For Edwards Tete-a-Tete
The incompetence continues for the Kerry campaign. Fresh off of standing up the mayor of his hometown at the national Mayors' Conference and instigating an internecine feud in the city where he will receive his party's nomination, Kerry now has cancelled an appearance with a powerful union in favor of conferring with his new running mate: Word spread quickly among the NEA delegates that Kerry would not be coming to their annual meeting in the afternoon. The Massachusetts senator revealed earlier Tuesday that North Carolina Sen. John Edwards would be his vice presidential candidate, and the two planned to meet in Pittsburgh later in the day. NEA President Reg Weaver acknowledged he was angry, but he said it would not distract the nation's largest union from its business. He kept his cell phone on the podium in front of him as the convention resumed in case Kerry called to reschedule....
Business To Battle Kerry-Edwards Ticket
Even before John Kerry announced John Edwards as his running mate for this election, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Chamber of Commerce will go on the partisan attack now that Edwards is on the ticket: Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry's running mate, the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic ticket. "We'd get the best people and the greatest assets we can rally" to the cause, he says. Other business leaders in Washington have been less public and less precise, but no less passionate. Reviewing the candidates in the Democratic primaries earlier this year, a Fortune 100 chief executive who is active in Washington told me that Mr. Edwards, the North Carolina senator, "is the one we fear...
Poll: Bush Gaining Among Minorities
In a poll that will likely go unnoticed today with all of the VP hoopla, CNN reports that Bush has gained in popularity among minority voters since the 2000 election, making headway among demographics that Kerry needs to have any chance of winning: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry holds wide leads over President Bush among black and Latino voters questioned, but Bush runs slightly stronger among minority voters than he did four years ago and has a double-digit lead among white voters, according to the results of a new Gallup poll looking at racial contrasts in the presidential race. The poll, released Tuesday, found that in a two-way race between Bush and Kerry, 53 percent of white registered voters supported Bush, while 41 percent supported Kerry. Among black voters, Kerry led Bush 81 percent to 12 percent, and among Latinos, the Massachusetts senator led 57 percent to 38...
July 8, 2004
Gee, Thanks, But I Have To Wash My Hair That Night
The AP reports that George Bush has turned down an NAACP invitation to speak at their annual convention, making Bush the first president since Hoover not to attend at least one during his term in office: Bush spoke at the 2000 NAACP convention in Baltimore when he was a candidate. But he has declined invitations to speak in each year of his presidency, the first president since Herbert Hoover not to attend an NAACP convention, John White, a spokesman for the group, said Wednesday. ... Democratic challenger John Kerry accepted an invitation to speak next Thursday on the final day of the convention, the NAACP said. I expect this story will get more play in the media than, say, the arrest of two Iranian intelligence agents building car bombs in Iraq or the confirmation that Saddam tried to buy uranium from Niger. However, what they won't report, and which the...
The DNC Channels John Kerry In Credentialing Bloggers
Bill from INDC Journal was surprised to receive a letter from the Democratic National Convention credentialing him as a journalist under its blogger program. Bill openly speculated that they hadn't really checked out his website and wondered whether to spend the money on travel, especially since the DNC waited until the last minute to inform him of his acceptance, but decided to go despite the added expense the delay cost him. That's when the other shoe dropped ... Last night, I received the following e-mail: Dear William: Last week you were sent a credential allocation letter not properly authorized by the DNCC for press coverage of the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Upon further review of the overall site capacity at the FleetCenter, we are no longer able to issue your organization a DNCC Press Gallery Credential. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. ... If my guess is correct,...
AP: Polls Bumped Upwards -- For Bush
A new poll of registered voters conducted earlier this week shows new movement in the polls as John Kerry selected John Edwards as his running mate -- but the momentum went to George Bush (also here): The AP-Ipsos poll found Bush leading Kerry just outside the margin of error, with the president's support at 49 percent, Kerry at 45 percent and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 3 percent. The Bush-Kerry matchup was tied a month ago, when Nader had 6 percent. The three-day survey began Monday, the day before Kerry tapped Edwards as his running mate, and asked registered voters about the newly minted ticket on Tuesday and Wednesday. Half supported the Republican tandem of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney while 46 percent backed the Kerry-Edwards ticket, just within the question's margin of error. AP/Ipsos showed some boost in Kerry's support in the South after the selection of Edwards,...
July 9, 2004
Kerry: I Don't Have Time For Briefings
On CNN last night, Larry King interviewed John Kerry on the status of his campaign for president. On literally the first substantial question of the interview, Kerry demonstrated why he is unfit for the presidency during a time of war: [KING:]Let's get to, first thing's first, news of the day. Tom Ridge warned today about al Qaeda plans of a large-scale attack on the United States, didn't increase the -- do you see any politics in this? What's your reaction? KERRY: Well, I haven't been briefed yet, Larry. They have offered to brief me; I just haven't had time [emph mine -- CE]. But all Americans are united in our efforts to defeat terrorism. I believe that John Edwards and I can wage a far more effective war on terror than George Bush has. I think we can do a better job of making America safe. But in these days...
July 10, 2004
Senator Flip-Flop Lectures Bush On Values?
I guess it didn't take me too long to find my post for the day -- in today's New York Times, Jodi Wilgoren and Richard Stevenson report on the "full-throated battle" between the major party nominees after Thursday evening's Democratic fundraiser: A day after a $7.5 million Democratic fund-raiser in New York at which an array of stars harshly ridiculed President Bush, the Bush campaign criticized Senator John Kerry for what it called a "star-studded hate fest." Mr. Bush's campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, demanded that the Kerry campaign release a videotape of the event at Radio City Music Hall, which featured performers including Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg and Jessica Lange. Although Mr. Kerry had told the crowd at the New York fund-raiser that "every single performer" on the bill had "conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country," his campaign on Friday sought to distance Mr. Kerry and...
Vatican To American Bishops: No Communion For Kerry, Pro-Choice Politicians
In a secret memo to American Catholic bishops, papal doctrinal advisor Cardinal John Ratzinger has firmly stated that pro-choice politicians are to be refused Communion, even at the altar rail if necessary. The strongly-worded instructions appear to be aimed at renegade Catholic John Kerry, who last weekend attempted to head off this controversy by claiming to believe that life begins at conception -- a stance that may hav worsened his position with the Church hierarchy: The memo was sent to the US Catholic Bishops' conference last month. With formidable clarity and force, it states that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be warned by priests that they are not eligible for Communion. If the politician then "shows an obstinate persistence in grave sin", writes Cardinal Ratzinger, he or she should be turned away at the altar rail. Mr Kerry has consistently voted in favour of maintaining abortion rights during his 30-year senatorial...
July 11, 2004
Even The Washington Post Isn't Buying The Kerry Line
In an article headlined "Kerry Vows To Restore 'Truth' to Presidency," the Washington Post manages to highlight at least two lies Kerry and Edwards push in just this one story: President Bush has governed in a dishonest fashion, trampling values on every issue except fighting terrorism and leaving voters "clamoring for restoration of credibility and trust in the White House again," John F. Kerry and John Edwards said in an interview. ... "We have not stood up and attacked our opponents in personal ways," Kerry said. This week alone, Kerry has criticized Bush personally in speeches for lying, professional laziness, waiting until right before the election to indict Enron Corp.'s former chief executive, Kenneth L. Lay, lacking values and even having worse hair than the two Democrats. Some advisers are privately counseling Kerry to tone down his attacks on Bush. Kerry can't even get out of an interview about honesty...
NAACP Pleads For Relevance
Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, publicly re-invited George Bush to speak at their annual convention, promising that he will be treated with respect if he returns. Bush, so far, isn't biting at the bait: Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, said it was "unbelievable" that Bush had declined an invitation to speak at the organization's annual meeting for the fourth consecutive year. "When you are president, you are elected to be president of all the people," Mfume said at a news conference as the convention opened. "You won't do that if you refuse to talk." He asked Bush to change his mind and promised that the Republican president would be treated with respect at the Philadelphia event this week even if many delegates oppose his politics. Mfume sees his organization losing its relevance in electoral politics under his leadership, and he's panicking. Bush went out of his way to...
July 12, 2004
Ron Reagan To Speak At DNC, Rip Van Winkel Surprised
To anyone who actually remembers the Reagan presidency, the news that President Reagan's youngest son Ron disagreed with his policies and his political philosophy will hardly be shocking. However, Knight-Ridder newspapers and some apparently young punditeers are squealing with delight to have Ron the Lesser speaking at the Democratic National Convention as an expert on stem-cell research: In a move sure to embarrass Republicans, Ron Reagan will address the Democratic National Convention this month. Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan and an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, will be at the podium on the second night of the four-day event in Boston, July 27, in support of stem-cell research, he said Sunday in an interview here. ... "This gives me a platform to educate people about stem-cell research," Reagan said. "The conservative right has a rather simplistic way of characterizing it as baby killing. We're not talking about...
Kerry Campaign Keeps Shooting Itself In The Foot
The USA Today, in an analysis of the Kerry/Edwards campaign, concludes that their consistent gaffes have given the Bush campaign plenty of material from which to attack them, underscoring their lack of competency at running national election campaigns. Readers of this blog will hardly be surprised at this analysis, but Jill Lawrence puts a number of recent stumbles into a broader context, as well as reports on some that haven't quite made it into the mainstream yet: Amid a series of feel-good events that would have made Cecil B. DeMille proud, Kerry said on national TV that he hadn't had time for a national security briefing on a new al-Qaeda threat. He praised celebrities who had made nasty, vulgar remarks about President Bush. His wife offered feminist musings at the North Carolina finale of the new ticket's "mainstream values" tour. And while voters wondered about John Edwards' experience and foreign...
MoveOn Lies, Credibility Dies?
MoveOn's contest for political commercials generated a submission that used Hitler imagery to imply Bush is a Nazi. After the storm broke, MoveOn issued a statement disavowing any responsibility for the ad, saying it was an open contest, and claiming to have removed the ad from their servers. Matt Drudge reports that not only was the offending file never removed, it was renamed to keep it hidden from prying eyes: Bush Haters worldwide are still watching the famed 'Bush is Nazi' add on MOVEON.ORG -- despite repeated claims by the site's founders the short had been removed more than six months ago! As of Monday morning [11 am Eastern] -- the ad was still carried on MOVEON's website -- under the curious file name "renamed.again.renamed.mov.FKbxnT3hzaHCcOR7vWvRYmZpbGUtMTM4OQ--.mpg" The ad shows images of Bush with text saying, "God told me to strike at al-Qaida," before turning to images of Hitler with the words,...
July 13, 2004
Edwards Bounce Deflates In Home State
USA Today reports (via Drudge) that John Edwards has actually damaged John Kerry's standing in Edwards' home state of North Carolina, negating one of the supposed advantages of selecting the single-term Senator as his running mate. Among likely voters in the poll, Bush/Cheney outpaces Kerry/Edwards 56-41, and even among registered voters the President outpaces Kerry by seven points. USA Today does not provide any historical context for these standings, as Edwards wasn't on the ticket until last week. However, if you check out question 4B ("Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the following people?"), you see where Kerry has dropped significantly in the last two weeks: Date............Fav.Unfav..Unk..No Op 2004 Jul 9-11....49....43....2....6 2004 Jun 21-23..58....35....2....5 Kerry has lost nine points off of his positives and gained eight points on his negatives in two weeks where he has blitzed the area with campaign advertising. The only significant changes during...
Not A Moment Too Soon, Apparently
This afternoon, the Washington Post reported more good news from their pollsters. Bush has worked back to a tie with Kerry in the WaPo poll, 46-46, erasing a four-point gap in the same time period when John Kerry selected John Edwards as his running mate. Bush has also reclaimed his advantage in fighting the war: Despite growing fears that the United States is losing the war on terrorism, President Bush has reclaimed the advantage over his Democratic challenger John F. Kerry as the presidential candidate best able to deal with the international terrorist threat, according to the latest Washington Post poll. The survey found that 55 percent of all Americans currently approve of the way Bush is handling the campaign against terrorism, up 5 points in the past three weeks. Slightly more than half -- 51 percent -- also said they trust Bush more than Kerry to deal with terrorism,...
July 14, 2004
Democratic Fundraiser/Panderer Has Friends In High Places
Some people consider politics to be little more than prostitution -- the selling of one's self for campaign financing and the votes of the electorate. Unfortunately, when faced with a federal investigation of his campaign contributions, real-estate entrepeneur Charles Kushner relied on his political pimping skills for Democrats, attempting to thwart the probe by literally screwing the feds out of a witness: Real estate developer and political fund-raiser Charles Kushner of Livingston, New Jersey, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and interstate promotion of prostitution. ... In February 2003, Christie's office began investigating Kushner for alleged violation of federal tax and fraud statutes and for purported violation of federal campaign contribution laws. According to the indictment, two of the cooperating witnesses in the investigation -- a married couple described as close relatives of Kushner -- provided information against him to federal investigators. The indictment alleges...
Profiles In Political Courage
The New York Times reports this morning that the Democrats have left Hillary Clinton off the speaker list for their nominating convention, even though she plans on being in Boston: The Democratic National Committee released on Tuesday its lineup of the big-name politicians speaking at the convention this month, and it included every major Democratic star except one. There were Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, near the top of the list. Al Gore was there, too, and so was Edward M. Kennedy. Even the wife of the Iowa governor made the cut. But Hillary Rodham Clinton, the junior senator from New York and one of the most prominent names in the party, was nowhere to be found. ... "She never asked," said Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign. "Obviously, Hillary Clinton is a leader in the party and is working hard to elect John Kerry." But Ms. Cutter...
Hillary Snub Sparks Outrage
The Kerry campaign's ham-handed attempt to shove potential rival Hillary Clinton into the shadows during the nominating convention may be backfiring already. The AP reports that Democratic officials are voicing "outrage" that Sen. Clinton has been denied a speaking role at the convention, while Gov. Tom Vilsack's wife -- not an officeholder -- has been given time instead: The former chairwoman of the New York State Democratic Party on Wednesday called it "a total outrage" and "very stupid" that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has not been offered a prominent speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. "It's a slap in the face, not personally for Hillary Clinton, but for every woman in the Democratic Party and every woman in America," said Judith Hope, a major party fund-raiser. Hope said she would appeal to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to "correct this omission" and would send an e-mail message to more...
Kerry's Analysis Paralysis Plan
The proverb, "Too many cooks spoil the broth" comes to mind while reading the Washington Post article on the Kerry campaign's policy structure. While intending on casting a broad net to display inclusiveness, the nominee instead teeters on the edge of an unmanageable mess: From a tightknit group of experienced advisers, John F. Kerry's presidential campaign has grown exponentially in recent months to include a cast literally of thousands, making it difficult to manage an increasingly unwieldy policy apparatus. The campaign now includes 37 separate domestic policy councils and 27 foreign policy groups, each with scores of members. The justice policy task force alone includes 195 members. The environmental group is roughly the same size, as is the agriculture and rural development council. Kerry counts more than 200 economists as his advisers. In contrast, President Bush's campaign policy shop is a no-frills affair. Policy director Tim Adams directs about a...
Swift Boat Veterans Aiming Low?
It seems to me that this is a bad idea: Opponents of John Kerry have hired a Dallas-area private investigator to gather information aimed at discrediting his military service, say several veterans who served with the Massachusetts Democrat in Vietnam. Several veterans who have been contacted in recent days accused the private investigator, Tom Rupprath of Rockwall, of twisting their words to produce misleading and inaccurate accounts that call into doubt the medals Mr. Kerry received for his service. ... Mr. Rupprath was hired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the recommendation of Merrie Spaeth, a Dallas public relations executive assisting the anti-Kerry group. The investigator declined to discuss his work, but Ms. Spaeth said he is a former FBI agent assigned to produce an accurate and objective account of how the Democratic presidential candidate earned his combat medals. SBVT can do whatever they like with their money, and...
He Was Against Reading It Before He Was For It
John Kerry challenged George Bush earlier today to reveal whether Bush had read an NIE intelligence estimate before basing his request for war authorization on it. Within hours, Kerry's aides had to admit that Kerry himself never read the document before voting to authorize the war in Iraq (via Drudge): Democratic candidate John Kerry, whose campaign demanded to know on Wednesday whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged. "Along with other senators, he was briefed on the contents of the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) by (then-CIA Director) George Tenet and other administration intelligence officials," said Kerry spokesman Phil Singer. Kerry's campaign has challenged Bush to say whether he read the complete intelligence report before deciding to go to war, or whether he just read a one-page summary, which Democrats...
She's A Loser
The fundraising debacle last Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall has claimed its first rolling head. Slim-Fast has terminated its relationship with Whoopi Goldberg, Reuters reports (via Memeorandum): Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will no longer appear in ads for diet aid maker Slim-Fast following her lewd riff on President Bush's name at a fund-raiser last week, the company said on Wednesday. Florida-based Slim-Fast said it was "disappointed" in Goldberg's remarks at last Thursday's $7.5 million star-studded fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York. "Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air," Slim-Fast General Manager Terry Olson said in a statement, adding that the company regrets that Goldberg's remarks offended some customers. ... The New York Post said of Goldberg's appearance at the event: "Waving a bottle of wine, she fired off a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female...
July 15, 2004
Kerry Campaign Pulling Ads In Key States
In an interesting reversal of their stated strategy of expanding the map, the Kerry campaign has instead ceased advertising in several key states, including most of the South (via Drudge): Despite promises to expand the election playing field, John Kerry has reduced his ad spending in Missouri, Arizona and throughout the South in the run-up to the Democratic presidential convention. Kerry's advisers said they were not shrinking their political map, only saving resources for later in the campaign and redirecting ad money to hotly contested states like Florida and Ohio. President Bush's campaign called the strategy a sign of weakness in GOP-leaning territory. ... In his new round of advertising, Kerry has significantly increased his spending in several key states while slightly lowering buys for Missouri and Arizona. Voters in both states will still see plenty of ads, just relatively few compared to other battlegrounds. In Virginia, the Kerry campaign...
Kerry: Let The Little Lady Introduce Her Hubby
Really, the contretemps over the Hillary Clinton snub at the Democratic National Convention has become more humorous than anything else, especially given John Kerry's solution. The Kerry campaign announced this afternoon that it finally found a way to squeeze the Senator from New York into its speaking schedule -- she can introduce her husband: John Kerry has asked Hillary Rodham Clinton to introduce her husband, former President Clinton, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, giving her a speaking role that Democrats had sought for the New York senator. The Kerry campaign unveiled its first set of speakers for the convention early this week, including former Presidents Clinton and Carter, Al Gore and others, but the absence of the former first lady drew criticism from Democrats, particularly women. Well, this certainly will set minds at ease among the Democratic Ladies Auxiliary! It's nice to see that Kerry has...
July 17, 2004
Boston Labor Dispute Worsens
In a city controlled by Democrats for decades, with its close ties to labor unions, the debacle on the horizon for the Democratic Nominating Convention continues to grow. The Washington Post reports that Republican Governor Mitt Romney had to step in to replace the head of the arbitration board, fearful that the high-risk convention would become vulnerable to attack due to police unions focusing on picketing rather than security: Both sides of the labor dispute have been meeting with the state's Joint Labor Management Committee, a mediation body, which was seeking to broker an agreement and had voted to appoint an outside arbitrator. But this week, Gov. Mitt Romney (R) intervened by replacing the acting head of the management committee, citing a concern that the dispute would not be resolved before the convention. "Public safety personnel during the Democratic National Convention should be focused entirely on security, not manning a...
CBS/NYT Poll: No Bounce For Edwards, Better Reporting, Same Old Methodology
The New York Times improved its polling reporting this week by having Richard Stevenson and Janet Elder write the article instead of Adam Nagourney, and the result is a more balanced look at a still-imbalanced poll. The overall result shows Kerr/Edwards leading nationwide by five points, an outlier of recent polling showing the race still a dead heat after the selection of John Edwards gave no momentum to the Democrats: But naming Mr. Edwards did not immediately win over any substantial number of voters for the Democratic ticket, and the campaign between Mr. Kerry and President Bush remains statistically deadlocked as Mr. Kerry heads toward the Democratic convention and his best opportunity to make a strong impression on the country, the poll found. ... While Mr. Kerry's selection of Mr. Edwards did not substantially alter the race, it corresponded with a deepening of the support for Mr. Kerry, though that...
McCain Steps Up Again
Uberpolitician John McCain, the darling of the Democrats until they finally decided he couldn't be swayed onto a Kerry/McCain ticket, hit the stumps again yesterday, appearing with Dick Cheney in a key battleground state: He called Vice President Cheney "indispensable and very debonair." The vice president called him "one of the great Americans of our generation." Standing before an enormous American flag and balloons, the two white-haired politicians wrapped their arms around each other. McCain is the only Republican in Congress so far who has accompanied President Bush or Cheney to a campaign event outside his or her home turf. Even Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and one of Bush's closest friends in Congress, Rep. Rob Portman (Ohio), have traveled only to Bush-Cheney '04 fundraisers, not rallies. In Lansing, McCain gave a lengthy introduction of Cheney, calling him "one of the most capable, experienced, intelligent and steady vice presidents...
Dowd: Teresa the "Stepmoney"
Normally, Maureen Dowd writes nearly incoherent and largely pointless screeds against Republicans, and normally I only give her columns a brief scan to see how many dippy names she can call Bush or Cheney this week. However, Dowd marks her return to the Times' editorial page by turning her sights on John and Teresa Kerry, and it's clear she's less than pleased with the Democratic nominee and his wife: And campaigning in Boston, her compliment for the new ticket was backhanded. "I have to say that John Edwards is very beautiful," she said in her soft accent, adding, "and my husband is very smart." Welcome to the campaign, pretty boy. ... Even in a place where everyone is constantly reinventing, people are a little stunned at the way Teresa casts herself as a "third worlder" and "daughter of Africa," a wretched-refuse-of-your-teeming-shore sort of immigrant rather than a "White Mischief" migr,...
July 18, 2004
Flip-Flop By Proxy
The London Telegraph reports that John Kerry has sent his brother out to Israel to shore up the Jewish vote, which appears to be slipping from the grasp of Democrats this election cycle. His brother delivered a message of total support for Israel, including on the security fence, despite earlier assertions by both Kerrys that it amounted to nothing more than a barrier to peace: John Kerry, the Democratic senator and presidential candidate, has sent his brother Cameron, a Jewish convert, on a delicate political mission to Israel to shore up Jewish support ahead of November's election. The visit, which was due to end last night, has delighted Israeli government officials but has dismayed left-wing Israeli peace activists and Palestinian leaders, whom Mr Kerry studiously avoided as he voiced stridently pro-Israeli views on behalf of his brother. ... He echoed the Israeli government's line on refusing to negotiate with Yasser...
July 19, 2004
Kerry Needs Coal Dust On His Face: Byrd
Someone let Senator Robert Byrd out of his cage yesterday just long enough to make another foolish statement, this time regarding his home state and how Kerry can win it. Speaking to "Meet The Press", Byrd urged Kerry to make it real in the coal mines: John Kerry can win West Virginia's five electoral votes by going there and getting coal "dust on his hands and on his face," the state's senior senator said Sunday. ... "I'm the son of a coal miner. I married a coal miner's daughter. I know a lot about coal," said the 86-year-old Byrd, whose Senate career began in 1959, the year before John F. Kennedy's evocation of the plight of the West Virginia coal miner helped him win the presidency. "I've talked with him. I've told him he should go to West Virginia. He should shake hands with the people. He should be at...
Democrats Try A Little Extortion On Nader In Michigan
Michigan Democrats have issued an ultimatum to the Ralph Nader campaign in car country -- either withdraw as an independent candidate in Michigan or face FEC charges, tying up the campaign in legal fees and scrutiny: The Michigan Democratic Party said Friday it would file federal election complaints against Ralph Nader over what it calls illegal and excessive contributions unless Nader withdraws from the Michigan ballot as an independent candidate. The presidential candidate hopes to get on the state ballot through the Reform Party of Michigan. But Michigan Republican Party officials handed in 43,000 petition signatures on Thursday -- far more than the 30,000 needed -- to ensure Nader can be on the ballot regardless of whether he gets the Reform Party nomination. Nader has until Monday to withdraw as an independent candidate. Democrats have a short memory. Twelve years ago, and again four years after that, Ross Perot received...
Cleland Says President "Flat-Out Lied" About Iraq
Add Max Cleland to the list of lunatic conspiracy theorists. Cleland asserted in a conference call to reporters today that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld "flat-out lied" when using the intelligence gathered and reviewed over several years by two American administrations and several Western governments in making the case for war against Saddam Hussein: US Democrats stepped up attacks on George W. Bush's anti-terror policies when an official of White House candidate John Kerry's campaign said the president "flat-out lied" over the Iraq war. ... Asked whether they were lied to by the intelligence services or the White House, he said emphatically: "By the president, by the vice president and by the secretary of defense." "Now why did Bush go to war in Iraq? Because he concluded that his daddy was a failed president and one of the ways he failed was that he did not take out...
July 20, 2004
Boston Police Plan To Picket, Regardless Of Arbitration
Yesterday's decision by the Massachussetts Labor Relations Board to fast-track Boston police and fire union issues into arbitration in order to keep the pickets from the convention backfired, with the union chief promising to picket no matter what and raising questions about collusion between national labor management, the MLRB, and the Democratic Party: The Massachusetts labor board's decision to send the city's conflict with its police union to immediate arbitration before the beginning of the Democratic National Convention reflects a schism in the previously unified labor front that has the local union president saying he is more determined than ever to picket next week's political gathering. Last week, the leader of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Paul Birks, was the member of the board who fought most ardently against an expedited process. On Monday, Birks made the motion to resolve the conflict through arbitration by 2 p.m. Thursday. "Over...
Kerry To Repay Self From Campaign Donations
Today's Boston Globe reports that John Kerry has finally decided to repay last year's personal loan to his campaign using donations collected this year -- in effect, as Hugh Hewitt points out, "effectively tricking 2004 donors into paying for 2003 expenses": John F. Kerry is poised to take federal campaign money once he is nominated for the presidency next week, according to top campaign finance advisers, a move that will allow him to disburse millions of dollars in leftover campaign cash to Democratic Party operations, effectively augmenting the $75 million he will receive in federal funds. Aides expect the Kerry campaign committee to end up with enough money to make sizable transfers to the Democratic National Committee, state Democratic committees, and possibly the committees working to elect a Democratic Congress. The aim would be to have the committees, especially those in battleground states, air television ads on Kerry's behalf this...
Tone-Deafness Continues On The Campaign Trail
The New York Times notes that the tone-deafness of the Kerry campaign continues even when the candidate himself is on a short hiatus. Speaking for John Kerry in New Mexico was his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who didn't wow them down Albuquerque way: The crowd was cheering wildly as John Kerry, John Edwards and their spouses danced around one another on the open-air stage at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Then Teresa Heinz Kerry took her turn at the microphone and said, "I am an immigrant, too," clearly making a bid for the many Hispanics in the audience. This time the applause was lukewarm and there was some head-shaking; many Hispanic families have been in New Mexico for generations and some take a dim view of immigrants. The Kerry campaign's advance unit seems to be falling down on the job, or Teresa is ad-libbing on the stump again. Perhaps if...
Democrats Outsource Effort To Discredit Nader's Petitions
In another twist on the Democrats' attempts to push Nader off the Michigan ballot, the AP reports that they have hired an outfit to vet the petition signatures that has outsourced the work to India: Republicans said Mark Grebner, of Practical Political Consulting in East Lansing, has sent digital copies of Nader's petitions to a data entry firm in India. Grebner declined to comment on the allegation. But Greg McNeilly, executive director of the state GOP, called the move hypocritical. "Michigan Democrats are so intolerant of minority perspectives at the ballot box that they'll outsource Michigan jobs in order to protect a two-party duopoly," he said in a statement. "They are paying a firm in India for work that could be done by Michiganders." Hypocritical? You bet. The Democrats have been inveighing against outsourcing as the evil of the new economy and part of a Bush conspiracy to dismantle American...
July 21, 2004
Democats Block Seventh Judicial Nominee
Senate Democrats hauled out their filibuster for the seventh time to block a Bush nominee from a fair floor vote for confirmation, this time unhappy with the nominee's environmental record. William Myers is the latest nominee sent packing by the Democrats, who this time didn't even bother arguing that Myers would endanger the Constitution, their heretofore consistent argument against Bush nominees: The vote on Myers, who was accused by Democrats of hostility to environmental causes, was 53 to 44, seven short of the 60 needed to force action on his nomination to the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He was the seventh Bush choice for the federal bench to be stopped by a Democratic filibuster. ... The vote was less about Myers than "a reflection of special interest group disdain for policies favored by farmers, ranchers, miners, the Bush Interior Department or anyone else who...
July 22, 2004
Hollywood To Dominate Democratic Convention
Agence France-Presse reports that the Kerry campaign has invited a number of entertainment celebrities to Boston to help John Kerry overcome his "overly intellectual and pedantic" image: US presidential hopeful John Kerry will get star backing from the likes of Ben Affleck at the Democratic Party's convention, but most activists from liberal California are saving their energy to protest against President George W. Bush. ... Some of the stars will extol the virtues of Senator Kerry and running mate Senator John Edwards to gathered party faithful, while others will simply bring glamour through their presence. ... Celebrities leaving the firmament of Tinseltown for Beantown also include Bianca Jagger, Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper, actor Sean Astin, actresses Christina Ricci, Ellen Burstyn and Janeane Garofalo, the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers and super producer Harvey Weinstein, according to the non-partisan industry non-profit group Creative Coalition. Bianca Jagger? Yes, the Republicans tremble...
Kerry Demands Security Leadership While Oblivious To Berger's Status
Short take on a John Kerry hypocrisy of the day ... Kerry, approached today on the 9/11 Commission Report, had this to say about his proposed approach on terrorism and security (via Drudge): "If I am elected president and there has still not been sufficient progress on these issues, I will not wait a single day more. I will lead," he said in the statement. John Kerry, last night with Tom Brokaw (via Hugh Hewitt [buy his book]): John Kerry to Tom Brokaw tonight: Brokaw: "Did you know that [Berger] was under investigation?" Kerry: "I didn't have a clue, not a clue." Brokaw: "He didn't share that with you? Kerry: "I didn't have a clue." John Kerry in May, regarding executive responsibility and Bush's supposed inability to acknowledge mistakes: "The chain of command goes all the way to the Oval Office," Kerry said. "Harry Truman did not say 'the buck...
July 23, 2004
Kerry/Edwards Flip-Flop On Edwards' Looks
The Kerry/Edwards campaign would like all of us to quit focusing on John Edwards' fabulous good looks and focus on his qualifications, while promoting their VP candidate as the nation's sexiest politician. Connie Cass reports for the AP that the campaign seems of two minds on the one-term politician's looks and its affect on their electoral chances: [I]t appears Edwards isn't above capitalizing on sex appeal. At campaign rallies, he often walks on stage in a suit, then slowly removes his coat and proceeds to roll up his shirt-sleeves slowly, almost teasingly, drawing "ooohs" of approval from women in the audience. "He's hot!" is a commonly heard phrase. At a joint appearance, Kerry followed Edwards on stage and mimicked his coat-off, sleeves-up routine, to hearty laughter from the crowd. ... Edwards sometimes acknowledges the issue with self-deprecating humor. He opened his remarks to a dinner for journalists and politicians with...
Bush Guard Records Found: AP
One more Leftist meme may have bitten the dust this afternoon, as the Pentagon resolved a numbers-index confusion and found George Bush's National Guard payroll records, the AP reports: The Pentagon on Friday released payroll records from President Bush's 1972 service in the Alabama National Guard, saying its earlier contention the records were destroyed was an "inadvertent oversight." The two computerized payroll record sheets cover July through September of 1972, when Bush was working as a campaign volunteer in Alabama. The future president had been transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama unit so he could stay in Alabama. ... The Pentagon had said that the payroll records for that time period had been inadvertently destroyed. "Previous attempts to locate the missing records at the Federal Records Center had been unsuccessful due to the incorrect records accession numbers provided," the Pentagon's Office of Freedom of Information chief...
John Kerry, Jet-Set Deadbeat
I'm sure you've all heard that when royalty travels, they never carry cash and in most cases assume that the honor of serving them compensates the peasants in full. Either John Kerry considers himself royalty, or his campaign fundraising hasn't gone as well as he says: When the biggest plane to ever land on the island touched down with U.S. Sen. John Kerry and his entourage, airport manager Al Peterson never imagined he would have trouble getting paid. ... But a caterer who bought food on the island for Kerry's campaign jet ducked one bill and haggled over another. "Apparently they don't feel like he needs to pay fees to the airport," Peterson said. "I gather the senator objects to that because his aide quoted him as saying that he already pays taxes on the island." Peterson is out $847 from the two visits Kerry has paid to the island...
July 25, 2004
Edwards Returning Tainted Donations From Longtime Trial-Attorney Supporter
In a pre-convention embarrassment, John Edwards announced that he will return over $40,000 in donations bundled by longtime supporter Pierce O'Donnell, who faces election-fraud investigations by federal and California law enforcement: John Edwards is returning $44,035 in contributions raised by a wealthy Los Angeles lawyer for his presidential primary campaign. The decision to return the money was made because the fund-raising activities of lawyer and longtime Edwards supporter Pierce O'Donnell are being investigated by federal and California elections officials, the Kerry-Edwards campaign said Sunday. Newsweek first reported the story. ... Some of the suspect contributions were made in the name of persons associated with O'Donnell's law firm, including one person who was not registered to vote and two who had filed for bankruptcy, Newsweek reported. The magazine said that some of the same purported contributors were listed as $2,000 donors to the Edwards' campaign. It appears as though O'Donnell ran...
July 26, 2004
We're Here To Restore Civility, You %$#*&@%
Teresa Heinz-Kerry strkes again! The woman who wants to replace Laura Bush at the White House urged her home-state Massachussetts delegates to help the Kerry/Edwards ticket replace the "un-American" Republicans and restore civility to politics, and then within minutes told a reporter to "shove it": "We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics," the wife of Sen. John Kerry told her fellow Pennsylvanians on Sunday night at a Massachusetts Statehouse reception. Minutes later, Colin McNickle, the editorial page editor of the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, questioned her on what she meant by the term "un-American," according to a tape of the encounter recorded by Pittsburgh television station WTAE. Heinz Kerry said, "I didn't say that" several times to McNickle. She then turned to confer with Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and others. When she faced McNickle again a...
Labor Bailing On Kerry/Edwards At Opening Of Convention?
The Washington Post files the kind of report that the Kerry/Edwards campaign didn't anticipate at the start of their four-night love fest. The head of the largest AFL-CIO union, representing government workers, openly speculated that unions would be better off if the Democrats lost in November, sharply criticizing the party for its intellectual bankruptcy: Breaking sharply with the enforced harmony of the Democratic National Convention, the president of the largest AFL-CIO union said Monday that both organized labor and the Democratic Party might be better off in the long run if Sen. John F. Kerry loses the election. Andrew L. Stern, the head of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said in an interview with The Washington Post that both the party and its longtime ally, the labor movement, are "in deep crisis," devoid of new ideas and working with archaic structures. Stern argued that another four years...
