« February 2004 | Main | April 2004 »

March 31, 2004

Wictory Wednesday

Like Gore before him, Kerry is becoming a master of exaggeration. Last week he began a mantra saying he will create 10 million jobs in the next four years. It sounds impressive, but it really isn't that ambitious:

The candidate sets a catchy and seemingly ambitious goal: Create 10 million American jobs during his four-year term. However, the odds are good that the American economy will create 10 million jobs over the next four years -- regardless of Kerry's plan.

So Kerry is not risking much, but there is still a problem. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that unemployment is at a decent 5.6% with a little more than 8 million out of work. So Kerry's promising to create almost two million more jobs than there are people to fill them. In his mind apparently, Kerry is so gifted that not only can he create jobs but he can make workers magically appear as well. According to him, under Kerry's leadership the U.S. will experience a negative unemployment rate, with every adult in the nation working -- a phenomenon that has never happened in the history of man.

The last thing we need is to have a person who engages in such blatant exaggeration take up residence in the White House.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail Poli-Pundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) |

March 30, 2004

Up In the Polls

Bush's slim lead in the polls is growing. He now has a four point lead (with or without Nader in the running) in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. The margin of error in the poll is also four points, but if he is going to be statistically tied it is better to be tied at the extreme top edge of the margin.

Although not by much, Bush now is showing a lead in all the major national polls.

This indicates two things. First the Bush message is getting out and people are responding to it. Second, and I think this has more affect, people are learning more and more about Kerry, and as a result they are becoming Bush supporters.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry In San Diego

He's hanging out at UCSD today. His visit has driven at least one man to do some pretty scary stuff.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) |

March 26, 2004

No Win Situation

Ok...I'm not gone yet, but I will be in a couple of hours. I am spending a (very) little time checking the news today.

Kaus followed a meandering path from Bush's self-depricating jokes to his lack of attendence at the funerals of those soldiers killed in Iraq. Here's his suggestion:

The PR solution for Bush seems obvious: He should go to the memorial for a soldier killed in Iraq, take the pulpit and deliver a eulogy about why this was a sacrifice worth making. ... Elegies are easy! Bush's doesn't have to be the Gettysburg Address or touch the face of God. If it's memorable at all it will help Bush immeasurably and put an end to the Kerry camp's latest victimhood play. (First the 9/11 families get painted as Bush victims, now G.I.s.) ... And if the eulogy's not memorable ... well, it won't be remembered! A can't-lose proposition.

I beg to differ, this is a sure-to-lose proposition. The Bush opposition plays this funeral thing up precisely because it is a no win situation. If Bush doesn't attend, he's cold hearted and evil. If he does as Kaus suggests, he's using the death of a soldier to politicize the war. Hands-off is the best policy here.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) |

March 25, 2004

Camping

I'm out camping for the next four or so days. Since there are no Wi-Fi hotspots in the Anza Borrego desert, I'll not be checking in. In the mean time, make sure you visit each of these posts from the fine members of the Bear Flag League:

Posted by bubba138 at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) |

March 24, 2004

France, Spain: All the Same to Terrorists

Just to prove how well appeasement works France has discovered someone is trying to bomb their railways a la Spain.

A French train employee on Wednesday found an explosive device buried in the bed of a railway line heading from France to Switzerland, the Interior Ministry said.

Bomb disposal experts neutralized the device, which was half-buried under a track in the village of Montieramey, on a train line heading from Paris to Basel, Switzerland, the ministry said in a statement. It was discovered shortly after noon. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

What Liberal Media?

Oh, and one more thing concerning the same article referenced in the previous post. I just can't get over this particular graph:

Democrats took to the Senate floor to blast the Bush White House, which fiercely attacked Clarke on Monday.

"Fiercely attacked Clarke?" How subjective is that? The White House (1) defended itself against a partisan attack and (2) questioned some of Clarke's conclusions. Clarke's book reportedly places the blame squarely upon Bush's shoulders even though he'd only been in office for seven and a half months before September 11th. The White House merely pointed out that there is enough blame to go around.

But what is especially apalling is the willingness of the press to parrot the Democratic line as unquestioned facts. The White House did not "fiercely attack" Clarke. But Daschle said they did:

The White House's former lead counter-terrorism advisor, Richard Clarke, is under fierce attack for questioning the White House's record on combating terrorism. Mr. Clarke has served in four White Houses, beginning with Ronald Reagan's Administration, and earned an impeccable record for his work.

Daschle said it, Reuters prints it -- unquoted -- as fact.

Oh, THAT liberal media!

Posted by bubba138 at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

It is incredible the way the Democrats spin:

Democrats took to the Senate floor to blast the Bush White House, which fiercely attacked Clarke on Monday.

"We are seeing abuses of power that cannot be tolerated. The president needs to put a stop to it right now. We need to get to the truth and the president needs to help us do that," said Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, on vacation in Idaho, remained personally outside the controversy, saying only he had planned to read the book as soon as it arrived. But campaign spokesman David Wade said, "It's sad commentary on this administration that every time someone within the administration speaks out, they suffer unrelenting character assassination."

Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota pointed to a "shroud of secrecy" in the administration. In remarks aimed at Bush, New York Sen. Charles Schumer said, "Don't hide the facts ... don't try to undermine those who would present the facts."

The White House defends itself from an obviously hyper-partisan attack and the Democrats accuse the White House of "abuses of power", "character assasination", and "undermining those who would present facts." Schumer even went as far as accusing the White House of "kneecapping" anyone who came against them. But did the White House do any of these things?

White House officials responded to Clarke's assertions by noting he had been the top U.S. counterterrorism official for eight years before Bush took office and had failed to prevent a number of al Qaeda attacks from taking place.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan pointed out that Clarke in his Jan. 30, 2003, resignation letter praised the president's "courage, determination, calm and leadership" on Sept. 11.

One has a hard time seeing any character assaniation here. One should expect such rhetoric from the likes of Wade. He is, after all, on the campaign trail. But really, did Dascle, Schumer, and Dorgan expect the White House to roll over and piddle on itself after the book came out?

It amazes me that the Democrats want people to believe that the White House's defense against Clarke's politically motivated, election year smear on the president is in itself another heartless example of the "Republican Attack Machine."

If you are as tired of these partisan, divisive rants, join me in the fight to re-elect G.W. Bush. Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail PoliPundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:21 AM | Comments (0) |

March 23, 2004

Quagmire Update

The violence in Kosovo continues:

A UN police officer and a local policeman have been killed in Kosovo, local police and the UN say. The two were shot dead in their UN vehicle in the village of Luzane, north of the capital, Pristina, police chief Sheremet Ahmetli said.

Don't be surprised if the U.N. soon pulls out of the Balkans.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) |

New Hamas Leader

Hamas has already named a new leader. The New York Times says he's a hardliner. What, Yassin was a moderate? Israel says he's a target.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) |

Supreme Court Affected By Blogger

Last week Patterico noticed the LA Times wasn't giving equal treatment to left-leaning Supreme Court Justices in comparison to how they covered the right-leaning ones. After firing off an email to the LA Times editors a follow-up article appeared exploring the very issues that he had brought up.

Way to go Patterico!

But wait, there's more!

In a letter to Ginsburg, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and 12 other Republicans, including Reps. Dave Weldon and Sue Myrick, pointed to a March 11, 2004 LA Times report that said "in January, Ginsburg gave opening remarks for the fourth installment in the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture Series on Women and the Law."

"Furthermore, the NOW Legal Defense homepage highlights your speaking engagement and pictures you next to the President of the organization, Kathy Rodgers," the congressmen wrote.

"Nevertheless you have continued to involve yourself with this legal activist group. Such a relationship casts serious doubts on the impartiality that is so important in judicial matters," they added.