Bush Steps Ahead Of Kerry Even As Convention Opens
More bad news from the Washington Post for the Kerry/Edwards campaign -- the Democrats have fallen behind the Bush/Cheney ticket for the first time, 48-46, in the WaPo/ABC poll (via Hugh Hewitt): A growing proportion of voters say Bush and not Kerry is the candidate who most closely shares their values, and four in 10 believe the Democrat is "too liberal." Bush has even narrowed the gap on which candidate better understands their problems, an area in which Kerry has led. ... The survey found that Kerry and Bush remain virtually deadlocked, with 48 percent of registered voters supporting Bush and 46 percent Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 3 percent of the hypothetical vote. Kerry held a four-point lead over Bush in mid-June and was tied with Bush in a Post survey two weeks ago. So much for the Edwards bounce. In fact, another finding of the poll may...
July 27, 2004
Christie Vilsack Responds
Howard Kurtz notes the laughable response of Christie Vilsack, wife of Governor Tim Vilsack of Iowa, to the surfacing of a column she wrote complaining of the way minorities and regional populations in America speak English. In her column, the Boston Herald noted that Mrs. Vilsack tore into African-Americans as hypocritical: "I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires,'' Vilsack wrote in a 1994 column in the Mount Pleasant News, while her husband, Tom, was a state senator. She also took "non-Midwesterners" to task for their slang and loose enunciation, complaining that well-meaning Southerners during the 1992 Olympics could not make themselves understood for all their "slurred speech". So what did Mrs. Vilsack have to say for herself when confronted with her column? Vilsack, who is slated to address the...
Democrats Run From Their Own Convention
Despite the fact that the Democratic Nominating Convention reaches its planned climax on Thursday night, with cheering crowds hailing John Kerry as their standardbearer, some Democrats will have already skulked out early, the Washington Post reports -- and some may not even have come at all. Rather than be seen with their nominee, some Democrats want to put as much distance as possible between themselves, Kerry, and the people surrounding him on the dais: Boston is the place for Democrats this week, but some will be conspicuous by their absence Thursday night, when John F. Kerry accepts the presidential nomination. The top Democratic candidates from seven of the eight most competitive Senate races will be back home, as will dozens of House candidates. ... The list of who's going and who's not is telling: Democratic candidates from states that look strong for Kerry generally plan to attend the convention, while...
ABC: Kerry Losing Momentum
As a follow-up to the post I wrote last night on the Washington Post report on the WaPo-ABC poll, ABC's analysis goes even further in clearly defining the results as a potential disaster for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Unlike the Babington article, Gary Langer's report points out all of the weaknesses that Kerry's campaign now shows precisely when they should be riding a wave of enthusiasm leading to his anointment on Thursday: The critical convention season begins with John Kerry losing momentum at just the hour he'd like to be gaining it: President Bush has clawed back on issues and attributes alike, reclaiming significant ground that Kerry had taken a month ago. Kerry has lost support against Bush in trust to handle five of six issues tested in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, including terrorism, Iraq, taxes and even health care. And Kerry's ratings on personal attributes honesty, strong...
AP: Republicans Won't Name Credentialed Bloggers
The AP reports on what they say is the first wave of bloggers to be credentialed for the Republican National Convention next month. Anick Jesdanun writes that the GOP plans to limit credentials to 20 or less bloggers: Republican convention spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said his party plans to give media credentials to 10 to 20 bloggers. ... Though Alcivar said he did not know how many bloggers got invitations this week, he expected additional ones will be invited based on how many accept by Thursday. Alcivar refused to provide a list of invited bloggers, saying the party does not disclose traditional media who are approved for credentials, either. He said the list reflected a mix of ideologies and consisted of "those who we believe are moderate in their tone." Actually, as one of the first few bloggers to receive a credential and confirm it, the GOP reticence to disclose our...
July 28, 2004
Playing The Smear Card Once Too Often
The Kerry campaign flamed out again yesterday after pictures showing John Kerry looking, well, geeky were released by NASA after a Kerry visit to one of their facilities. The blogosphere pounced on the photographs -- one of them will likely be our Caption Contest photo this week -- and the Kerry/Edwards campaign went into full offense, trying desperately to keep the comparisons of Michael Dukakis and tank-riding out of the public consciousness. This effort led Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign manager, to tell Fox's Brit Hume that Kerry had been set up -- by NASA! HUME: i must ask you about this photograph that suddenly turned up and fell in our laps last night nobody thought it was come. nobody had reported on the event which led to-t but there he was, the senator, on all fours in this very peculiar outfit, which i guess nasa had given him. how...
Did Kerry Fake His Combat Films? Does It Matter?
Just when you thought this election could not get much weirder, somehow the Democrats find themselves further into the Twilight Zone. Matt Drudge reports that members of John Kerry's "band of brothers" claim the soon-to-be nominee faked combat footage while on tour in Viet Nam, and that his staged exploits will be presented to the country as actual combat footage in a Spielberg-associated short film: A bombshell new book written by the man who took over John Kerry's Swift Boat charges: Kerry reenacted combat scenes for film while in Vietnam! The footage is at the center of a growing controversy in Boston. The official convention video introducing Kerry is directed by Steven Spielberg protg James Moll. ... "Kerry carried a home movie camera to record his exploits for later viewing," charges a naval officer in the upcoming book UNFIT FOR COMMAND. "Kerry would revisit ambush locations for reenacting combat scenes...
Kerry: A Candidate You Can't Refuse
ABC News identifies Stephen Bing, a wealthy California film producer last seen running away from his pregnant girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, as the single biggest contributor to Democratic candidates. ABC did a bit more digging into Bing's background than the Democrats and discovered a nasty skeleton in his closet -- or, more accurately, in federal prison: As Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards arrived in Boston today for the Democratic National Convention, so did the California man who is their single biggest contributor. He is Stephen Bing, a wealthy film producer who, with little fanfare, has managed to steer a total of more than $16 million of his money to Democratic candidates and the supposedly independent groups that support them. ... In fact, Democratic Party officials said they knew nothing about the man who law enforcement officials tell ABC News is Bing's friend and business partner Dominic Montemarano, a New...
July 29, 2004
Conason, Teresa's Waterboy
Joe Conason has always believed the best defense is a good offense, and so this morning Conason goes on the attack against the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper owned by (cue Toccata in D-Minor) Richard Mellon Scaife in defense of Teresa Heinz Kerry. This follows the "shove it" kerfuffle that Conason twists into a feminist manifesto, rather than her crude attempt to bully her way out of a lie: In the case of Teresa Heinz Kerry, many in the media determined that she was trouble long before they even had a glimpse of her. Smart and dedicated, wealthy and opinionated, globally conscious and foreign-born, Ms. Heinz Kerry isnt the typical political spouse our parochial press is accustomed to covering. So they were waiting for her to say something like what she said on July 25, after a reception for Democratic delegates from her home state of Pennsylvania. That was when she...
July 30, 2004
Maybe John Edwards Could Represent Him
John Kerry followed up a fairly successful acceptance speech at the nominating convention with a stupendously silly statement on Friday that again reveals the nature of the Democrat's thinking on terrorism. Rather than calculating the value of interrogating Osama bin Laden or the security requirements that would necessitate a military tribunal for his disposition, Kerry instead proposes to put Osama on public trial -- several times: John Kerry said Friday he would put Osama bin Laden on trial in U.S. courts rather than an international tribunal to ensure the "fastest, surest route" to a murder conviction if the terrorist mastermind is captured while he is president. "I want him tried for murder in New York City, and in Virginia and in Pennsylvania," where planes hijacked by al-Qaida operatives crashed Sept. 11, 2001, Kerry said in his first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee. So Kerry wants to create the traveling...
July 31, 2004
Marines Left Unimpressed By Kerry Reporting For Duty
John Kerry and John Edwards dropped by a Wendy's to celebrate the Edwards' 27th wedding anniversary, campaign reporters in tow, and happened upon a group of Marines having lunch at the same time. Ever the pol, Kerry took the opportunity to chat up the Marines and get a couple of pictures taken with the young men. Unfortunately for Kerry, he left them unimpressed -- and willing to say so: Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendy's lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary an Edwards family tradition when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions. The Marines two in uniform and two off-duty were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir." But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them...
Newsweek: Kerry/Edwards Gets Smallest Bounce Ever
Newsweek did some polling late this week to determine the effect of the convention for John Kerry's candidacy. They report that even using the loosest possible polling for Democrats -- adults, rather than registered voters or likely voters -- that Kerry received the smallest bounce in the history of the Newsweek poll: Kerrys four-point bounce is the smallest in the history of the NEWSWEEK poll. There are several factors that may have contributed to the limited surge, including the timing of the poll. On Thursday, Kerry had just a two-point lead over Bush (47 percent to 45 percent), suggesting that his Friday night speech had a significant impact. Additionally, Kerrys decision to announce his vice-presidential choice of John Edwards three weeks before the convention may have blunted the gatherings impact. And limited coverage by the three major networks also may have hurt Kerry. Kerry made one of his better speeches...
August 1, 2004
Which Of These Things Doesn't Belong?
Ann Gerhart provides Washington Post readers with an analysis of a term tossed around the Fleet Center in Boston with wild abandon last week, and in the ultimate paragraph, acidly notes one person who avoided it: Today's phrase: ROCK STAR Definition: A label affixed, often with wild abandon, on any Democrat capable of raising the pulse of delegates assembled inside Boston's FleetCenter. Especially popular with the punditocracy, which used it more than 200 times last week. Examples: David Gergen on CNN says Bill Clinton is a rock star. Jake Tapper on ABC and Rudy Giuliani, talking to reporters, both tag Michael Moore with it. Hannah Storm on CBS manages to declare Bill Clinton and Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama rock stars in the same paragraph. Says Greta Van Susteren on Fox News: "I hate to overuse the term" -- oh, go ahead -- "but 'rock star' is the term everyone...
Milli Vanilli Chili - The Wendy's Dodge
Those of us who covered John Kerry's stumble with the Marines at Wendy's on Friday missed a more significant story, one which highlights the phoniness behind the Kerry/Edwards "men of the people" act. Alert CQ reader James O'Toole sends this Midhudson News report today that the Wendy's visit was a mere photo op, while a decidedly more upscale meal waited for them on the bus: While Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, and their families were having a lite lunch at Wendys in the Town of Newburgh Friday, drumming up local support right after the national convention in Boston, their real lunches were waiting on their bus. A member of the Kerry advance team called Nikolas Restaurant at the Newburgh Yacht Club the night before and ordered 19 five-star lunches to go that would be picked up at noon Friday. Management at the restaurant, which...
Gallup: Kerry Lost Ground During Convention
Gallup announced the results of its USA Today/CNN poll taken after the Democratic national convention. Instead of polling "adults", as Newsweek did, Gallup focused on likely voters, a much more reliable indicator of voter behavior. Their polling shows that Kerry went from a marginal tie -- one point up -- to four points down over the convention, which puts him behind at the edge of the margin of error: In the survey, taken Friday and Saturday, the Democratic ticket of Kerry and John Edwards trailed the Republican ticket of Bush and Dick Cheney 50% to 46% among likely voters, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2%. Before the convention, the two were essentially tied, with Kerry at 47%, Bush at 46%. The change in support was within the poll's margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points in the sample of 763 likely voters. But it was nonetheless a stunning...
St. Paul Democrat Endorses Bush For President
While I was driving home from work on Friday, local radio buzzed about St. Paul mayor Randy Kelly and his silence so far on the presidential race. Kelly, a DFL member (Democrat-Farmer-Labor, the state Democratic party), had hinted that he might remain neutral, declining to endorse John Kerry, a stance which worried Democrats in this traditionally liberal capitol city. Kelly announced today that he will not remain neutral, and Democrats will be sorry they pressed the issue: St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election. "George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies." Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction....
Meanwhile, Europeans Vote Kerry
John Kerry may not have received a post-convention bounce from American voters, but the news isn't all bad for the Democratic nominee. Today he received his first newspaper endorsement; unfortunately, the newspaper is the European and far-left Observer: Kerry insists he will be a different President. Under him the US would achieve its foreign policy ambitions through leadership of the international alliance system, accepting the compromises that that implies. Kerry would restore the treaty system covering the spread and testing of nuclear and chemical weapon systems, that Bush has jettisoned. He would cooperate in relieving Third World debt; he would be sympathetic to the Kyoto accords. He would not prevent sex education and the use of condoms in the campaign to fight Aids. He would back science and stem cell research. He would encourage alternative energy technologies. The Observer pushed the envelope when it comes to political bias. Instead of...
August 2, 2004
The Kerry Secret Cut-And-Run Plan
John Kerry has a plan to increase foreign participation in Iraq and retreat forthwith, but he's not going to share it with anyone until he's elected, the Washington Post reports. Kerry did announce that he will pull the vast majority of American troops out of Iraq before the end of his first term in office: John F. Kerry pledged Sunday he would substantially reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq by the end of his first term in office but declined to offer any details of what he said is his plan to attract significantly more allied military and financial support there. In interviews on television talk shows, the Democratic presidential nominee said that he saw no reason to send more troops to Iraq and that he would seek allied support to draw down U.S. forces there. "I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops," he said on...
August 3, 2004
The AP Practices Real Journalism On Kerry
In a sign that John Kerry may lose his last bastion of defense -- a sympathetic mass media -- the AP rips Kerry in an analysis of his "secret plan" to increase foreign troops and reduce American presence in Iraq. Ron Fournier writes that Kerry's plan is not only reminiscent of Nixon, but that it's ultimately irrelevant: John Kerry (news - web sites) says he can "put a deal together" as president to drastically reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq (news - web sites), a pledge reminiscent of Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War and Dwight D. Eisenhower's promise to stop fighting in Korea. Like those Republican presidential candidates, the Democrat's blueprint for peace lacks detail and has critics squawking. ... But when asked for hard evidence that his victory would produce a troops-reducing deal for America, neither Kerry nor his fellow senators cite anything other than...
Kerry Campaign Message Getting Out: "Shove It!"
Jennifer Harper at the Washington Times takes a look at how the themes sounded by the Democrats at their nominating convention have resonated with the American public. So far, Harper finds that the Democrats have been mostly unsuccessful in creating any buzz from their slogans, with one notable exception (via Drudge): Teresa Heinz Kerry's "shove it" phrase to a Pittsburgh editor was the most cited Kerry campaign message in the press last week mentioned 381 times in American publications, according to Factiva, a Dow Jones/Reuters company that tracks daily press mentions. ... Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign mottos did not resonate with the press, according to Factiva. "One America" got 57 mentions, "Hope is on the way," 50 mentions and "America can do better" just 21 by week's end. So much for the entire convention! The only lasting impression was made by the candidate's wife, in an attack on...
August 4, 2004
Kerry Promises More News Conferences If President
John Kerry took steps yesterday to shore up weakening support in akey constituency -- the media -- by promising more news conferences if elected to the White House: Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said Tuesday he would hold news conferences at least once a month if elected in November. "I don't have anything to hide," he declared. ... President Bush, the man Kerry hopes to unseat in November, has held 12 formal news conferences since taking office, though he routinely has short question-and-answer sessions at White House photo opportunities. Of course, it's easy for Kerry to hold press conferences, given the broad range of responses he routinely gives on any issue. One could ask the Senator why he hasn't held many press conferences during his campaign, given this new commitment. After all, the media up to the convention had been his best friend, even if he kept shooting himself in...
August 6, 2004
Economy Inspiring Higher Consumer Confidence
In another significant development for the upcoming presidential campaign, the AP-Ipsos consumer-confidence survey returned its highest numbers of the year as more Americans trust that the economy has really rebounded and will continue its upward trajectory: Consumer confidence surged during the past month to its highest level since the beginning of the year, with Americans feeling better about their own finances and more optimistic about the future despite renewed terror threats and rising oil prices. Consumer confidence has been rising for the past four months as the economy has been on a solid path to recovery. The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index climbed to 104.8 in August, up from 92.0 in July, led by consumers' perceptions of their own finances and optimism about the future. It's yet another sign that the Kerry/Edwards campaign of class warfare and economic pessimism has failed to capture the imagination of the electorate, which is experiencing...
Upping The Ante
After the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth ad and book came out this week, the Kerry campaign (as well as the ever-helpful John McCain) demanded that the Bush/Cheney campaign "denounce" the hundreds of veterans who spoke their minds in "Unfit For Command". Instead, the Bush campaign has upped the ante, and the Kerry campaign can't afford to meet the bid: The White House yesterday distanced itself from a political ad that questions John Kerry's Vietnam service and called on the Democratic presidential nominee to join President Bush in demanding an "immediate cessation" of all advertisements by outside groups. "We have not and will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity." In one quick shot, the Democrats have their hypocrisy exposed. No one denounced...
The Secret Plan Improved Over The Past Week
John Kerry must have made major improvements in the past week in his secret plan to end the war. This morning, he told NPR that the Kerry/Edwards plan would "significantly reduce" American forces in Iraq within one year, rather than the four years he claimed as late as last weekend: On Iraq, Kerry lays out his plan to ease U.S. military involvement by increasing international involvement and appointing a high commissioner to act as a liaison with Iraq. "I believe that within a year from now we can significantly reduce American forces in Iraq," Kerry tells Inskeep. Edwards adds that Kerry's proposal to create a "fresh start" has the capacity "to convert this from an American occupation to an international presence helping the Iraqis provide for their own security." The NPR report does not report if Kerry provided any additional details on this plan, nor does it explain how he...
Bush Approval Numbers Trending Upwards: Rasmussen
Rasmussen reports in its daily tracking poll that George Bush's approval numbers have risen to their highest point since before the Democratic convention, showing a remarkable resiliency and the ineffectiveness of the rehashed attacks on display at Fleet Center last week: Fifty-three percent (53%) of American voters say they approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Another 46% disapprove. The past three days represent the President's highest ratings since the Democratic National Convention began. In fact, today's reading is the highest in over a month. Bush has reached the 53% Approval level just three times since mid-May. Among those who work in the private sector, 58% give the President their Approval. Just 49% of government employees do the same. Among those who are retired, Bush earns a 51% Approval rating. As one might expect, Bush's approval rating dropped for a period of time after...
August 7, 2004
The Democrats' Idea Of "Religious Outreach": Shut Up About God
The director of the Democratic Party's two-week-old effort at "religious outreach" resigned yesterday in an effort to quell mounting criticism at her selection after filing an amicus brief supporting the removal of the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance: The director of religious outreach for the Democratic Party says she resigned this week because of criticism over her support for removing the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. The Democratic National Committee is seeking a replacement for the Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson, who resigned Wednesday after serving less than two weeks in the newly created position. DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera said the party had nothing more to add to her resignation statement. ... On Wednesday, Peterson resigned and cited "recent negative publicity" from the amicus brief in the pledge case that she and 31 other members of the clergy signed. Tone-deafness abounds at the DNC. Did...
Bush To Kerry: Make Up Your Mind On Terror Fight
George Bush struck all the right notes in his campaign appearance yesterday in New Hampshire, a state in which he and John Kerry remain deadlocked. In addressing the crowd about removing Saddam Hussein from power, Bush challenged Kerry to make up his mind about the fight against terrorism instead of trying to have it both ways: President Bush challenged Democratic rival John Kerry on Friday to give a yes-or-no answer about whether he would have supported the invasion of Iraq "knowing what we know now" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "I have given my answer," Bush told a cheering crowd. "We did the right thing and the world is better off for it." ... Bush also said Kerry's criticism of his Iraq policies merely shows the Democrat doesn't understand who America is up against. "My opponent said something the other day I strongly disagree with -...
August 10, 2004
The Bush Mythology
I've written rather extensively about the John Kerry/Christmas in Cambodia mythology, and that appears to be exactly what it is. Even by his own journal, he spent Christmas 1968 in Sa Dec, which was more than 50 miles from the Cambodian border. Three of his five crew members deny ever going into Cambodia (the other two won't comment), and one of them even explains that the boat Kerry commanded couldn't possibly have made it into Cambodia due to the anti-incursive obstacles planted in the area. Not only that, but even a Swiftboat could hardly cruise 60 miles out and 60 miles back, in hostile territory, in time for Kerry to have visions of sugarplums dancing in his head, as he put in his journal at the time. But as I've written about the efforts of the Swiftvets in attempting to correct the record, a number of commenters have insisted on...
August 11, 2004
Kerry Plan Signals Enemy To Wait US Out: Bush
George Bush hammered John Kerry for his so-called "secret plan" to accomplish a significant reduction in American troop strength within six months of his inauguration. Bush rightly ridiculed the proposal as a signal that American resolve would be fatally weakened in a Kerry administration: Kerry said this week that he hoped to begin reducing U.S. troop strength in Iraq within six months of taking office, if elected, but that it would depend on broader international assistance, better stability in Iraq and other factors. Bush dismissed the plan as a politically driven one that would cut short the mission and aid the enemy. "The key is not to set artificial timelines," Bush said Tuesday while campaigning for re-election in Niceville, Fla. He said the Massachusetts senator's plan would signal the enemy that, "Gosh, all we've got to do is wait them out." Not only that, but as the LA Times reported...
Now Kerry's Flip-Flops Are Bush's Fault!
John Kerry has a lot of problems these days, but instead of clearing them up, he just keeps adding to them. The New York Times reports on the flip-flop executed by Kerry this week on toppling Saddam when the Democrat decided that he still would have voted to authorize war even if he had known the WMD intelligence was faulty. He disappointed his fellow Democrats, who couldn't believe that Kerry could fall into that trap so easily -- and both the Kerry campaign and the Democrats now fault Bush for Kerry's flip-flop: For five days now, as the long-distance arguments between President Bush and Senator John Kerry have focused on the wisdom of invading Iraq, Mr. Kerry has struggled to convince his audiences that his vote to authorize the president to use military force was a far, far cry from voting for a declaration of war. So far, his aides...
August 13, 2004
Kerry: I Voted Against Yucca Flats After I Voted For It
USA Today (via Yahoo) points out yet another John Kerry flip-flop in a story that headlines the resurgence of George Bush's approval ratings above the 50% mark. Kerry had attacked Bush for moving nuclear waste to the federal dump at Yucca Flats in a rather obvious attempt to curry favor with Nevada voters. However, Bush pointed out that Kerry voted to make the site a nuclear waste dump in the Senate: On Thursday, Bush charged his rival with turning a contentious environmental issue here into "a political poker chip." In his 2000 campaign, Bush said "science, not politics," would determine whether he designated Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a depository for nuclear waste. As president, Bush approved the designation, recommended by the Energy Department, and Nevada opponents cried foul. Kerry, in Nevada on Tuesday, said Bush broke his 2000 campaign promise. Kerry has voted for legislation that included provisions to allow...
Gallup: Bush Maintaining Head-To-Head, 3-Way Leads
As I mentioned below, Gallup has released its latest polling, and it shows George Bush maintaining a thin lead over John Kerry among both likely voters and the wider, less-reliable registered voter sampling. Bush leads Kerry 50-47 (LV), almost unchanged from two weeks ago, when Gallup polled as the Democratic convention closed. Among registered voters, Bush leads 48-47, a statistical dead heat. David Moore writes this about the lack of movement: The changes from the last poll are within the polls' margins of error, suggesting the contest has been essentially steady over the past several weeks. Indeed, the average levels of support for the candidates in the past three polls are identical to the current results. "Essentially steady" sounds fine, until you realize that during this period, John Kerry selected John Edwards as his VP candidate and held his national convention. Even with all of that going on, Kerry could...
August 17, 2004
Kerry Can't Dance, But He'll Steal Your Credit
John Fogerty appears to be a big fan of John Kerry, and the admiration surely is mutual. Kerry, in fact, seems to be an embodiment of Fogerty's song "Zaenz Can't Dance". In an unbelievable gaffe ten days ago, the Kerry campaign fired back at allegations made by the Bush campaign that Kerry was a no-show at Senate Intelligence Committee meetings a whopping 76% of the time by claiming, in part, that Kerry had been the Vice-Chairman of the committee: BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP Narrator: "And after the first attack on the World Trade Center Kerry proposed cutting intelligence by $7.5 billion and missed over 3/4 of the Senate Intelligence Committee public hearings. Just like clockwork." THE RECORD John Kerry is an Experienced Leader in the Intelligence Field - - John Kerry served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for 6 years and is the former Vice Chairman of the Committee....
The Corn People Vs The Northeasterner
The Boston Globe has been working since June with a small focus group of undecided voters in Ohio, arguably one of the two most important swing states in the upcoming election (Florida being the other). At this point, one could expect that the group would be evenly split among the two candidates, much as recent polling shows Ohio to be at this moment. However, the Globe found that Kerry's message has not resonated with its focus group, and three of the five who express any preference lean Bush: Amy Locy's opinion of the president is not temperate. "I just can't stand George Bush," said the deputy clerk of council of nearby Munroe Falls. ... Score one for Democratic nominee John F. Kerry? Not quite. Locy, 39, is still undecided in the presidential race. You know it's getting bad when Kerry starts having trouble locking in the Bush-hater voters. The Globe...
Big Day Tomorrow
I will be lightly posting tomorrow morning and then off for the bulk of the day, as I will be attending a speech by George Bush at the nearby Xcel Energy Center, along with most of my Northern Alliance comrades and my family. I even got a VIP ticket, so I plan to bring my digital camera and my digital recorder so I can come back and blog about the appearance. Laura Ingraham opens up for the President, so we can expect a lively afternoon/evening. Unfortunately, I have to get up at 3:30 tomorrow so I can put a full day in at the office before leaving for the speech. I'm looking forward to the event. Xcel holds about 15,000 people, and I'll bet you there won't be a sitzpinkler in the whole arena......
August 18, 2004
Bush Ignites St. Paul, Norm Coleman Provides The Match
In my entire life, I have never attended a political rally of any large scope. The closest I got was the election-night party at the Orange County Performing Arts Center when my uncle ran (and won) his first term as California State Assemblyman, and a friend's house when he ran for the Cerritos school board (he lost, unfortunately). When my fellow members of the Northern Alliance received an invitation to attend today's George Bush rally, the opportunity was too good to pass up. And I'm glad I didn't. Quite a few members of our family out here decided to come along, incluing Sean from Everything I Know Is Wrong and the First Mate. However, I got the option of using a VIP ticket to stand in front of the stage, or what I called the Mosh Pit, along with Mitch Berg, and Brian "St. Paul" Ward and the Elder of...
August 19, 2004
Kerry Loves A Crowd
The Washington Post reports today on a kerfuffle between the Kerry campaign and the national-security bureaucracy on setting up security briefings for John Kerry. Dana Milbank reports that Kerry's insistence on having a larger team handle the briefings outside of Washington has provided the largest stumbling block: Aides to President Bush and John F. Kerry are sparring over the terms for intelligence briefings for the Democratic presidential nominee, delaying the post-convention overview typically given to the challenger. Those on Bush's side say the Kerry campaign is insisting on having briefings outside of Washington -- a hardship for top CIA officials during a time of heightened threats -- and is demanding that an unusually large number of Kerry advisers be permitted to participate in the highly classified sessions. Those on Kerry's side say it is the Bush administration that has been slow to deal with the logistics, including security clearances, needed...
Democrats Use Intimidation Tactics In Oregon
Members of the SEIU, a labor union supporting John Kerry for president, have decided to help their Democratic colleagues by targeting Ralph Nader petition gatherers for intimidation, posing as investigators and attempting to scare them off the job: The Service Employees International Union, which supports Kerry, said in an election complaint filed with the state that it has heard from more than 30 people who say their names were falsified on Nader's petitions. The union also has warned nearly 60 of Nader's signature-gatherers that they could face a felony conviction and prison time for knowingly submitting fraudulent signatures. ... Nader's Oregon coordinator, Greg Kafoury, said one petition-gatherer was "badly shaken and intimidated" by two union members who knocked on her door and told her she was under investigation. "We have been sabotaged and smeared, and now we have had our people bullied by people who knock on doors at night,"...
August 21, 2004
Kerry Exaggerations Not Limited To His Swift Boat Experience
John Kerry undoubtedly has exaggerated or fabricated a number of his supposed experiences in his brief Swift-boat command, many of which I've covered on this blog. However, CQ reader Charles Moy points to a website for former crewmates of Kerry on board his first assignment, the USS Gridley, for their remembrances of his service -- and it turns out that Kerry's habitual self-aggrandisement extends there as well. Former E-5 radarman Phil Carter posts a long letter explaining his service and impressions of John Kerry. Carter actually contributed to one of Kerry's Senate campaigns and paid him a visit in 1996. His personal recollections of Kerry seem innocuous and even endearing. However, Carter took the time to read Douglas Brinkley's hagiography, Tour of Duty, and objects to a number of misstatements and outright lies regarding Kerry's service: When I read Tour of Duty, I became concerned because the material on Kerrys...
August 23, 2004
More Sloppy Work From The Kerry Campaign
Steve Sturm from Thoughts Online notes another inconsistency in the official Kerry Viet Nam narrative and timeline. This error is nowhere near as egregious as the Cambodian Christmas myth, but still indicating a certain level of sloppiness and poor vetting that allowed John Kerry's campaign to get mired in a quagmire of his own making. In his official timeline and in one of the Michael Kranish biographies in the Boston Globe, Kerry makes certain that both note his arrival in Long Beach at the end of his tour on the USS Gridley came the day after Robert Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles: June 6, 1968 -- Kerry arrives in Long Beach the day after Senator Robert F. Kennedy is killed in Los Angeles... "I didn't have any real feel for what the heck was going on [in the war]," Kerry has recalled. His ship returned...
I'll Call Your Bluff And Raise You
Poor John Kerry - no matter what he does, the President always seems to outfox him, and the press can't help but notice. After calling for days for Bush to denounce the Swiftvet advertisements that have bedeviled Kerry's campaign, Bush finally complied -- and then challenged Kerry to denounce all 527 advertising: Bush praised Kerry's military service in Vietnam. "I think Senator Kerry served admirably, and he ought to be proud of his record," he said. But, pressed several times by reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., about whether he would specifically condemn the ad, Bush would only say: "That means that ad and every other ad. I'm denouncing all the stuff." ... Questioned after Bush's remarks, White House press secretary Scott McClellan repeatedly declined to criticize the content of the Swift boat ads. "Senator Kerry wants to have it both ways," by selectively calling on Bush to condemn...
What Kerry And Edwards Refuse To Denounce
John Kerry and John Edwards refused to take up George Bush's challenge to denounce all outside political advertising by 527s, continuing to complain bitterly about a $250,000 ad buy from one group in three states. However, as Howard Kurtz notes, that reluctance may spring from the upcoming ad blitz about to be launched by its own 527, MoveOn, which has lined up celebrities for its campaign against George Bush: Hip-hop impresario Benny Boom, who has directed videos for P. Diddy, Lil' Kim and LL Cool J, didn't need to have his arm twisted to join an anti-Bush advertising campaign. "I felt like Bush stole the last election and the whole country kind of got robbed and bamboozled, and I wanted to make sure I did my part besides voting," he says. When he was approached by the liberal MoveOn PAC, "I was like, yo, I want to do an ad...
August 24, 2004
Bringing It On
In charging the Bush campaign with collusion between his staff and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and filing a complaint with the FEC, John Kerry and his campaign have opened up a can of worms that will be hard to close now. Readers have sent me a couple of examples of the Kerry campaign's interaction with MoveOn, a supposedly independent 527 that targets George Bush using tens of millions of dollars in donations from George Soros and Peter Lewis. Now, with many readers sending the same links and more to Newsmax, the right-wing news service provides hard documentary proof of collusion and coordination between the Kerry campaign, the Democratic Party, and MoveOn: From Democrats.org, a Web site of the Democratic National Committee, May 9, 2003: The Democratic Party is partnering with MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, Campaign for America's Future, and dozens of other groups representing millions of...
Vote Your Pocketbook
In catching up to Power Line on my lunch break, I noticed that Deacon posted a comment from one of their readers I found provocative. Stan Brown asks a very pertinent question: "Kerry and his attack dogs (which include the news media of course) state as if it were a proven fact that Bush orchestrated the Swift Vet attack. But where is all the money? If Bush is connected to so many rich Republican fat cats, why couldn't the Swift Vets raise any more money than they have? If Karl Rove really had been the evil master mind behind the whole Swift Vet campaign, he certainly should have been capable of raising millions of dollars from his fat cat donors. Or are Rove and Bush so brilliant that they knew they could cause Kerry to self-destruct while spending a mere pittance?" Obviously, Stan's argument rightly demonstrates the laughable idea that...
CORE To Edwards: Stop Blocking Black Judges
The Congress on Racial Equality plans to run advertising in John Edwards' home state of North Carolina challenging him to stop blocking the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the federal appellate bench: California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown is among a half dozen of Bush's nominees to the appeals court who've been blocked in the Senate by Democrats. The Senate confirms all judicial appointments. Her nomination is opposed by groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. But the more conservative Congress of Racial Equality says Brown is a role model who deserves the promotion, and is challenging Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, on his home turf. The ad also names Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a fellow Senate Judiciary Committee member who has helped block Bush's judicial nominees. Senator Edwards wanted to get back to the issues, but...
August 25, 2004
Kerry Flips Again On Iraq (Or Is This One A Flop?)
The Kerry campaign yesterday issued what must be its seventh or eighth position on ousting Saddam Hussein from power. Jim VanderHei writes in today's Washington Post that the official word on Saddam from Kerry's advisors is that he'd still be running Iraq today had Kerry been president: A top national security adviser to John F. Kerry said yesterday that he made a mistake when he said the Democratic nominee probably would have launched a military invasion to oust Saddam Hussein if he had been president during the past four years. On Aug. 7, Jamie Rubin told The Washington Post that "in all probability" a Kerry administration would have waged war against Iraq by now if the Massachusetts Democrat were president. ... "To the extent that my own comments have contributed to misunderstanding on this issue. . . . I never should have said the phrase 'in all probability' because that's...
Kerry Still Sacrificing The Freedom Of The South Vietnamese
John Kerry has taken to pleading for a return to debate on current issues and more relevant qualifications for the presidency in a bid to bury the debate on his Viet Nam record, which at one time was all Kerry would discuss on the stump. Speaking in New York, Kerry told a crowd that all the Bush campaign had was fear, while he wanted to talk about how he could outperform Bush in areas such as foreign policy. So let's talk foreign policy, as practiced right here at home, by Senator Kerry. Earlier this evening, I had the pleasure of speaking with Bradley Clanton of the law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, in Jackson, MS and Washington, DC. Brad represents several Vietnamese-Americans who came to the US as refugees of the Communists in their native land. Some of his clients have names that students of the era...
FBI Files Show Kerry Took Laundered Money In 1996
In a skeleton that CQ noted back in February, the independent watchdog group Judicial Watch has released formerly classified FBI files showing that John Kerry took laundered money from Chinese frontman Johnny Chung for Kerry's 1996 re-election campaign: Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released recently declassified documents showing that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry accepted laundered contributions for his 1996 re-election campaign from the Communist Chinese government and that, in exchange, he may have arranged meetings between Chinese aerospace executives and U.S. government officials. Obtained from the FBI through Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requests, the documents are related to the FBIs Chinagate investigation into the Clinton campaigns acceptance of contributions from Communist Chinese government sources. ... These disturbing FBI documents raise further questions about Sen. Kerrys involvement in what looks like a quid pro quo (cash for meetings)...
August 26, 2004
More Evidence Of A Seismic Shift
Yesterday Hugh Hewitt linked to a small-sampled poll for Arizona showing a nine-point gain for George Bush in a state that the Kerry/Edwards campaign hoped to make competitive. Even worse for John Kerry, the polling showed that independents made up most of the movement to Bush. If Arizona was a bellwether for the nation, the Kerry campaign had big trouble in a month where the challenger should have had a soaring post-convention lead. The Los Angeles Times confirms the national shift towards George Bush and the striking erosion of support for John Kerry in August in today's edition. Ron Brownstein, the LAT's political analyst, reports that even their notoriously skewed polling shows a five-point change favoring Bush since the convention, and now has the President ahead for the first time ever: President Bush heads into next week's Republican national convention with voters moving slightly in his direction since July amid...
New Evidence Of Bush's Collusion With ... The Kerry Campaign?
In its zeal to indict the Swiftvets last weekend, the New York Times developed a ludicrous chart depicting the Six Degrees of Separation between all of the GOP and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. As I noted at the time, had the Times tried doing that with the Democrats, MoveOn, and America Coming Together, the bill for the ink might have equalled the budget deficit of California. Now we find out that even the Gray Lady's tunnel-vision focus on the GOP came up short, as Rich Lowry at NRO found a Bush administration connection to another political group -- the Kerry campaign itself: Max Cleland, who made a staged appearance at the Bush ranch Wednesday, was appointed by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the Export-Import Bank in 2003. The same Max Cleland who is spending nearly all of his time attacking President Bush is,...
Jib-Jab Song Parody Given Green Light
Good news for fans of political satire -- one of the funniest and most clever political animations this year will be back on the Internet, thanks to a settlement between JibJab Media and the publishers of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land": This song is my song, this song is your song. That's the agreement reached between the publishers of Woody Guthrie's classic "This Land is Your Land" and JibJab Media, creators of an animated Internet short that uses the tune in a comic sendup of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaigns. With nary a jab thrown, Ludlow Music, the song's publisher, agreed in a settlement Tuesday to allow the cartoon one of the biggest Internet draws of the summer to keep using the song. In return, JibJab dropped a lawsuit against Ludlow that sought an order saying its use of the song was protected...
August 27, 2004
Getting The Green Bay Pickers Fan Vote
Thank goodness that we have John Kerry on the stump to distract us from ... John Kerry on the run from his Viet Nam narrative. In yet another cringe-inducing moment regarding sports, Kerry managed to goof up the name of one of the NFL's shrines in its home city (via Kerry Spot and a number of laughing fans at Keegan's last night): On Wednesday, Kerry made his third visit to Green Bay, Wis., this year and made it a point to focus on the main thing the city revolves around: football and the Green Bay Packers. ... Unfortunately, during the event, Kerry fumbled for a second time, though this one didn't involve a football. As he was taking questions from the audience, he referred to the legendary Packers stadium, Lambeau Field (which has been called that for 39 years) as "Lambert Field." If the voters catch wind of that gaffe,...
Bush Overtaking Kerry In Key Battleground States: LA Times
The Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein reported yesterday on the state results from the Times' poll, whose national results showed George Bush ahead for the first time in their polling. Three key battleground state that both candidates have campaigned hard to win now have moved towards Bush, with the convention right around the corner: According to the surveys, Bush has opened leads within the margin of error in Ohio, Wisconsin and Missouri states at the top of both campaigns' priority lists. In Missouri, Bush leads among registered voters 46% to 44%; in Wisconsin, he leads 48% to 44%; and in Ohio, the president holds a 49% to 44% advantage, the surveys found. ... In 2000, Al Gore carried Wisconsin by fewer than 6,000 votes; Bush won Missouri by almost 80,000 votes and Ohio by almost 167,000 votes. All three states have attracted enormous spending on television ads from the...
Little Saigon Is Not Kerry Country
Being a Southern California native and having spent a good portion of my adult life in Orange County, I have more than a passing familiarity with an area known as Little Saigon in the cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, and a small piece of Santa Ana. In fact, I used to live within a few blocks of the area when I was a single young Captain. (I categorically deny ever conducting clandestine missions down Brookhurst Avenue; however, I did get a lucky hat from a guy who claimed to be CIA ... as well as an extra-terrestrial.) Pete Peterson writes an excellent article in today's American Spectator on the thriving community of Vietnamese ex-patriates who came to the US on barely sea-worthy boats and built themselves a commercial empire in California's most conservative area. Peterson himself, according to the article, frequents coffee bars in the area. It comes as no...
August 28, 2004
Niall Ferguson Misses The Point
Usually, OpinionJournal.com features well-written commentary from people serious about politics and the impact it has on the US. Once in a while, they toss in a piece that one suspects targets its readers just to gauge their reaction time. Saturday's edition appears to be more of the latter, as Niall Ferguson tries to argue that a Bush loss in November would actually benefit the GOP: It is doubtless not the most tactful question to ask on the eve of the Republican convention, but might it not be better for American conservatism if George W. Bush failed to win a second term? Yes, I know, the official GOP line is that nothing could possibly be as bad for the U.S. as a Kerry presidency. According to the Bush campaign, John Kerry's record of vacillation and inconsistency in the Senate would make him a disastrously indecisive POTUS--an IMPOTUS, as it were. By...
August 30, 2004
Kerry's Voting Record Reflects The Prevailing Wind More Than Conviction
Today's National Journal daily (no web link) reports on its ratings becoming a talking point in this election cycle, due to the top rating that John Kerry received for his voting record last year. In an experience that NJ reporter Charles Green calls "disconcerting," Journal editors have heard George Bush and Dick Cheney use the rating on the campaign trail, without giving the context of how the ratings are compiled, although the context hardly casts glory on the Massachussetts senator: When the tabulations came in for 2003, John Kerry had the highest composite liberal score of any senator. But there was an asterisk. As with other lawmakers who were running for president, Kerry missed a lot of votes in 2003 -- 37 of the 62 that were being used in the vote ratings. He didn't vote often enough to merit scores in the social policy and foreign affairs categories. (Under...
August 31, 2004
Kerry Losing Ground On Security: WaPo
Today's Washington Post reports that John Kerry has lost ground on security issues, falling behind George Bush on an issue in which he attempted to trump the Republican strongest point. The Post notes that Kerry has lost eighteen points on national-security issues since the end of the Democratic convention, and these numbers were taken before the start of the convention: President Bush holds clear advantages over John F. Kerry on national security issues and leadership in the war on terrorism, largely erasing the broad gains Kerry made at his party's Boston convention last month, but voters continue to give the president negative marks on the economy and his handling of Iraq, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. ... The new poll found that a slight majority of registered voters -- 53 percent -- say Bush is more qualified than Kerry to be commander in chief, while 43 percent...
Speaking Of Dry Gardens ...
The ever-invaluable Memeorandum points its readers to a GQ interview with John Kerry conducted, in all places, at a sports bar. In their effort to toady up to the Democratic candidate for President, GQ manages to embarrass both themselves and their subject. For instance, Michael Hainey asks Kerry about the Bush family: GQ: You've got a great rsum, you're an internationalist, patrician. You're more the son of George Bush Senior than W. is. JK: I don't want to go anywhere near that. Except to say this: I like Junior, but I like the senior Bush enormously. A very decent, thoughtful guy. And I have great respect for him. GQ: W. seems like he came out of a laboratory. JK: I don't comment on him personally at all. But Kerry manages to make himself look foolish enough all on his own. When asked about Max Cleland, Kerry told GQ that Cleland's...
September 3, 2004
So Much For The Non-Bounce Election
Thanks to Power Line and Instapundit for linking to this new Time Magazine poll taken during the final three days of the convention. Among likely voters, George Bush has opened up a double-digit lead against John Kerry with 60 days left to go to the election: For the first time since the Presidential race became a two person contest last spring, there is a clear leader, the latest TIME poll shows. If the 2004 election for President were held today, 52% of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 41% would vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry, and 3% would vote for Ralph Nader, according to a new TIME poll conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. What happened to the bounceless conventions this year? Supposedly this year's election featured an electorate so firmly divided that no one could get a bounce from a convention, and the...
September 4, 2004
Newsweek Poll Mirrors Time Poll
In a body blow to the Kerry campaign, the AP reports that Newsweek will shortly announce the results of their polling from the end of the week, and that they have the same results as the Time poll released yesterday -- Bush up by 11 points over Kerry: Newsweek, Sept. 2-3, 1,008 RV, MoE +/-3 (Results from late July Newsweek poll in parentheses) Three-way race: George W. Bush-Dick Cheney 52 percent (42) John Kerry-John Edwards, 41 percent (49) Ralph Nader-Peter Camejo, 3 percent (3) Unsure, 4 percent (6) Two-way race: George W. Bush, 54 percent (44) John Kerry, 43 percent (52) Unsure, 3 percent (4) Since their last poll in July, Newsweek finds that a nineteen-point swing has occurred in the presidential race. Kerry had led by eight points in the two-way race and seven in the three-way race. Now Kerry trails by eleven in both models, a tremendous erosion...
Zell Was Right About Democrats
CQ reader Bill Shrumm points out an article in today's Boston Herald which emphasizes the point Zell Miller made regarding his extreme dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party -- their repeated hijacking of national-security and homeland defense issues for partisan political advantage. Ann Donlan reports on the Massachussetts' state troopers union push to endorse George Bush in the upcoming election and the thinly-veiled threats coming from state Democrats as a result: The state troopers' union is seriously considering an endorsement of President Bush, a vote that would be an embarrassment for Sen. John F. Kerry and a risky move for the union, according to government and law enforcement sources. "It would be embarrassing for the senator that the state police in his own state aren't supporting him," said one law enforcement source. ... The SPAM union, which represents about 2,000 troopers and sergeants, endorsed Republican Gov. Mitt Romney when he ran...
More To Ben Barnes Than Meets The (CBS) Eye
60 Minutes plans on running an "expose'" on Sunday night regarding George Bush's assignment to the Texas Air National Guard. Ben Barnes, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas, will tell CBS audiences that he arranged for Bush's assignment, expecting that the Bush family would be grateful for the assistance even though no one asked him for his help. CBS also will tie in the fact that Bush had a drinking problem at the time, although Bush himself admitted that years ago. But McQ at QandO (an invaluable neolibertarian blog) wondered about who Ben Barnes is and whether he has any connections to John Kerry. Certainly the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been tarred with the contributions of Bob Perry, who gave them $200,000 in contributions. That led to all sorts of Rube Goldberg charting at the New York Times, trying to tie Republican policymakers to the Swiftvets. It began to...
September 5, 2004
Fournier: Bush Nears Electoral College Target
In a dramatic reversal highlighting the rapid decline of the John Kerry campaign, the AP's political analyst Ron Fournier reports that George Bush has firmed up at least 237 Electoral College votes at this point in the election: The race is spread over 19 states, with the fiercest competition in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, according to state polls and interviews with strategists in both parties. Two months before Election Day, the president has 20 states firmly in his column and eight leaning his way, for a total of 237 electoral votes. It takes 270 to win the White House. The Democratic challenger has 11 states plus the District of Columbia in hand, with five states leaning his way. That puts Kerry at 211 electoral votes. Normally, this kind of pre-election tallying would be of little note, except that these results have reversed themselves over the past...
Now Conventions Have Bounces: Democrats
The New York Times takes a look at the Bush momentum coming out of the Republican convention as George Bush goes stumping across Ohio to firm up his support. John Kerry attacked Bush for raising the price of Medicare even though the benefits have been widely expanded, suggesting that Halliburton should pay for the increases without explaining why. And in the meantime, the Kerry campaign suddenly shifted positions on convention bounces, trying to pass off Bush's sudden upsurge as a passing phenomenon: Fortified by new polls showing him with a clear lead over Senator John Kerry, President Bush talked of economic renewal and tried to blunt Democratic attacks on his economic record as both he and Mr. Kerry campaigned Saturday across northeastern Ohio. "In order to make sure this economy grows, we've got to make sure we keep your taxes low," Mr. Bush said in Kirtland, Ohio, lampooning Mr. Kerry,...
Kerry Calls McCain A Liar
John Kerry's campaign has now responded to the speakers at the Republican National Conventionby calling them all liars and distorters. Apparently no one is safe from Kerry's poisoned pen, including his first choice for running mate, John McCain. The author of this piece doesn't bother to list opposing arguments or any supporting evidence that the plethora of statements -- their website lists a whopping 143 of them -- are false, misleading, or half-truths, as the title labels them. In fact, they don't even distinguish which is which. McCain comes under fire for these four statements: Bush Has Done A Good Job With Our Allies. 10. Senator John McCain: My friends in the Democratic Party and I'm fortunate to call many of them my friends assure us they share the conviction that winning the war against terrorism is our government's most important obligation. I don't doubt their sincerity. They emphasize that...
September 6, 2004
At Least He Has Experience With Meltdowns
John Kerry has shaken up his campaign staff after a disastrous August which in two polls has seen him suffer a nineteen-point turnaround, in a year where the electorate supposedly only can shift three or four points overall. However, his new addition to the campaign may raise more eyebrows than confidence in his ability to turn the Kerry campaign around: Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, under pressure to bring new focus to his campaign, added a veteran political strategist to his travelling campaign entourage, rounding out changes to his senior staff. Democratic National Committee General Election Manager John Sasso will become the senior campaign staffer aboard the Kerry campaign plane, a key role in the final weeks leading up to the election. Sasso's rsum includes a stint managing the failed 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. In a campaign that already reminds too many people of the Dukakis disaster --...
More Doublespeak On Iraq
John Kerry, in an appearance today in Pennsylvania, continued to vacillate on his approach to Iraq as supporters forced him to answer questions on the issue at an appearance on Canonsburg. Kerry flipped back to his earlier, fully anti-war position of the primary campaign and eschewed his assertion last month that he would have gone to war against Saddam regardless of the WMD question: Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Monday called the invasion of Iraq "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and said his goal was to withdraw U.S. troops in his first White House term. Under pressure from some Democrats to change the subject from national security -- regarded by many as President Bush's strongest issue -- Kerry tried to focus exclusively on the economy and other domestic topics at a neighborhood meeting but supporters raised Iraq. The Massachusetts senator, who has said...
Gallup, USA Today Show Bush Up Seven Points
In another poll confirming Bush's breakout this week, USA Today shows George Bush leading John Kerry outside the margin of error for the first time in the campaign: President Bush widened his lead over John Kerry after a combative Republican National Convention deepened questions about the Democratic candidate's leadership, especially on terrorism. As the campaign enters its last eight weeks, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows Bush at 52%, Kerry at 45% and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 1% among likely voters. Before the convention, Bush led Kerry by 2 percentage points. Just as with the more dramatic Time and Newsweek polls, the real story shows in the poll's internals. Terrorism has moved back to the top of the list of concerns for voters this fall, and Bush has extended his lead over Kerry on that issue by ten full points, to a gap of 27: But...
September 7, 2004
John Kerry, Campaign Comedian
John Kerry has a huge problem with connecting on a personal level to his audiences. It doesn't come naturally with the Boston Brahmin, and every time he tries to make a special effort, it appears forced and unnatural. Yesterday, in West Virginia, his attempt to joke around with the audience turned downright creepy: In West Virginia, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, gave Kerry a rifle as a gift. Kerry, a self-described gun-owner and hunter, quipped: "I thank you for the gift, but I can't take it to the debate with me." I know that John Kerry doesn't want to assassinate George Bush, but doesn't he think about what he's saying before opening his mouth? Given the level of Bush-hatred and irrationality among the Democrats at the fringe, joking about bringing guns to a debate seems particularly irresponsible this electoral cycle. If assassination jokes are what...
John Kerry Erases History
Two days ago, I wrote that John Kerry called John McCain (and just about everyone else at the Republican Convention) a liar, based on a press release at his website. A number of you wrote to tell me that the page had disappeared from Kerry's website, but it had mysteriously reappeared by the time I checked on it. Well, it has disappeared once more, as the Kerry campaign tries to keep its candidate from infuriating the one man who has tempered the criticism from the right in this electoral cycle. McCain, who constantly refers to his friendship with Kerry, might take the gloves off if Kerry impugns his character as he did with the Viet Nam veterans who have campaigned against Kerry. The campaign made a smart move taking down that list, especially since they never bothered to factually refute even one of the 143 statements they listed as lies,...
Bush: Kerry Just A Mouthpiece (Updated - Flip/Flop Alert!)
George Bush continued to hammer John Kerry's lack of consistency on the Iraq war, and noticed that Kerry yesterday didn't just change his position -- again -- but stole one from other Democrats: President Bush said Tuesday that rival John Kerry appropriated the anti-war position of one-time presidential candidate Howard Dean in Kerry's latest criticism of the president on the war in Iraq. On Monday, Kerry described the Iraq war as "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time." Kerry "woke up yesterday morning with yet another new position, and this one's not even his own; it is that of his one-time rival, Howard Dean," Bush told thousands of supporters at a rally in the Kansas City suburbs. Bush said Kerry "even used the same words Howard Dean did back when he supposedly disagreed with him ... Senator Kerry flip-flops. We were right to make America safer...
Two Kerry/Edwards Campaigns For Two Americas?
For months, the Kerry campaign has made the claim (stolen from Howard Dean, naturally) that John Kerry will stand up to lobbyists and special interests and fight for the common folk. This claim, as I noted back in January, is patently ridiculous. Even back then, Kerry had taken over $640,000 in special-interest money throughout his career, including $225,000 for his presidential campaign just to that point. That didn't keep Kerry from assimilating John Edwards' rhetoric on lobbyists and special interests. On their website, Edwards uses his Two Americas theme to rail against lobbyists and their corrupting influence: We still have two governments in America: one for the insiders, the lobbyists, and the special interests, and then whatever is leftover is for you. But in the America you and I build together, we will have one government that works for younot those insiders, not those lobbyists, not those special interests but...
September 8, 2004
The Hill: Bush Fulfilled Obligations Each Year In TANG
The Kerry campaign and the mainstream media have played up George Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, claiming for months that Bush went AWOL while transferring to Alabama after the Air Force started phasing out the F-102 he flew for years. The Hill, a DC newspaper targeted at the political elite in the nation's capitol and hardly a bastion of conservative thought (although Byron York writes for National Review), has analyzed the new data released by Bush earlier this year, and their analysis shows a much different picture than that painted by Kerry or the media: The future president joined the Guard in May 1968. Almost immediately, he began an extended period of training. Six weeks of basic training. Fifty-three weeks of flight training. Twenty-one weeks of fighter-interceptor training. That was 80 weeks to begin with, and there were other training periods thrown in as well. It was full-time work....
For Small Businesses, Kerry's Help Has Never Been On The Way
CQ reader Mike Maerten noticed this analysis from the Small Business Survival Committee over at Townhall.com regarding John Kerry's voting record on small-business issues over the past 10 years. Bear in mind my earlier analysis of National Journal's ratings of John Kerry during the Clinton Administration, where his votes skewed more conservative when Bill Clinton occupied the White House than when Republicans held executive power. Even during this more conservative period, John Kerry's voting record displays a remarkable hostility to small businesses: Of the 101 votes in the U.S. Senate that SBSC has rated since the 103rd Congress Senator Kerrys record is unsettling. He has voted on the side of small business a mere 13 times out of the 101 votes that SBSC rated during the past decade giving him a weak 13 percent rating on key small business issues. Senator Kerry voted against small business 94...
Bush-Hitler Comparison Endorsed By Minnesota Democrats
The Bush-Hitler comparisons just keep on coming from the Democrats, who not only have no sense of history but also a tin ear when it comes to attracting centrist voters. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, the state's Democratic Party franchise, offered bumper stickers to its faithful at their headquarters with the Nazi theme at the forefront: A small stack of bumper stickers at the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party caught the eye of a Minnesota Republican Party official who had stopped by to deliver a letter. "Bush/Cheney -- Most hated world leaders since Hitler," proclaimed the stickers, which also carried the name of a Web site, www.changetheregime.us, according to the Associated Press. The Democrats denied culpability, but the Republican National Committee issued a statement from Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) saying, "Someone needs to tell John Kerry that this is not the way we do things in the American heartland." After John Glenn's invocation...
Now It's Completely Unsourced
Kitty Kelley's only source for her blockbuster allegation of drug use by George W. Bush at Camp David during his father's administration strenuously denied telling Kelley any such thing, according to Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post. Not only does Sharon Bush, W's ex-sister-in-law, deny alleging the drug use but also categorically states that the accusation is false: Sharon Bush, who is divorced from the president's brother Neil, said in a statement: "I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David. When Kitty Kelley raised drug use at Camp David, I responded by saying something along the lines of, 'Who would say such a thing?' "Although there have been tensions between me and various members of the Bush family, I cannot allow this falsehood to go unchallenged." Further, Sharon Bush...
September 9, 2004
Kerry Shrinks The Map
John Kerry's campaign has shrunk the electoral map despite promising for months to come out of the conventions fighting in every area of the country. Their new ad strategy only includes 14 states, possibly adding in another seven next month, according to the AP's political reporters Ron Fournier and Liz Sidoti: After months of pledging to contest President Bush in every region of the country, Sen. John Kerry and Democrats are limiting television advertising to 14 battleground states as the fall campaign opens. The shift bumps GOP-leaning Missouri, Colorado, Arizona and several Southern states off the political playing field at least for now and gives Bush reason to consider moving money from some of those states to others that historically trend Democratic. Of course, Kerry's allies in 527s may choose to run ads in the other states, but it's revealing that the campaign has given up on more...
More Disastrous Polling Results For Kerry At ABC/WaPo
ABC News and the Washington Post have released the results of their latest polling in the presidential race, and they confirm that John Kerry has headed downhill faster than a runaway eighteen-wheeler burning through its brakes. Kerry, who had led by two points after his convention, now trails by nine among likely voters, 52-43, for an eleven-point freefall. But even more significant than the overall vote result are the underlying polling, which shows how complete Kerry's collapse has been. For instance, 84% of Bush supporters claim to support the President rather than just casting an anti-Kerry vote. Bush's numbers on that question have been remarkably consistent for the past six months. So, too, have Kerry's -- but that should give him no comfort. Only 41% of Kerry's votes are a positive affirmation of his candidacy, while more than half, 55%, plan to vote against Bush rather than for Kerry. And...
September 10, 2004
From Here To Oblivion
John Kerry had enough problems over the last five weeks trying to keep his head above water after suffering an almost unprecedented meltdown in the polls. CBS' embarassment over the forged documents wouldn't have been anything but an albatross around their already-sinking necks anyway, but the Prowler may have added the millstone that takes them to the bottom. Published shortly after midnight and inaccessible at the moment, The American Spectator column claims that the forged documents came directly from the Kerry campaign: More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian. The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign....
September 11, 2004
Kerry: GOP Racists, Looking To Suppress Black Votes
John Kerry told the Congressional Black Caucus that the Republicans want to suppress the black vote in November, repeating the canard that a million black votes went uncounted in 2000: "We are not going to stand by and allow another million African American votes to go uncounted in this election," the Democratic presidential nominee told the Congressional Black Caucus. "We are not going to stand by and allow acts of voter suppression, and we're hearing those things again in this election." Kerry has a team of lawyers to examine possible voting problems to try to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election disputes. He also has said he has thousands of lawyers around the country prepared to monitor the polls on election day. "What they did in Florida in 2000, some say they may be planning to do this year in battleground states all across this country," Kerry said. "Well,...
September 12, 2004
Nader Getting Nuttier
Frustration rarely brings out the best in people. Many times, the stress causes people to get more extreme and lose context for their issues. That's about the only charitable explanation I can make for Ralph Nader's remarks yesterday in remembrance of 9/11, in which he not only asserted that the US has no enemies but that terrorism is overrated: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader told supporters Saturday that a far larger number of Americans die each year from poverty, hunger, pollution, dangerous jobs or poor access to high-quality health care than terrorism. "Who weeps for these people?" Nader asked before remarking that it would take a press release from al-Qaida to get Democrats and Republicans to pay attention to the nation's social ills. Nader met with about 175 supporters in a Philadelphia church as many Americans observed the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Despite those attacks, Nader...
LA Times: Democrats In Disarray
The Los Angeles Times is the latest mainstream news media source to write about the breakdown of direction in the John Kerry campaign. Matea Gold and Mark Barabak report that panic is rising among Democrats in their candidate's inability to stay on message and the split among his senior advisors that has created a strategy of vacillation: Even as he fights to regain momentum in the presidential race, Sen. John F. Kerry faces a debate among advisors over the tone and content of his message, according to insiders and other Democrats familiar with the campaign's discussions. ... Advisors to Kerry dismiss suggestions their internal debates have hamstrung the campaign, calling them "routine discussions." They maintain that the "fundamentals" of the White House race remain in their favor, arguing that Bush's lukewarm approval ratings and the nation's slow economic recovery create an environment in which Kerry can quickly gain ground. The...
WaPo Tries Rehabilitating Teresa Heinz Kerry
Evelyn Nieves tries her best to rebuild the reputation of Teresa Heinz Kerry in today's Washington Post, offering laughable defenses for her erratic behavior during the campaign. While reading her article, you can almost feel the breeze coming from Nieves's spin: Teresa Heinz Kerry was talking, and so the entire room at the St. Moritz restaurant was dead silent, the back rows leaning forward as if the floor itself were tilted. This held for nearly an hour, the whole time Heinz Kerry spoke. Her voice was so soft that pity the person who coughed. People would turn to the offending noisemaker with faces that said "shush -- or leave." Nieves uses this speech on health-care proposals to paint a picture of an audience enraptured by Teresa's "wonkish" speech. However, a much better explanation is that Heinz Kerry is a poor public speaker, a quality that has not gone unnoticed before,...
Caught In The Act Of Not Being AWOL!
The Decatur Daily (Alabama) published an interview this morning with former Air Force Sgt. James Copeland, who insists that he saw George W. Bush doing his required drills at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery, AL during the period CBS and Democrats claim he was AWOL: Copeland, who lives in Hartselle, retired from the Air Force on Jan. 31, 1980. He was the disbursement accounting supervisor, a full-time position, for Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery from Oct. 28, 1971, to Oct. 27, 1975. His office was less than 100 yards from the hangar where Bush performed drills. Rumors say Bush went AWOL while assisting Winton "Red" Blount in an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate focus on 1972 and 1973. Copeland, 65, remembers meeting Bush on two occasions. He does not remember the precise dates. On one occasion, Copeland said, Bush and Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun came...
When You Start Losing R.W. Apple ...
The New York Times runs an amazingly balanced analysis from the notoriously partisan R. W. Apple, who usually only comes second to Robert Fisk in blogosphere disdain for his slanted pieces. Today, however, even Apple can't work his magic for John Kerry in a look at how badly the Democrat has stumbled in Ohio, where according to Apple, all indicators point to a great opportunity for Kerry: Everything seemed to be in place for a powerful run by Senator John Kerry in Ohio in the stretch drive after Labor Day. Al Gore lost the state by 175,000 votes in 2000, despite having pulled all his advertising early in October. Ohio has shed 250,000 jobs since George W. Bush became president. Rocked by scandals and an unpopular tax increase, the statehouse Republicans, from Gov. Bob Taft down the line, have been in unaccustomed disarray for weeks. At the end of last...
September 13, 2004
New Smear, Same As The Old Smear, Only Lamer
Matt Drudge reports that the Democrats have prepared a new smear on George Bush regarding his National Guard service that is not only pathetic and laughable, but also reveals the incredible ignorance of the military of Bush's opponents: Faster than a CBS eye can blink, dogged Dems are set to take to the airwaves anew hoping to keep questions about President Bush's National Guard duty in play, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Candidate Kerry apparently has rejected former President Clinton's advice not to get further locked in a 2004 Vietnam quagmire. "George W. Bush's campaign literature claimed that he 'served in the U.S. Air Force.' The only problem? He didn't," slams a new DNC press release set for distribution. ... "George Bush has a clear pattern of lying about his military service," DNC Communications Director Jano Cabrera blasts in the new release. "From 1978 to the present day, George Bush...
Democrat 527 Paints Kerry As "Metro"?
As I've been reading the on-line newspapers, especially the New York Times, I've been seeing an ad campaign for something called Retro vs Metro. The ads feature a bad picture of George Bush with the label Retro, and a smiling John Kerry with the label Metro. The first impression this ad gives is that Kerry has co-opted yet another part of Howard Dean's campaign and declared himself a 'metrosexual', or at least a Democratic 527 has done that for him. Another ad laughably asks, "Smarter bombs or smarter kids?", apparently unaware that the two are not mutually exclusive. I looked more into the website and discovered Retrovsmetro.org, a smug, self-congratulatory site that scorns religious expression unless it's superficial, and advances the most bigoted impressions of rural and suburban America as anything you're likely to read anywhere. Here's what the creators have to say about Retro America: On the Retro side...
Typography Questions About Silver Star Citations
Now that the entire blogosphere has had a crash course on typography and word processing, CQ reader Jeff C. spotted something interesting at the John Kerry campaign web site. Kerry's campaign has made available two of the three separate citations for the single Silver Star for his engagement of 28 February 1969, the Hyland and Lehman citations (the Zumwalt citation is not provided). Take a look at the first citation in the scan, which is the older Hyland citation. Two odd observations jump out at me. First, the entire citation is typed in italics, which strikes me as strange, for military use. The second oddity, though, is the fact that this document is also typed in a proportional font with fairly obvious kerning. For a demonstration of how that differs from a standard typewriter product, simply look at the Lehman citation on the second page of the PDF, which uses...
Badgers For Bush
USA Today reports that Wisconsin has started to tip towards George Bush, who has opened an eight-point lead in a state Al Gore carried by a hair in 2000, according to a new USAT/CNN/Gallup poll: President Bush has widened his lead over Democrat John Kerry in the battleground state of Wisconsin, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows. ... The newest poll should hearten Republicans. President Bush holds a lead of 8 percentage points among likely voters and a lead of 4 points among the larger group of registered voters. The week before the Republican National Convention in New York City, Bush held a 3-percentage point lead over his challenger Kerry. Now, that lead has ballooned to 8 points. His edge is within the poll's margin of error. But the momentum in the state in Bush's direction and the fact he has gotten over the 50% threshold is troubling to...
September 14, 2004
Going After The Senility Vote
The Washington Post takes a look at a little-discussed phenomenon and explores the ethical and Constitutional implications of the senile voter. Shankar Vendantam uses some disturbing anecdotal evidence to make the point that, in a population skewing older, more voters may simply be incapable of casting a ballot and are vulnerable to manipulation: Florida neurologist Marc Swerdloff was taken aback when one of his patients with advanced dementia voted in the 2000 presidential election. The man thought it was 1942 and Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. The patient's wife revealed that she had escorted her husband into the booth. "I said 'Did he pick?' and she said 'No, I picked for him,' " Swerdloff said. "I felt bad. She essentially voted twice" in the Florida election, which gave George W. Bush a 537-vote victory and the White House. Vedantam indulges in some poor structural composition; the patient's wife didn't cause...
Another Clintonista Comes Aboard Hair France
The John Kerry campaign announced another addition to its advisory staff -- Mike McCurry, the former Clinton press secretary whose tenure preceded Joe Lockhart's, another recent addition. In a petty cruelty, Kerry's increasingly overshadowed and overmatched communications director Stephanie Cutter made the announcement: Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday added Bill Clinton's former press secretary, Mike McCurry, to his campaign, picking up yet another adviser who worked for the two-time Democratic presidential winner. McCurry will travel with Kerry as a non-paid senior adviser for the final weeks of the campaign. One senior Kerry aide said McCurry will help keep the candidate's comments focused on his daily message. Another said his role will be to make sure the traveling press corps knows what Kerry is doing and why. Either way, the hiring is an acknowledgment that Kerry and his team have failed to communicate a concise, persuasive argument. McCurry starts Wednesday. It...
September 15, 2004
Viet Nam Vet: Kerry Pressured Me To Lie In 1971
Fox News picks up on a story that was first uncovered by Bandit and River Rat last month. Steve Pitkin, a Viet Nam veteran who testified to wartime atrocities in John Kerry's Winter Soldier investigation, now claims in a sworn affadavit that Kerry and other WS leaders pressured him to lie about war crimes in order to further their cause: Steven Pitkin, an Army combat veteran, told FOX News that Kerry coached him and others to say they had witnessed war crimes, even after Pitkin told Kerry that he had not. "Before they started the camera, they told me, 'We need you to speak about the atrocities that happened over there.' The whole company line that I initially came out and said, I was coached to say that over and over again," Pitkin said. Pitkin's new statements present a problem for Kerry, if true. Kerry has recently tried blowing off...
Bush's Lambeau Leap?
Jam VanderHei looks to an incident in Green Bay last month, which I noted at the time, to explain Kerry's sudden erosion in Wisconsin and elsewhere. VanderHei explores the underlying issues of Kerry's phoniness on the campaign trail, revealed in his error-filled invocations of sports references, and how the Bush campaign has taken advantage of it with voters: At a campaign event last month, the Democratic presidential nominee called it Lambert Field -- a slip of the tongue carried on television, in papers throughout the state and on ESPN's Web site. That's akin to calling the Yankees the Yankers or the Chicago Bulls the Bells. This is a place where Packers jackets often outnumber sports coats in church and thousands of fans wear a big chunk of yellow foam cheese atop their head with the pride of a new parent. President Bush's warning to terrorists is apropos to the passions...
Kedwards Campaign Shrieks ... Again
The Kerry/Edwards campaign has a bad case of Vietnamitis -- no matter what the issue or the debate, they find a way to throw in Vietnam as their rebuttal, usually in a hysterical shriek that could serve as a parody in and of itself. The latest example of these non-sequitur responses came from Dick Cheney's speech yesterday, in which he reminded people of the many positions John Kerry has taken on the Iraq war: Vice President Dick Cheney turned Sen. John Kerry's own words against him Tuesday while criticizing the Democrat for calling the war in Iraq "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time." In an echo of a charge President Bush leveled at Kerry last week, Cheney contended that Kerry's position was held early in the primary campaign by Democratic presidential rival Howard Dean. "Sen. Kerry said, and I quote, 'Those who doubted whether Iraq...
Marie Antoinette Of The 21st Century
The Post recently did a spin piece on Teresa Heinz Kerry, arguing that the Kerry campaign unfairly kept her under wraps. Unfortunately for both Kerrys, it turns out that the Post was incorrect: Teresa Heinz Kerry, encouraging volunteers as they busily packed supplies Wednesday for hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean, said she was concerned the effort was too focused on sending clothes instead of essentials like water and electric generators. "Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids," said Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes." At least this isn't "Shove it" or "Asses of Evil", but it's just as foolish. Who tells people that have just gone through a hurricane that clothing isn't important? Maybe Teresa likes running around naked, but for people who have lost...