So the chain of events goes like this:

1) One astute blogger notices a bit of media bias and notes it both on his blog and in an email to the paper
2) The paper picks this up and actually runs with it
3) The highest court in the land is officially put on notice

Who says one man/woman/blogger can't make a difference?

SCOOPED! Kevin Murphy had this one covered a few days ago.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:26 AM | Comments (0) |

The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum

Prison gaurds in Canada are now now longer allowed to protect themselves:

Corrections Canada won't let guards at maximum-security prisons wear stab-proof vests because it sends a confrontational "signal" to prisoners, says a department spokesman. "If you have that kind of presence symbolized by (a stab-proof vest), you're sending a signal to the prisoner that you consider him to be a dangerous person," said Tim Krause.

People are put into prison precisely because they are dangerous. Corrections Canada thinks it is unreasonable for their gaurds to prepare against the possibility that criminals will act like criminals. That kind of thinking is downright criminal.

Hat tip: Common Sense and Wonder

Posted by bubba138 at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) |

Tax Refund

I too received a delicious tax refund this year.

It paid for a good part of the family trip to Israel and for some of the Christmas bills that we needed to catch up on.

InstaGlenn has made the observation that these refunds can only help Bush. But more than that, they'll also hurt Kerry, just as they did Dean.

As Kerry rants on about "tax cuts for the wealthy" the middle class are cashing their checks and noticing two things. First that Bush's tax cuts are real nice, and second Kerry's blustering falls somewhere between hot air and outright lying.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) |

Racial Scandal

Henry Hanks wants us to be clear on what is and what is not a racial scandal in sports.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) |

Dick Clarke: No Longer Spinning the Hits

Monsoor Ijaz has written an excellent piece that decimates Clarke's case. It seems there's plenty of blame for intelligence failures to go around.

Hmmm...Monsoor's motivated today. He's also come up with seven great questions for Clarke during today's hearings. Here one:

Mr. Clarke, are you aware of a February 1998 correspondence from Sudan's intelligence chief to FBI Regional Director for East Africa David Williams in which again an offer to share terrorism data was made by Sudan without conditions? Are you aware that bin Laden's chief deputy in Sudan made a trip to Baghdad to visit with Iraqi intelligence officials at about the same time in February 1998? If not, why not? How do you reconcile your categorical statement in a recent 60 Minutes interview that there was no relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq — ever, I believe is how you put it — with the fact that bin Laden's chief deputy was visiting Baghdad at the same time you were receiving repeated offers to explore Sudan's intelligence files?

Ouch. It really hurts when reality and partisanship collide.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) |

March 22, 2004

DNC Action Alert

I just received this from the DNC:

Take Action: Demand the Truth on Bush's National Security Failures

Dear Bryon Scott,

Yesterday, 60 Minutes aired explosive new revelations from President Bush's former top terrorism expert, Richard Clarke, about the Bush administration's record on terrorism leading up to and following the September 11 attacks.

According to Clarke -- who has served under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton as well as the current administration -- President Bush and his top officials:

• Ignored urgent warnings from early 2001 that the United States faced an imminent threat from al Qaeda.
• Focused on "Cold War" priorities while ignoring the threats that developed over the previous eight years.
• Looked at attacking Iraq immediately after September 11.
• Pushed Clarke to draw a false connection between Iraq and al Qaeda and rejected the evidence that no such connection existed.

Take Action Americans deserve the truth about the Bush administration's failures to focus on the threat from international terrorism.

1. I already said this once today, but how is this not politicizing 9/11?
2. For weeks we've been forced to listen to Kerry and the Democrats rant on and on about the "Republican Attack Machine." How is this any different?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 PM | Comments (0) |

How Many?

The Palestinians held yet another "peace" protest today and as usual no one can agree on the number of attendees:

• The Washington Post says tens of thousands:
• The Aussie press like a nice even 100,000
• Not to be outdone, our Canadian cousins at least doubles the Aussie's estimate
• The Chinese media, a paragon of numerical truth, puts the count at a cool half a million.

From tens of thousands to half a million...that's quite a range.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0) |

Fear Mongering: Clarke's Stock in Trade

Over a year ago some were already identifying Clarke as a grandstander with a penchant for exaggeration.

He left hos role in the administration because he "simply [wanted] to pursue new challenges outside government after 30 years of public service."

Stirring up fear, uncertainty and doubt has ever been his MO in civil service. Why should it change now that he's in the private sector?

Update: And then there's this, also from a year ago February:

In happier times prior to 9/11, Clarke -- as Bill Clinton's counter-terror point man in the National Security Council -- devoted great effort to convincing national movers and shakers that cyberattack was the coming thing. While ostensibly involved in preparations for bioterrorism and trying to sound alarms about Osama bin Laden, Clarke was most often seen in the news predicting ways in which electronic attacks were going to change everything and rewrite the calculus of conflict.

One gets the feeling Clarke was beginning to feel useless and is now taking that out on Bush.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:05 PM | Comments (0) |

Shielding the Facts

CNN's Mark Shields is trying to convince himself that Bush's blue-blood may keep him from a second term. That may or may not be the case (it isn't as if Kerry's blood is any less blue), but one of the legs of his argument is woefully weak:

Since FDR, only four American presidents have been elected to a second White House term: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

While technically true, this little factoid doesn't help his case at all. It only takes a cursory examination to determine that:

• Those four named presidents held office for thirty two of the fifty two years in question (62%).
• Truman was not elected in 1944, he inherited the seat from the re-elected FDR and served out all but a few months of that term. So, although not techinically so, he was in all practical terms re-elected in 1948.
• Since FDR, the elected incumbent has been a contestant in only six elections. Four of those times he was re-elected (75%). Add Truman and Johnson (both were unelected incumebnts) to the mix and that makes it five of eight (63%).

So really, being the incumbent is an advantage, not the reverse.

Shields' theory continues that those re-elected were blue-collar types. Yet Carter's "common man" image didn't seem to help him much.

If being the blue-collar guy is the key to this election Sheilds needs to ask himself which of the two candidates comes off more common. With which of Kerry and Bush can you see yourself sitting down and watching a football game? Which one can you see choosing a Budweiser over a Cabornet? If identifying with the common man is the main issue here, I''ve got only two words for Mr. Shields.

No contest.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Missing the Point

Of course, while the entire country is focused on Bush and Kerry, we are all missing the most important candidate:

This weekend Kucinich issued a statement saying that he will not drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination. Kucinich said he is committed to ensuring that a peace platform is adopted by the Democrats ahead of November's elections.

Kucinich is committed to living in his own fantasy world dedicated to spending other people's money on a campaign with absolutely no credible purpose. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Kucinich sought the Reform party nomination.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry on Clarke

Kerry is being cautious regarding Clarke's new hatchet-job on Bush. But he's not stopping his minions from promoting it:

While Kerry was reserved in his comments, campaign aides have been raising the issue with journalists traveling with the presumptive Democratic nominee, leaving little doubt that Kerry eventually will speak on the issue.

How is this not politicizing 9/11?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:14 AM | Comments (0) |

American Grandstand

Is it not ironic that the latest master of spin is named Dick Clarke? This week is destined to be another down one for the Democrats as the American public sees, once again, that the media is left biased and factually void. Do you remember Joe Wilson? Steeerike one. How about Paul O'Neill? Steerike two.

Myth: Dick Clarke was demoted and "stripped of his Cabinet rank" by President Bush.

The Facts: Dick Clarke never had Cabinet rank.

Dick Clarke continued, in the Bush Administration, to be the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and the President's principal counterterrorism expert. He was expected to organize and attend all meetings of Principals and Deputies on terrorism. And he did.

During the Clinton Administration, Dick Clarke regularly briefed President Clinton because President Clinton did not meet regularly with his DCI. Since the beginning of his Administration, President Bush has met daily with his DCI for his intelligence briefing. President Bush believes he should get his intelligence principally not from White House staff, but from those directly responsible for US intelligence.

Steeerike three.

There is a whole lot more where this comes from...

Posted by bubba138 at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) |

March 21, 2004

Not My Terror Organization

The next time Yassir Arafat claims he is not a terrorist, remember this:

Yasser Arafat has apologised to the father of a young Arab man who was shot dead in Jerusalem in a botched attempt by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to murder a Jewish settler. [...]

The victim's grandfather, Daoud, was killed in 1975 when a bomb hidden in a refrigerator by Mr Arafat's Fatah movement exploded in one of Jerusalem's busiest shopping streets, Jaffa road.

If Arafat has no control over the al-Asqa brigades, then he must be one of them.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) |

Methodist Overlook Lesbian Minister

I was revving up to write a dissertation on the Lesbian Methodist minister story, but thanks to Matthew, I don't have to.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:34 PM | Comments (0) |

The Anti-Anti-War Protestors

Now this and this are what I call a useful protest.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:58 PM | Comments (0) |

March 20, 2004

More Crushing of Dissent

This time the EU is supressing the truth:

"They asked me to tell them who my sources were. I replied that was something I would never do. Now they have all my sensitive files, so I suppose they'll find out anyway," he said last night.

"The police said I was lucky I wasn't in Burma or central Africa, where journalists get the real treatment," he added.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) |

March 19, 2004

The Best Candidate

Maybe niether Bush nor Kerry are right for the White House. Who else is qualified?

Posted by bubba138 at 05:07 PM | Comments (0) |

"What's My Line?" -- Taliban Style

Will the real Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimis please stand up.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) |

Which Presidency is Fraudulent?

Kerry once again shows he's willing to say anything to get elected, regardless of truth:

According to Sen. John Kerry, the 2000 presidential election in the United States was fraudulent and invalid — but the 2000 presidential election in Haiti was legitimate and legal.

In reference to President Bush's victory in Florida in the 2000 election, a Floridian asked John Kerry this week, "What can you do to prevent them from stealing the election again?"

Instead of correcting the man's terminology, Kerry left it unchallenged and responded, "We're going to pre-check it, we're going to have the legal team in place.... We're going to take injunctions where necessary ahead of time. We'll pre-challenge if necessary."

Kerry's daughter Vanessa said that the United States "just helped overthrow, basically overthrow a democratically elected president." Asked on Good Morning America about his daughter's statement, Kerry did not disagree with it or correct it.

Hat Tip: Krotchety Kegler

Posted by bubba138 at 04:55 PM | Comments (0) |

What a Difference...

...a year can make.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:48 PM | Comments (0) |

Fisking de Villepin

Michael Williams covers Dominque's statement and tears it up bit by bit.

Stupid or a liar? I vote for both.

Update: Jay has more.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Saddam - the Musical!

You have got to be kidding:

Scripted by comedian (sic) Ben Elton, the show which will promise to 'make you laugh, make you cry, to make you curl up in a bunker and want to die' is according to its executive producer "part of a bid to explain the story of Saddam to the western world, and explain his many achievements as well his wrong doings."

Posted by bubba138 at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) |

Irresponsible

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."

Yep, it sure was.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:42 PM | Comments (0) |

Doing It Right

The violence in Kosovo continues:

At least 31 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes that have triggered fears of a potential new conflict in the Balkans. It was the worst unrest since Kosovo's war ended in 1999 with the Clinton administration pressuring the Serbs to withdraw their troops.

The U.N. and NATO have been in control of this situation since the war "ended" five years ago. These are the same guys world socialists leaders like Zapatero, Kerry, and Chirac would have running things in Iraq. Such leaders call Kosovo an international success and Iraq a failure.

They can keep their version of success, thank you very much.

Update: Kerry was convinced of the importance of staying the course in Kosovo.

He saw the need for the world to see America's backbone, "To shirk our responsibilities in a conflict we can win, in a region whose future is connected to American interests, would send a signal to dictators from Baghdad to Pyongyang that it doesn't take much to put the United States and the world on the run."

He was convinced of the humanitarian need for taking action, "We must oppose the oppressive policies of the Milosevic regime: the displacement, pillaging, rape, and systematic murder of members of a clearly identifiable ethnic group, the Kosovo Albanians, carried out to preserve a despot's political power."

He saw the conflict would have a cost, "The conflict in Kosovo will not be won overnight or without loss. "

He saw that we had the power to keep it from becoming a quagmire, "Kosovo is not another Vietnam - unless we decide to make it so, for lack of resolve or a willingness to submitto the terror of Milosevic and leave our humanitarian mission unfinished. "

Why doesn't he see this now?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:29 AM | Comments (0) |

Do You Feel Safer?

The Democrats would have us believe that America is at greater risk as a result of Bush's foreign policy and the war on terrorism.

Once again, Kerry's crew is just a bit out of step with the people.

But Bush gets a 58% approval rating on how he's handling the war and 75% say Bush's efforts make them safer.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) |

Al Zarqawi Captured?

NeophytePundit links to an unconfirmed report.

I guess he's not dead after all.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) |

March 18, 2004

Who's in the Hidy-hole?

Pakistani forces surrounding a group of militants on the Afghan border, possibly including a top al Qaeda member, have given them a deadline of noon Friday (2 a.m. EST) to surrender, an army officer said.

It is now a quarter past. I wonder what's going on right now.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Foreign Flip Flop

It has been a rough week for Kerry:

• Monday: "I've met with foreign leaders yada yada yada..."


• Tuesday: "Um, I've talked with foriegn leaders yada yada yada..."


• Wednesday: "It's none of your business what foreign leaders yada yada yada..."


• Thursday: "This election will be decided by the American people, and the American people alone. It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. yada yada yada..."

Kerry is experiencing severe symptoms of foot-in-mouth disease. His spokesman continued, "John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements."

Kerry doesn't seek nor will he accept the openly stated endorsements of foreign socialists, dictators, and anti-semites leaders but he will brag about the support he receives from non-existant leaders.

Remind me, which is the lying and crooked group?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Double Linking

XRLQ points us to a Spoons post with good advice for bloggers.

[Isn't that over-doing it a bit?] Perhaps, but that's the way I am.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Foreign Support

Kerry picks up another key endorsement.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:37 PM | Comments (0) |

Speaking of Stupid

Oliver Willis -- who styles himself as "kryptonite to stupid" -- responds to the piece on Kerry's pre-9/11 incompetence by calling it "The Right's Smear Machine."

Of course Oliver never addresses the fact that Kerry completely ignored the danger, doing nothing more than forwarding the information to the very agency Sullivan warned was inneffective:

More than 11 weeks later, Kerry finally replied to his well-informed and anxious constituent. "I have forwarded your tape to the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General [DOT OIG]," he said in a brief July 24, 2001, letter, a copy of which I've obtained.

Yet Sullivan had made it clear in his letter that going to his old agency was a dead end. He and other agents had complained about security lapses for years and got nowhere. "The DOT OIG has become an ineffective overseer of the FAA," he told Kerry.

Willis' entire argument that this is a "smear" is that the NY Post piece was written by Paul Sperry, who works for Murdoch, who owns Fox News who interviewed Sperry.

Pretty damning, no?

No.

First, Perry focused on what Kerry did and did not do. Willis on the other hand focuses on Perry's political affiliation and prefessional relationships. In other words, instead of attacking the facts of the story, he attacks the messenger.

Second, Fox News regularly interviews dozens of people a day -- both left and right. I see Dem hacks like Susan Estrich, Chuck Rangle, and Gloria Alred on there all the time, so there is nothing unusual about them interviewing Perry.

Third, this story was reported 10 months ago and within a week of 9/11 by NBC News -- not exactly a conservative think-tank.

Finally, Willis declares the whole story a falsehood ("Rush Limbaugh parrots the lie") without giving any facts that refute the ones put forth by Sullivan.