September 16, 2004
Kerry's Economic Plan
John Kerry penned his economic plan for the pages of the Wall Street Journal, which made it available through Opinionjournal.com this morning (free registration required). The plan focuses on a series of targeted tax credits intended to bolster his standing among specific demographics, while promising class war on the top 2% of American earners -- who already pay over half of all revenues from income tax. Kerry starts out by trying to convince his readers that the economic expansion currently under way, fueled by the Bush tax cuts, is the worst in 50 years by focusing on job growth. However, the expansion itself as measured by GDP (the normal measurement) actually is the best in 20 years, almost outstripping the Reagan expansion in 1984. Even job growth, a lagging indicator, has improved remarkably this year, although buffeted by a summer of skyrocketing energy prices. One reason that Kerry can claim...
Kerry Embodies Change!
The AP's Nedra Pickler writes an unintentionally hilarious analysis of the Kerry campaign bi-weekly attempt to recast itself, this time in what Pickler and the campaign says is a new direction ... Bush Lies: Kerry has less than seven weeks to take over the lead in the presidential race. Democrats hope a major shift will come from the debates, but his strategy in the meantime is based less on building himself up than on tearing down the president. Bush has enjoyed a lead of about 5 or 6 percentage points in national polls since the Republican National Convention, which portrayed Kerry as a vacillating opportunist. Democrats remained largely positive during their convention five weeks earlier, but now are trying to make the case that Bush has not been honest in his life and his leadership. "It's time we had a president who tells the American people the truth," Kerry said...
Could New York Really Be In Play?
Yesterday's news that Bush edged ahead of Kerry in New Jersey, a Democratic stronghold, shocked election observers (via Kerry Spot). However, today's Albany (NY) Times-Union notes an even more ominous turn for Kerry's campaign: Republican President George Bush has gained significantly on challenger John Kerry in Democrat-dominated New York, according to two statewide polls released Wednesday. Bush trails Kerry 47-41 among registered voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. An Aug. 13 poll showed Bush at 35 percent to Kerry's 53. A Marist College poll of registered voters found Kerry leading Bush 48-40 -- a far cry from an April poll that put Kerry ahead 13 points. Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York by a 5-3 advantage. That would translate to 62-38 on a party-line vote. Apparently, the Republican convention and the Kerry meltdown in August has put the Empire State back in play, as Bush has wooed Democrats to...
AP: Gallup Shows Bush Up By 14
Via the Ace of Spades, the AP reports -- buried so far in another story that you need an exhumation order to find it -- that Gallup will announce tomorrow that Bush now leads Kerry nationally by 14 points: A new poll from the Pew Research Center said the "bounce" that seemed to propel Bush to a lead just after the Republican convention had disappeared. But he was ahead by double digits in another survey. The Pew poll found the race at 46-46 among registered voters, and 47-46 Bush among likely voters. A Gallup poll being released Friday has Bush up 54-40 in a three-way matchup, with Ralph Nader at 3 percent. We'll see what Gallup's methodology is tomorrow so we can determine how seriously to take this latest result. Having a pollster with Gallup's stature come out with a fourteen-point gap in mid-September has to rock the Democrats, who...
September 17, 2004
Gallup Poll: Bush Up 13 Among Likely Voters
The AP report from yesterday was only one point off. USA Today reports that a new Gallup poll taken in the aftermath of Rathergate has Bush leading among registered voters by eight points and among likely voters by thirteen: President Bush has surged to a 13-point lead over Sen. John Kerry among likely voters, a new Gallup Poll shows. The 55%-42% match-up is the first statistically significant edge either candidate has held this year. Among registered voters, Bush is ahead 52%-44%. The boost Bush received from the Republican convention has increased rather than dissipated, reshaping a race that for months has been nearly tied. Kerry is facing warnings from Democrats that his campaign is seriously off-track. Gallup finds a statistically significant lead in both categories, which I believe is the first poll to show that so far this year for either candidate. Note that other polls that showed a drift...
Kerry/Edwards Supporters Assault 3-Year-Old Girl (UPDATE: Scam??)
NOTE: This post has a significant update - scroll to bottom ... I knew that the campaign was getting nasty, but a group of Kerry/Edwards supporters hit a new low today when they grabbed a Bush sign from a three-year-old girl and tore it up in front of her. You can see her reaction here, as well as the glee and hatred on the faces of her assailants: The AP caption is the only reporting so far on the incident: Three-year-old Sophia Parlock cries while seated on the shoulders of her father after having her Bush-Cheney sign torn up by Kerry-Edwards supporters on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004, at the Tri-State Airport in Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards made a brief stop at the airport as he concluded his two-day bus tour to locations in West Virginia and Ohio. Bandit sent this over to me, rightfully disgusted about anyone who...
CBS Confirms Bush Lead Over Kerry
CBS must hate to report this, but their latest poll confirms the earlier Gallup polling that George Bush has opened a significant lead over John Kerry, 50-41: The contest between President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry looks much as it did in a CBS News Poll conducted last week, after the Republican convention. Bushs post-convention bounce remains intact, if even slightly larger in this poll; Bush now leads Kerry 50 percent to 41 percent among registered voters, giving the President a 9-point margin. In the so-called battleground states, Bush's lead balloons to an astronomical fourteen points as John Kerry can't even break the 40 level: Voters in 18 battleground states favor Bush over Kerry by 53 percent to 39 percent. "Battleground" in this case may start looking like Sherman's march to the sea. What did CBS find out about Kerry's meltdown? One reason is that Bush has...
September 18, 2004
Democrats: Kerry Dragging Anchor On House Races
The Washington Post reports that Democrats are increasingly frustrated with the performance of John Kerry, and now expect to fall far short of their goal of recapturing the House in November: Democrats' hopes of regaining the House majority this fall -- never bright at best -- appear increasingly dim, in part because of Sen. John F. Kerry's lackluster campaign performance over the past six weeks, numerous analysts say. In late July, as upbeat Democrats held their convention in Boston, party leaders said they had capable, well-financed House candidates poised in several states to exploit a nationwide trend that seemed just around the corner. "Democrats can win the House back if this breeze, this movement for a change, continues," said Rep. Robert T. Matsui (Calif.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Since then, however, Republicans conducted a sharp-edged convention in New York, Kerry was slow to respond to attacks on...
September 19, 2004
Swing-State Polling: Bush Holds Onto 2000 States
The Philadelphia Inquirer reviews the latest polling from the battleground states and determines that George Bush leads in all of the red states from 2000, making Kerry's chances at winning almost non-existent (via the revamped QandO): President Bush has pulled ahead of John Kerry in six closely contested swing states that he carried in 2000, shifting the electoral landscape rightward and making it more difficult for challenger Kerry to win the White House, according to a new poll conducted by MSNBC and Knight Ridder, The Inquirer's parent company. Bush leads in six of the seven battleground states that he won four years ago and that were considered among the most competitive this year. He leads Kerry in Arizona by 50 percent to 39 percent; in Missouri 48-41; in Nevada 50-45; in New Hampshire 49-40; in Ohio 49-42; and in West Virginia 45-44. A seventh swing state from the Bush column,...
September 20, 2004
Imagine John Kerry As Mr. Smith, If He Bothered To Show Up
I missed this piece from Carlos Watson at CNN about the possibility of a resurgence by John Kerry in September. Originally posted on Friday, Watson tries to pump some air back in the flagging Kerry campaign with this Inside Edge entry, mostly by giving readers a series of laughable assertions and drawing conclusions so wide of the mark that you wonder what election Watson has been following: Two weeks ago, Kerry appeared to be politically moribund and any kind of resurgence was beginning to seem unlikely. But the media loves a good fight and has begun to shine a more critical light on the new campaign frontrunner: President Bush. Oh, yes, the media has completely left George Bush alone for the past nine months. No one has shone a "critical light" on the GOP incumbent, except for all of that screaming at him about his National Guard service, the economy,...
The Slogan Drives The Policy
The Los Angeles Times reveals that the Kerry campaign has yet another theme for their campaign, after trying out several along the way, and that the new slogan helps to clarify Kerry's policy positions. Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late: After months of struggling to find a theme to capture the essence of his candidacy, Sen. John F. Kerry has settled on one: The election, he says, boils down to a decision between four more years of "wrong choices" or a "new direction." Since Labor Day, the Democratic presidential nominee has stuck to that theme relentlessly, using it to shape arguments on Iraq, the economy and nearly all other topics he broaches. One problem Kerry has is that his vacillations make it appear that he could provide a whole range of choices on any topic, rather than pick the one in which he believes. On any given day,...
There He Goes Again
John Kerry has done it again -- flip-flopping on the Iraq war and deposing Saddam Hussein. Flip: Staking out new ground on Iraq, Sen. John Kerry said Monday he would not have overthrown Saddam Hussein had he been in the White House, and he accused President Bush of "stubborn incompetence," dishonesty and colossal failures of judgment. Bush said Kerry was flip-flopping. "Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell," he added. "But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure." Bush hit back from a campaign rally in New Hampshire, interpreting Kerry's comment to mean the Democrat believes U.S. security would be better with Saddam still in power. "He's saying he prefers the stability of...
Kerry's New York Lead Only Five Points
As I reported last Thursday, polling shows a sea change occuring in New York, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by an almost 2-1 advantage. Rassmussen reports that John Kerry's lead in one of the most reliable blue states has dwindled to five points, just outside the margin of error: John Kerry's lead in New York is down to single digits. The Empire State, among the bluest of the Blue States from Election 2000, is still in the Kerry column for our Electoral College projections, but the raw numbers are stunning. Confirming findings found in other recent polls, Rasmussen Reports shows John Kerry leading George Bush by merely five percentage points, 49% to 44%. Four years ago, Al Gore defeated Bush to carry New York by a 25 point margin. Our last New York survey found Kerry up by 19 points. Rassmussen has the race even closer than the Quinnipiac or Marist...
CBS Coordinated Smear With Kerry Advisor
The news gets worse by the hour for John Kerry as his new campaign advisor, Joe Lockhart, admitted that CBS asked him to contact Bill Burkett regarding the National Guard story: At the behest of CBS, an adviser to John Kerry said he talked to a central figure in the controversy over President Bush's National Guard service shortly before disputed documents were released. ... Lockhart said [CBS producer Mary] Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. "She basically said there's a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you," Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush's Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said." First, let's consider the obvious. We now have CBS...
September 21, 2004
Another Asian Intelligence Service Cozies Up To A Kerry Campaign
In what looks to be a case of deja vu, a South Korean consular official has been sent home for getting involved in John Kerry's presidential campaign, raising questions of foreign influence on Kerry's campaign and on the election in general: A South Korean man who met with John Kerry's fund-raisers to discuss creating a new political group for Korean-Americans was an intelligence agent for his country, raising concerns among some U.S. officials that either he or his government may have tried to influence this fall's election. South Korean officials and U.S. officials told The Associated Press that Chung Byung-Man, a consular officer in Los Angeles, actually worked for South Korea's National Intelligence Service. How deeply involved in Kerry's fundraising was Chung? And how did Chung get involved in Kerry's campaign to begin with? American electoral law forbids foreigners from donating money to American candidates, and one would presume that...
September 22, 2004
Urban Legends Come Alive In Kerryland
John Kerry has spent all year running the Rona Barrett Presidential Campaign, whose slogan seems to be No Rumor Too Petty For Us. First he talked about the Bush adminstration being "the most lying, corrupt" people in his memory. Next he fueled the fire on Bush's National Guard service. In this month alone, he's pushed the discredited memes about stem-cell research bans and the disenfranchisement of one million African-Americans in Florida. Today he ups the ante, again in Florida, where he told supporters that a second Bush administration would result in a renewed military draft (via Power Line): Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, citing the war in Iraq and other trouble spots in the world, raised the possibility Wednesday that a military draft could be reinstated if voters re-elect President Bush. Kerry said he would not bring back the draft and questioned how fairly it was administered in the past....
Kerry Retreats
The AP reports this afternoon that the Kerry campaign has canceled planned ad buys in four states previously considered to be up for grabs: Bowing to political realities, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has canceled plans to begin broadcasting television commercials in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and the perennial battleground of Missouri. ... Ads were scheduled to begin airing Oct. 5 in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri as part of a $5 million investment through Nov. 2, but campaign advisers concluded Kerry isn't doing well enough in the states to justify the cost. The campaign, which has reserved commercial time in 20 states through Election Day, notified television stations in the four states that Kerry would not follow through on his plans for the first week of October. Plans are still in place to air ads starting the second week of October, campaign officials said, but those will likely be tabled,...
September 23, 2004
Foreign Leaders Not For Kerry?
Today's Hindustan Times reports that although the Indian political establishment remains diplomatic silence on the subject, they would far prefer an extended George Bush presidency rather than John Kerry (hat tip - Jim W): He may not be the most popular US President among educated Indians but there's no doubt that the Indian foreign policy establishment cutting across party lines would prefer to see George W. Bush re-elected as President of the United States. ... The Indian position is a complex one and hinges on several assumptions. One: Bush appears to be genuinely interested in India. Shortly after he was elected, he made a sincere effort to get to know the country and its leaders. He has also spoken admiringly of India's pool of skilled professionals. In contrast, about the only time Kerry has mentioned India during his campaign has been in the context of outsourcing. There is...
Teresa Plays Count The Conspiracies
Matt Drudge links to an article tonight from the Phoenix Business Journal that reveals just how disconnected from reality the Kerry campaign has become. Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke today at a million-dollar fundraiser and managed to keep up with every conspiracy theory that Democrats have been throwing from the stump: In regard to the hunt for terror leader Osama Bin Laden, Heinz Kerry said she could see the al-Qaida chief being caught before the November election. "I wouldn't be surprised if he appeared in the next month," said Heinz Kerry, alluding to a possible capture by United States and allied forces before election day. Conspiracy Theory #1: Bush Already Has Osama But Is Just Waiting For Election Eve To Announce It -- This hoary chestnut has been trotted out for spins around the political block by such Democratic luminaries as Madeline Albright and Howard Dean. It presumes that George Bush...
CNN: Bush Can Claim Over 300 Electoral Votes
CNN's polling shows that George Bush has a grip on 301 Electoral College votes based on state-by-state polling, with John Kerry fading in the Midwest and his chances of unseating the incumbent fading fast: President Bush this week reached a symbolic milestone, overtaking Democratic challenger John Kerry in New Hampshire and Iowa to claim more than 300 electoral votes in CNN's weekly Electoral College scorecard. If the election were held today, Bush would receive 301 electoral votes to Kerry's 237, according to a CNN survey based on state polling as well as interviews with campaign aides and independent analysts. ... Bush currently leads in 33 states, including the country's entire southern rim (except California) and the mountain and plains regions. Kerry leads in the District of Columbia and the remaining 17 states, including all of the West Coast and most of the Northeast. The two candidates continue to battle for...
September 24, 2004
AP Poll Shows Bush Lead At 7
The AP released the results of its AP/Ipsos poll and they match up with most other polling this month, to John Kerry's chagrin. George Bush has a seven-point lead, 52-45, over John Kerry in a three-way race: President Bush solidified his advantage among men during the last month and holds his highest ratings since January on job performance, the economy and Iraq, according to an Associated Press poll. ... Since the Republican convention, Bush's job approval is up, 54 percent among likely voters, and just over half of them approve of his handling of the economy and Iraq. His approval in all three areas is as high as it's been all year in the polling conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Lest the AP impress us too much with its objectivity, it inserts this questionable statement in the third paragraph: "We took a lead after our convention and the...
Bush Visits Outbound Guard Soldiers
Dana Milbank writes with uncharacteristic objectivity about a surprise visit by George Bush to outbound National Guard troops during a refueling stop in Bangor yesterday: President Bush, after a campaign appearance in Bangor, held his plane on the tarmac when he heard an MD-11 carrying 292 Army reservists and National Guard members was about to refuel here. For the troops, grimly heading toward an 18-to-24-month assignment in Iraq, it was a welcome lift. For Bush, who has been accusing his Democratic presidential opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry, of demoralizing the troops in Iraq by criticizing the war effort, it was a chance to demonstrate his devotion to the troops. "May God bless you all," the commander in chief said over the plane's public address system. "May God keep you safe." As he worked his way up and down the plane's aisles, posing for photographs, signing autographs and shaking hands, the...
Ban? What Ban?
Today's New York Sun publishes an original column by Edward Morrissey -- okay, me -- regarding the myth of the stem-cell research ban that John Kerry perpetuates in his website and on the stump: In the wake of Ron Reagan's appearance at the Democratic Convention, Senator Kerry has tried to make stem-cell research a featured policy difference between Mr. Kerry and President Bush. His campaign Web site talks about "ideologically-driven restrictions" from the Bush administration and promises to lift the "ban on stem cell research." In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece outlining his economic plan, Mr. Kerry writes that he will restore America's competitive edge by working to "end the ban on stem-cell research." In fact, it may be the most consistent policy stance of the entire Kerry campaign. The only problem for Mr. Kerry is that the ban doesn't exist - and he knows it. In my...
Was Kerry In Iraq In 1991 For Cease-Fire Accord?
Frequent CQ contributor Bandit watched the O'Reilly Factor last night on Fox News, which replayed a 2001 interview with Senator John Kerry. Bandit reports that during that interview three years ago, Kerry stated that he went to Iraq on March 3rd during the signing of the cease-fire agreement that ended the first Gulf War: "I mean, I was in Safwan. I went there when the signing of the armistice took place at the end of the war." That would have been a pretty remarkable trip, if Bandit reports this correctly; at the moment, Fox News does not have a transcript available. Both Bandit and I recall that Iraq was still considered a war zone, an unlikely (but not necessarily impossible) place to find a US Senator, especially one who would have had no official capacity during the ceremony, and even more especially, one who had voted against the authorization to...
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"Banning Bibles" Irresponsible And Stupid, And Outnumbered
Republicans sent insipid and stupidly hyperbolic mailings to voters in West Virginia and Arkansas warning about liberals who want to legalize gay marriage and ban the Bible, the RNC admitted today: The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass mailings to residents of two states warning that "liberals" seek to ban the Bible. It said the mailings were part of its effort to mobilize religious voters for President Bush. The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned" and of a gay marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A mailing to Arkansas residents warns: "This will be Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing was sent to West Virginians. A liberal religious group, the Interfaith Alliance, circulated a copy of the Arkansas mailing to reporters yesterday to publicize it. "What they are doing is despicable,'' said Don Parker, a spokesman for the alliance. "They are playing on people's fears and emotions." ......
September 27, 2004
LA Times: Oregon In Play
Today's Los Angeles Times makes a startling admimssion that Oregon, one of the more liberal states and part of the West Coast block that normally is reliably "blue", is up for grabs this year -- even while misreporting the latest polling results: Democrats have not lost a presidential election in Oregon since Ronald Reagan's landslide reelection two decades ago. And it would seem relatively safe territory for Sen. John F. Kerry: Anti-Iraq war sentiment runs strong here, and the state has had the nation's highest unemployment rate for parts of President Bush's term. Yet the double-digit lead Kerry rode in polls here earlier this summer has narrowed sharply, reflecting his general slide in national polls but also the unease many Oregonians express about Kerry's credentials as a commander in chief. Now, just a month after Kerry drew 40,000 to a boisterous waterfront rally in Portland, Oregon's seven electoral votes are...
Bush Up By Eight: Gallup
In its most recent polling, a CNN/Gallup survey shows George Bush maintaining an eight-point lead over John Kerry among likely voters -- and in an unusual twist, his lead increases to thirteen points among registered voters: The survey of likely voters showed 52 percent would vote for Bush and 44 percent for Kerry. A similar poll conducted from Sept. 13-15 showed Bush with 55 percent compared to Kerry at 42 percent. However, among registered voters Bush's lead widened to 13 percent with 54 percent supporting the president and 41 percent backing Kerry. It was up from the earlier poll in mid-September that had 52 percent of registered voters behind Bush and 44 percent in favor of Kerry. It exactly reverses its last polling numbers, exchanging the 8- and 13-point leads between the two measures. Bush's momentum keeps pushing along, and although the previous Gallup poll appeared to be more of...
Diana Kerry: The New Billy Carter, Or Worse?
Katherine Mangu-Ward at the Weekly Standard takes notice of Diana Kerry, who last week attempted to sow a rift in the wartime alliance between Australia and the US. Mangu-Ward at first notes that several presidents have had their embarassments with siblings, most notably Billy Carter and his lobbying for Libya and his penchant for beer. However, she quickly decides that this sibling may be different -- and more destructive: The Weekend Australian's Roy Eccleston, who broke the story, added: "Asked if she believed the terrorist threat to Australians was now greater because of the support for Republican George W. Bush, Ms. Kerry said: 'The most recent attack was on the Australian embassy in Jakarta--I would have to say that.'" She also mentioned the October 2002 bombing of two Bali nightclubs, in which many of the victims were young Australians. Alert readers, including Amanda Sokolski on this magazine's website, quickly picked...
Ban? What Ban?
This piece ran originally in the New York Sun last Friday for their weekend edition; I wrote it specifically for the Sun, but wanted to wait until their next edition to post it here. In the wake of Ron Reagans appearance at the Democratic Convention, John Kerry has tried to make stem-cell research a featured policy difference between Kerry and George Bush. His campaign website talks about ideologically-driven restrictions from the Bush administration and promises to lift the ban on stem cell research. In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial outlining his economic plan, Kerry writes that he will restore Americas competitive edge by working to end the ban on stem-cell research. In fact, it may be the most consistent policy stance of the entire Kerry campaign. The only problem for Kerry is that the ban doesnt exist and he knows it. Stem cells are undifferentiated tissue cells that...
September 28, 2004
Vote for Kerry, he's tall!
Gearing up for Thursday's debate, Senator Kerry tries out several themes, some old and some new, for the Wisconsin voters. According to the AP: Speaking at a town hall style meeting here, not far from the hideaway resort where he is preparing for the debate, Kerry ridiculed Bush for saying in a television interview that he had no regrets over his "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard an aircraft carrier and would do it again. "Since he said that, over 900 have given their lives for the country. The mission was not accomplished when he said it," Kerry said. "He didn't know it and didn't understand it. It's not accomplished today. And he's still trying to hide from the American people what needs to be done in order to be successful in Iraq," Kerry added. Bush didn't actually say "mission accomplished" at the time, but spoke beneath a huge banner on...
Kerry Tries To Milk Dairy Farmers
Seldom has a presidential campaign seen such bald-faced pandering as John Kerry demonstrated yesterday in Spring Green, Wisconsin. With a polling deficit nearing double digits in a state Al Gore carried last election, Kerry tried stemming the bleeding by sucking up to Wisconsin's dairy farmers. Long a supporter of the Northeastern Dairy Compact that put the screws to Midwestern producers, Kerry told the Spring Green farmers that he now has seen the light: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told voters in America's Dairyland on Monday that President Bush had a secret plan that would hurt milk producers after the election. ... In the 1990s, Kerry supported the Northeast Dairy Compact, a regional pricing program that propped up prices for Northeastern dairy farmers over objections from their Midwestern counterparts. "We've had a difference between the Midwest and the Northeast," Kerry said. "I'm going to be very upfront with you about it....
Pew: Kerry Falling Away, Bush Up Eight
The new Pew Research poll shows that George Bush is maintaining his strong lead over John Kerry, as the Democrat can barely muster the baseline 40% that his party affiliation should provide: President Bush's lead over Democratic nominee John Kerry increased to eight points in a Pew Research Center poll released on Tuesday, compared to a slight three-point lead in a poll conducted last week. The telephone survey of registered voters showed 48 percent would vote for Bush and 40 percent for Kerry. A similar poll conducted from Sept. 17 to Sept. 21 showed Bush with 45 percent and Kerry with 42 percent. Kerry continues to fall behind while Bush gains, extending his lead over Kerry by five points over the past week. The internal data of the Pew poll shows more softness in Bush's support than other pollsters have found, but the news could hardly be worse for Kerry:...
September 29, 2004
South Dakota Isn't Kerry's Fault
The AP features an analysis of John Kerry's down-ticket effect, but the main case presented has little to do with Kerry and his candidacy: Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle hugged President Bush from one end of South Dakota to the other this summer. In his own campaign commercials. The brief embrace might seem an odd claim on re-election for the man Republicans depict as obstructionist-in-chief for the president's congressional agenda. But Daschle is one of several candidates with a common political problem as Democrats nurse fragile hopes of gaining Senate control this fall. From the South to South Dakota and Alaska, they are running in areas where Bush is popular and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry not so much. Democrats in the South and West have a big problem with Kerry at the top of the ticket. Right now he's barely able to hold his base, commonly considered 40%...
The Kerry/Edwards Draft, or Dodging History
The Democrats have had a fine time this month spreading urban legends about the prospect of a reintroduction of the military draft during a second Bush term. Not only have they and their associates started a shadowy e-mail campaign, but several of their party leaders accused Republicans of hiding a "secret plan" to restart the draft, despite the numerous denials from the GOP -- and the fact that the only people to actually propose a new draft are two Democrats, Charles Rangel and Fritz Hollings. CBS helped out, again, by again treating rumors as fact and basing an entire news segment on the hoax. But lost in the shuffle until now is John Kerry's proposal to require service for high-school graduation, found by Swimming Through The Spin. Brian found the original web page archived, as somehow this proposal has been mysteriously deleted from the John Kerry website. Since the Democrats...
Missouri Conceded?
How bad is it for John Kerry in those states that had been identified as "battleground"? So bad that even R. W. Apple notices that Kerry has made himself scarce in Missouri, a state previously considered ripe for plucking from Bush's 2000 victory list: Is Missouri a swing state that has already swung? So it seems to many people here on the eve of the first presidential debate. John Kerry has not visited the state in nearly three weeks and may not be back, local Democrats say, until the second debate, scheduled for Oct. 8 at Washington University in St. Louis. This is no accident of scheduling. ... Early on, the Kerry campaign poured advertising dollars into the state. From March 4 to June 20, St. Louis and Kansas City ranked among the nation's top 10 cities in terms of television spending by the two sides, according to the Wisconsin...
September 30, 2004
Tina Brown Gets Impatient For "The Closer" To Show Up
Former magazine publisher Tina Brown writes in her Washington Post column today that Democrats have tired of hearing what a great closer John Kerry is, and wants the closing to start now rather than later: With all the mythology about Kerry's gift of coming from behind, New Yorkers are watching and hoping like fundamentalists awaiting the rapture. "What will it be like?" they ask one another. A mysterious subtle transformation of will that suffuses Kerry with winner's luck? A defining moment when he soothes his wounded honor with a shaft of killing wit that at last unmasks Bush? If so, could it please happen in prime time tonight? (Maybe, just in case, Kerry should wear cowboy boots to reduce the president still further to the size of Dr. Ruth.) Among the big-donor crowd, the good-closer cliche has worn out its welcome. They have had it with reading in the New...
Kerry Campaign Throws A Tantrum
Ron Fournier reports that aides to John Kerry had an "angry exchange" with the Debate Commission about the placement of timer lights on the lecterns for tonight's presidential debate: Democratic candidate John Kerry's campaign demanded Thursday that the lights signaling when a speaker's time has expired during debates with President Bush be removed from the lecterns because they are distracting, but the commission hosting the debates refused. An angry exchange between representatives of the Kerry campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates took place just hours before the candidates were to meet at the University of Miami for the first of three debates, The Associated Press learned. Kerry's team threatened to remove the lights when they visit the debate site with Kerry later in the day. "We'll bring a screwdriver," said a Kerry aide familiar with what several people called an angry exchange. The commission did not return a call...
What Good Are Debates?
As I prepare to live blog tonight's debate from my den (instead of at Our House, where the rest of the Northern Alliance are free from my germs), it's worth revisiting my previously-expressed opinion on the usefulness of these gladitorial spectacles that we stage three or four times every election cycle. Unfortunately, I got caught agreeing with Teresa Heinz Kerry -- always a dangerous position: I completely agree with Teresa Heinz Kerry: Heinz Kerry said debates have become about scoring a punch with quick soundbites. "It's just silly," she said. "I think those debates are really unproductive and they made it hard for all of them to (get their message across)." In fact, I would call them exceedingly silly, made so by live audiences who ooh, aah, gasp, titter, and applaud the most banal and trite comebacks. These debates embody the vacuity of modern hight-tech media sound bite-ism. The formats...
Liveblog: Debate #1
7:30 - I started watching C-SPAN, but the inane questions being asked on all sides drove me to AMC to watch a bit of Escape From New York. It seemed like the intelligent choice ... 7:39 - Michelle Malkin -- thanks for your link and your kind comments! 7:47 - Back to C-SPAN, just in time to see Donna Shalala introduce Lauren Williams (according to Shalala), but C-SPAN says it's Janet Brown. Teresa Heinz Kerry gets introduced ahead of Laura Bush, and she's chewing something as she walks up ... 7:51 - Jim Lehrer tells the audience to sit on their hands and shut up for 90 minutes, and now he says, "Don't make me pull this car over, kids!!" Oh, great, now the wives are the Hall Monitors. Yes, I can see this is "serious business", as Lehrer puts it ... 7:54 - If they don't want audience reaction,...
October 1, 2004
Der Spiegel: Bush Won Debate
I'm sure we will all peruse various analyses about last night's presidential debate to get a sense of how the two candidates were received, but I thought that both of them did well enough for partisans to claim victory, maybe giving Kerry an edge on debate style and Bush at least an edge on substance. In particular, I expected the European media to promote Kerry's performance, in part because (like their American counterparts) they prefer Kerry to Bush and in part because they prefer his debating style. Imagine my surprise when CQ reader KPowell referred me to the center-left magazine Der Spiegel, which claims that Bush won on points: Die teils scharfen Angriffe von Kerry lieen den amtierenden Prsidenten Bush weitgehend unbeeindruckt: Mit der Darstellung seiner Auenpolitik und des Irak-Konflikts konterte Bush die Attacken seines Herausforderers. Fr SPIEGEL ONLINE analysiert das Forschungsinstitut Medien Tenor die erste von drei TV-Debatten im...
Washington Papers Agree: Debate A Draw
It's not too often that one finds editorial agreement between the two DC papers, the Post and the Times, but both papers called last night's debate a draw. The Post gives its analysis in its unsigned editorial: The center of the debate was Iraq, though the candidates differed more on past actions than on future plans. Mr. Bush stoutly defended his decision to go to war and its results; Mr. Kerry forcefully criticized that decision and the war's management and offered himself as a more competent commander in chief. But Mr. Kerry had a more complicated position to defend, and it showed at times. He called the war a mistake and a diversion, but later said that American soldiers were not dying for a mistake. He implied that money being spent in Iraq could be better spent on prescription drugs for seniors, but insisted, "I'm not talking about leaving. I'm...
October 3, 2004
Democratic Strategists Hiding Teresa Until Election?
The London Telegraph, reporting out of Miami, says that Democratic strategists have ordered Teresa Heinz Kerry to take a lower profile and only appear at small gatherings of the true believers until the election: Democratic election advisers have ordered Teresa Heinz Kerry to adopt a lower profile in the final stages of the campaign by her husband, Senator John Kerry, for the White House because they fear that she may be alienating voters. Mrs Heinz Kerry, who as the heiress to the Heinz fortune is one of the world's richest women, has been told to keep out of the spotlight because her outspoken and unpredictable manner is regarded as an electoral liability. ... Mr Kerry drafted veterans of the Clinton White House, including the former press secretary Joe Lockhart, into his team last month to reinvigorate his campaign. They warned that his wife appeared to be costing him votes and...
October 4, 2004
Truthsquadding At The Washintgton Post On North Korea
The Washington Post editorial board does a little "truthsquadding" this morning in a staff editorial on North Korea. In the first presidential debate, John Kerry asserted that George Bush's Korean policy had resulted in the nuclear weapons Kim Jung-Il claims he now has, an unsupportable accusation, as the Post notes: Some truth-squadding is needed here: While the CIA concluded that North Korea may have built one or two nuclear weapons before Mr. Bush took office, and while U.S. intelligence agencies believe the fuel rods have been reprocessed into plutonium, there is no certainty that North Korea has built more nuclear weapons. To say so is to make the same sort of reach that Mr. Kerry faults Mr. Bush for making in his statements about Iraq's nuclear program. In other words, since the CIA concluded that the North Koreans had one or two nuclear weapons already as Bush took office, and...
Kerry Abandons Virginia
In a jarring contrast to the triumphalism projected by Democrats after the debate last Thursday, the John Kerry campaign has abandoned Virginia to George Bush and will transfer the personnel to other states: Sen. John F. Kerry's top campaign officials in Virginia have been reassigned to work in other states, effectively conceding the commonwealth to President Bush even as the Democratic presidential nomineerides a wave of momentum nationally from his performance in last week's debate. Susan Swecker, the Kerry campaign's state director, and Jonathan Beeton, its press secretary, were scheduled to leave Virginia on Sunday night, Beeton said. Eighteen other campaign staff workers were sent to help elsewhere, leaving about 10 paid staffers in Virginia. Some of the Virginia staff will wind up here in Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa, where Kerry is in danger of losing ground that Al Gore barely retained in 2000. Losing just one of...
More Wild Conspiracy Theories From John Kerry
John Kerry did the worst kind of pandering last night at the East Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cleveland. Kerry told the predominantly black church that the GOP is actively suppressing the black vote in battleground states, a claim which he repeatedly makes and for which he gives absolutely no evidence: "In battleground states across the country, we're hearing stories of how people are trying to make it harder to file for additional time, or how they're making it harder to even register," Kerry told an enthusiastic congregation at East Mt. Zion Baptist Church. "We're not going to let that happen because the memories of 2000 are too strong. We're not going to allow 1 million African Americans to be disenfranchised." At a stop in Ohio earlier Sunday, Kerry told a voter concerned about ballots cast by military personnel overseas that Democrats are aware of voting problems and are concerned....
Do Kerry's Backers Account For His Iran Policy?
John Kerry and John Edwards Iran policy proposal has raised eyebrows around the world, offering to give the Iranian hardliners nuclear fuel in exchange for a promise to drop their enrichment program. Now WorldNet Daily reports that three top financial backers of the Kerry/Edwards ticket may account for the unusual notion of giving fissile materials to the largest backers of Islamofascist terror groups: Sen. John Kerry's call for providing Iran with the nuclear fuel it seeks, even while the regime is believed to be only months away from developing nuclear weapons, is being linked to his campaign contributions from backers of the mullah government in Tehran. During last Thursday's nationally televised debate between the Democratic presidential candidate and President Bush, Kerry insisted as president he would provide Tehran with the nuclear fuel it wants for a pledge to use it for peaceful purposes only. ... Among Kerry's top fund-raisers are...
Polls For Sale -- Not Cheap?
The blog Political Musings notes an interesting sidebar to the Newsweek poll that showed some sample-juggling by their experts. CBS News reported in its Marketwatch feature section that the two presidential campaigns revved up their ad buys last week -- including an interesting purchase by the Kerry campaign that only gets mentioned at the end: The biggest online advertising buys for Bush were at these sites: KPTV Oregons12.tv.com, Parents.com, KNVA-TV.com, El Nuevo Herald.com and KPHO CBS 5 News.com. The biggest online ad buys for Kerry were at these sites: SFGate.com, Newsweek.com, Village Voice.com, Reuters.com and L.A. Weekly Media.com.[emph mine -- CE] Combined with the odd shift in sampling seen between their two most recent polls, the ad buy looks a bit suspicious ......