To Democrats like Willis talking about a Democrat's record is smear while name calling and making empty accusations is campaigning. To Republicans, the reverse is true.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:24 PM | Comments (0) |

We Stoopid?

Ith asks a question:

Kerry says in a speech we're "still bogged down" in Iraq? How stupid does he think the American electorate is? [...]

Anyone with half a brain cell had to know that Iraq was going to be a long term operation. ... And "bogged down"?? Maybe he only gets his news from the BBC or perhaps French TV. Seems to me like we're making great strides in Iraq, far in advance of what I initially thought we could in such a short time.

I think Kerry not only has imaginary friends, but an imaginary world as well.

Less than a year after the war began Iraq has it's own operational transitional constitution. Ith is right to be apalled that Kerry and his Socialist buddy Zapatero have the gall to call that failure.

Dean tried similar tactics in his campaign, spouting off about how the middle class didn't receive any benefit from Bush's tax cuts. Of course the problem with that is everyone had already spent the checks that Dean was telling them they didn't get. When rhetoric met truth it didn't jibe.

The voting citizens aren't stupid. They see a rhetoric for what it is: so much hot air. The primary is over, but instead of moving toward the center Kerry is becoming more like Dean every day -- and come November he will be every bit as insignificant.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:27 PM | Comments (0) |

Jobless Recovery? Not Anymore

I heard on the radio last night that new jobs data was due out today, so I've been keeping my eye out for someone's report on it. Well, they did report on it but not in glaring headlines. I had to hunt but after several clicks on CNN and CBSNews I did find what I was looking for. First, CBSNews:

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped for the third consecutive week last week, pushing jobless claims to the lowest level in more than three years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits fell by 6,000 last week to 336,000, a level that was last seen the week of Jan. 13, 2001, just before Bill Clinton relinquished the White House to George W. Bush.

Well, that's good news! Why did I have to go to so much effort to find it? If it had been in the reverse you can bet that would be the top dog on the front page. What did CBS do? They gave it itty-bitty billing and tagged it with the headline, "Mixed Bag Of Economic News."

What mixed bag?

In other economic news, the government said inflation at the wholesale level jumped by 0.6 percent in January, the biggest increase in three months. That reflected in part the largest jump in energy prices since last March at the start of the Iraq war. Outside of the volatile food and energy categories, the Producer Price Index rose a more moderate 0.3 percent

That's news? Anyone whose filled his/her gas tank in the last three weeks already knew this. What else adds to the "mixed news?"

Outside of energy, very little is happening...

Meanwhile, a closely watched indicator of future economic activity remained unchanged in February, but at a high enough level to signal more strength in the economy and job growth on the horizon, a private research group reported Thursday

If I am getting this right, with the exception of one segment of inflation (energy) everything is pretty much stable, signaling more strength in a growing economy and jobless claims are lower than they have been since before George W. Bush took office. CBSNews calls this a mixed bag.

CNN hasn't even put this on their front page. To get to their article you have to click on their Business link and then scroll down.

For weeks and weeks the media has been campaigning for Kerry by repeating loudly his "jobless recovery" mantra. Rarely have they had the honesty to report that unemployment -- which is now at a not-to-shabby 5.6% -- has been on the decline for close to half a year and the jobs outlook is getting rosier. And now, when jobless claims even beat Wall Street's estimates they can't do enough to bury it.

Oh, THAT liberal media.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:13 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Campaigns For Bush

Kerry is quickly becoming the most valuable player on Bush's campaign team.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) |

Iraq Through a Different Lens

After the last terrorist act in Baghdad I have seen several media accounts about the hostility of the Iraqis toward the U.S.. While not explicitly stated, the thrust of the texts imply that the U.S. is wearing out its welcome:

I thought about those stories as Iraqis yelled and gestured aggressively at Kristen and I outside the Hotel Lebanon. Some of them began roughing us up. I was pushed to the ground. Then an Iraqi man who could speak English grabbed my arm and said, “Come with me, you’ve got to get out of here.” He helped me get away from the crowd, made sure I wasn't hurt, then melted away into the darkness. Kristen also made it out of the melee safely.

This causes no small amount of worry, and knowing the left tilt of the media a bit of suspicion as well. Then I came across some Iraqi blogs that cleared up a bunch.

The Mesopotamian puts it this way:

I am listening now to an "Arab" commentator in CNN. What a load of lies and hysterical propaganda. Friends beware. The enemies are many and getting really vicious, and they include all those who hate the US and the Iraqi people.

It is sickening that Western media stoop to this low level.

and

The comming anniversary of the fall of the regime at the hand of Allied armies will see an intensified campaign of terror from the enemy to show that they are here. They have ambitions, very wild ambitions. Expect trouble.

Healing Iraq points out an article that sheds a whole different light on Sistani that none of the Western media has shown us.

Many Iraqis besides Sistani have called for direct elections. But it would be a mistake to assume that all Iraqis — let alone all Shia — support the grand ayatollah, or see democracy as simplistically as he does. I represent a mixed Sunni-Shia area in Baghdad. My constituents understand that fair elections are impossible without safety and security.

Iraq at a Glance explains why there was anger at the bomb sight:

“ No it wasn’t a bomb.. it was a missile fired from a plane” “ I don’t believe the explosion was due to a car bomb.. I heard many planes were flying around the area at that time” “ NO.. it’s not a bomb, why the crater is inside the hotel ? those Americans bombed the hotel”.. AHHHH.. I grew tired from all of these bullshits, the people have started to blame the Americans for anything happened and will happen, tired from explaining the terrorists’ plans to change our minds and overturn our feelings towards the coalition, tired from trying to make them analyze anything happens before giving a judgment.. and when I ask them about what will the Americans gain from bombing; they don’t know how to answer, they just say that the Americans want to make us afraid and worried.. Nonsense..

It is clear that the terrorists who bombed the hotel also had people planted at the site to immediately blame the U.S. for the carnage. Therefore, the anger at the incident was based on lies and deciet, and the truth will correctly direct the anger at the right factions.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) |

Yep. Its a Quagmire

Q: Why aren't the left screaming about this quagmire?

A: It was Clinton's baby.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:50 AM | Comments (0) |

March 17, 2004

My Bat, My Ball

Kerry comes clean:

In addition, he rebutted a new Bush ad criticizing him for voting last fall against $87 billion in additional funding for US troops in Iraq -- a supplemental appropriation that included money for body armor -- by saying he would have supported it if it had been financed by repealing a portion of the tax cuts implemented during the Bush administration. Kerry made that proposal in an amendment he cosponsored; the Senate rejected the amendment before approving the $87 billion.

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," he said.

So if you aren't playing by Kerry's rules he'll take his bat and ball and go home. His amendment was nothing but a political power play from the beginning, so his refusal to vote against the package after his amendment had been rejected amounts to nothing less than a political temper tantrum. Clearly Kerry's assessment is that his power struggle is more important than preserving the lives and limbs of U.S. soldiers.

Yep. That's just the kind of person I want in the White House.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:12 AM | Comments (0) |

St. Patricks Day Limerick

There once was a man from Nantucket,
Whose misstatements could fill up a bucket.
Oft the truth he has bent,
Like his "Irish descent."
Of his record he says, "I'll just duck it."

  --National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie

Posted by bubba138 at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) |

Finding OBL

Pakistan, in cooperation with U.S. forces on the Afghanistan side of the border, has stepped up its hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Eye on the world tells us why it is happening now.

It is important to know the reasons why we are getting closer because when Osama is captured between now and the election the Dems will scream that the timing was all a part of some Republican conspiracy designed to boost Bush up in the polls.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0) |

March Madness

Hugh's got the system.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

When Spain's Socialist, terrorist-appeasing prime minister was campaigning for election, he had this to say:

The first thing I will do when I am elected is to go to the United States and support John Kerry.

It's obvious that Kerry is the choice of terrorist-appeasing Socialist leaders around the world. But shouldn't the American people get to decide who the American president should be?

Every dollar you contribute results in several voters in battleground states learning the truth about John Kerry's ultra-liberal record. In a close election, your contribution may make the difference between defeat and victory. The simplest way for you to fight the War on Terror is to make sure President Bush wins re-election, to make sure that the terrorist-appeasers do not get their way.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail PoliPundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:07 AM | Comments (0) |

March 16, 2004

Nominated

Wow. I am honored.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) |

Learning From History

One thing we learn from history is that we usually don't learn from history:

I read a grim news story about the economy the other day, which noted the strange phenomenon of "a nearly jobless recovery." Reported the Tribune, "If this were a normal recovery, the economy would have added 3.5 million jobs since it hit bottom 22 months ago ... Instead, it has missed that goal by 3 million." The job market has been particularly bleak for white-collar workers, it said. And the economic weakness, everyone agreed, presented a major challenge for President Clinton.

Yes, President Clinton. The story ran in March 1993, two years into the last economic recovery.

Hat Tip: NeoPhyte Pundit

Posted by bubba138 at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) |

Peaceful Religion Watch

Chuck does a round up of Islamic reaction to the Madrid bombings.

"But remember, the extremists are a tiny minority, following a perverted version of Islam. Don’t let the fact that every single one of the holiest centers of Islam spews this sort of hatred and incitement convince you otherwise."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

The More You Get to Know Him...

CBSNews has more on the most recent head-to-head Bush-Kerry matchup:

Most voters -- 79 percent -- are paying at least some attention to the campaign now, which is roughly the same number who were doing so at this point in 1996, and more than were paying attention in March of 2000. Many voters now offer views on both candidates, though fewer offer opinions of Kerry than Bush.

Kerry slipped in the polls from 47% two weeks ago to 43% this week, so it is evident people are begining to form opinions on him and they aren't helping his cause. Look for this trend to continue the more the Bush campaign and news coverage show who Kerry is and what he stands for.

Update: I was going to say this but didn't have the energy. Thankfully, the Cap took up the slack: "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."

Posted by bubba138 at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) |

9/11: An Election Issue?

Noemie Emery pegs the Dem 9/11 carping to the wall:

Looking back, there is nothing surprising about the carefully plotted spasms of outrage at the reference, in a Bush campaign ad, to the terrorist attacks of September 11 through the fleeting shot of a flag-covered stretcher, and the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center in downtown New York. This has been done, done before, and done for all the same reasons: Democrats have been steadily working to take September 11, its cause, effect, and aftermath, off the table of election-year politics since . . . oh, possibly . . .

September 12.

Its long but well worth the read. Don't phase out until the end or you'll miss this quote from a high ranking politician:

'I say this to the militias and all others who believe that the greatest threat to freedom comes from the government instead of from those who would take away our freedom... How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on earth live in a tyranny? How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes?'

Hmmm...I wonder who said that...

Update: This sums it up:

Posted by bubba138 at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) |

Doing the Job Right

Greg observes:

The Iraqi police seem to be earning the support of the Iraqi people. They earned a 68% rating, and the story reports that this is up from 45% in November. It may seem discouraging that U.S. and U.K. troops have such low levels of trust, but I do think this is understandable. The Iraqis trust those they identify with. In the end, it will be their government to do with as they choose.

The U.S. trained them, the Iraqis trust them. Doesn't that mean we've done the job just right?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:39 AM | Comments (0) |

March 15, 2004

Got Some More

We keep catching them:

Three Taliban commanders have been arrested and 12 of the movement's fighters killed as the American military launched an operation in southern Afghanistan aimed at capturing militants, including Osama bin Laden.

It can't be too long before we get our hands on the big one.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Takes the Lead

CBS News/New York Times has just released new poll results that sho Bush has taken the lead. In the poll Bush beats Kerry in a one-on-one matchup 46% to 43%. By all rights this is still a statistical tie, but it suggests the Bush's negative informative ads touting Kerry's record and his plans for spending are working.

Even more interesting is that throwing Nader into the mix robs a full five points from Kerry, handing the nod to Bush 46% to 38%.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) |

Like I Said, "Humming Along"

U.S. industrial production rose a larger-than-forecast 0.7 percent in February as companies made more cars, electronics, and business equipment. [...]

Increased consumer spending has kept inventories lean and is prompting factories to boost production to restock shelves and warehouses. Demand rose as well for business equipment and electronics, aiding companies such as National Semiconductor Corp. Manufacturers may need to hire more workers in coming months to keep up with orders, economists said.

I don't know how, but Kerry will find some way to make this look bad.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) |

What Did He Know...

...and when did he know it?

Rewind to May 6, 2001. That night, a Boston TV station (Fox-25) aired reporter Deborah Sherman's story on an undercover investigation at Logan that Sullivan and another retired agent helped set up. In nine of 10 tries, a crew got knives and other weapons through security checkpoints - including the very ones the 9/11 hijackers would later exploit.

The next day, Sullivan fired off a two-page letter to Kerry highlighting the systemic failures.

Sullivan followed up by having the undercover videotape hand-delivered to Kerry's office.

More than 11 weeks later, Kerry finally replied to his well-informed and anxious constituent. "I have forwarded your tape to the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General [DOT OIG]," he said in a brief July 24, 2001, letter, a copy of which I've obtained.

Yet Sullivan had made it clear in his letter that going to his old agency was a dead end. He and other agents had complained about security lapses for years and got nowhere. "The DOT OIG has become an ineffective overseer of the FAA," he told Kerry. Sullivan suggested he show the tape to peers on committees with FAA oversight. He even volunteered to testify before them.

But he never heard from Kerry again.

Four months before 9/11 Kerry was specifically told about the risks under his own nose and he did very little in response. That's leadership?

Update: CavalierX blogged about this last week and his source article is 10 months old. This means that the whole time the mainstream press was yammering about the lame "Bush was AWOL" canard they were also silent about Kerry's oversight prior to 9/11. Hit your forehead and repeat after me: "Oh, THAT liberal media."

More: NBC News knew about this five days after 9/11.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:33 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: Foreign Policy Guru -- NOT!

Kerry is staying tight lipped about the foreign "leaders" who love him so much

Kerry said he is within his rights in keeping confidential conversations he has had with international leaders. "I don't think Colin Powell or the president would start listing the names of people who said something critical," he said.

Perhaps not. But neither Colin Powell nor the President would have trumpeted the support of people they could not -- or would not -- name.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Waaah!

Gas prices are setting records:

Nationwide, gas prices reached a record high average of $1.77 a gallon for all grades, rising 1.34 cents in the past two weeks, according to a study released Sunday. Gas prices have jumped by nearly 26 cents so far this year, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.

Its kind of hard for me to feel any sympathy for the nation when its average is $.50 less than what we're paying here in San Diego. It kills me to think someone in this country is complaining about paying $1.30 a gallon for their gas.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:19 AM | Comments (0) |

March 14, 2004

...And We're Proud of Them

For every American soldier killed in Iraq, six have come home wounded. How do they feel about their sacrifice?

Yet despite it all, Berman found a sense of optimism as she got to know the soldiers. She says they all had no regrets.

"They're proud of what they did," Berman says. "They feel like they've accomplished something."

Posted by bubba138 at 07:15 PM | Comments (0) |

Unilateral?

The Prof is all over the Spain situation. Al-Qa'eda has pretty much taken the credit for the bombings, and they say Spain was attacked because of its alliance with the U.S. in Iraq.

Which points out one thing that is so simple everyone seems to be missing it. While the left would have us believe Iraq was a unilateral war, al-Qa'eda would beg to differ.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:30 PM | Comments (0) |

A&C On Kerry

Ith pegs the best line on Kerry all week: "What's scary is that the more Kerry runs off at the mouth, the more attractive, not to mention stable, Dean looks!"