So Much For The Debate Bounce
I hope the Democrats enjoyed the weekend, because the debate bounce turned out to be a figment of Newsweek's imagination. The new Washington Post-ABC poll taken for the three days after the debate shows that Bush maintained his five point lead over Kerry, despite their usual underreport on Bush's support: President Bush continues to lead rival Sen. John F. Kerry among likely voters despite surging enthusiasm for Kerry among Democrats and new doubts about whether the president has a clear plan to deal with terrorism and the situation in Iraq, according to the Washington Post tracking poll. In the aftermath of last week's presidential debate, Bush currently leads Kerry 51 percent to 46 percent among those most likely to vote, according to polling conducted Friday through Sunday. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 1 percent of the hypothetical vote. ... Half of Kerry's voters now say they are "very enthusiastic" about...
October 5, 2004
Kerry's Incoherence On Stem Cells Continues
Dragging out Michael J. Fox and a father with insulin syringes, John Kerry again misrepresented the current policy on stem-cell research in a stump appearance yesterday: John F. Kerry charged Monday that President Bush has "turned his back on science" in limiting embryonic stem cell research financed by the federal government. The Kerry campaign rolled out a television ad on the subject, saying that "millions of lives" are at stake, as the Democratic presidential nominee was joined by actor and activist Michael J. Fox at a town-hall-style meeting here. "It's time to lift the political barriers blocking the stem cell research that could treat or cure diseases like Parkinson's," the ad says. "I believe that science can bring hope to our families." Let's review this one more time: 1. There is no ban on stem-cell research of any kind. 2. There is no ban on embryonic stem-cell research of any...
Vice-Presidential Debate Tonight
I will be live-blogging tonight's VP debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. I'd caution my friends on the starboard side of the blogosphere from getting too cocky about the event tonight; John Edwards' success as a plaintiff's attorney shows that he can think on his feet, and his popularity on the stump demonstrates his ability to project a warm and engaging persona. The latter talent will come in especially handy against Cheney, who is undoubtably better at grasping details and strategies but can come across as cold and rather cynical. I'll be using this post for the live blog, so link back here if you want. Keep checking back during the debate for updates, and I may also update the post with breaking news items regarding the debate during the day. UPDATE: Starting the debate at 8:01 ... 8:03 - First question to Cheney refers to statements by Rumsfeld...
October 6, 2004
VP Debate: The Aftermath
Vice President Dick Cheney trounced Senator John Edwards in the debate last night, a verdict delivered almost unanimously by the mainstream-media pundits as well as an ABC poll of questionably methodology taken in its aftermath: Dick Cheney prevailed in the vice presidential debate with help from a more Republican audience and more support from his ticket's side than John Edwards got from his. Among registered voters who watched the debate, 43 percent said Cheney won, 35 percent called Edwards the winner and 19 percent called it a tie. One factor is that more Republicans tuned in 38 percent of viewers were Republicans, 31 percent Democrats, the rest independents. One explanation for the oversample is that Republicans may have been more likely to tune in, especially after Bush's struggles last Thursday. At least this poll attempted a scientific method; CBS used only 178 so-called "undecided" voters found, ironically, by...
Kerry Acknowledges That France And Germany Won't Send Troops
In another John Kerry flip-flop, the Democratic nominee admitted that his ballyhooed plan for Iraq for getting a "true coalition" to send troops as replacements for Americans has no chance of succeeding (via Right On Red): Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry conceded yesterday that he probably will not be able to convince France and Germany to contribute troops to Iraq if he is elected president. The Massachusetts senator has made broadening the coalition trying to stabilize Iraq a centerpiece of his campaign, but at a town hall meeting yesterday, he said he knows other countries won't trade their soldiers' lives for those of U.S. troops. "Does that mean allies are going to trade their young for our young in body bags? I know they are not. I know that," he said. Asked about that statement later, Mr. Kerry said, "When I was referring to that, I was really talking...
Democratic, Union Thugs Attack Bush/Cheney HQ in Minnesota
While Al Gore wails about "digital brownshirts" who dare to write criticisms of the entrenched Left, the real variety of brownshirts have attacked Republican campaign offices across this country, shooting, stealing, and intimidating political volunteers in what certainly appears to be a coordinated effort to scare Republicans into silence. Michelle Malkin has compiled a list of attacks on GOP offices, including these: * Orlando, FL - 2 GOP volunteers injured by AFL-CIO protestors storming the building * Knoxville, TN - Gunmen shoot the windows out of Republican campaign office * Gainesville, FL - Democratic activist punches GOP volunteer in the face * Columbus, OH - A wounded soldier is assaulted by anti-war demonstrators The Democrats not only seem to be losing their minds, they appear to be doing it on purpose. The latest example occured in St. Paul yesterday, in an office where I've done some volunteer service, when AFL-CIO...
October 7, 2004
Florida Pulls Into Bush Column
Two polls released in the last 24 hours show Florida swinging solidly behind George Bush, dashing hopes among John Kerry supporters of creating yet another race-based smear of Republicans in the Sunshine State. The Mason-Dixon poll conducted Oct 4-5, after the first Bush-Kerry debate, shows Bush up, 48-44. However, when you look at the polling sample, you see some interesting data: Men 307 (49%)...Whites 491 (79%)...Democrats 279 (45%) Women 318 (51%)...Blacks 65 (10%)...Republicans 258 (41%) ..................Hispanic 65 (10%)..Independents 88 (14%) Forgive any formatting issues (it's hard to emulate tables), but you can see that the M-D poll give a four-point sampling edge to Democrats. On the other hand, it looks like both blacks and Hispanics may be underrepresented, and with its large Cuban community, the Hispanic vote has traditionally supported the GOP. Quinnipiac also reported results for Florida today, showing Bush up by 7 in the Sunshine State: President George...
October 8, 2004
Kerry Calls Military Leadership Cowards, Lies About Shinseki Again
Hugh Hewitt is holding a virtual symposium on John Kerry's impromptu press conference yesterday, which Hugh has transcribed on his site. The entries have already begun arriving, and I thought I would toss my two cents in before the big trip to Notre Dame. Right from the outset, with the bald and obvious lie about General Eric Shinseki being fired and the Bush administration having a "chilling" effect on career line officers, Kerry reveals his lack of insight into the military and his propensity to believe (or at least spread) the wildest conspiracy theories. We've seen this before, with his insistence that Republicans are conspiring to steal votes from millions of black people, or that they did that in 2000. However, since Kerry is running to become Commander in Chief, this lie is especially egregious. Does he truly believe that career general officers in the US Armed Forces are so...
October 9, 2004
Debate #2: First impressions
I didn't stay up to post on the debate last night, and I haven't read any MSM commentary (yet), so here are my unvarnished impressions on the candidates' style and demeanor: Senator Kerry: The gloss noticeabley faded throughout the evening. He started out smooth, with controlled facial expressions and managed to look pensive. He seemed to nod a little during the presidents answers on national security, may have just been my TV screen. By the end of the debate, the smoothness became so false that Kerry resembled a cardboard cut-out, and he has no humor. None. Not even a hint. At several points, I noticed the Bush smirk on Kerrys face. This must be a bug in the Kerry Version 20.1 wherein the candidate randomly displays the demeanor of the president. Someone alert Terry McAuliffe! The worst part of the debate was when Kerry looked into the camera and made...
October 10, 2004
The Supreme Threat
From CQ reader Kate Nguyen: "I believe that a woman's right to choose is a constitutional right," Mr. Kerry said in May. "I will not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court who will undo that right." This litmus test really means Mr. Kerry wants justices who embrace the two unstated premises of Roe vs. Wade: The Supreme Court can act as a national legislature that can never be vetoed, and when it does it must advance the liberal agenda. Elect Mr. Kerry and that liberal agenda will keep advancing not only for the next four years, and not only when it can muster a narrow majority on a divided court, but for as long as the justices Mr. Kerry appoints serve out their lifelong terms. To me this is very scary. Not just on "Roe vs. Wade" but what a "liberal" Supreme Court will do to our society on many...
October 11, 2004
NYT Magazine Reveals Kerry As An Empty Suit
Much has already been written regarding yesterday's New York Times Magazine lengthy article profiling John Kerry, especially his contention that terrorism can be considered a "nuisance" equal to prostitution, a blunder of enormous magnitude. What may be lost in the analysis of that stupidity is the vacuousness that Matt Bai's article reveals about the Massachusetts Senatoru, and that of his party as well: While Bush and much of the country seemed remade by the historic events of 9/11, Democrats in Washington were slow to understand that the attacks had to change them in some way too. What adjustments they made were, at first, defensive. Spooked by Bush's surging popularity and the nation's suddenly ascendant mood of patriotism, Democrats stifled their instinctive concerns over civil liberties; and whatever their previous misgivings about intervention, many Congressional Democrats, a year after the terrorist attacks, voted to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq....
October 12, 2004
Norwegians Try Interfering With US Election
In an odd move, a coalition of leftist politicians and artists from Norway placed an ad in today's Washington Post urging Bush to apologize to the Iraqis for ... liberating them? The Norwegian group "www.tellhim.no" said it used about $50,000 in donations from 4,000 people to fund the advertisement in the Washington Post to tell Bush that 80 percent of people in NATO-member Norway opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. ... It urged a shift in U.S. foreign policy to allow greater U.N. involvement in Iraq, an apology to the Iraqi people for the war and compensation for victims. That understates the incoherence of the advertisement itself. One could chalk this up to a language difference, but Norwegians speak excellent English. Any incoherence in this statement, therefore, derives from the idiocy of the writers: Mr. President we urge you to change your foreign olicy. To pursue a flawed and...
The Zogby Bounce
For what it's worth -- and with Zogby, not much -- George Bush moved back into a tie with John Kerry in the Zogby tracking poll, 45-45, after having trailed Kerry since the first debate: Bush gained three points on the Massachusetts senator to move into a 45-45 percent dead heat in the latest three-day tracking poll of the White House campaign. The focus of the tight race now turns to Wednesday's pivotal final debate in Tempe, Arizona, with both candidates hoping to take advantage of their last chance to court a national television audience of likely voters. "A close race got closer," pollster John Zogby said. "I am not expecting anyone to pull away in this one -- at least not yet." I remain highly suspicious of both Zogby's methods and results. Reuters reports one of the reasons; the new Zogby poll shows Bush with just a 35% job-approval...
Democrats Run Away From Kerry, Liberalism
In the clearest indicator yet that John Kerry has serious trouble on his hands, the Los Angeles Times reports that Democratic candidates for Senate this year have decided to run to their right, and away from John Kerry: The Democratic candidate in Alaska supports President Bush's call to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The Democrat running in South Carolina supports Bush's call for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, and the Democratic candidate in Oklahoma is in favor of repealing the District of Columbia's tough gun control law. ... Some of the Democratic candidates have sought to distance themselves from the party's presidential nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. "The main reason you're hearing Democratic candidates talk like Republicans is that most of the highly competitive Senate races this year are taking place on GOP turf," said Andrew Taylor, a political scientist at...
EuroLefties Continue Meddling In US Elections
I guess it wasn't enough to have the Norwegians interfering with the upcoming presidential election by publishing incoherent rants in the Washington Post. Now we have the Manchester Guardian getting into the act, publishing a primer on how to launder foreign campaign contributions and cold-call American voters to convert their votes into European proxies: Certainly, the actions of the US impact on our lives in overwhelming ways; British political life may now be at least as heavily influenced by White House policy as by the choices of UK voters. And yet, though the US Declaration of Independence speaks of "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind", you don't, of course, have a vote. You can't even donate money to the campaigns: foreign contributions are outlawed. And you're unlikely to have the chance to do any campaigning on the ground. All you can do is wait and watch: you're powerless....
I'm Not Running Away, Just Walking Briskly
Earlier today, I wrote about the way Democratic candidates for Senate appear to be running to the right -- and away from John Kerry. This tendency belies a desperation among Democrats that the poor performance of the top of their ticket may well destroy any chance of the secondary candidates to win. CQ reader Gary S. notes an example of this from last Sunday's Meet the Press, which had both Colorado Senate candidates talking with Tim Russert. Gary notes this exchange between Ken Salazar, the Democratic candidate, and Russert: MR. RUSSERT: You say that you wouldn't use the same words that John Kerry used. John Kerry's been to Colorado five times during his campaign, and you've never appeared with him. Are you running away from John Kerry? MR. SALAZAR: I'm not running away from John Kerry. John Kerry is a person who has done a lot for this country, who...
October 13, 2004
Job Losses Started Under Bill Clinton
Much has been made of the job losses that have occurred during the George Bush administration, even though most of that talk ignores the single greatest foreign attack on American soil and its tremendous economic impact. However, frequent CQ contributor Bandit has done a bit more research into recent job-loss history and finds that the rosy picture painted about the Clinton years by the Kerry campaign and his media allies is more cartoon than realism: First major signs that all was not well surfaced in May 2000. This is the month the biggest recorded decline in jobs in eight years - 116,000 jobs disappeared [see private-sector jobs -- CE]. What made this number even more alarming is that the cutbacks were widespread affecting all sectors: 29,000 jobs in construction, 71,000 in wholesale and retail, 17,000 in manufacturing, and 11,000 in transportation. ... The unions were sensing not all was well...
Final Presidential Debate: Live-Blog!
For those who want to link to my live-blogging, I'll be working off of this post. I just got done speaking to The Patriot's operations manager, who tells me that we are expecting 650 people for our event at the downtown Hilton! ... 7:35 - We are at least at 300 people so far and climbing! We are all pretty amazed that the response has been so enthusiastic. We have a 5' projection screen at the front of the room tuned to Fox News. A Kerry supporter in a bow tie tried handing out literature in the room, but The Patriot shut that down pretty quick ... 7:58 - Rocket Man just fired up the crowd here, preparing them to cheer and yell during the debate. Should be lively! 8:05 - First question is on national security. Kerry talks about the COPS program. Kerry will hunt them down and kill...
October 14, 2004
Final Thoughts On The Debate
The early spin is in, folks, and the MSM has decided to crown John Kerry the winner of the third debate -- a conclusion they must have reached before air time, because the grim and stumbling performance that Kerry gave was easily the worst of the three debates thus far. CNN attempted to ensure that spin by having paid Kerry advisor and paid CNN consultant Paul Begala give his commentary on the night's events. (So much for the non-partisan, objective Old Media.) Ironically, in an election where the Democrat has fallen behind with women, Kerry's post-debate troubles will be on two talking points about women: Mary Cheney and his answer to Bob Schieffer's "strong women" question. Lynne Cheney came out swinging after the second time the Kerry/Edwards ticket has used her lesbian daughter as a debate prop: Lynne V. Cheney, wife of Vice President Cheney, accused John F. Kerry on...
Maybe Rassmann Plagiarized Kerry's Mom
CQ reader John Gault notes that the valediction that John Kerry's mother gave him, according to his answer at the debate, has a ring of familiarity to it. Band of Brothers member Jim Rassmann, while campaigning for Kerry in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said this from the stump last month: After serving with John Kerry, a veteran says Kerry is better suited to serve in the White House. Jim Rassman was in Eau Claire on Tuesday to campaign for Kerry. Rassman says Kerry saved his life when he pulled him out of a river during a battle in Vietnam. Rassman says he voted for Bush in 2000, but says he doesn't plan to back the President this time around. "There are three character traits John has that George Bush does not have and they are integrity, integrity, integrity [emph mine - CE]. I trust John Kerry implicitly. I don't trust a...
Democrats Intend On Crying Wolf November 2nd
Just when I thought I'd seen and heard everything in this election cycle -- a major party candidate trucking in urban legends, party chairman engaging in transparent smear campaigns, and broadcast networks publishing fraudulent stories to unseat a sitting president -- the Democrats manage to create one more surprise. Drudge has a document from the Kerry/Edwards campaign that not only lowers the bar on political discourse but threatens to undermine the democratic processes themselves, all just to grab power (scan here): The Kerry/Edwards campaign and the Democratic National Committee are advising election operatives to declare voter intimidation -- even if none exists, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. A 66-page mobilization plan to be issued by the Kerry/Edwards campaign and the Democratic National Committee states: "If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a 'pre-emptive strike.'" Here's what else the strategy plan for the Colorado race asks campaign staffers...
October 15, 2004
Reuters: Bush Up By Four After Debate
In what will be a shock to the pundits who thought that Kerry won Wednesday's debate, the new Reuters/Zogby (ha!) poll shows that Bush picked up three points since then, extending his lead to four points over Kerry: Bush led Kerry 48-44 percent in the latest three-day tracking poll, which included one night of polling done after Wednesday's debate in Tempe, Arizona. Bush led Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, by only one point, 46-45 percent, the previous day. An improvement in Bush's showing among undecideds and a strong response from his base Republican supporters helped fuel the president's rise. The difference between the two daily tracking polls is that now we start to see the effects of the debate, as one-third of the survey was taken the day afterward. Far from hurting Bush, the debate seems to have swung more independents and younger voters to the Republicans, while Kerry now...
Kerry Can Scratch This Foreign Leader
I guess we can scratch Japan from the list of countries to which John Kerry may have referred when speaking about how foreign leaders preferred him to George Bush: The comments come a day after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made remarks that appeared to suggest he would prefer to see Bush win the Nov. 2 U.S. presidential election. "I think there would be trouble if it's not President Bush," Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe told a radio program, Kyodo news agency reported. "For instance, Mr. Kerry wants to handle the North Korean issue bilaterally, which is out of the question. We're now in the era of multilateralism," Takebe was quoted as saying, referring to six-way talks involving North and South Korea, Japan, the United States, China and Russia over the North's nuclear ambitions. Bush has ruled out bilateral talks with reclusive communist Pyongyang, but Kerry has said this...
Three Out Of Four Military Families Choose Bush
A new Annenberg survey reveals that active-duty military members and their families prefer George Bush over John Kerry despite the Kerry/Edwards accusations of back-door drafts and poor administration of military resources, by a 3-1 margin: When asked who they would trust as commander in chief, people in military service and their families chose President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, by almost a 3-to-1 margin. Bush, who served in the Texas Air National Guard, was more trusted by 69 percent while 24 percent said they trusted Kerry more, according to the National Annenberg Election Survey released Friday. ... A majority in the military sample, 64 percent, said the country is on the right track. Among Americans generally, 55 percent said the country is headed in the wrong direction. The National Annenberg Election Survey found that seven in 10, 69 percent, had a favorable view of Bush. Only...
WaPo Shows Widespread Disapproval Of Kerry's Mary Cheney Reference
As part of their daily tracking poll, the Washington Post added a question about John Kerry's controversial reference to Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter, in a question about homosexuality. The Post reports that likely voters overwhelmingly disapproved, even the morning after the debate, before the controversey broke out to the mainstream press: An overwhelming majority of voters believe it was wrong for Democratic nominee John F. Kerry to have mentioned in Wednesday's presidential debate that Vice President Cheney's daughter was a lesbian, according to the latest Washington Post tracking survey. Nearly two in three likely voters -- 64 percent -- said Kerry's comment was "inappropriate," including more than four in 10 of his own supporters and half of all swing voters. A third -- 33 percent -- thought the remark was appropriate. Even more inappropriate was the comment by John Edwards' wife, who said she felt that the Cheneys were...
October 16, 2004
Zogby Daily Tracking Poll Still Has Bush Ahead By Four
After yesterday's interesting Zogby poll results showing a post-debate Bush bounce, I was curious as to whether that would prove anomalous, a one-day polling outlier from a pollster known for such results. So far, however, their polling shows Bush maintaining his four-point lead over Kerry, demonstrating that the final debate damaged Kerry despite the pundit spin afterwards: Three days after the final presidential debate, President Bush retains his four-point lead over Senator John Kerry, according to a new Reuters/Zogby daily tracking poll. The telephone poll of 1211 likely voters was conducted from Wednesday through Friday (October 13-15, 2004). The margin of error is +/- 2.9 percentage points. Pollster John Zogby: Bush led by 4 today [Oct. 15th] -- the first full day sample after the debate. Kerry gets 81% of support among Democrats while Bush gets 14%, but Bush gets 92% among Republican to Kerry's 5%-- and, of course, the...
October 17, 2004
Words Have Meaning And Impact
In a reminder of Rush Limbaugh's famous rejoinder that words have meaning, the BBC reports that UN commanders on the ground blame John Kerry's stump speech professing support for Haitian strongman Jean-Bertrand Aristide for the continuing violence from Aristide supporters: The commander of the UN peacekeepers in Haiti has linked a recent upsurge in violence there to comments made by the US presidential candidate, John Kerry. Earlier this year Mr Kerry said that as president he would have sent American troops to protect Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was ousted from power in February. ... Eight months ago the Bush administration withdrew all support for Mr Aristide and made it clear he should leave Haiti. John Kerry called that "short-sighted" and said he would have sent troops to protect Mr Aristide, who was an elected leader. Now General Heleno, says those comments have offered hope to Aristide's supporters that should Mr Kerry...
October 18, 2004
WaPo: Kerry Misleading Seniors On Social Security
Howard Kurtz, the media watchdog at the Washington Post, notes that John Kerry's new campaign ad and push at the stump to paint George Bush as a one-man wrecking crew for Social Security intentionally misleads voters on two separate tracks. After giving a transcript of the new television ad by the Kerry/Edwards campaign, Kurtz notes that the supposed "quotes" used by Kerry have never been attributed to Bush through any reliable sourcing: "Im going to come out strong after my swearing in," Bush said, "with . . . privatizing of Social Security." ... The "admission" by the president comes not from a public statement but from a New York Times Magazine article yesterday in which the president is quoted as making the privatization comment to a "confidential" Republican luncheon. No source for the comment is cited ... Interesting timing, no? The New York Times magazine runs an article on some...
Captain's Quarters Endorses George Bush For President
This may be as much of a surprise as John Kerry winning endorsements from mainstream newspapers, but Captain's Quarters is endorsing George Bush for President. (Do you think this will make headlines around the blogosphere? Neither do I.) With two weeks left to go before the election, however, I think it's important to get past the normally reactive posture that blogs have and to communicate clearly why I think Bush should be re-elected, as well as why I think Kerry should be turned away. I covered some of this material earlier, and in greater detail, but it bears repeating now. George Bush is the first president in a generation to truly understand the nature of terrorism and the effort it will take to defeat it. In this election, he's the only candidate who strategizes to win, rather than reduce it to so-called "nuisance" levels. He had the vision to understand...
Early Voting In Florida Results In Early Griping
Florida introduced early voting in this election in order to ensure that as many voters as possible have a chance to participate. Predictably, the first fruits of that effort have been to generate early complaints about the ballots: With memories of 2000 and the state's bitter fight over ballots still fresh, Floridians began casting votes Monday and within an hour problems cropped up. In Palm Beach County, the center of the madness during the recount four years ago, a Democratic state legislator said she wasn't given a complete absentee ballot when she asked to opt for paper instead of the electronic touch-screen machines. And in Orange County, the touch-screen system briefly crashed, paralyzing voting in Orlando and its immediate suburbs. ... State Rep. Shelley Vana was not so happy. She said the paper absentee ballot she was given at a Palm Beach County site was missing one of its two...
Democrats, NAACP Get Crack Squad Out For Voter-Registration Efforts
In a story that will redefine the term "crack troops", a volunteer for Democrats and the NAACP tried to pay registration-gatherers in illegal drugs: Defiance Deputies along with Toledo Police Department detectives conducted a search warrant of a residence on Woodland in Toledo, believed to be the home of the woman who hired Staton to solicit voter registration. Officers confiscated drug paraphernalia along with voter registration forms from the home. The occupant of the home, Georgianne Pitts, age 41, advised law enforcement, along with Ohio B.C.I.&I., that she had been recruited by Thaddeus J. Jackson, II, of Cleveland, to obtain voter registrations. Pitts admitted to paying Staton crack cocaine for the registrations in lieu of money. A business card provided by Pitts indicated that Jackson is the Assistant NVF Ohio Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund. Predictably, instead of going out and getting valid registrations, the addict instead filled...
Now The WaPo Uses Mary Cheney For Its Own Purposes
Despite its own reporting on the debacle of John Kerry's debate reference to Mary Cheney, the Washington Post apparently missed the entire point of the outrage. In an essay for tomorrow's edition, Hank Steuver uses Dick Cheney's daughter to push his own political agenda: Mary Cheney: Somewhere out there she exists, the actual Mary Cheney, child of the nondisclosed location, the one who's the luh-luh-lesbian. She's become this eternal and complicated mystery for people who are gay, and without ever really knowing her or hearing from her, they've spent four years writing poems, articles and protest songs about her. They've implored her with open letters in forums she may or may not ever read. They've waved signs with her name, started Web sites and put her on a milk carton as though she were a missing child. Oh, Mary Cheney, speak to us. Then, after last week's final presidential debate,...
October 19, 2004
Tommy Franks Fires Back
I wondered how long it would take Tommy Franks to respond to repeated accusations from John Kerry that American military commanders allowed Osama bin Laden to escape from their grasp at Tora Bora by "outsourcing" the war on terror, an egregiously false accusation which the SSCI report shows to be a lie. Today, Franks fires back at Kerry from the pages of the New York Times in a scathing essay that underscores Kerry's cluelessness on military matters: First, take Mr. Kerry's contention that we "had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden" and that "we had him surrounded." We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir. Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives, many of...
Flip-Flop On Picket Lines
John Kerry told the nation in June that "I don't cross picket lines. I never have," in explanation of why he left Boston Mayor Thomas Menino twisting in the wind at the Mayor's Conference. Now the Boston Globe reports that Kerry crossed two picket lines in Florida yesterday, police picket lines at that, in order to make a campaign appearance in Orlando: Last summer, John F. Kerry refused to cross a police picket line and address the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston. Last night he rode in a motorcade that crossed two Florida police picket lines en route to a get-out-the-vote rally in vote-rich Orlando. Aides said the demonstration, staged by members of the Orlando Police Department represented by Fraternal Order of Police Local 25, was sprung on the campaign without prior notice in an effort to embarrass the city's Democratic mayor, Buddy Dyer. Local media describe the...
Bush Doubles 2000 Support Among Blacks: Poll
The Associated Press reports that George Bush has doubled the support he received in 2000 from the African-American community, although he still trails John Kerry by a wide margin in this almost exclusive Democratic voting bloc: President Bush has doubled his support among blacks in four years and Sen. John Kerry's backing among the key Democratic voting bloc is down slightly from the support Al Gore won in 2000, according to a poll released Tuesday. ... The poll found Kerry receiving as much or more support than Gore among those age 18 to 25, those with less than a high school diploma and those making $60,000 or less. But Kerry had 49 percent support from black Christian conservatives, down from the 69 percent Gore enjoyed in 2000. Bush was at 36 percent among the group this year, more than tripling the 11 percent he got four years ago. Republican officials...
Bush Crosses 50% In ABC Poll
The Bush campaign got more good news this afternoon from the ABC News trackng poll taken over the weekend, which shows George Bush leading John Kerry by 5 points and Bush over the 50% mark for the first time: Support for President Bush has crept above the critical 50-percent mark for the first time in two weeks, but one group new voters could be John Kerry's wildcard. Fifty-one percent of likely voters support Bush, 46 percent support Kerry and 1 percent prefer Ralph Nader in the latest ABC News tracking poll, based on interviews Saturday through Monday. That's a slight lead for the president after a 48 percent to 48 percent dead heat the second half of last week. The increase in Bush's support comes from weekend polling as well, which usually favors Democrats. The internals of this poll also augur well for Bush: * Only 12% of...
Battlegrounders
For political junkies who haven't already become addicted to National Review Online, go check out their new Battlegrounders blog, which offers a state-by-state analysis of the presidential race. A bonus: the guys at Powerline are reporting from Minnesota....
Ashley's Story
The new Bush campaign ad is worth viewing, which you can do here. Unlike the ever-reliable attack ads, Kerry is never mentioned and the message is quite positive. If any campaign ad can reach the so-called "security moms," this is probably it....
Senator Lightweight Explains His Cluelessness
A number of bloggers commented before the debates on how invisible John Edwards had been on the campaign trail. After his appearance in New Hampshire today, perhaps his supporters would prefer a return to milk carton for the man his hometown newspaper nicknamed "Senator Gone". Edwards tried to chide Bush for turning Iraq into a haven for terrorists, buying into the Michael Moore vision of prewar Iraq as a kite-flying paradise: Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards on Tuesday accused President Bush of failing the United States and the world in Iraq, citing unsecured nuclear weapons abroad and unprotected ports at home as further evidence of the president's "incompetence." "He's created something that didn't exist before the war in Iraq he's created a haven for terrorists," Edwards said. I hate to break it to Senator Edwards -- maybe the Senate Intelligence Committee covered it during one of his many...
Jimmy, The Military Genius
It's been a long time since I've been exposed to the miltary genius of our 39th President -- so long that I've forgotten how idiotic one can be and still be elected to the White House. Fortunately, we have Hardball to allow us to bask in the undimmed genius of Jimmy Carter. Yesterday, Carter managed to write off the Revolutionary War as a mistake, and that was his opener for his interview with Chris Matthews: MATTHEWS: Let me ask you the question aboutthis is going to cause some trouble with peoplebut as an historian now and studying the Revolutionary War as it was fought out in the South in those last years of the War, insurgency against a powerful British force, do you see any parallels between the fighting that we did on our side and the fighting that is going on in Iraq today? CARTER: Well, one parallel is...
October 20, 2004
Billionaire Widow Sniffs: "Laura Bush Never Had A Real Job"
With less than two weeks to go before the election, one would presume that the Democrats would like to keep their candidates and their spouses on message as much as possible. After seeing what happened with the Mary Cheney debacle, one would also expect that the professionals would be coaching the Kerrys and Edwardses to talk about themselves rather than their opponents' families. Apparently, Teresa Heinz Kerry didn't get the memo, and the results are sadly predictable [emphasis mine]: Q: You'd be different from Laura Bush? A: Well, you know, I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don't know that she's ever had a real job I mean, since she's been grown up. So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things. And I'm older, and my validation...
Kerry: America Not Worth Dying For?
John Kerry may try to stay on message on the campaign trail, but his past can still catch up with him, even through no fault of his own. Today, the Washington Post tried to bolster his standing as a diplomat and global thinker, and wound up torpedoing him yet again as a man who values world opinion over American security: Kerry's belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, "If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no."...
When Democrats Get Desperate
So much for the Democrats being the defenders of the First Amendment. In the last couple of days, we've seen the Kerry campaign sue a broadcaster to keep embarassing material and testimony from America's bravest Vietnam veterans from airing on television, and locally, we have people defacing yard signs and committing vandalism against people who express support for George Bush. Here are a few images of Democratic support of free speech ... Our friend Laura sends over this update on the Minnesota vandalism that the local press has decided to ignore: The first one was on County Road 24. Installed October 19th, destroyed October 19th. The last 2 are front and back view of same sign. After being installed on September 18th the sign was replaced or repaired 3 times before a frame and reinforcement was built by the property owner (Upsher Smith Laboratories on 23rd Ave in Plymouth). When...
October 21, 2004
Mighty Voter Fraud From Florida ACORNs Grow
The so-called nonpartisan voters assistance group, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), has generated suspicion for some time in conservative circles as a front-line player in leftist efforts to skew the vote. Now a former employee has filed charges against ACORN alleging that the organization deliberately set out to disrupt the Florida vote by illegally registering Democrats and suppressing Republican registrations: Mac Stuart, of Opa-locka, has accused the organization, known as ACORN, of illegally copying voter registration applications and selling them to labor union groups, allowing people to sign petitions who were not registered voters and suppressing Republican voter registration applications. ... Stuart, who was assistant director of voter registration for the group, was fired in early August after being accused of trying to cash a paycheck that wasn't his. In the lawsuit, he claims he was fired only days after voicing his concerns about ACORN practices at...
Polling Madness Continues
It's Thursday, which means that the normal slew of mid-week polling results have begun to come in. That may be all that's normal, however, as each poll seems to point in wildly different directions. For instance, we have the AP-Ipsos poll which shows Kerry edging ahead of Bush: President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are locked in a tie for the popular vote, according to an Associated Press poll, while a chunk of voters vacillate between their desire for change and their doubts about the alternative. ... The result is deadlock. In the survey of 976 likely voters, Democrats Kerry and Sen. John Edwards had 49 percent, compared to 46 percent for Republicans Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. That's within the margin of error for the poll conducted Oct. 18-20. While several bloggers on the port side of the blogosphere trumpet these results, a couple of red flags appear...
More Madness: Mason-Dixon Shows Bush Tied Or Ahead In Blue States
Now that I've warned you all about carefully vetting poll results, I'm going to through more of them at you. Mason-Dixon released its most recent polling data in those battleground states that went for Gore in 2000, and the news looks bad for John Kerry. Bush either tied Kerry or went ahead in all of the states they polled. I included the ratio of Dems/GOP MD used in each state: PA - Kerry, 46-45 (49/44) MI - Kerry, 47-46 (38/36) OR - Kerry, 47-46 (41/37) WI - Tie, 45-45 (35/35) IA - Bush, 49-43 (37/40) This polling took place over the weekend, Oct 15-18, a time that usually favors Democrats. Mason-Dixon sampled 625 voters in each state and normalized by county and demographics, as they usually do. I think that MD may have undersampled the GOP in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and maybe overpolled them slightly in Iowa. Interestingly, in all...
Still More Madness: Gallup Has Bush Up By Six In Wisconsin
And now even more polling fun -- Gallup has George Bush leading John Kerry in the key blue state of Wisconsin by six points, 51-45, when matched head-to-head. When Nader is added into the mix, Bush extends his lead to eight points, 51-43. This polling took place between Oct 16-19, somewhat closer in than the Mason-Dixon polling and less of a weekend poll as well. The demographics demonstrate a strong Bush surge with our neighbors to the East (head-to-head): * Bush leads among men by 13 points and even edges Kerry among women, 48-47 * Bush leads in the 18-34 age bracket by seven, 52-45 (in the three-way, he leads by 10, 51-41) and 35-54 by 14. Kerry holds a five-point edge among seniors. * Kerry leads substantially in Milwaukee (62-36), and edges Bush in the south by a single point (49-48), but everywhere else Bush leads by a wide...
October 22, 2004
Nick Coleman: Democrats Bored With John Kerry
I don't want to step on Mitch Berg's toes here, so I won't deliver a full-out fisking of Nick Coleman's column today. However, Coleman's description of the John Kerry rally yesterday in Minneapolis sounds so odd that it bears a closer look. Coleman's subject matter for his column is an oddball named "Mr. Fun" who apparently shows up at serious events to provide some comic relief, but his efforts went for naught at the Kerry rally: I saw him walking past the police department bomb-squad truck outside the Dome, humming "Hail to the Chief." The bomb squad is not usually a spot that makes me laugh, but Mr. Fun was wearing white gloves and glitter on his face and a porkpie hat that said, naturally, "Mr. Fun." He was also wearing a shaggy red-and-black bumblebee shirt, sporting a green cape and carrying a white flag. I hadn't seen anybody dressed...