Classic.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:35 AM | Comments (0) |

March 12, 2004

Republicans Are Mean

And Democrats are nice. You can tell by the way they are so concerned for Ashcroft:

"He has it coming. He is utterly sub-human and evil. Suffer, bastard," gloated an Internet user on the DemocraticUnderground.com Web site. "(T)he world would be better off without him," responded another writer on the forum. "I hope he is in the most severe pain a human being can suffer, and after that, I hope he remains in constant pain with no hope of relief," chimed in yet another bleeding-heart Democrat. Out in Hollywood, comedian Bill Maher echoed these unsparing sentiments during his HBO talk show monologue, speculating that Ashcroft contracted his unimaginably painful and potentially deadly illness from "wiping his (expletive) with the Bill of Rights." The audience roared with laughter.

If it were one of their's in the hospital -- say Kennedy -- they'd all be screaming "Conspiracy!" They would have cooked up elaberate theories about how the evil "Repugs" had poisoned Teddy to shut him up.

But Ashcroft, he's barely holding on for life because of some moral tit-for-tat. He's suffering physically because of some imagined political karma come to wreak judgment upon him.

You've got to love the compassion of the liberal left.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: Intelligence?

Can we really trust Kerry to keep us safe? I think not:

Kerry's antipathy to the U.S. intelligence community dates back to his first unsuccessful run for Congress in 1970, when Kerry promised to "almost eliminate CIA activity" if elected. Nearly 20 years later, in 1997, Kerry questioned his colleagues in the Congress, ``Now that [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow?'' During his 19 years in the Congress, John Kerry proposed or supported cuts in intelligence spending reaching into the billions.

Tragically, while Kerry was leading efforts in Congress to dismantle the nation's intelligence capabilities, the world was getting more dangerous. In 1993, during his first year on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, Osama bin Laden directed al- Qaida's first successful terrorist strike on U.S. soil: blowing up a car bomb in the basement garage of the World Trade Center, killing six and wounding 1,000. In 1996, another likely al- Qaida attack on U.S. Air Force's Khobar Towers barracks in Dahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 Americans and wounded 515 Americans and Saudis. In 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were attacked by al-Qaida suicide bombers, killing 234 people and wounding more than 5,000. In 2000, during the final year of Sen. Kerry's tenure as a congressional overseer of U.S. intelligence programs, al-Qaida attacked and nearly sank the USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors and wounding 39.

Kerry, like many other Democrats, now complains that U.S. intelligence has been inadequate to meet the challenges of the war on terrorism and Iraq. The Bush administration did indeed inherit a demoralized and downsized intelligence community, but if John Kerry wants to criticize those shortcomings, he should first account for his own record.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has made the most sweeping reforms in intelligence in decades. Budgets are up, recruitment of key capabilities is up, morale is up and U.S. intelligence operatives are leading in new and innovative ways to try to keep America safe from terrorism.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:43 AM | Comments (0) |

Fisking Dean-Mail

The Dean Machine is still active and e-mailing his supporters. This one talks about a meeting Dean had with Kerry on the same day Kerry called the president and his supporters "crooks" and "liars." Here's how it opens:

John Kerry and I had a very good meeting yesterday. During the campaign we often focused on what divided us, but the truth is we have much more in common beginning with our fervent desire to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas in November. The future of our country depends on this.

When G.W. calls attention to Kerry's record, Kerry complains he's being personally hit by the "Republican attack machine." He whines that Bush won't talk about the issues. (As if national secuirty is not an issue?)

But here, in Dean's e-mail the Democrats identify as their number one issue the need to get rid of Bush.

The issues that effect Americans the most -- national security, the economy, jobs, social issues -- are all secondary to removing the Evil Bush from office. This makes it frightfully clear that Kerry, Dean and their ilk really care nothing about the American people. Instead, power is what drives them.

In addition to our strong commitment to turning this country around by beating George Bush, John and I also share a strong commitment to providing healthcare to every American, cleaning up and protecting our environment, and getting the 3 million Americans who lost their jobs during George Bush's presidency back to work.

That's 2.2 million not 3 million. It may have been 3 million but the economy has recovered and is continuing to improve and the jobless rate is dropping. But Kerry and Dean don't care about the facts. It is easy to ignore facts when you don't care about them.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:28 AM | Comments (0) |

March 11, 2004

It Must Be Bush's Fault

She worked for four Democratic members of Congress but what does the headline in the Seattle Post Intelligencer say about the accused Iraqi spy?

Accused spy is cousin of Bush staffer

The woman charged with working for the Iraqi spy agency is a distant cousin of President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, and has held a variety of jobs in journalism and on Capitol Hill.

How distant? I read recently that Kerry is a distant cousin of Bush for crying out loud.

Looking again, I see this is an AP article and quite a few papers are carrying the same headline. My question is, how much work did someone have to go through in order to find a relationship between this woman and Bush?

Posted by bubba138 at 05:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Who's Attack Machine?

Kerry keeps talking about the "Republican attack machine." Of course he himself wouldn't resort to the same underhanded tactics that Bush has not used but Kerry predicts. Or would he?

• December 2003: Kerry Uses F-Word To Attack Bush Iraq Policy. "I mean, when I voted for the war, I voted for what I thought was best for the country. ... Did I expect George Bush to f*** it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did." (John Kerry As Quoted In Will Dana, "John Kerry's Desperate Hours," Rolling Stone, 12/2/03)
• December 2003: Kerry Charges Bush Administration "Cheat People" On Education. "'They're not even trying,' [Kerry] said. 'They make a deal on a bill called No Child Left Behind and then they don't put any money out there. They cheat people.'" (Mike Wilson, "Kerry Talks Issues With Diner Crowd," The Associated Press, 12/20/03)
• December 2003: Kerry Says "Radical" Bush Administration "Trampled" On Civil Rights. "'There is nothing conservative or traditionally Republican about this administration,' Kerry said. 'It is radical in the way that it has trampled on that fine line drawn between church and state and in the way it has trampled, through its attorney general, on the civil rights of Americans.'" (Ron Fournier, "Democrats Meet For Final Debate Of Year," The Associated Press, 12/9/03)
• September 2003: Kerry Compares President Bush To Jefferson Davis. Kerry: "The president says one thing about children, does another, one thing about taxes, does another, about housing, about the war, about -- goes to Goree Island, spends a few minutes, behaves like Abraham Lincoln, goes to South Carolina, behaves like Jefferson Davis on the Confederate flag." (Fox News/CBC, Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Baltimore, MD, 9/9/03)
• September 2003: Kerry Said President Couldn't Find Countries In Our Hemisphere. Kerry: "[I]t would be wonderful to have a President of the United States who could find the rest of the countries in this hemisphere." (Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Albuquerque, NM, 9/4/03)
• April 2003: Kerry Retained Right "To Use Family's Wealth" To Pay For His Smear Machine. Kerry "said he retained the right to use his family's wealth ... to fight what is expected to be a $200 million Bush barrage before Labor Day 2004. 'I know the kind of campaign they are going to run,' he said, 'and I am prepared to fight back.'" (Howard Fineman, "Having A Gay Old Time," Newsweek, 5/5/03)
• April 2003: Kerry Compared President To Saddam Hussein. "'What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,' Kerry said in a speech at the Peterborough Town Library. Despite pledging two weeks ago to cool his criticism of the administration once war began, Kerry unleashed a barrage of criticism as US troops fought within 25 miles of Baghdad." (Glen Johnson, "Kerry Says Us Needs Its Own 'Regime Change,'" The Boston Globe, 4/3/03)
• April 2003: Kerry States World Leaders Don't "Trust This President." "I don't think they're [world leaders] going to trust this president, no matter what ..." (John Kerry As Quoted In Glen Johnson, "Kerry Says US Needs Its Own 'Regime Change,'" The Boston Globe, 4/3/03)
• March 2003: Kerry Derides Bush As "Marlboro Man." Kerry: "They have managed him the same way they managed Ronald Reagan. They send him out to the press for one event a day, they put him in a brown jacket and jeans and get him to move some hay or drive a truck, and all of a sudden he's the Marlboro Man. I know this guy. He was two years behind me at Yale, and I knew him, and he's still the same guy." (Julia Reed, "A Man In Full," Vogue, 3/3/03)

Posted by bubba138 at 02:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Greenspan says:

"As our economy exhibits increasing signals of recovery, jobs loss continues to diminish," he said in testimony to the House Education and Workforce Committee. "In all likelihood, employment will begin to increase more quickly before long." [...]