Kerry On Guns: You Just Stand There Looking Cute
John Kerry did a little image repair yesterday, using Ohio geese as sacrificial lambs in order to create an image of a robust outdoorsman and hunter that conflicts with his 20-year Senate record of supporting gun control. Unfortunately for Kerry, the pool reporters for his overt show of testosterone were not allowed to watch him actually pull the trigger: John F. Kerry brought his campaign to a duck blind in far eastern Ohio on Thursday morning, and while he managed to clip one unfortunate goose, he was really aiming for undecided voters in this battleground state. ... Clearly concerned about his low rating from the National Rifle Association -- he got an F on the NRA's last report card, and it is running ads in key states against him -- Kerry often makes a point during his stump speech of announcing that he owns guns. Thursday morning, he happily emerged...
October 23, 2004
Time: Bush Pulls Ahead, Up By 5
Time Magazine, which had the presidential race a dead heat a week ago, now says that George Bush is pulling away from John Kerry with a 5-point lead: President Bush has opened a 5 point lead against Senator John Kerry, according the latest TIME poll. If the 2004 election for President were held today, 51% of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 46% would vote for Senator John Kerry, and 2% would vote for Ralph Nader, according to the TIME poll conducted by telephone from Oct. 19 21. Among all registered voters surveyed, Bush leads Kerry 50% to 43%. Last weeks TIME poll found 48% of likely voters would vote for Bush, 47% would vote for Kerry, and 3% would vote for Nader. That poll was conducted Oct. 14-15 and included 865 likely voters. The internals on this poll look just as bad. Kerry lost...
Tri-State Women Object To John Kerry
My friend and New York talk-show host Kevin McCullough had an interesting segment on his show yesterday in which he invited his female listeners to weigh in on John Kerry. The calls wound up taking all three hours of Kevin's show, and none of them found anything complimentary about the Democratic candidate for president: I asked them simply to relay to me in their own words what they felt about the two candidates. Which one relates to them more? Who they admire more? The words they used to describe the candidates said it all. Describing Kerry and/or Ms. Kerry: "Unapproachable..." "Arrogant..." "...acts like He is better than everone else..." "Was voting for him up until what he did with Mary Cheney..." "Can't relate to me..." "Insulting to mothers, schoolteachers, and librarians...who do they think they are..." ... Describing Bush: "Loves his wife...I'm not married, may not ever be, but that...
Campaign ads, wolves, and bears, oh my!
The new Bush campaign ad is excellent. Other blogs have compared it to President Reagan's famous bear ad, which powerfully expressed the theme of his 1984 campaign. I think the Bush ad is just as good, perhaps even better. You can watch both thanks at the Daily Recycler and decide for yourself....
October 24, 2004
It's Like The Regular Climate -- Wait 5 Minutes...
I got an interesting e-mail yesterday from CQ reader Chris S, who works with Project Deliver The Vote, a Houston PAC dedicated to grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts for Republicans nationwide. Chris wrote: Hello Captain, I have been a *big* fan of your site ever since I got into the blogosphere. I know you live in Minnesota, and I was wondering if you could give me any advice. Im a member of Project Deliver the Vote PAC, an offshoot of the Houston Young Republicans. We have a team of 80 volunteers coming to the Minneapolis / St. Paul area next weekend (Thur Sun) to help swing the state in our favor! We are divided into several teams covering various counties. Whats the political climate like up there (other than the race being very close)? What should we expect? That's a question that I and my fellow Northern Alliance colleagues have been...
John Kerry, Cong Hunter?
At rare moments, candidates on the campaign trail make statements that defy rational thought, where the only possible reaction one can have is to wonder, slackjawed, what the candidate was thinking when he spoke. John Kerry gave us one of those priceless moments yesterday, when he assured the American people that he would go after the terrorists -- exactly as he went after the Viet Cong! Democratic presidential nominee and Vietnam War veteran John Kerry tried to burnish his national security credentials on Saturday by vowing to hunt down terrorists with the same energy he used to pursue the Viet Cong. ... "With the same energy ... I put into going after the Viet Cong and trying to win for our country, I pledge to you I will hunt down and capture or kill the terrorists before they harm us," Kerry said. "And we will wage a war on terror...
Blue Hawaii Swinging Red?
The AP reports on a recent poll in Hawaii, usually a slam-dunk blue state, which shows Bush edging ahead of Kerry among likely voters: The poll of 600 likely voters, conducted October 13-18 for the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, gave Bush 43.3 percent and Kerry 42.6 percent, with 12 percent saying they were still undecided. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points. Hawaii has only four of the 270 electoral votes, awarded state-by-state, needed to win the election. But with a closely fought election battle, even small states have found that their votes could be decisive. Even more, losing Hawaii could be a bellwether of an Electoral College landslide. Al Gore won Hawaii by a whopping 19 points in 2000, and now two different polls show Bush edging ahead of Kerry this past week. While Hawaii doesn't command a lot of electoral-college impact, its votes equal New...
Kerry Lied About UN Meeting
John Kerry recently asserted that he would handle foreign relations much more effectively than George Bush and used as an example a meeting he claimed to have held with representatives from every country on the entire UN Security Council before voting to authorize the use of force against Iraq in 2002. The meeting, which Kerry claimed lasted "hours", also offered Kerry an out for his supporting vote for the war among his base. However, the Washington Times' Joel Mowbray reports in tomorrow's edition that the meeting never took place: U.N. ambassadors from several nations are disputing assertions by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry that he met for hours with all members of the U.N. Security Council just a week before voting in October 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. An investigation by The Washington Times reveals that while the candidate did talk for an unspecified period...
October 25, 2004
MoveOn, Left Wing Now Treat Robertson As Unimpeachable
The Los Angeles Times notes that MoveOn has a new television ad coming out today that uses Pat Robertson's ridiculous statement that George Bush thought there would be zero US casualties in an invasion of Iraq: Narrator: "On the eve of war with Iraq, the Rev. Pat Robertson said he warned the president to prepare the American people for casualties. He said George Bush told him, 'Oh no, we're not going to have any casualties.' No casualties? This is the same president who said: 'Mission accomplished in Iraq millions of new jobs lower healthcare costs.' Now this president wants four more years?" Oh, please. Since when did the Left start treating Pat Robertson as a holy Oracle? Robertson is a TV preacher who regularly says the nuttiest things, such as that God told him Bush would get re-elected. At first, Robertson said that God told him it would...
Redstate Explains Why Kerry Story Matters
Quite a bit of the blogosphere has reacted with a shrug to the Washington Times article this morning about John Kerry's UNSC Fantasy Camp. The general reaction thus far is, So what? We all know that Kerry lies. Another verified instance of this seems to appeal less to the hardened political junkies than it should. The blog that helped break the story, Redstate.org, explains why this matters to America: After a public lifetime of anti-Americanism and fecklessness, Kerry knows that he needs drive home the five points listed above in order to convince the American people of his fitness to represent and lead our nation abroad. How to square this with that? How to explain the big lie? How to dismiss the appropriation of -- and believe us, the insult to -- these nations with whom Kerry will purportedly work and ally? How to pretend that this is the act...
Down The Stretch
CQ reader Alex N. wrote me last night with a passionate plea: Despite the fact that I will be defending my PhD dissertation in the next 2 weeks, I will volunteer for the Bush/Cheney campaign in the days before the election. That's why I'm still at work at midnight on a Sunday. I have never been active in any political campaign before, but this one is just too important to lose. I think - barring a terrorist attack, an October surprise, and massive election fraud - this election and its aftermath will be decided by whoever wins the voter turnout battle. That's why I'm going to be volunteering in the 72 hours before the election. As the Captain of this ship, you have the ability to influence your loyal crew. I certainly respect your opinion a lot. So, to get to the point: I was wondering if you could write...
CNN/Gallup: Bush Up By Eight In Florida
In what looks like an outlier from an otherwise fairly reliable polling group, Gallup and CNN report that George Bush has opened an eight-point lead over John Kerry in Florida and moved past the 50-point mark: President Bush outpolled Democratic challenger John Kerry by 8 points among likely Florida voters surveyed in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, but other polls indicated a tighter race. In the CNN poll, Bush had 51 percent and Kerry 43 percent among likely voters interviewed. The result was similar among registered voters: 51 percent for Bush and 42 percent for Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader drew the support of 1 percent of respondents in both categories. ... The results were consistent with the last poll Gallup conducted in Florida, which found in late September that 52 percent of respondents chose Bush and 43 percent Kerry. Yet it was notably different from three recent statewide...
October 26, 2004
Kerry Campaign Keeps Running With Discredited Story
One can understand the reluctance of the New York Times to backpedal on what it thought was a sure-fire takedown of George Bush, eight days before the election, even though their reporters and editors wound up only doing a half-ass job of research. (They undoubtedly did not plan on having NBC make them look like idiots.) It's difficult to understand, however, why the Kerry campaign and especially Joe Lockhart continue to push such an egregious and thoroughly demonstrable lie, as CNN reports in its update to the Al Qaqaa debacle: NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad. While the troops found large stockpiles of conventional explosives, they did not find HMX or RDX, the types of powerful explosives that reportedly went missing, according to NBC. The...
Viet Cong Approved Of Kerry's Hunting Methods
Thomas Lipscomb reports for the New York Sun on the discovery of Viet Cong documents that show the VC had its eye on the young John Kerry, and not because he was second to no man in hunting them down. The documents, first archived in 1971, show that the Communists at the least followed Kerry's antiwar activities with approval and encouragement: The communist regime in Hanoi monitored closely and looked favorably upon the activities of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the period Senator Kerry served most actively as the group's spokesman and a member of its executive committee, two captured Viet Cong documents suggest. The documents - one dubbed a "circular" and the other a "directive" - were captured in 1971 and are part of a trove of material from the war currently stored at the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University at Lubbock. Originally organized by Douglas...
Did Kerry Plagiarize Parts Of "The New War"?
The New York Sun reports in its second blockbuster of the day that John Kerry plagiarized at least 11 passages in his 1997 book, The New War that he has used as a campaign reference for his presidential bid, as well as in other campaign materials: An academic researcher has found 11 passages in Senator Kerry's published writings that appear to have been taken from other works without attribution, though experts disagree about whether the copying should be considered plagiarism. Six of the passages come from Mr. Kerry's 1997 book, "The New War: The Web of Crime That Threatens America's National Security." All bear some similarity to news accounts that preceded publication of the book. The Sun's Josh Gerstein lists several suspicious passages from both Kerry's 1997 book and the Kerry/Edwards campaign book, "Our Plan for America: Stronger at Home and Respected in the World," which presumably was written at...
Massachusetts Legislator, Democrat, Catholic: Vote Bush
In an interesting opinion piece for today's New Hampshire Union-Leader, Massachusetts legislator Brian Golden (D) endorses George Bush for President. Golden explains that he simply cannot support Kerry as a practicing Catholic: The Democrats offer Sen. John Kerry, a professed Catholic. You may have heard that Kerrys own Democratic colleagues, by some creative measure, call him the most Catholic senator. Thats like calling Tony Soprano a devout Catholic because he shows up at Mass most Sundays and throws some bills in the collection plate. Catholics know better. For 20 years, on matters most fundamental to Catholics, Kerry has been consistently wrong. Kerry was one of only 14 senators to vote against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. This year, he opposed the federal marriage amendment, which would give the American people a voice in the definition of marriage, rather than leave it to the whims of activist judges like those...
Cheney Nails Kerry's Armchair Generalship
All day long, I wondered when the Bush campaign would come out swinging, if not to defend themselves against the spurious charges that the IAEA threw at them with an assist from the New York Times, then to speak out on behalf of the 101st Airborne, whose reputation got trashed in John Kerry's zeal to attack George Bush. Tonight Dick Cheney reminded us yet again why Bush picked him for the Vice Presidency in his pointed response to Kerry's hysterical rantings: Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday rejected John Kerry's criticism of the loss of hundreds of tons of explosives in Iraq, saying the toppling Saddam Hussein took thousands of times of that amount of potentially dangerous material out of the former dictator's hands. "If our troops had not gone into Iraq as John Kerry apparently thinks they should not have, that is 400,000 tons of weapons and explosives that...
October 27, 2004
Another Attack On GOP Offices
In yet another attack on a GOP office, classy Democrats sprayed vulgarities on a large campaign sign in front of the Hollister, CA headquarters and have stolen Bush/Cheney signs throughout San Benito County (hat tip: Drudge): Sometime between Oct. 12 and Oct. 16 unknown suspects vandalized a large Bush/Cheney campaign sign posted in the 700 block of McCray Street, spraying vulgarities denouncing the president, according to a Hollister police report. Volunteers found the sign on Saturday, Oct. 16 and immediately took it down, said Jeannie Glass, San Benito County Republican Party volunteer. Including several obscenities splashed across Bush and Cheneys name, at the bottom the vandals sprayed the F word followed by the words Texas and Florida. To combine that word with Florida and Texas, someone understood the past election and where Bush is from, which is what made it interesting, Glass said. It wasnt just kids. As Michelle Malkin...
Florida Unions, Attorneys Argue Minorities Are More Incompetent
People need to understand the difference between disenfranchisement and incompetence in terms of voting and registration. Disenfranchisement results from direct government action in denying valid voters the right to cast their ballots. Incompetence is a potential voter who isn't bright or thorough enough to fill out a ballot or registration card correctly. Florida unions and attorneys were disappointed yesterday to find this out in federal court, where they offered the odd and specious argument that minorities are more incompetent than others: Florida election officials will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms for the presidential election, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said the three prospective voters for whom the lawsuit was filed did not have the legal standing to pursue the case, which was backed by the AFL-CIO. ... Attorneys with the Washington-based Advancement Project said the plaintiffs would appeal by Friday....
October 28, 2004
Abortion No Longer A Liability For The GOP?
The Washington Post runs a fascinating report today, analyzing its daily tracking poll on one of the issue points -- the appointment of Supreme Court justices. In a revelation that challenges the conventional wisdom of gender politics, th Post reports that a narrow plurality puts more trust in George Bush to appoint SCOTUS justices than John Kerry: The survey found that 49 percent of all likely voters surveyed said they had more confidence in the president to choose future Supreme Court justices while 42 percent favor Kerry -- preferences that were sharply shaped by party identification. Three in four Democrats -- 76 percent -- believe Kerry would do a better job filling future vacancies while 89 percent of Republicans chose Bush. Political independents split equally between the two candidates. ... The gender gap on Supreme Court appointments is smaller for women but larger for men than it is on the...
Kerry: Iraq Is Equivalent To Bay Of Pigs
If you could imagine the most foolish analogy anyone could use in terms of our efforts in Iraq, you couldn't possibly beat the one John Kerry chose at a rally in Toledo, Ohio today. Kerry used his idol John Kennedy as an example of how Bush supposedly can't admit mistakes, and equated Iraq to the disastrous betrayal at the Bay of Pigs: Kerry recalled how President John Kennedy took the blame for the bungled Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba in 1961. "Can you imagine President Kennedy ... standing up and telling the American people he couldn't think of a single mistake that he had made? When the Bay of Pigs went sour, John Kennedy had the courage to look America in the eye and say to America 'I take responsibility, it is my fault."' Challenging Bush, Kerry said: "Mr. President, it is long since time for you to start...
October 29, 2004
NEA Gave Over A Million To Kerry, Faces IRS Audit
The National Education Association has been busy this election cycle, the Washington Times reports. The teachers union has spent over a million dollars in direct support for John Kerry and $2.78 million supporting Democrats overall, prompting the IRS to investigate its tax-exempt status: The National Education Association (NEA) pumped more than $1 million into 67 mailings for the Kerry-Edwards presidential ticket and against President Bush in the past four months, Federal Election Commission reports show. Twenty-one NEA mailings in behalf of the Kerry campaign, produced by an Arlington firm whose clients include the Democratic Party, went out to hundreds of thousands of public school employees across the country this month at a cost of $468,333. The union paid for all the mailings from its general operating budget, not its political action committee, the reports show. Now that presents two problems. First, using the same production firm as the DNC indicates...
Kerry Admits He Lied About His Records
CQ reader Brent Busch noticed that John Kerry made an interesting admission last night on NBC Nightly News in an interview with Tom Brokaw. Despite having claimed for months that he had released all of his military records, Kerry admitted last night that he'd lied about it (emphasis mine): Brokaw: Someone has analyzed the President's military aptitude tests and yours, and concluded that he has a higher IQ than you do. Kerry: That's great. More power. I don't know how they've done it, because my record is not public. So I don't know where you're getting that from. As Brent points out, that hardly squares with Kerry's rhetoric earlier on military records. Ever since Kerry and the Democrats launched a full-scale attack on George Bush's military experience and his discharge from the National Guard, calls have come for Kerry to sign a Form 180 to completely release his own records....
Pentagon Destroyed Ammunition And Kerry's Credibility
CNN is showing a Pentagon briefing with an Army officer who is describing how the explosives at Al Qaqaa were destroyed in June 2003 after having captured it in April 2003. I'll have more as the story breaks. UPDATE: Does the Pentagon's press conference answer the questions? Some of them, I think. First, Kerry was all wrong when he said that the Al Qaqaa site and its weapons were abandoned by the Army. By 13 April, the Army had loaded up 250 tons of explosive ordinance, including plastic explosive which could have been the RDX. The major said that the materials hauled off included crates and barrels such as those shown in the ABC video. However, ABC reported that the video was shot on 18 April, meaning that the weapons it showed were left behind, if the dates are correct. At any rate, no one ignored warnings about Al Qaqaa,...
John Kerry Gets Desperate
I can't find any other explanation for John Kerry's primal-scream campaigning in Orlando this afternoon except for desperation as the election blessedly winds down to its final hours. Reuters reports that Kerry went "off script" and told America that anyone not voting for him must be unconscious: Kerry also blasted Bush on the economy, taxes, jobs and health care, saying the Republican incumbent had "walked away from the basic bargain" that Americans who worked hard should have the chance to get ahead and chosen his powerful friends over the middle class. "Wake up America, wake up. ... You have a choice," he said. "This election is a choice between four more years of tax giveaways for millionaires along with a higher tax burden on the middle class." Somehow I think that telling people they're asleep is not the best way to make them like you....
Harkin Embarasses Iowa
Senator Tom Harkin took on an additional role this afternoon when he appeared on behalf of John Kerry in Vinton, IA. According to the Cedar Valley Times, Harkin imparted a message from A Higher Authority when he spoke to a huge crowd of Iowa Democrats (via Drudge): Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin says John Kerry has been gaining in the polls every day since Oct. 21, and George Bush has been going down every day. "That's how God wants it to be," Harkin told a group of about 25 people at the Benton County Headquarters in Vinton on Thursday afternoon. Harkin was touring the state to stump for Kerry and Democratic legislative candidates. He appeared in Benton County on behalf of Mt. Auburn Mayor Dawn Pettengill, who is running against incumbent Republican Dell Hanson for the Iowa House District 39 seat. God's newest employee either needs a bit more training, or...
Kerry Flip-Flops Within The Same Speech On OBL
CNN reports that John Kerry waited all of about 15 nanoseconds to use the new Osama bin Laden videotape to boost his political fortunes, even after he claimed that all Americans were united in their determination to defeat terrorism: Reacting to a new videotape of Osama bin Laden tossed into the closing days of a hard-fought presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry renewed his claim that President Bush allowed the terrorist mastermind to escape in fall 2001. In a satellite interview with Milwaukee TV station WISN, Kerry said, "I regret that when George Bush had the opportunity in Afghanistan at Tora Bora, he didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden." "He outsourced the job to Afghan warlords. I would never have done that. I think it was an enormous mistake, and we're paying the price for that today," he said. This came after he...
October 30, 2004
Minnesota Democrats Get Desperate -- And Disgusting
A group of Democrats in Minnesota have launched a new television ad now showing on our local ABC affiliate that uses an old Osama bin Laden tape to attack George Bush. The group, Georgethemenace.org, explains itself thusly: A few weeks ago, with the Swift Boat nonsense all over the news (and that which pretends to be news), several South Minneapolis neighbors got together and said, "Hey, why can't we do that?"except on the other side. So, gathered around a patio table with coffee and muffins, we formed a 527 group called georgethemenace.org, then produced a 30-second spot, which we hope to start airing soon. We've already had coverage in the local and national press. Our intent is to scrounge enough money to actually get the thing on TV a few times and make enough noise toperhapshelp tip the election in our favor. Okay -- so putting words in Osama's mouth...
Final Mason-Dixon Battleground Polls Hint At Bush Win
In what should be the final iteration of the Mason-Dixon polls that have been remarkably stable over the course of this election cycle, George Bush has a significant edge over John Kerry and appears headed to a victory on Tuesday. With a margin of error at 4%, the battleground states stack up like this: Florida - Bush, 49-45 (27 EV) Arkansas - Bush, 51-43 (6 EV) Colorado - Bush, 50-43 (9 EV) Ohio - Bush, 48-46 (20 EV) Iowa - Bush, 49-44 (7 EV) Michigan - Kerry, 47-45 (17 EV) Missouri - Bush, 49-44 (11 EV) New Hampshire - Kerry, 47-46 (4 EV) Nevada - Bush, 50-44 (5 EV) West Virginia - Bush, 51-43 (5 EV) Oregon - Kerry, 50-44 (7 EV) Pennsylvania - Kerry, 48-46 (21 EV) Wisconsin - Kerry, 48-46 (10 EV) Minnesota - Bush, 48-47 (10 EV) New Mexico - Bush, 49-45 (5 EV) What does this...
October 31, 2004
Desperation In Kerry Campaign Leads To Anti-Israel Pandering
The desperation has broken through, loud and clear, from the John Kerry campaign this weekend, underscoring what appears to be a series of favorable battleground-state results for George Bush. First John Kerry scolded America on Friday to "wake up". Now his stepson has decided to accuse Bush of illegal drug use in the final hours of the campaign (via Radio Blogger): John Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, 31, displayed his mother Teresa's famous lack of rhetorical restraint at a recent campaign event with a group of Wharton students. Philadelphia magazine reports: "Heinz accused Kerry's opponents - 'our enemies' - of making the race dirty. 'We didn't start out with negative ads calling George Bush a cokehead,' he said, before adding, 'I'll do it now.' Asked later about it, Heinz said, 'I have no evidence. He never sold me anything.'" In a moment that may portend a Kerry Administration attitude towards Israel...
Kerry's Profession Of Faith "Morally And Intellectually Incoherent"
In a book review of The American Catholic Voter: 200 Years of Political Impact, Philadelphia Inquirer editor Frank Wilson dissects John Kerry's repeated assertions of belief in Catholicism and his insistence that it informs his public life. In his analysis, Wilson correctly spotlights the hypocrisy and betrayal at the heart of Kerry's rhetoric: In July, in an article in the Washington Post, Kerry was quoted as saying, "I oppose abortion... . I believe life does begin at conception." But, he added, "I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist." That's morally and intellectually incoherent. "Every time you cast a vote on the floor of the United States Senate," Marlin says, "you're voting to impose your beliefs on somebody else. If you vote for higher taxes, you're voting to impose them." He has a point. The Catholic...
Pew Poll: Bush Holds Slight Edge Over Kerry
It's down to the final polling reports before Election Day. Yesterday, Mason-Dixon published its final battleground-state results showing Bush ahead in most, some by significant margins. Zogby came out early this morning, trumpeted by the ever-vigilant Truck in one of the comment threads, showing the exact opposite -- but Zogby has earned its reputation as one of the least reliable pollsters in the business. Now Pew Research, which enjoys a somewhat better reputation than Zogby, has issued its presumably last look at the election, and finds George Bush holding onto a three-point lead over John Kerry among likely voters in its largest polling sample of the season: President George W. Bush holds a slight edge over Senator John Kerry in the final days of Campaign 2004. The Pew Research Center's final pre-election poll of 1,925 likely voters, conducted Oct. 27-30, finds Bush with a three-point edge (48% to 45% for...
Final 48 Hours -- CQ Essays Redux
I will be reviewing my archives on John Kerry and reposting my favorite essays on the upcoming election. Instead of simply advancing the date, I will repost them as new in order to restart discussions on these topics. Keep checking back over the next few days. The headers on the reprints will say "CQ Flashback" as part of the title. I will, of course, continue to post new thoughts on developments as they arise. Note: Some links may no longer be valid. I'm copying these posts in their entirety from my blogging software and am not checking their validity. Also, this is a great way to blog while handling Halloween door duty! UPDATE AND BUMP: Speaking of Halloween door duty, the Little Admiral made a cameo appearance aboard ship tonight! Her Aunt Cindy bought her this cute outfit for her birthday earlier this year, and I managed to get a...
CBS Also Shows Bush Up By Three
The latest CBS poll mirrors that of the Pew result mentioned below -- George Bush is maintaining a three-point lead over John Kerry as the presidential race winds up: In a CBS News/New York Times poll out Sunday, President Bush has the support of 49 percent of likely voters to 46 percent for John Kerry. Forty-nine percent of likely voters think Mr. Bush will win, to 33 percent who bet on Kerry. More voters see the president as strong, a man in tune with their priorities, someone who says what he thinks. Fifty-five percent approve of the president's handling of the war on terrorism. The new result shows a two-point gain for Bush and a one-point gain for Kerry as the undecideds finally start making up their minds. CBS notes that the percentage of undecided has dropped below 10% now. For those who have already decided -- and voted --...
Cheney Zings Kerry For Polling On Osama Tape
I first saw the report on Drudge that the Democrats took a poll to see how the Osama bin Laden tape played with the American electorate immediately after it aired. I thought at the time, "I'm not going to link to this ... even the Democrats aren't that foolish." Apparently I must stand corrected, as the Kerry campaign admitted their party conducted the poll, only after Dick Cheney slammed Kerry for not knowing what to do without sticking his finger in the air: "The thing that I find amazing about it is that John Kerry's first response was to go conduct a poll," Cheney told supporters in Fort Dodge, Iowa. "He went into the field ... to find out what he should say about this tape of Osama bin Laden." "It's as though he doesn't know what he believes until he has to go and check the polls, his finger...
Final Gallup Poll A Muddle
Gallup announced the results of its final presidential poll, but its odd report and jumble of state results make it easily the most bizarre and forgettable poll of the bunch. Even its attempt to call the race looks transparently laughable: Bush gets 49% and Kerry gets 47% among likely voters in the poll, which was conducted Friday-Sunday. Three percent offered no opinion. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points, meaning Bush does not have a clear lead. Ralph Nader failed to break the 1% threshold, as all other candidates as a group drew a single percentage point of support. The poll used a sample of 2,014 national adults a larger sample than past polls, which reduces the margin of error. In addition, in this final poll, Gallup used a statistical model to allocate undecided voters to the candidates. Using that model, the race is in...
Kerry Flip-Flops On Foreign Leader Endorsements
After maintaining that he had met with several foreign leaders who told him that they want him elected, John Kerry's campaign suddenly has shifted positions on overseas endoresements: An adviser to US presidential challenger John Kerryhas criticised Australian Prime Minister John Howard over "inappropriate" public comments wishing for President George W. Bush to be reelected. Australians had complained when Bush and his aides publicly commented on Australian politics and had told Bush to steer clear of US politics, adviser Kurt Campbell told The Sydney Morning Herald. "I would remind Australians that the same applies at home. Such comments about our politics are a little inappropriate," he said, reacting to Howard's comment last month about Bush, saying: "I hope he wins." It's a far cry from Kerry's strategy in March, when he told everyone that foreign leaders had told him how important it was for him to win the election. He...
November 1, 2004
Kerry Discharge "Other Than Honorable": NY Sun
Our friend Thomas Lipscomb writes today at the New York Sun that based on records produced at the John Kerry campaign website and military regulations and practice at the time of Kerry's Navy career, John Kerry received a less-than-honorable discharge for his service. Because of Kerry's refusal to make all of his records public and the Privacy Act of 1974, Lipscomb's sources would not go on the record. However, a reserve JAG and a former Navy officer from the Bureau of Personnel have helped Lipscomb build a strong circumstantial case for the negative separation: The "honorable discharge" on the Kerry Web site appears to be a Carter administration substitute for an original action expunged from Mr. Kerry's record, according to Mark Sullivan, who retired as a captain in the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps Reserve in 2003 after 33 years of service as a judge advocate. Mr. Sullivan served in...
With 24 Hours To Go, Democrats Running Away From Kerry
The AP reports that Democrats running for state offices around the nation have one thing in common -- a desire to put as much distance between themselves and John Kerry as possible: Democrats running for the Senate in Republican-leaning states want to be more like President Bush clearing brush in Crawford, Texas, than John Kerry windsurfing off Nantucket Island, Mass. Democratic chances of regaining control of the Senate may depend on candidates who run away from their party platform and their presidential contender. "We've got eight or nine really competitive races and just about all are in strong Bush states," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Democrats have some bad luck here." I'd argue that it has less to do with bad luck than it does from the obstructionist tactics of the Democratic Senate contingent the past four years. Obviously, Democrats got...
QandO Explodes The Afganistan "Outsourcing" Myth
Jon Henke at QandO, the essential neolibertarian blog, does some research on John Kerry's oft-repeated assertion that the US "outsourced" its efforts at Tora Bora in order to do war on the cheap. Despite the vehement denials by General Tommy Franks and others within the Afghan operation and the detailed explanations as to why our strategy not only made sense but paid off, Kerry continues to use this canard as a major part of his stump speeches. It should surprise no one at this date that Kerry's position represents a complete reversal from what Kerry advocated at the time of the Afghan operation. Jon notes Kerry's appearance on the Bill O'Reilly show for December 11, 2001, where Kerry not only approved of the Afghan operation as implemented but called for moving our focus to militarily removing Saddam Hussein and leaving the liberation of Afghanistan to the Afghanis. He also made...
Election Eve Phone Banking
While some voters get calls from an ersatz Norman Schwarzkopf or from the real Bret Favre or Curt Schilling, I've only been fortunate enough to get one call tonight from the GOP. After hearing someone grunt "Please listen," I got this recorded message with a female voice: "Democrats keep accusing Republicans of secretly planning on reinstating the draft. But Democrats are the only ones who have proposed a new military draft ..." It would have been all right if someone like the Bush twins had done the commercial. Heck, since Pete Coors is running for the Senate, maybe they could have had the Coors Twins record it. But no -- all I get is the gosh-darned generic message. I'm already supporting the GOP, of course, but I did feel a twinge of resentment that I didn't get to be phone-spammed by a really cool celebrity. I'd even have settled for...
November 2, 2004
Bush Wins First Scrimmage While Daschle Melts Down
The French press service AFP reports that George Bush has won the traditional Dixville Notch vote at midnight, while Daschle v. Thune liveblogged Senate minority leader Tom Daschle's strangulation of the remnants of his credibility and dignity. From Dixville Notch: A tiny population of 26 registered voters backed Bush by a comfortable 19-7 margin over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry, according to a tally by the town clerk's office. ... The settlement's 26 voters trooped into the luxury Balsams hotel just after midnight local time (0500 GMT) Tuesday to cast some of the first votes in the 2004 election. Almost half were registered Republicans. The 26 voters included 11 registered Republicans, two registered Democratic voters and 13 independents, according to the town clerk's records. Bush won the key Dixville Notch vote in 2000, but Bill Clinton won it twice before that. As portents go, I'd rank it right up there...
Zogby Bounces Back To 2000
In what must be a crushing blow to those on the Left who crowed about the positive Zogby numbers from the weekend for John Kerry, Zogby revised the numbers last night -- and put the states right back to where they were in 2000: Last night, habitual poll-watchers had new numbers to digest when John Zogby released results for a four-day poll that included some voters surveyed yesterday. That poll showed Mr. Bush with a solid lead in Ohio (49 percent to 43 percent) and also ahead in Nevada (50 percent to 45 percent) and Colorado (49 percent to 47 percent), while Florida was a tie at 48 percent each. According to the final Zogby pre-election survey, Mr. Kerry was leading in Pennsylvania (50 percent to 46 percent), Wisconsin (51 percent to 45 percent), Iowa (50 percent to 45 percent), Minnesota (51 percent to 45 percent), Michigan (52 percent to...
Good News Out Of Ohio
Staff Mate Joseph tipped me off to this early and more significant election result from Ohio (also at Megapundit, if the SoS's site is down). According to the Secretary of State, George Bush has a slim lead over John Kerry in early and absentee voting: Bush: 49.87% with 800,950 votes. Kerry: 49.12% with 788,799 votes The Democrats have made a huge effort into getting their voters to go early or vote absentee, and the fact that Bush still leads after all that effort has to be encouraging. As Megapundit notes, that represents 34% of the Ohio popular vote in 2000. We're not talking Dixville Notch here, and when the rest of Ohio's voters go to the polls today, we can presumably expect a greater share of Republicans than Democrats remain....
Kerry Apparently Wants US Election Law To Meet Global Test
Foreign election monitors complained yesterday that they had been assigned to overwhelmingly pro-Kerry events, calling their neutrality into question even as their members lobbied John Kerry to make changes in electoral law: European election monitors touring central Florida were dismayed yesterday at their local hosts' emphasis on Democratic events, saying their schedule of pro-Kerry and left-leaning themes has left little time for similar Republican visits. The day started with a small airport rally for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, who appeared to promise a senior member of the delegation that he would commit to reforming federal election processes. The four-member delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also listened to filmmaker Michael Moore address the League of Conservation Voters and visited a polling station in Sanford, Fla., which was the site of voting irregularities four years ago. "I would say we are dismayed," said Bart...
Live Blogging Tonight!
I will be live-blogging the presidential-election results tonight while Mitch Berg, King Banaian and I give quarter-hour updates on AM 1280 The Patriot, starting at 8 pm. I plan to start blogging at 7 pm or so as the Eastern time zone polls close up. Be sure to keep checking back here -- more details later!...
Sabotage In Milwaukee
Unfortunately, some people believe that they have the prerogative to determine who can and cannot vote in today's election. In Milwaukee, thirty rental vans that were intended to help GOP voters get to the polls to exercise their franchise rights had their tires slashed, presumably in an attempt to keep Wisconsin from slipping away from John Kerry: The tires of at least 30 cars and vans rented by the Republican Party to carry voters to the polls were slashed, Milwaukee police said this morning. The discovery was made at 6:30 a.m., said Sgt. Mark Wroblewski. The rental cars were parked near a GOP office in the 7100 block of W. Capitol Dr. Wroblewski said "at least" 30 cars were disabled. At least one tire was slashed and in some cases, all four tires were cut. Detectives were on the scene, the sergeant said. Police had no suspects in custody as...
Democratic Pollster Predicts Bush Victory
In one of the more unusual analyses of this presidential campaign, The Hill published a prediction of victory by George Bush in today's race. That may not sound unusual, but when the pundit making the prediction turns out to be John Kerry's chief pollster Mark Mellman, it raises a few eyebrows: First, we simply do not defeat an incumbent president in wartime. After wars surely, but never in their midst. Republicans have been spinning this fact for months, and they are correct. Democrats have spoken often and powerfully about the nations economic problems. But by historical standards, they are not that bad. The misery index is 7.8 today but was 20.5 when Jimmy Carter was defeated. Economic models of elections show Bush winning 52-58 percent of the vote. Nor does Mellman stop there. Much has been made about Bush's approval ratings and the "right direction/wrong direction" polling during this cycle,...
Election Day Observations, Midday
I went to vote first thing this morning. When we arrived at our polling place, the line snaked around the vestibule like a confused boa constrictor and went out the door, into the rain. At first I assumed we would be there for hours, but at 7 am precisely, the line began moving and kept going steadily. After 10 minutes, the First Mate and I finally made our way to the check-in station. One of the judges saw me providing sighted-guide to the FM (she's blind) and stopped us. "Are you going into the booth with her?" the poll worker asked me. "Yes," I replied, "I do this every year." "You have to have an election judge go with you," she told us. Now, I had no real objection to that -- after all, I'm not doing anything wrong and I don't have paranoia about people knowing how I voted....
Election, 6:36 PM - Looking Good So Far
Instead of updating the same post over and over, I'll post new thoughts as we go along in sepearate entries. Checking the election ticker on Fox and the CNN election website, and the early results are fairly promising, if unsurprising. CNN called Vermont for Kerry, not exactly a shocker, and Indiana, Knetucky, West Virginia, and Georgia for Bush as expected. The overall vote tabulated shows Bush up 15 points, but it's very, very early. So far, nothing's been called for Virginia, although Bush is up strong there with 5% of the vote counted. Expect that to get called next -- and Kerry's campaign insisted this weekend that they would carry Virginia....
Eastern Polls Close
CNN and Fox just called New Jersey for John Kerry with no precincts reporting, indicating that their exit polls must be rather strong. A good chunk of the northeastern Atlantic seaboard has been called for Kerry now, but that was expected. So far -- no surprises, although I'm surprised that so many of these have been called with no vote counts. Florida so far shows rather strongly for Bush, but Miami-Dade and Palm Beach haven't reported yet. Nor has any of the panhandle, either. At this point, with 18% of the precincts reporting, Bush has an 11-point lead, a good head start. No numbers yet on Ohio or Pennsylvania. UPDATE: South Carolina goes Bush, again no surprise. I'm not surprised by the caution being shown by Fox and CNN, but I am surprised at how quickly both have called a couple of states for Kerry without getting any vote counts...
New Jersey Called Too Soon?
Watching Fox News, I see that they called New Jersey for Kerry very quickly, before posting any results. However, with 2% reporting now, Bush holds a 1-point lead over Kerry. Fox and CNN must have called it based on their exit polling, but it looks like it's too close to call based on the results. Keep an eye on the Garden State. It may wind up becoming the Florida of 2004 -- called too soon......
Coburn Holds The Oklahoma Senate Seat For GOP
Not all the festivities have to do with John Kerry or George Bush. In Oklahoma, the GOP candidate for Senate pulled out a tight race to hold the seat, after being accused of forced sterilizations: Conservative Tom Coburn on Tuesday defeated his Democratic opponent in one of the nation's tightest Senate races and will succeed retiring Don Nickles, also a Republican, NBC and ABC television networks projected. That's good news for the GOP, which had started to sweat this race over the past few weeks,...
Voter Fraud In Duluth?
David Strom, our friend from the Taxpayers League, lets us know that allegations have been made that a suspicious number of voters being bused into the polling stations, with "massive vouching" going on. Minnesota allows registration with a registered voter vouching for the registrant instead of insisting on more positive ID. We'll stay on top of this, as local media seems to have responded to this story....
Florida Creeps In, Ohio Starts Rolling
With slightly under half of all precincts reporting in Florida, Bush is still up, but the lead has settled down to seven points as Broward County started reporting. We still haven't heard from Miami-Dade or West Palm Beach, so keep checking back. Quite a bit of the Panhandle has yet to be heard from, too. Ohio, on the other hand, looks stronger. Cuyahoga has pretty much reported, and Bush has pulled ahead with 5% of the precincts reporting now. This looks better than it did earlier....
Minnesota Results Start Coming In
We're looking at the results from Minnesota as they begin reporting. Right now with 1.5% of the precincts in, Kerry leads Bush 52-47. However, almost all of the precincts reporting are from Hennepin County, with Minneapolis driving the liberal vote here. Hardly any outstate results have come in. It seems to me that Kerry should be up by considerably more that five points from these precincts -- possibly pointing to a Bush conversion. We'll know more when Ramsey County (Saint Paul) comes in....
Big Trunk Joins Us
Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson just joined us, and tells us that Bush/Cheney HQ was inundated with complaints about polling irregularities -- he promises us an update at the top of the hour. With a number of states reporting, the news starts looking pretty good. Wisconsin has 4% of their precincts reporting and Bush is up by 15. Bush also leads -- surprisingly -- in Michigan by seven points, even with Macomb County reporting in. Iowa hasn't begun reporting vote results yet, but if Bush hangs onto Wisconsin and Michigan, it's over. Ohio: Bush 52-47, 15% reporting. Hmmmm. UPDATE: AP shows Wisconsin a Bush "leaner" - with 8% reporting, Bush has a thirteen-point lead. This would be a tremendous capture from the Democrats......
AP Announces Significant Bush Leaners
The AP has updated its election map, and has put the following states in the Bush-leaning column: Wisconsin - Bush 56-43 (9% reporting) Michigan - Bush 55-43 (5%) Ohio - Bush 52-47 (24%) Colorado - Bush 56-43 (5%) Washington - No data reporting? Presumably, the AP has some exit polling for Washington that supports that decision, but that would be an unexpected and stunning result......
Florida Coming Into Focus
None of the networks will dare call this race anytime soon, but with 84% of its precincts reporting, Bush is maintaining his five-point lead. The key counties of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach all have results coming in now, and the gap still appears significant. If Bush can hold onto Florida and Ohio and pick up Wisconsin, this race is over -- and if he takes Michigan too, it may be significant enough to force a concession from Kerry. PLEASE NOTE!!! -- We can be heard on our Internet stream now at this link, doing the breaks on the Hugh Hewitt show. Check us (and Hugh) out!...
More Leaners Towards Bush
Taking a look at the AP map, here are a few additions leaners toward Bush: Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. NM went to Gore last time out by a whisker, but with 27% reporting, Bush leads by 5. He's up by 10 in AZ with 47% reporting and 7 points in CO with 13% reporting. Expect to see Arizona get called for Bush in the next few minutes, affirming the GOP grip on John McCain's state. Keep watching Wisconsin and Michigan -- Bush continues his lead there, as well as in Ohio and Florida. In fact, he added a point to his leads in both states in the past few minutes. Momentum is starting to build, I think, for a significant win....
Minnesota Tightening Up, Michigan Bouncing
Taking a look around the Upper Midwest, we're seeing the presidential race tighten up in Minnesota. The suburbs and exurbs have finally started to report, and John Kerry's lead has dropped to 7.5%. We think that Kerry may have hit his high-water mark for Minnesota, although we're not sure how much of the Iron Range has reported, and he may have built up enough of a lead to withstand the more conservative suburban vote. Michigan shifted back to a Kerry leaner, but that's because the urban precincts of Wayne County have reported in. A flood of Kerry votes came in all at once from Detroit, so Kerry got a double-digit swing. Looking at the county map for Michigan, though, that's the only strong point for Kerry so far this election. Bush could reclaim that lead as more suburbs and exurbs come back to the table....
Michigan And Wisconsin Both Lean Kerry
The vagaries of the random precinct reporting have moved the states of Wisconsin and Michigan to the Kerry leaners, according to the AP. With the urban precincts starting to report heavily, the votes originally swung significantly towards Kerry, but have gradually moved back towards the center. That puts all of the Upper Midwest as Kerry-leaners, at this point, which is where they went in 2000. Flash: ABC just called Florida for Bush. That puts us up to 235 or so electoral votes ... UPDATE: Wisconsin continues to push back towards Bush. Kerry now only has a 1% edge over Bush with 47% of precincts reporting. If Milwaukee and Madison have reported in, the state may go back to leaning Bush in the next hour......
If Bush Gets Ohio, New Mexico, And Colorado ...
... he's been re-elected with 271 electoral votes. Even if Bush loses Nevada and Alaska, he wins the election. And in my mind, we still look pretty good to win by a small margin in Wisconsin. The major urban areas have already reported most of their results (Milwaukee over 80% and Dane County -- Madison -- two-thirds complete). The suburban and rural vote still has yet to roll in, and that's where Bush's strength lies. Not only that, but Bush is making a bit of a comeback in Minnesota as our own suburb/exurb vote starts coming in. In the past hour, he's made up about 25,000 of his gap and now trails by a shade under six points. The race here in the North Star state looks like it will go on for a while....
Fox Calls Ohio For Bush
Fox News has called Ohio for George Bush, putting the president within four electoral votes of winning his re-election. According to Fox, the precincts left in Cuyahoga County won't have enough impact to change the direction of the vote in the Buckeye State. That puts George Bush at 266 electoral votes, meaning that New Mexico will put him over the top -- and Bush leads in NM by 4 points with 74% of their precincts reporting. So much for Ohio being a swing state! Hugh Hewitt, as you might imagine, is delighted......
Upper Midwest Tightens Up (Except For Us)
The three big Upper Midwest states that the GOP thought might be pickups in 2004 have improved still further for George Bush. Despite having a hard time with the urban centers in each of these states, Bush trails by only one point in Wisconsin and Iowa and just two in Michigan. In each of these states, Bush trailed by double digits after the urban precincts filed their votes. The president has the momentum and hopefull will ride it to a victory in at least one of these states, and preferably all three....
November 3, 2004
NBC Calls The Election For Bush
NBC just gave Ohio and Alaska to George Bush, putting the President at 269 electoral votes, guaranteeing at least a tie, and the GOP-controlled House of Representatives would certainly put Bush back in the White House. If New Mexico goes Bush, which it looks like it will, that gives him 274 and a clear victory. UPDATE: Bush just edged ahead in Iowa with 87% reporting -- by a few hundred votes. I told you the momentum was with Bush! Let's hope he holds it....
Daschle May Have Pulled It Out
Tom Daschle, who looked as though he was heading to defeat as soon as an hour ago, now has pulled ahead in his bid for re-election to his South Dakota Senate seat. CNN shows Daschle up by about three thousand. UPDATE: No -- I think they had miscalculated. Now it shows Thune up by 2% and 6,000 votes....
Whither Ohio?
Fox and NBC have called Ohio for George Bush, and with 92% of the precincts reporting, Bush has a two-point lead. The other major networks have yet to call Ohio, but the reluctance has more to do with Florida 2000 than Ohio 2004. Kerry's bastion of support, Cuyahoga County, has reported 99% of its precincts now, and Bush is still up by 102,000 votes. Athens, where they've reported 2/3rds of their votes, split 2-1 for Kerry -- but if you work the math, there's only 6,000 possible upside there. There may be another 6,000 in Lucas, but after that it gets mighty thin. Kerry has run out of votes. Ohio should be in everyone's red column by this point....
Iowa Goes Bush
I'm going to beat the major news outlets on this one -- as I predicted, Iowa has swung back solidly towards Bush, who now has a 12,000-vote lead with 94% of the precincts counted in our neighbor to the south. I think that we can safely say that Iowa is now in the Bush column, and adding in New Mexico, that gives Bush 281 electoral votes....
Nevada Starts To Swing Towards Bush
One of the wildcard states in this election was Nevada, and it appears that Nevadans relished that status. The gap right now is about 10,000 towards Bush with 65% of precincts reporting, and it looks likely that Bush can add Nevada to his column....
No Concession
John Edwards just told Kerry supporters that the campaign would not issue any statements on the race until at least tomorrow night, and plan on vigorously pursuing the provisional ballots cast in Ohio. Right now the estimates on the number of such ballots range from 170,000 to 250,000. Even on the outside edge, that would require Kerry to win 187,501 ballots, opposed to 62,499 for Bush, to edge Bush by one. It's unlikely in the extreme that he will beat Bush 3-1 in the provos. It's just another way for the Kerry/Edwards campaign to demonstrate their classlessness. UPDATE: BamaBear makes a great point in the comments on an earlier point. The media won't call Ohio when Bush has a 125,000-vote lead with 97% of the precincts reporting -- but they just gave Michigan to Kerry, when he has an 89,000-vote lead with 78% of the precincts reporting? Can someone explain...
Ohio Provisional Ballots: The New Democratic Mythology
CQ reader and fellow insomniac Byron Matthews found this tally of provisional ballots for Ohio, showing that the total number of provos -- 76,027 -- comes up to just over half of Bush's lead in the state. This race is over. Even Democrats can do math. UPDATE: Maybe I can't -- Cuyahoga has nothing listed, meaning that they haven't counted there. I believe that the Democrats estimated 25,000 provos there. If that isn't the final tally, the Ohio Secretary of State will probably have the updated totals tomorrow. Mea culpa... UPDATE II: 3:28 AM CT -- Bush now leads by 171,000 votes in Ohio. My math is at least good enough to realize that 125,000 provos cannot outweigh that margin. Ohioans have spoken. Let's demand that John Kerry do the right thing and concede so that we can present a confident and united front, at home and especially abroad....
Final Thoughts On The Election
I have just a few more thoughts to share with everyone on this election. I started this blog about a year ago, and although I didn't conceive of it as an election project, it certainly became that. It has been my privilege and pleasure to share my thoughts and opinions with you, and my honor that so many of you have become regular readers. One aspect of this election that may have been lost in all this analysis is that we successfully held a national election in the middle of the war on terror -- and while we had a highly negative and immature discourse, no one shied away from speaking out, and we turned out in record numbers (at least it looks that way now), rather than cower under our beds. Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green, pat yourselves on the back. You just won a major battle against...
Provisional Ballots And The Election
After a couple of hours, the new count of provisional ballots in Ohio appears that it will barely outstrip the margin of victory by George Bush over John Kerry. With 10 smaller counties left to report their provos, Ohio has 135,149, including 24,788 from Cuyahoga County. At the moment, the Ohio Secretary of State's website shows that Bush has a lead of 133,164 votes, with 99.9% of all precincts reporting. The gap between the two numbers is significant legally, if not for the overall result. Races in Ohio get automatically reviewed under two scenarios. First, by statute, if the margin of victory does not exceed 0.25% of the overall votes cast for that race, a recount is automatically undertaken. The gap for President is much broader than that -- 2.44%, making a recount unnecessary. The second regulatory threshold is if the margin fails to exceed the number of provisional ballots...
The Guardian Strikes Out
So much for the Guardian's Operation Clark County: Bush -- 34,444 (50.96%) Kerry -- 32,824 (48.56%) As the Professor would say ... Heh....
Kerry concedes!
Both Fox and AP are reporting that Kerry called President Bush to concede. President Bush to make public announcement within the next couple of hours. UPDATE: Kerry will make public concession at 1:00 pm Eastern time. UPDATE: Kerry concession speech seems to be delayed by logistics. Stand by....
For your victory celebration
Here's a little treat for your victory party. (I saw this on The Corner yesterday but not able to post at the time.)...
Our Very Short National Nightmare Is Over
I just woke up from my post-election exhaustive collapse to Fox News on the TV and CNN on my laptop announcing that John Kerry has decided to concede Ohio and the election to George Bush: Democratic Sen. John Kerry phoned President Bush on Wednesday to concede the presidential election, aides in both camps said. President Bush was to deliver a victory statement at 3 p.m. ET, Bush aides said. Sen. Kerry's aides said he was expected to make a concession speech at 1 p.m. ET at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. A Kerry adviser said the campaign had concluded that the too-close-to-call battleground state of Ohio was not going to come through for the Democrats. The adviser said there was no way to gain votes on Bush without an "exhaustive fight," something that would have "further divided this country." I am delighted that John Kerry finally came to this conclusion,...
Kerry's Concession
I'm watching John Kerry prepare to make his concession speech on Fox News, and I'll live-blog it. I probably won't get the chance to do that with the President's speech because of some appointments... 12:55 CT: Teresa Heinz Kerry and her family have entered the Boston hall where Kerry will make his concession speech. She looks exhausted. I wonder if she might be relieved it's over... 12:56 - Kerry has just been announced and is taking the stage, broadly smiling ... 12:57 - Edwards will speak first, interestingly enough. He promises to continue to "fight for every vote", even though they're conceding. That seems to me to be a very ungracious thing to say -- as if the administration is suppressing the vote. Edwards just can't escape the urban-legend pimping ... 1:00 - Edwards gets more to the point, showering Kerry with praise and exhorting their supporters to stay involved....
Bush's Victory Lap
I had to take the First Mate to the doctor's office for a flu shot (immune-depressed transplant patients are always at the top of the priority list), and I TiVo'd the President's victory speech. I caught part of it on the radio but wanted to watch the entire speech on its own before commenting. I noticed an odd reaction on my part when I saw Dick Cheney and George Bush on stage at the same time; three years of war have made me worry about an attack every time they make a joint appearance. At some point those worries will be behind us, but not yet. Cheney introduced Bush as Edwards did Kerry, but focused on the election and Bush rather than Edwards' approach, which seemed more aimed at keeping a spot warm in the 2008 primaries. The VP's speech also seemed shorter than that of his election counterpart, for...
November 4, 2004
Exit Polls Misused, Not Inaccurate, Pollsters Say
After twenty-four hours of solidly negative coverage of the exit polls that led many to believe that John Kerry would cruise to an easy victory, the pollsters themselves spoke out in their own defense. Today's Washington Post reports that the data fed to the networks -- and released without authorization to Internet sources such as Drudge -- carried a specific warning of its incomplete status: Results based on the first few rounds of interviewing are usually only approximations of the final vote. Printouts warn that estimates of each candidate's support are unreliable and not for on-air use. Those estimates are untrustworthy because people who vote earlier in the day tend to be different from those who vote in the middle of the day or the evening. For instance, the early national sample Tuesday that was 59 percent female probably reflected that more women vote in the day than the evening....
Moore & Friends Despondent Over Bush Victory
Two reports this morning focus on the reaction among the entertainment elite to George Bush's re-election this week to a second term as President. As one might imagine, the mood in Hollywood has taken a steeper dive than a Bennifer film in its second release week. The Washington Times' Stephanie Mansfield takes Hollywood's emotional temperature: For a rich and powerful demographic used to getting its way, Hollywood was downbeat yesterday as President Bush -- more heinous than a mid-February release date to so many celebrities and other bold-faced names -- made his gracious victory speech. ... Long decried as out of touch with "the real America," Hollywood woke up to its worst nightmare on Main Street. "This is definitely Kerry country," said Gabriel Snyder, senior writer for Variety, the industry bible. One can only imagine the despair of the Hollywood stars over the specter of glittery state dinners and policy...
A picture is worth a thousand words
The MSM continues to insist ours is a nation divided and President Bush must therefore make concessions instead of rushing forward with his agenda. No time for an essay this morning, but this will suffice: Hat tip: Sean Hannity....
Mrs. Edwards Has Our Prayers
There is a difference between an enemy and an opponent, a distinction lost on more than a few people on both sides of our necessary and beneficial political divide. Osama bin Laden, Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, and Mullah Omar are our enemies; John Kerry and John Edwards were our political opponents, but first they are our fellow Americans. Today, the AP reports that Edwards' wife Elizabeth has been diagnosed with breast cancer: Spokesman David Ginsberg said Mrs. Edwards, 55, discovered a lump in her right breast while on a campaign trip last week. Her family doctor told her Friday that it appeared to be cancerous and advised her to see a specialist when she could. She put off the appointment until Wednesday so as not to miss campaign time. The Edwards family went straight to Massachusetts General Hospital from Boston's Faneuil Hall after Kerry and Edwards conceded on Wednesday. Mrs. Edwards...
Uncommon Foolishness At Tompaine.Com
Just when I thought I'd take an evening off from the blog, Power Line pulls me back in. Rocket Man notes some cartoonish logic and bitterness at Tompaine.com, where Greg Palast tells his readers that John Kerry really won Ohio. Any notion that he didn't apparently comes from a media conspiracy to cover up "spoilage": I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry. Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. At 1:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. The exit polls were later combined withand therefore...
November 5, 2004
Exit Polling Samples Not Reliable: NYT
The stone golem of the 2000 election was the hanging chad, and this time around it looks like exit polling. Two reports out today continue the post-mortems on the National Election Pool, one discounting allegations of conspiracy theories and the other boosting them. First, Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times has reviewed a clandestine copy of the pollsters' final report on the debacle, proving yet again that the NEP has major security issues. The pollsters blame sampling difficulties and the infidelity of its clients for the problems: The report, written by Joe Lenski and Warren Mitofsky and obtained by The New York Times, details systemic glitches that skewed the data in ways of which several news organizations, who paid tens of thousands of dollars for the service, were not aware. In some cases, the report said, survey takers could not get close enough to the polls to collect adequate...
AP: Democrats Losing Ground In Middle America
The AP notes that the final tallies in Iowa and New Mexico show that George Bush took the former blue states from Democrats as expected, indicating that the Democrats have increasingly isolated themselves to the two coasts in the past several elections: The Democrats' defeat in Iowa reflects a larger problem for them in the Midwest and across the political map. Along with Wisconsin and Minnesota, Iowa and its seven electoral votes are part of the once-Democratic Upper Midwest that is growing more conservative with each presidential election. Kerry won Minnesota by just 3 percentage points, Wisconsin by a single point. In addition, Michigan and Pennsylvania went Democratic by 3 percentage points or less and Bush won Ohio despite its economic miseries. The close electoral vote masks the problem Democrats face in traditionally friendly territory. Iowa hadn't gone for a Republican in 20 years, and that time only during the...
November 6, 2004
AP Analyzes Kerry's Prospects
The AP's Lolita Baldor and Jennifer Peter analyze the future prospects of John Kerry now that his bid for the presidency has ended, and they see big things ahead for the Massachusetts Senator: Like many presidential candidates before him, John Kerry must now decide what to do with the rest of his political life. While he relaxed at his Boston home on Friday, elsewhere friends, colleagues and presidential historians said they didn't see the Democrat fading into political obscurity like the last Massachusetts politician who ran and lost, Michael Dukakis in 1988. Instead, they said he would probably take the road less traveled by recent senators who tried and failed to take the White House, and remain a strong voice in Congress on issues he cared about. Like what? The AP continues its ignorance of Kerry's Senate record even past the election. In 20 years as a senator, Kerry got...
If you can't beat 'em . . . .
Despite President Bush's election victory, destructive attacks on the GOP continue. Last night, a mob vandalized the North Carolina Republican headquarters. According to the AP (emphasis mine): A police officer reported Friday night that about 100 people wearing masks and gloves were walking down a street near the headquarters, police Capt. D.S. Overman said. Officers investigating that report found a second group "vandalizing and damaging" the GOP headquarters, said police Maj. D.R. Lane. The vandalism was a "planned and orchestrated event," police spokesman Jim Sughrue said. "This is not a political statement," Sughrue said. "A political statement is what we made Tuesday. This is a crime." The officers found several spent fireworks, poster boards with slogans and spray-painted expletives on the walls. At least two windows were broken and police said it appeared that the vandals tried to put incendiary devices inside the building. This is yet another example of...
November 8, 2004
Rove's Analysis: Kerry Voting Record Sealed The Election
Many analysts have made a second career out of postulating how George Bush managed to beat John Kerry in the presidential election. Most of the speculation has centered on anti-gay marriage initiatives in eleven states, even though a thorough analysis of voting between 2000 and 2004 show a slight decrease in support for Bush in comparison. The one person given credit as the architect for the victory, Karl Rove, insists that the real reason is much more prosaic: Tactically, Kerry's decision to vote for the $87 billion in funding for troops and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then deciding in October 2003 to vote against it, was a bonanza for the president's campaign, "the gift that kept on giving," Rove said. Kerry's record in general and his shifting support for the war in Iraq caused the most problems for him among voters, Rove insisted. Exit polling has been widely...
Campaign Finance Reform Lays A Very Expensive Egg
The New York Times performs a post-mortem on the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act as implemented in the 2004 election cycle, and while Glen Justice never mentions the word "failure" in his analysis, the data more than suggests that verdict: The McCain-Feingold law, which did more to change how American political campaigns are financed than any legislation since the 1970's, got its first real-world test in this year's election. And now its critics are more emphatic than ever in arguing that the law has fallen short of its goals, and even some supporters are calling for revisions. ... The major advocacy groups at work in this year's elections, called 527 groups after the section in the tax code that created them, raised more than $350 million, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign finance. While it is axiomatic in politics that each race will cost more than the last, and while...
How About This: Kerry Was A Lousy Candidate?
I took a peek at the headlines this morning, while I'm wrapping up my vacation in Southern California, and the one story that really caught my eye was Howard Kurtz's piece on post-election analysis by the media. If you listen to the talking heads on TV, you hear all sorts of notions about why George Bush beat John Kerry: gay marriage, evangelicals, Michael Moore, red-America brain death, and so on. Kurtz analyzes the analysts in his own somewhat cynical style: The Democrats were clueless on moral values. John Kerry was a lousy candidate. A northerner can't win anymore. The Bush team was better at manipulating the press. No one trusts the Democrats on national security. The gay marriage issue badly hurt the party. The Democrats need to move right, or left, or south, or undergo a personality transplant, or change the Constitution so Bill Clinton can run again. ... The...
Not Just A River In Egypt, Part 37B
The Washington Post's Mike Allen reports that John Kerry is "fired up" and plans to be an activist when he returns to the Senate in the next session. In fact, he's giving the impression that he wants to give the presidency another shot in 2008: Democrat John F. Kerry plans to use his Senate seat and long lists of supporters to remain a major voice in American politics despite losing the presidential race last Tuesday, and he is assessing the feasibility of trying again in 2008, friends and aides said yesterday. Kerry will attend a post-election lame-duck Senate session that begins next week and has said he is "fired up" to play a highly visible role, the friends and aides said. If so, it would be the first time in twenty years. His previous visibility remained limited to six bills in twenty years and the Iran-Contra investigation from over seventeen...
November 9, 2004
All Hail The New Victims -- Democrats
Just when I thought it was impossible for Democrats to sink any lower in their post-election tantrums -- after all, it's hard to top secession as a political strategy for the arrested-development set -- now they have their very own psychological disorder, according to the Boca Raton News: The Boca Raton News reported Tuesday that Palm Beach, Florida trauma specialist Douglas Schooler alone has already treated 15 clients and friends with intense hypnotherapy since the Democratic candidate conceded on November 3. "I had one friend tell me he's never been so depressed and angry in his life," Schooler said. "I observed patients threatening to leave the country or staring listlessly into space. They were emotionally paralyzed, shocked and devastated," he told the daily. "We're calling it 'post-election selection trauma' and we're working to develop a counseling program for it," said Rob Gordon, the Boca Raton-based executive director of the American...
November 10, 2004
Taking On The SEIU
An anti-union watchdog group has filed a complaint against the largest government workers union in the country, alleging that the group illegally spent millions of dollars in dues on partisan political campaigns: An anti-union group is urging the Federal Election Commission to investigate one of the largest unions in the country, claiming the Service Employees International Union unlawfully spent workers' dues to elect Democrats in last week's election. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said Wednesday that SEIU gave millions of dollars from members' dues to a partisan political group, America Coming Together, which in turn spent the money illegally to finance political campaigns through the Democratic National Committee. Using dues, which get extorted from workers in closed shops, for political purposes has been banned for at least the last two years. Unions have to raise money through PACs or 527s with voluntary donations in order to contribute...
You Don't Bring Me Flowers
In response to the continuing post-mortems on the presidential election, various women's groups noted that George Bush made significant inroads with women. Exit polling showed that John Kerry only narrowly edged Bush in this demographic, 51-48, while Al Gore had claimed an 11-point gap in 2000. The groups blamed John Kerry and claimed he took them for granted: Leaders of several women's groups said Tuesday that Democrat John Kerry fell short in his bid for the White House because he didn't make a more direct appeal for support from women voters. ... "There was an assumption women would be behind the Kerry campaign," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women. The Bush campaign referred to the liberation of Afghan and Iraqi women to appeal to women voters, said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. But "Kerry never drew a very strong contrast with Bush" on women's...
November 12, 2004
Pew Research: Moral Values Far Overblown In Exit Polling
It's probably too late to change the conventional wisdom on the presidential election now, but a Pew Research Center analysis of exit polling and their own new survey throws cold water on the notion that "moral values" provided the primary motivation for voters. Even for those who did prioritize morality first, it doesn't reflexively relate to conservative outlook: When "moral values" was included in poll questions, it was named more often than any other issue. But when voters were just asked to name the issue most important in their vote for president without being given a list of answers moral values trailed the war in Iraq and the economy, according to the Pew survey. "The advantage of the open-ended question is it tells you what's at the top of mind for voters what they're thinking," said Cliff Zukin, a veteran pollster and professor of public policy at...
November 17, 2004
Kerry Can't Stop Hoarding Money
The AP (in the Boston Herald) profiles John Kerry in today's edition in his return to the Senate after losing the presidential election two weeks ago. The story focuses on Kerry's equivocating on a possible Presidential run in 2008, but the real blockbuster isn't Kerry's unrealistic notions of a do-over but the $45 million he never spent during this last election cycle: Sen. John Kerry, who has $45 million left from his record-breaking Democratic campaign, hinted on Tuesday that he may try again for the presidency. On his first workday back in the Senate since losing his White House bid, Kerry remained far from the spotlight, granting interviews to hometown reporters and joining the depleted corps of Democrats as they elected the party's new Senate leaders. The news of the $45M nest egg surely has to dismay his supporters, especially with the less-rational of them claiming that the race was...
Democrats Tee Off On Kerry
Earlier today I wrote about the $45 million John Kerry left in his primary election fund instead of spending it on his election or other Democratic races. The AP now reports that Kerry also left an additional $15 million unspent from his federal general-election funds, and his fellow Democrats are now demanding to know why: Democratic Party leaders said Wednesday they want to know why Sen. John Kerry ended his presidential campaign with more than $15 million in the bank, money that could have helped Democratic candidates across the country. ... "Democrats are questioning why he sat on so much money that could have helped him defeat George Bush or helped down-ballot races, many of which could have gone our way with a few more million dollars," said Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore's 2000 presidential race. Brazile is a member of the 400-plus member Democratic National Committee, which...
November 18, 2004
Only Prosecution Will Stop It
Ohio has discovered two verified cases of voter fraud, a husband and wife who voted by absentee ballot and then voted again at the polls, claiming their ballots had been lost. They also have identified at least 18 other possible cases of intentional double-voting. The AP reports that Buckeye State election officials have yet to decide how to handle the case: Prosecutors were trying to determine Wednesday whether charges should be filed against a couple in Madison County accused of voting twice. In addition, Summit County election workers investigated possible double votes found under 18 names. ... The couple who voted twice in Madison County cast absentee ballots in October, then voted in person on Election Day, county elections director Gloria Herrel said. The couple said election workers told them their absentee votes were lost, prosecutor Steve Pronai said. In Summit county, typically the votes were made by absentee ballot...
Kerry To Share The Wealth
Under a great deal of pressure since the DNC discovered his hoarded campaign funds, John Kerry has agreed to give a substantial portion of it to the DNC in order to fund party-building efforts in the next two years: Under friendly fire, Sen. John Kerry likely will donate a substantial portion of his excess presidential campaign cash to help elect Democratic candidates in 2005 and 2006, advisers said Thursday. Party leaders, including some of Kerry's top campaign aides, said this week they were surprised and angry to learn that he had more than $15 million in accounts from the Democratic primaries. They demanded to know why the money wasn't spent to help Kerry defeat President Bush or to aid congressional candidates. There were no easy answers to those questions, officials close to Kerry acknowledged Thursday, but they sought to assure Democrats in a series of telephone calls that the four-term...
November 24, 2004
The Victim Party Continues Its March From Reality
The Democratic Party continues its crusade for victimhood and the further poisoning of the political environment, asking for a recount of the presidential election in Ohio while making wishy-washy allegations of fraud: The Ohio Democratic Party announced this week that it is supporting a third-party-led effort to force the battleground state to recount its presidential vote. The organization, whose decision is expected to give more legitimacy to the recount push, complained that Ohio voters faced long lines at the polls Nov. 2, that some voting machines malfunctioned and that some absentee ballots were never delivered. If that's the basis for their request, then someone needs to explain how recounting the ballots that were cast addresses any of those concerns. It's a further attempt by the Democrats to make Ohio the new Florida, giving them an extension on the martyrdom on which they've based their entire political strategy for the past...
November 26, 2004
They'll Be Coming Around Soon Enough Now
Even the diehard Bush haters may be regaining their senses. Jonathan Chait lashes out at the Democrats rather than George Bush for not only losing this election but setting themselves up to lose the next one as well. Chait goes after the three Democrats sucking up the political oxygen thus far regarding the next election -- Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. Chait sees disaster in each and all three: This week's topic is Candidates Who Obviously Covet the 2008 Democratic Nomination and Who Must Be Stopped at All Costs From Obtaining It. ... As we speak, Deaniacs are reconstituting in their yoga studios and organic juice bars, plotting in their benevolent, cheerful but fundamentally misguided way to make Dean the leader of the Democratic Party. Why would this be such a disaster? Because, remember, the Dean campaign advanced two novel theories about national politics. The first...
November 29, 2004
Miami Herald Unravels Florida Paranoia
CNN reports that the Miami Herald investigated the latest "stolen election" theories regarding Florida in 2004, specifically that fraud occurred in Democratic counties that wound up going for George Bush overwhelmingly over John Kerry. The Herald's recount of ballots from these counties will disappoint the tinfoil-hat brigade on the Left that remain convinced that Kerry really won Florida: A newspaper's review of ballots cast in three north Florida counties where registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans showed just what officials reported: The counties' voters did on Election Day as they often do, voting for a Republican for president. The Miami Herald review goes against Internet-fed rumors questioning whether there was a conspiracy against Sen. John Kerry in those counties. ... Reporters for the newspaper went over more than 17,000 optical scan ballots cast in three rural counties mentioned by doubters: Suwannee, Lafayette and Union. All three are overwhelmingly Democratic in registration,...
November 30, 2004
Kerry Flip-Flops On Concession
For those who argued that an official recount demand from the Ohio Democratic Party did not implicate John Kerry by association, the Kerry campaign removed all doubt by joining in a legal fight to require all counties in Ohio to abide by the recount demands: Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign asked an Ohio judge yesterday to allow it to join a legal fight there over whether election officials in one county may sit out the state's impending recount. A pair of third-party presidential candidates, who said that reports of problems at the polls on Election Day are not being addressed, are forcing the Buckeye State to recount its entire presidential vote. But David A. Yost, a lawyer for Delaware County, just outside Columbus, won a temporary restraining order last week blocking any recount there. He told the Columbus Dispatch that a second count would be a poor use of...