Greenspan said that the extended period of job losses has heightened fears that U.S. workers are losing out to foreign competition and spurred a number of proposals to erect protectionist trade barriers. [...]

Greenspan said a "new round of protectionist steps" represented "alleged cures" which he said "would make matters worse rather than better." [...]

But Greenspan said the answer to these job stresses was not to resort to raising trade barriers to keep foreign goods out of the country because this would remove the pressure for U.S. companies to become more competitive and push America's standard of living lower.

"Time and again through our history, we have discovered that attempting merely to preserve the comfortable features of the present, rather than reaching for new levels of prosperity, is a sure path to stagnation," Greenspan said.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:34 PM | Comments (0) |

More Than Enough

James Toranto observes (last item):

"Former President Clinton said Tuesday he has no plans to seek another elected office, preferring to remain in private life because having one Clinton in politics is 'probably more than enough,' " the Associated Press reports.

Hmm, if one Clinton in politics is "more than enough," what number would be optimal?

Posted by bubba138 at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) |

Most Important Issue?

With things like the Madrid bombings going on, please tell me again why the economy is the most important issue?

John Kerry would have us believe two things. First, that Bush's foriegn policy has not made the U.S. safer from from terrorists, and second, that the economy is the number one issue facing Americans today. Lets for now forget that both these statements are obviously false, but instead examine the priorities of one who would be our president.

If we were to take Kerry at his word then America today is no less at risk of attack than on September 10th. Terrorists are as free and able and motivated as they were then. Kucinich would have us believe that our actions have actually increased the risk, and not once has Kerry openly refuted that.

So, concluding that America is as vulnerable to death and destruction as it was on September 10th, Kerry tells us that the most important issue facing us today is the economy. In other words, although he believes our lives, limbs, and liberty are at risk, according to Kerry their value is less than that of our pocket books.

If the economy is the most important issue, then Bush has done his job making us safer and therefore deserves another four years to work on an already improved economy. If we are not safer, it would be completely brain dead to hand the reigns to Kerry, who doesn't see our safety as his first priority.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) |

Poll Shows Bush Up By Two

Over the last couple of days the news has been blasting Kerry's polling lead over Bush. So, why isn't this all over the news?

The NBC/Journal poll found Bush and Kerry in a dead heat eight months before the general election. Bush was favored by 47 percent of respondents, while 45 percent backed Kerry, a difference that was within the poll’s reported margin of sampling error of 3.1 percentage points.

It was difficult to gauge the importance of the result, which was notably at odds with those of other polls in the past week, which have found Kerry with a statistically significant lead in a head-to-head matchup. Kerry led Bush by 9 points in the latest Washington Post/ABC News survey and by 8 points in the latest USA Today/CNN poll.

Also in the same article:

Two months ago, respondents said by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1 that they felt the economy was getting better. They were almost evenly split this week.

The only way the nation's opinion can change from 2:1 to 1:1 in the span of a month is that only one side of the debate is being heard. Reality shows the economy is improving, but the networks are broadcasting Kerry's message unedited and uncritiqued. If GW wants another four years in the White House his team must do a better job of getting its message out.

Perhaps Bush & Co. are banking on Kerry falling victim to the Dean effect. People tire of the campaign season and with eight months to go this one is especially long. Kerry is providing no short list of gaffes already which may make him Bush's best campaigner. Bush will have plenty of opportunities to get media attention in the regular course of his job as president without actually campaigning. He has a great advantage in fund raising which gives him the ability to pick and choose when and where to start the fight.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:27 AM | Comments (0) |

March 10, 2004

Jay Redding points out another

Jay Redding points out another good reason to vote for Bush:

Kerry and the Democrats are so short-sighted that they would easily sell out the Iraqi people for political gain. They would allow Iraq to be maintained by the UN, which would quickly lead to massacres like Srebrenica and the collapse of Iraqi society into sectarian chaos.

The Iranians, French, and North Koreans might be endorsing Kerry, but Bush is the best choice for Iraq.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Stranger Than Fiction

Consider Paul Agutter, who's path to success was:

• 1. Poisoned his wife
• 2. Spiked products in local grocery stores with the same poison to cover his tracks.
• 3. Was convicted of attempted murder
• 4. Did his time and was released
• 5. Got a job teaching medical ethics at the University of Manchester

No kidding.

Hat tip: Common Sense and Wonder.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:57 PM | Comments (0) |

Showing His True Colors

Kerry just keeps getting more and more crass:

"Tell it like it is," a man at the Hill Mechanical Group told him. "Keep smiling."

"Oh yeah, don't worry, man," the senator from Massachusetts responded. "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 I've ever seen," Kerry added. "It's scary." [...]

Kerry, who had just finished delivering an address to the executive council of the AFL-CIO via satellite, still had a microphone clipped to his collar when he shook hands with the workers. His voice was not amplified, but it was picked up by television and radio equipment plugged into the sound system.

Conventional wisdom says that in the primaries a candidate needs to drift rightward or leftward in order to fire up his or her base. When the campaigning for the general election begins, a smart candidate nudges to the center to appeal to the swing vote. Kerry once mild in the primaries seems to have got it backwards, veering left when the center vote is most crucial.

Obviously his dominating primary victories have left him feeling bullet-proof. His confidence is far outstripping his grip on reality.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Abul Abbas

Well, that didn't take long.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Rants

Kerry is getting more and more like Dean each day. Today he gave us yet another instance of his increaseing deficit between rhetoric and reality:

Democratic White House candidate John Kerry on Wednesday slammed George W. Bush for giving average Americans "the short end of the stick" and said the Republican president's tax cuts were digging the U.S. economy into a deeper hole.

Before heading to Washington for talks with former rival Howard Dean, Kerry told the AFL-CIO labor federation's winter meeting that Republicans would run a campaign of "fear and blame" but that he was ready for it.

Every indicator shows the economy is humming along and getting stronger. Over the last two quarters we've had positive movement in unemployment. At 5.6% the U.S. looks tons better than most other indstrialized nations. It also means that 94.4% of us "Average Americans" are working. A rational person can't really call that the short end of the stick.

Since Americans are smart enough to figure out that these positives are precisely because of Bush's tax cuts, Kerry makes himself sound stupid when he rants this way.

Kerry's stump speech is specifically designed to inject fear into the audience, and place the blame squarely on Bush's shoulders. Then in the very next breath he says the Republicans are going to "run a campaign of fear and blame." Can he get more ridiculous?

In December, very few would have bet on Kerry winning the nomination. Everyone's money was on the loud, brash, hyperbolic Dean. These traits got him alot of media attention but in the end (which was pretty close to the begining) they were the reason he was decimated in the polls. For some reason Kerry thinks he can be like Dean and get different results.

Isn't that the definition of insanity?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) |

Indecency Exposed

The Prof links to a story that the Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve legislation that would raise fines for indecent broadcasts to as much as $500,000.

But the most indecent thing about this whole situation is that this vote is nothing but fluff. Check the records, not a single major network has ever been fined for indecency. Not one. Not even a single stinking dollar.