December 3, 2004
Ed Rendell Puts The Anal In Analysis
Jim Geraghty at the Kerry Spot points out an example of Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell's brilliance on the Paula Zahn show last night. In discussing the results of the presidential election, the Democrat offered this jaw-dropping analysis (emphasis mine): ZAHN: The president also relied on inside-the-beltway talent. Was the difference Karl Rove and he just had a better strategy? It's not like the president didn't rely on people who live in that neck of the woods. RENDELL: Yes, although I think the Republicans do a much better job of listening to the grassroots, of listening to the constituents, of listening to people from all different geographic areas, and we don't. Now, look, I'm not going to wring my hands over this election. If 9/11 had never happened, John Kerry would be president-elect today. I have no doubt about that. Wow -- what a breakthrough in political analysis! If only history...
December 8, 2004
Floridians Had No Problems Voting
According to a post-election Quinnipiac poll, Floridians reported no problems casting votes in this year's election and overwhelmingly had confidence that their votes were counted properly: Most Florida voters had no problem casting a ballot on Election Day and many say they are confident their vote was counted correctly, a poll shows. More than nine in 10 respondents said they had no problems, other than having to wait in long lines, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Voters felt strong confidence in the results, with 75% saying they had very or somewhat confident their votes were counted properly. Predictably, this broke out along partisan lines. Only 5% of Republicans expressed a lack of confidence -- but 42% of Democrats felt uneasy about whether their ballot received proper handling. Since all ballots look exactly the same and both parties vote at the same booths, the only explanation for this...
June 27, 2007
CQ Radio Scoop: Fred Thompson Statement
In an exclusive scoop at BlogTalkRadio, Fred Thompson will make a statement at 3:30 pm CT today through an additional show for CQ Radio. Be sure to listen live, or catch the podcast that will follow. If you want to embed the player on your own site for this show, go to the extended entry and copy the code there. Just replace the () characters with the open-close brackets normally used for HTML scripts! UPDATE: Here's the link to my show, where I played the statement twice -- and if you want to stream it separately, you can do that here....
Continue reading "CQ Radio Scoop: Fred Thompson Statement" »
August 22, 2007
Californians Willing To Forego Winner-Take-All
A proposed referendum to replace the current winner-take-all system in California for presidential elections has a strong plurality in favor, according to a Field poll. Voters asked whether they support allocating Electoral College votes on a proportional basis agreed 47%-35% that the current system should be jettisoned -- and Democrats were as likely to support it as oppose it. (via Memeorandum) At Heading Right, I look at the two ways in which Field pollsters posed this question. The results will surprise readers who might have assumed that heavily-Democratic California would consider this proposition. California may benefit from this new allocation -- and it may be the next political wave that starts at the Golden State's shore....
September 20, 2007
Federal Charges Against Hillary Fundraiser
Norman Hsu's life just got a lot more complicated. Earlier today, federal prosecutors in New York announced that the filing of criminal charges against Hsu, who still has yet to serve a three-year term for fraud first imposed in 1992: Hsu was charged with orchestrating a $60 million "Ponzi Scheme" and engaging in widespread campaign finance violations. ... Hsu has been a key Democratic Party fundraiser in recent years, donating large amounts including to the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton. Federal authorities investigated Hsu's business dealings as prominent Democrats have been scrambling to return his campaign donations. Clinton has said she will return $850,000 the convicted scam artist had helped raise for her presidential campaign. Hsu is in custody on an outstanding fraud warrant in California. Reports surfaced this summer raising questions if Hsu was illegally funneling money into campaigns through third parties. The complaint shows that the feds mean...
October 8, 2007
The Way Primaries Work
We seem to have people who still misunderstand the primary system, both in our CapQ community and in the national political movements on the Right. Over the last couple of weeks, we have had grand ultimatums from a couple of factions which have demanded a particular type of nominee, or else the faction leaders claim they will depart the Republican Party. A few commenters have asserted the same ultimatum in the comments on this blog. It shows a lack of understanding not just of the primary process but also in how to build the necessary political coalitions that result in agendas getting addressed. First, primaries serve as a testing mechanism for the various factions that make up the major political parties. Each faction gets a chance to convince a standard-bearer to run for President (as well as Senator, Governor at the state level, and so on). Primary campaigns allow these...
February 6, 2008
Florida Strategy Part Of Larger Giuliani Failure
Charles Hill talked to the Yale Daily News about the disappointing finish he experienced as a member of Rudy Giuliani's team, Hill, one of the policy stars Rudy attracted for his advisory boards in the presidential primary campaign, agrees with the conventional wisdom that the Florida strategy was a mistake. However, he argues convincingly that it was a secondary strategic error: The candidate’s focus on Florida — at the expense of campaigning in the early primaries — was a mistake, Hill said in an interview with the News on Friday. But it was also part of a larger failure on the part of Giuliani’s communications staff to engage the media and, through them, the American public, Hill said. Hill pointed to a foreign-policy speech Giuliani gave in September as emblematic of the campaign’s inability to draw attention to its candidate. “Giuliani gave a speech in London that was a very...
About
Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.
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The Crows Nest
Florida Strategy Part Of Larger Giuliani Failure
Charles Hill talked to the Yale Daily News about the disappointing finish he experienced as a member of Rudy Giuliani's team, Hill, one of the policy stars Rudy attracted for his advisory boards in the presidential primary campaign, agrees with the conventional wisdom that the Florida strategy was a mistake. However, he argues convincingly that it was a secondary strategic error:
The candidate’s focus on Florida — at the expense of campaigning in the early primaries — was a mistake, Hill said in an interview with the News on Friday. But it was also part of a larger failure on the part of Giuliani’s communications staff to engage the media and, through them, the American public, Hill said.Hill pointed to a foreign-policy speech Giuliani gave in September as emblematic of the campaign’s inability to draw attention to its candidate.
“Giuliani gave a speech in London that was a very serious and impressive speech,” Hill said. “It got very good press in London, and got no press here at all. Things that were done were not reported very well, and that, I think, was the fault of the communications team itself.”
These two problems, combined with debate formats that “trivialized and demeaned” and “swallowed … any attempt to stand out,” Hill said, left Giuliani with almost no public exposure.
“When the media was gearing up and becoming totally focused on the early primaries, they gave Giuliani almost zero coverage because he wasn’t a factor,” he said.
Giuliani needed to give that speech in the US if he expected the media here to cover it; that was a mistake that could easily have been rectified. Otherwise, though, Hill diagnoses the problem accurately. The campaign's strategists never appeared to care whether Rudy got national media attention. He remained in Florida and turned into a sideshow as Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and finally John McCain provided themes and story arcs that they could use.
Hill blames the communication team for the failure. As someone who worked with the communications team on a regular basis, I don't agree. They tried to work as assertively and professionally as possible to get the campaign message out to the traditional and New Media outlets, but the candidate himself didn't extend much effort. While McCain held weekly blogger calls through bust and flush, and Huckabee worked magic in interviews, and even the more corporate Romney reached out to talk radio especially, we just didn't see enough of Rudy, especially in the final weeks of the campaign.
And that was a shame, because Rudy's best asset has always been Rudy. Having Hill and Steve Forbes and other high-wattage surrogates were initially impressive, Rudy didn't appear to realize that he was the real attraction of the campaign. No one could have energized the campaign and found support like the candidate himself, but he left his best asset on the bench.
The Way Primaries Work
We seem to have people who still misunderstand the primary system, both in our CapQ community and in the national political movements on the Right. Over the last couple of weeks, we have had grand ultimatums from a couple of factions which have demanded a particular type of nominee, or else the faction leaders claim they will depart the Republican Party. A few commenters have asserted the same ultimatum in the comments on this blog. It shows a lack of understanding not just of the primary process but also in how to build the necessary political coalitions that result in agendas getting addressed.
First, primaries serve as a testing mechanism for the various factions that make up the major political parties. Each faction gets a chance to convince a standard-bearer to run for President (as well as Senator, Governor at the state level, and so on). Primary campaigns allow these groups to make their best argument to the people with whom they are most closely aligned. The primary elections themselves test for the support within the party for the factions as well as the candidates themselves. It shows which group can pull together the largest political coalition, the strongest constituency within the party, as well as the most successful candidate for a general election.
It's a good process. If someone cannot win primaries among political allies, they're certain to lose general elections against political opponents. It allows the major political parties to produce the most successful candidate so that the entire alliance has a good chance to affect public policy.
However, it relies on all of the members of that alliance to act responsibly, both during and after the primary process. Those groups that want a certain kind of candidate to win the primary election need to find that candidate and support them in the primaries. They need to make the case to the party that their candidate makes the best national case for election. If they can't do that, or if their candidate does not succeed, then they need to honor their alliance and go with the candidate which does succeed -- because to do otherwise makes them unreliable partners on whom the party should never rely.
Let's take a look at a particular example. Richard Viguerie sent an e-mail last week that stated in part:
As you may know, I was part of a group of over 40 conservative leaders who met recently and resolved not to vote for Republican candidates who are pro-abortion.We will present the petition to the members of the Republican National Committee, the President and Republican members of Congress, media and blogs, and many other Republican leaders. It will be a powerful warning to those in a position of influence that, if the GOP turns against unborn children, a significant portion of its base will not vote for Republican candidates.
That, frankly, is absurd. The RNC, the President, and members of Congress do not select the party's nominee. The Republican voters in each state do that. What good does a petition do? Why doesn't Viguerie simply put all of that effort into actually supporting a candidate, rather than issue petitions aimed at people who have nothing to do with this process? Is Viguerie demanding an appointed candidate, one that comes from a smoke-filled back room rather than an honest primary process?
Along with the splintering rhetoric from James Dobson and others, it shows an immaturity and a complete rejection of the primary process. It's a form of extortion; select a candidate despite the voters' own preferences, or they walk out of the party. If the party nominates someone who cannot win a majority among their own voters without the threat of extortion, what chance do they have in the general election? None.
The silliness extends to the general election. On the radio shows I do, I hear the same refrain I heard in 2006 -- "We'll stay home and teach the party a lesson." What lesson -- that its allies are completely unreliable? That those who claim to speak for a majority would rather marginalize themselves and the rest of the agenda on the Right rather than accept the conclusion of the party's own voters in the primaries? That's not democracy, it's petulance. All elections are cost-benefit choices, at all levels. If people can't understand that much, they have no business leading any kind of political movement.
Support your primary candidate passionately and with positive assertions of their policy stands. Once the primaries are over, do some intelligent and mature cost-benefit analysis instead of indulging in hurt feelings and childishness. That goes especially for those who came out of Salt Lake with dire warnings about third-party efforts if they don't get the candidate they want, especially since none of them appeared prepared to offer a specific candidate in the first place.
UPDATE: Shaun Mullen doesn't like the caucus process, as he explains at The Moderate Voice. I'm not terribly enamored of caucuses as opposed to primary elections, either, and I think Shaun confuses the two a little in this post. It's a good read nonetheless.
Federal Charges Against Hillary Fundraiser
Norman Hsu's life just got a lot more complicated. Earlier today, federal prosecutors in New York announced that the filing of criminal charges against Hsu, who still has yet to serve a three-year term for fraud first imposed in 1992:
Hsu was charged with orchestrating a $60 million "Ponzi Scheme" and engaging in widespread campaign finance violations. ...Hsu has been a key Democratic Party fundraiser in recent years, donating large amounts including to the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Federal authorities investigated Hsu's business dealings as prominent Democrats have been scrambling to return his campaign donations. Clinton has said she will return $850,000 the convicted scam artist had helped raise for her presidential campaign.
Hsu is in custody on an outstanding fraud warrant in California. Reports surfaced this summer raising questions if Hsu was illegally funneling money into campaigns through third parties.
The complaint shows that the feds mean business. They have constructed a case that purports the theft of "tens of millions of dollars" in what may be the biggest private con exposed in the US. As Joel Rosenman has already revealed, the con game relied on investor greed and lack of any diligence in convincing people that they could gain large returns over a short term by participating in loans. The initial investments showed a large return, and only after Hsu set the hook did he abscond with the big investments.
The payoff? $60 million. That makes his $2 million in political contributions look like chump change -- or perhaps insurance.
After all, where did Hsu send his political money? He supported Attorneys General in New York and California, where he had built financial bases. Hsu stuffed former AG Eliot Spitzer's coffers when Spitzer ran for Governor of New York. He became a Hillraiser, pouring contributions through all sorts of people of modest means. The complaint also specifically alleges that Hsu pressured his victims to donate large amounts of money in order to remain in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, meaning he was able to launder his fraudulent profits through them to Democratic candidates and organizations.
Victim-1 is almost certainly Joel Rosenman, who has already acknowledged giving Hsu $40 million. It turns out that Hsu gave him $40 million in post-dated checks -- but the account only had $83,000 left in it. Victim-3 has yet to come forward, but apparently has lost $20 million in the bridge-loan scheme. All victims got pressured into political donations directed to Hsu's favored candidates and organizations.
Don't forget that Norman Hsu has $6 million in his checking account as of his latest capture. We know where at least some of the money went.
With a federal prosecution looming on the horizon, one that could put him in prison for life, it will be interesting to see whether Hsu starts singing. Someone staked him for his initial confidence games, and for some purpose. Will Hsu crack?
Californians Willing To Forego Winner-Take-All
A proposed referendum to replace the current winner-take-all system in California for presidential elections has a strong plurality in favor, according to a Field poll. Voters asked whether they support allocating Electoral College votes on a proportional basis agreed 47%-35% that the current system should be jettisoned -- and Democrats were as likely to support it as oppose it. (via Memeorandum)
At Heading Right, I look at the two ways in which Field pollsters posed this question. The results will surprise readers who might have assumed that heavily-Democratic California would consider this proposition. California may benefit from this new allocation -- and it may be the next political wave that starts at the Golden State's shore.
CQ Radio Scoop: Fred Thompson Statement
In an exclusive scoop at BlogTalkRadio, Fred Thompson will make a statement at 3:30 pm CT today through an additional show for CQ Radio. Be sure to listen live, or catch the podcast that will follow.
If you want to embed the player on your own site for this show, go to the extended entry and copy the code there. Just replace the () characters with the open-close brackets normally used for HTML scripts!
UPDATE: Here's the link to my show, where I played the statement twice -- and if you want to stream it separately, you can do that here.
Floridians Had No Problems Voting
According to a post-election Quinnipiac poll, Floridians reported no problems casting votes in this year's election and overwhelmingly had confidence that their votes were counted properly:
Most Florida voters had no problem casting a ballot on Election Day and many say they are confident their vote was counted correctly, a poll shows.More than nine in 10 respondents said they had no problems, other than having to wait in long lines, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
Voters felt strong confidence in the results, with 75% saying they had very or somewhat confident their votes were counted properly. Predictably, this broke out along partisan lines. Only 5% of Republicans expressed a lack of confidence -- but 42% of Democrats felt uneasy about whether their ballot received proper handling. Since all ballots look exactly the same and both parties vote at the same booths, the only explanation for this discrepancy has to be the four-year campaign by Democrats to undermine public confidence in voting whenever and wherever they lost. They've managed to dispirit Democrats, and if they continue their whining, may kill their turnout altogether.
Ed Rendell Puts The Anal In Analysis
Jim Geraghty at the Kerry Spot points out an example of Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell's brilliance on the Paula Zahn show last night. In discussing the results of the presidential election, the Democrat offered this jaw-dropping analysis (emphasis mine):
ZAHN: The president also relied on inside-the-beltway talent. Was the difference Karl Rove and he just had a better strategy? It's not like the president didn't rely on people who live in that neck of the woods.RENDELL: Yes, although I think the Republicans do a much better job of listening to the grassroots, of listening to the constituents, of listening to people from all different geographic areas, and we don't.
Now, look, I'm not going to wring my hands over this election. If 9/11 had never happened, John Kerry would be president-elect today. I have no doubt about that.
Wow -- what a breakthrough in political analysis! If only history hadn't happened, John Kerry would be president! Rendell fails to mention that the Democrats had actually been informed of the 9/11 attacks. Supposedly, if they thought this event might affect the election, they could have developed policies that would help voters trust that Kerry would actually stand up to the terrorists and their apologists.
You know, it's just a thought. But then, I don't have Ed Rendell's legendary analytic skills.
Here's more of Ed Rendell's political insight:
* If the Republicans had hired better burglars in 1972, Spiro Agnew would have become President in 1976.
* If Teheran didn't exist, Jimmy Carter would have been re-elected to the presidency despite not having been elected in the first place.
* If Ronald Reagan had actually gotten the lead for Casablanca, Fred MacMurray would have become President in the 1980s, ushering in the Golden Age Of Sweaters.
* If George H.W. Bush hadn't tried so hard to push hearing-impaired voters to the polls ("read my lips"), Bill Clinton would still have been pursuing tawdry affairs from female subordinates. He just would have done it in the executive offices of a law firm, where that kind of thing belongs.
* If Al Gore had actually created the Internet, John Kerry wouldn't have had a chance to run for President until 2008.
* If Ed Rendell had anything interesting to say, he wouldn't be appearing on the Paula Zahn show.
Kerry Flip-Flops On Concession
For those who argued that an official recount demand from the Ohio Democratic Party did not implicate John Kerry by association, the Kerry campaign removed all doubt by joining in a legal fight to require all counties in Ohio to abide by the recount demands:
Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign asked an Ohio judge yesterday to allow it to join a legal fight there over whether election officials in one county may sit out the state's impending recount.A pair of third-party presidential candidates, who said that reports of problems at the polls on Election Day are not being addressed, are forcing the Buckeye State to recount its entire presidential vote. But David A. Yost, a lawyer for Delaware County, just outside Columbus, won a temporary restraining order last week blocking any recount there. He told the Columbus Dispatch that a second count would be a poor use of county resources. President Bush won the mostly Republican area handily, unofficial results show.
Lawyers for the Kerry campaign asked to join Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and the National Voting Rights Institute in the fight to force the county to participate in the recount. "If there's going to be a recount in Ohio, we don't want it to exclude Delaware County or any other county that might decide to follow Delaware County's lead," Kerry lawyer Dan Hoffheimer said. "It should be a full, fair and accurate recount."
I notice that they're not asking for "full, fair, and accurate" recounts in states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, where the margin of Kerry's victories were much smaller than Bush's in Ohio. This leaves no doubt that Kerry intends on setting himself up as the frontrunner in 2008 by attempting to delegitimize Bush's victory in the media. You can expect the Kerry campaign to support the recount requests by Badnarik and Cobb in New Mexico and Nevada as well.
Miami Herald Unravels Florida Paranoia
CNN reports that the Miami Herald investigated the latest "stolen election" theories regarding Florida in 2004, specifically that fraud occurred in Democratic counties that wound up going for George Bush overwhelmingly over John Kerry. The Herald's recount of ballots from these counties will disappoint the tinfoil-hat brigade on the Left that remain convinced that Kerry really won Florida:
A newspaper's review of ballots cast in three north Florida counties where registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans showed just what officials reported: The counties' voters did on Election Day as they often do, voting for a Republican for president.The Miami Herald review goes against Internet-fed rumors questioning whether there was a conspiracy against Sen. John Kerry in those counties. ...
Reporters for the newspaper went over more than 17,000 optical scan ballots cast in three rural counties mentioned by doubters: Suwannee, Lafayette and Union. All three are overwhelmingly Democratic in registration, but chose President Bush.
No one has requested an official recount of the ballots in any Florida county, but the Herald got permission from the county registrars to review the ballots themselves. In all three counties, they found at most a couple of dozen ballots that had been discarded due to the optical-scan systems' inability to read them, although the Herald felt that in some cases the voter intent could still be determined. The vote counts only changed a few votes in either direction, making clear that the results announced by Florida reflected the actual intent of the voters there.
Perhaps this will be enough to silence the Roswell faction of the Left regarding stolen elections, although I doubt that. It should, however, convince the rest of America that these people are delusional and somewhat dangerous to follow. They seem intent on undermining confidence in the electoral process either from a form of mental illness which makes them unable to recognize reality, or out of Machiavellian ambition to delegitimize American democracy. In either case, we need to make sure they remain marginalized.
They'll Be Coming Around Soon Enough Now
Even the diehard Bush haters may be regaining their senses. Jonathan Chait lashes out at the Democrats rather than George Bush for not only losing this election but setting themselves up to lose the next one as well. Chait goes after the three Democrats sucking up the political oxygen thus far regarding the next election -- Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. Chait sees disaster in each and all three:
This week's topic is Candidates Who Obviously Covet the 2008 Democratic Nomination and Who Must Be Stopped at All Costs From Obtaining It. ... As we speak, Deaniacs are reconstituting in their yoga studios and organic juice bars, plotting in their benevolent, cheerful but fundamentally misguided way to make Dean the leader of the Democratic Party.Why would this be such a disaster? Because, remember, the Dean campaign advanced two novel theories about national politics. The first was that Democrats paid too much attention to winning over the center. What they really needed to do was mobilize the base by nominating a candidate like Dean who'd fire up liberals. This turned out to be doubly wrong.
Chait advises against the Dean candidacy for the DNC chair for all the reasons Republicans have secretly wished for his victory. The Democrats have had four years of unprecedented setbacks at the hands of Terry McAuliffe, whose complicity in turning them from the party of Scoop Jackson to a front for International ANSWER cannot be dismissed. McAuliffe discarded any notion of a coherent vision to instead run the Democrats as the automatic gainsay of the Republicans -- whatever the GOP was for, he was against, and vice versa.
To a large degree, the Democrats still have not realized this. Instead of analyzing their defeats honestly and engaging in some introspection, they have instead blamed everyone but themselves for the campaigns they've run and the candidates they've nominated. A Dean chairmanship promises more of the same. It's not just that Dean only motivates the base, as Chait correctly points out; the entire notion of a Dean chairmanship continues to extend the self-delusion of the Democrats into believing they were cheated out of their majority status, rather than ineptly discarding it. Picking the candidate with the most embarrassing primary stumble in recent memory clearly demonstrates their denial.
Chait also goes after Hillary Clinton and John Kerry with equal vitriol, although I think he underestimates Hillary. Kerry, of course, is another example of the same denial that makes Howard Dean attractive to Democrats. Chait sums up John Kerry as a presidential candidate in probably his most memorable salvo in recent memory:
In a previous column I compared Kerry's contribution to his own campaign to an anchor's contribution to a boat race. In retrospect, I seem to have given him far too much credit.
Chait probably doesn't give the Democrats enough credit here, however. It's true that Kerry has publicly stated that he's keeping his options open for 2008, but that doesn't mean that the party will nominate him again. It might be hard for them to turn him down, but I think that even the Democrats recognize that Kerry exuded zero attraction outside of Beantown, and in 2008 Bush hatred won't be a factor, unless Jeb runs for President.
Chait dismisses Hillary as a moderate in liberal clothing who will wind up emulating Dean by alienating the middle for the fringe. I think she's a bit more savvy than that, plus she'll have Bill around to remind everyone of the trailer-park Camelot that they created in the 1990s. It could be enough, depending on the next four years, to sway some moderates back to the Democrats. She's already staking out a conservative position on illegal immigration, triangulating in the best tradition of her husband on one of the red-meat issues for the GOP base.
However, Chait nails Hillary on one point that a nationwide campaign will make perfectly clear in short order: she has none of her husband's charisma. She can be pleasant while in safe environments, but in a partisan arena she reverts quickly back to her dour, wonkish personality. Her hard edge and sour temperament may play reasonably well in New York, although Chait reminds us that she gave back six points of Gore's vote to Rick Lazio in 2000, but in a national campaign ... well, she's certainly no Bill Clinton.
Chait has some wise words for Democrats in the Los Angeles Times today, and perhaps a few Democrats will heed them. If a Bush-hater like Jonathan Chait can start making sense, maybe the rest of the party is ready to turn the corner too.
UPDATE: Xrlq notes that Clinton's opponent was Rick Lazio, not Fazio. I've updated the post.
The Victim Party Continues Its March From Reality
The Democratic Party continues its crusade for victimhood and the further poisoning of the political environment, asking for a recount of the presidential election in Ohio while making wishy-washy allegations of fraud:
The Ohio Democratic Party announced this week that it is supporting a third-party-led effort to force the battleground state to recount its presidential vote.The organization, whose decision is expected to give more legitimacy to the recount push, complained that Ohio voters faced long lines at the polls Nov. 2, that some voting machines malfunctioned and that some absentee ballots were never delivered.
If that's the basis for their request, then someone needs to explain how recounting the ballots that were cast addresses any of those concerns. It's a further attempt by the Democrats to make Ohio the new Florida, giving them an extension on the martyrdom on which they've based their entire political strategy for the past four years.
Bush won the popular vote in Ohio by 136,000 votes in an election where Republicans turned out in slightly greater percentage than Democrats. With that margin of victory, the odds of any irregularity in the count making even a noticeable dent in Bush's lead approach infinity. And yet here we have the Democrats again, claiming again that an election has been stolen from them, simply because they cannot face the fact that they nominated a lousy candidate who, again, ran a lousy campaign. Their next step will be to file suit to keep Ohio's Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell from certifying the results, a replay of Florida 2000.
If the Democrats think that they can build party support by turning the Buckeye State into the poster child for their victimology, perhaps they should look at their prototype again. They narrowly lost Florida in 2000 (a result confirmed by every recount done after the election), but after four years of holding the Sunshine State up as their Holy Land of martyrdom, they lost it by five points this year and coughed up a critical seat in the Senate. If they want to besmirch Ohio's reputation for the conduct of elections, they may well regret it in 2008. And if they want to turn every election they lose over to the lawyers, the Democrats had better get used to being in the minority for a very long time.
UPDATE: For those who claim, as DSB does in the comments, that the Kerry campaign has nothing to do with this, please try reading the article:
The Kerry campaign said it intends to monitor the proceedings for irregularities. "We didn't ask for it," said Dan Hoffheimer, the campaign's legal counsel. "But since it's apparently going to happen, we want to make sure it gets done right."
Besides, I didn't argue that the Kerry campaign was descending into victimological madness -- I said the Democratic Party was doing so. In fact, until this update, I didn't even mention the Kerry campaign in this post -- but isn't Kerry a Democrat? And if he opposed the recount nuttiness, why is the remnant of his campaign jumping into it?
Kerry To Share The Wealth
Under a great deal of pressure since the DNC discovered his hoarded campaign funds, John Kerry has agreed to give a substantial portion of it to the DNC in order to fund party-building efforts in the next two years:
Under friendly fire, Sen. John Kerry likely will donate a substantial portion of his excess presidential campaign cash to help elect Democratic candidates in 2005 and 2006, advisers said Thursday.Party leaders, including some of Kerry's top campaign aides, said this week they were surprised and angry to learn that he had more than $15 million in accounts from the Democratic primaries. They demanded to know why the money wasn't spent to help Kerry defeat President Bush or to aid congressional candidates.
There were no easy answers to those questions, officials close to Kerry acknowledged Thursday, but they sought to assure Democrats in a series of telephone calls that the four-term Massachusetts senator was sharing his political wealth.
Kerry's advisors pointed out that they gave the DNC $32 million during the primaries, but that still doesn't explain away the money that sat unused while Kerry rolled towards the convention. (Yesterday's AP report that Kerry left $15 million in the bank from his federal funds was apparently in error, as the AP has since changed the story.) It also doesn't explain why Kerry sat on the cash and watched as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee borrowed $10 million for races in Texas, where redistricting left them at a distinct disadvantage. Even if Kerry spends the money on Congressional races in 2006, the damage is done; the incumbents in the new districts will have the advantage over new challengers.
Some of Kerry's campaign staff expressed their surprise and dismay over the revelations on his leftover funds. Some Democrats questioned why, if Kerry had $45 million ready to use at the close of the convention, why he didn't just opt out of public financing altogether. He only gained $30 million by opting in, an amount he could easily have raised in the final 60 days leading up to the election. That move would have saved him from being subject to spending limitations and would have forced George Bush to do the same.
All in all, the incompetence of the Kerry campaign reveals itself more and more each day.
Only Prosecution Will Stop It
Ohio has discovered two verified cases of voter fraud, a husband and wife who voted by absentee ballot and then voted again at the polls, claiming their ballots had been lost. They also have identified at least 18 other possible cases of intentional double-voting. The AP reports that Buckeye State election officials have yet to decide how to handle the case:
Prosecutors were trying to determine Wednesday whether charges should be filed against a couple in Madison County accused of voting twice. In addition, Summit County election workers investigated possible double votes found under 18 names. ...The couple who voted twice in Madison County cast absentee ballots in October, then voted in person on Election Day, county elections director Gloria Herrel said. The couple said election workers told them their absentee votes were lost, prosecutor Steve Pronai said.
In Summit county, typically the votes were made by absentee ballot or in person, and then a second vote was cast with a provisional ballot in another precinct, elections director Bryan Williams said.
Under Ohio law, people who vote twice could be charged with election fraud, falsification or illegal voting, according the Secretary of State's Office. The maximum penalty for the most severe charge is 18 months in prison.
I fail to see the conundrum here. We have been debating about ensuring the validity of our elections for four years now, after the Florida debacle that gripped the nation for five weeks, throwing the presidential election in doubt. Double voting is fraud. If Ohio wants to discourage people from committing voter fraud, then it has to aggressively prosecute those cases which give them clear evidence of the crime.
If we intend on having clean elections, we have to punish those who attempt to circumvent the controls. Even Afghanistan knows that, and they've had one free election in their entire history. If there are no negative consequences for cheating, within a few election cycles we'll be electing the most efficient crooks instead of the best candidates.
Democrats Tee Off On Kerry
Earlier today I wrote about the $45 million John Kerry left in his primary election fund instead of spending it on his election or other Democratic races. The AP now reports that Kerry also left an additional $15 million unspent from his federal general-election funds, and his fellow Democrats are now demanding to know why:
Democratic Party leaders said Wednesday they want to know why Sen. John Kerry ended his presidential campaign with more than $15 million in the bank, money that could have helped Democratic candidates across the country. ..."Democrats are questioning why he sat on so much money that could have helped him defeat George Bush or helped down-ballot races, many of which could have gone our way with a few more million dollars," said Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore's 2000 presidential race.
Brazile is a member of the 400-plus member Democratic National Committee, which meets early next year to pick a new party chairman. One high-ranking member of the DNC, speaking on condition of anonymity, said word of Kerry's nest egg has stirred anger on the committee and could hurt his chances of putting an ally in the chairmanship.
After a record fundraising effort, Kerry left more than $60 million on the table, or roughly a dollar for every vote that George Bush won in the election. $45 million had to be spent before the convention, but Kerry could have passed it on to fellow Democrats, especially in Senate races. He had plenty of time in which to do that, as the books closed on primary funding at the end of July when he accepted the nomination. While his fellow Democrats struggled to raise funds -- in part because many donors focused on the presidential race -- Kerry kept it all to himself.
At least with the primary funds, he could claim the excuse that spending it on himself was illegal. The $15 million in federal funding represents 20% of the entire budget for the general election. How in the world could John Kerry leave 20% of his funds in the bank while he pulled advertising from state after state in the final days of the campaign? Democrats will demand answers from Kerry -- and they're unlikely to sit still for the kind of wishy-washy answers he gave the American electorate in the campaign.
Put frankly, Kerry's hoarding of the money makes him look like a selfish bastard, and a rather stupid one at that.
Kerry's Ebenezer Scrooge impersonation is not the only issue with which his fellow Democrats are dissatisfied. A Democratic activist that sank $6 million into efforts to turn out the Hispanic vote declared that Kerry never tried to help:
"John Kerry did not compete adequately for Hispanic votes, period," said Simon Rosenberg, founder and president of the centrist New Democrat Network, a political organization independent of the national Democratic Party. "If we don't reverse the gains that President Bush made, we can forget our hope of being a majority party again." ...Among Rosenberg's complaints were the Kerry campaign and the DNC lacked a national strategy for Hispanics and did not spend enough money on advertising or enough time campaigning in Hispanic communities and did not employ enough people on the get-out-the-vote effort.
That understates the problem that Kerry presented for Hispanic voters. When Kerry affected their voting at all, he turned the heavily Catholic demographic off by claiming to believe in life at conception while explaining his support for partial-birth abortion. His wife, meanwhile, traveled to New Mexico and insulted the Hispanics whose families go back centuries by lumping them together with illegal immigrants. Perhaps Kerry tried a bit too hard for his own good. At any rate, Rosenberg managed to come up $6 million more than Kerry.
Kerry has made some noise about running for President again in 2008. I'd say he'll be lucky to run for re-election to the Senate.
Kerry Can't Stop Hoarding Money
The AP (in the Boston Herald) profiles John Kerry in today's edition in his return to the Senate after losing the presidential election two weeks ago. The story focuses on Kerry's equivocating on a possible Presidential run in 2008, but the real blockbuster isn't Kerry's unrealistic notions of a do-over but the $45 million he never spent during this last election cycle:
Sen. John Kerry, who has $45 million left from his record-breaking Democratic campaign, hinted on Tuesday that he may try again for the presidency.On his first workday back in the Senate since losing his White House bid, Kerry remained far from the spotlight, granting interviews to hometown reporters and joining the depleted corps of Democrats as they elected the party's new Senate leaders.
The news of the $45M nest egg surely has to dismay his supporters, especially with the less-rational of them claiming that the race was so close. The money comes from his primary-season campaign fundraising, not the public money for the general election. That, supposedly, was money Kerry didn't have in June and July to get his message out, and by the time August rolled around (after the nomination), he couldn't legally spend it. How smart was that?
Democrats should ask for an accounting from the Kerry campaign. Even if Kerry couldn't spend the money, he could have transferred some or all of it to other Democratic campaigns around the country, most notably in the Senate. A few million dollars may have made a difference in places like South Dakota, where his own Minority Leader lost by just two percentage points over the GOP challenger. Other Senate races could have been rescued by some assistance from the Democratic frontrunner. Why didn't he use it instead of hoarding it?
Contrast that to the extensive party-building efforts of the GOP standardbearer; Kerry's selfish money handling guarantees that no one will trust him with the next nomination. His campaign rolled from one disaster to the next, and if he keeps talking about running again, four years is an awfully long time to get a Freedom of Information Act request processed for the rest of his military and FBI records. It also gives him another four years to add to his mountainous record of flip-flops. In fact, he already started in this interview (emphasis mine):
In his first extensive interview since his Nov. 2 defeat, Kerry was asked by the Fox News affiliate in Boston about running again in 2008 and reminded the questioner that Ohio is still counting votes from 2004.He then said, "It is so premature to be thinking about something that far down the road. What I've said is I'm not opening any doors, I'm not shutting any doors." Kerry added, "If there's a next time, we'll do a better job. We'll see."
What is that supposed to mean? That he conceded before he didn't? Ohio announced yesterday that 81% of the 155,000 provisional ballots were valid, meaning that around 125,000 would be counted. Even if Kerry won every single one of them, he still loses by 11,000 votes. Casting doubt on the legitimacy of the election now does nothing but feed the conspiracy theorists and far-left lunatics that turned off half of America the first time around.
John Kerry should be satisfied to still have a Senate seat left and take some time to smell the Franklins. He earned it; he found a way to take it with him into political death.
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