So whether there is no difference between a maximum fine of $25 or $500,000. Being able to say "we care about your concerns" is more important to the Senate Commerce Committee than actually cleaning up the crap that TV serves our children.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

Shadowy left-wing groups like MoveOn.org are raising hundreds of millions of dollars from limousine liberals like George Soros. Now that money is being brought to bear on the presidential race:

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.

The groups, two of which say they already have a total of $70 million in pledges, have moved to set up expansive voter drives while at the same time fighting the president on television using issues like jobs, the deficit and health care policy.

To win, the Bush campaign has to raise and spend more money than these left-wing extremist groups. Fortunately, the GOP has a vast base of millions of individual small donors, people like you.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail PoliPundit so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) |

March 09, 2004

Kerry and Canada

Kerry is hinting support for legalizing the import of prescription drugs from Canada. I have two questions abut this.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the drug industry in Canada is subsidized by their socialized medicine program. Therefore, taxes paid by Canadian citizens are part of the reason their drug costs are lower than ours. If we begin importing their drugs, isn't that akin to stealing from the Canadian people?

Second, isn't keeping jobs here in the U.S. one of Kerry's biggest platforms? Wouldn't moving a large part of the drug market spur American job loss in that industry?

Posted by bubba138 at 04:34 PM | Comments (0) |

How About Another Piece of Delight?

Here's hoping this New Zealand production will be as good as the last.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Taking the Garbage Out

Good riddance:

Mohammed Abul Abbas, head of a Palestinian splinter group and mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship in which an American tourist was killed, has died in U.S. custody in Iraq, Palestinian and U.S. officials said Tuesday.

How long do you think it will be before we see whining about the treatment of prisoners by the US?

Posted by bubba138 at 01:55 PM | Comments (0) |

More On Jr. Vote

Get the BFL'rs Take

McGehee

Da Boi

Jeff at XRLQ

Bill Quick

Posted by bubba138 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) |

The Deanites Have Won

Dean may be out of the race, but Dean madness has completely infected the Kerry campaign:

When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: “Asses of Evil” with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it.

Bush = Evil. This is their campaign platform. Kerry is looking more moderate every day.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:34 AM | Comments (0) |

Let Junior Vote

John Vasconcellos wants to give children have the vote:

The measure, introduced Monday, would give 14- and 15-year-olds a quarter-vote and 16- and 17-year-olds a half-vote beginning in 2006. It requires two-thirds legislative approval to reach the November ballot.

"We believe it's time to open up the franchise to young Californians," said state Sen. John Vasconcellos, a Santa Clara Democrat who is carrying the measure.

Supporters hope lowering the age would jump-start voter turnout and respect for teenagers' opinions, which they say is long overdue.

That's the poli-talk, but with the both tha state and the nation moving to the right, it shouldn't be hard to see the real motivation behind this proposal:

If the voting age were lowered, more teachers would engage young people in political issues early on and young people would become active before they move from home, said David Smith, executive director of Mobilizing America's Youth.

All the authors, Vasconcellos, Sen. Edward Vincent of Inglewood, Assemblywomon Sarah Reyes of Fresno and Assemblywomon Carol Liu of South Pasadena are all Democrats. Surely they see that giving the vote to youngsters who have been engaged indoctrinated by teachers would be a huge boost for their liberal follies. Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta correctly identifies why this legislation is dangerous:

"There's a reason why 14-year-olds and 16-year-olds don't vote. They are not adults. They are not mature enough. They are easily deceived by political charlatans."

What charlatans? Can you say NEA? Can you say CTA?

Vasconcellos is also using fuzzy math when he says he wants to improve voter turnout:

But although most agree that something should be done to improve voter turnout, the solution proposed Monday is far from the consensus answer.

"Terminal dumbness," said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. "All they will do is further depress voter turnout" because it would create a larger pool of eligible voters.

The truth is, the authors of this hideous proposal care nothing about voter turnout as a percentage of eligible voters. What they really want is larger Democratic voter turnout.

They also want us to believe that in their heart of hearts they really have confidence in these youngsters:

Reyes said young people could handle the responsibility.

"Many of the young people here are probably more politically savvy than some of the adults who are voting today," said Reyes, referring to a group of young people the lawmakers brought to their news conference.

...and...

Saying that today's Web-surfing, cellphone-toting teens are better informed and more mature than generations past, Vasconcellos argued that lowering the voting age is a matter of equality for a sector of society mostly brushed aside as politically irrelevant.

Please.

Yes, my Web-surfing, cellphone-toting teen daughter is better informed than generations past. She's so informed she can tell you all about Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and a score of other celebrities. She wouldn't be able to tell you who represents us in the state Senate or Assembly, though. More importantly, she doesn't pay taxes like you and I do, so there's no pain to her when they go up.

GOP consultant Dan Schnur on Monday derided the voting proposal as a fringe idea.

"I think John Vasconcellos has once again demonstrated conclusively the importance of legislative term limits,'' Schnur said.

Amen to that, brother.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) |

March 08, 2004

First Dole, Now Kerry?

The last Senator to run for President hooked up with Viagra for a dynamic ad campaign. From the way his wife is talking, maybe John Kerry is looking to get a piece of that action:

During a brief speaking engagement with the Democratic Women’s Committee, Heinz-Kerry was asked pointedly if she thought her husband had the “energy or the charm to stand up to the Bush team.” Heinz-Kerry then launched into a discourse that quickly had aides attempting to pull her from the stage.

“Sure my husband can stand up to Bush. He has more than enough charisma and he has the staying power and the thrust to handle Bush,” the usually well-spoken condiment heiress said to muted gasps from the audience.

“Many of you, including some in my husband’s inner circle, think that he is stiff...

"And yet while having a caring, soft side he is also a hard man... He is diligent and focused on the job at hand. And that job is getting Bush. And, much like Bill Clinton in 1992, I think that he has more than enough charisma and charm to get Bush out of the White House.”

Who knew Kerry was such a stand-up guy?

Posted by bubba138 at 04:55 PM | Comments (0) |

Wall of Separation?

What ever happened to the wall of separation between church and state?

If Mr. Kerry won over the town-hall crowd by setting the Bible aside, he showed Sunday morning that he could put Scripture to political use.

At the Greater Bethlehem Temple Pentecostal Church in Jackson, Mr. Kerry, who is Catholic, quoted James 2:14 — "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?" — a reference to the "compassionate conservatism" espoused by Mr. Bush.

I forgot, that only applies to Republicans.

I also find it funny that Kerry is getting away with doing exactly what Dean got blasted for: ignoring religion in the North and using it as a tool for pandering in the South.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) |

Madman Mugabe

Zimbabwe, long on the back-burner of the news cycle, just might be getting a larger spotlight:

Zimbabwe has seized a U.S.-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities and a cargo of "military materiel," Home Affairs (Interior) Minister Kembo Mohadi said on Monday.

Update: The U.S. is denying government involvement:

"We have no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters, adding that he could not confirm statements by Zimbabwean officials that it was a U.S.-registered plane.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) |

Paranoia Strikes Deep

Kerry has the Republican election strategy figured out:

"I am convinced that we have the ability to win this race," he said. "It's going to be hard fought, they're going to do everything possible to tear down my character personally (and) Teresa. That's the way they operate."

This tiresome mantra is ludicrous. We've just finished weeks of unfounded accusations that Bush went AWOL and saying that Bush is a liar because actually did prosecute the war in Iraq even though he said he would prosecute a war in Iraq. Kerry's camp has been slamming Bush's character for months and now he keeps on saying that's the the way the Republicans operate?

Bush and his Republican allies have already tried to portray the Yale-educated son of a diplomat as a Northeastern liberal elitist, a chronic waffler and a fence-sitter.

Kerry rejected what he has called the old style politics of divisiveness and said he would not let the finger-pointing distract from the issues of jobs, health care, the economy and national security.

So Kerry thinks being called a liberal is an attack on his character. Being liberal must be a negative thing in order for the label to be an attack. Does Kerry really want us to think his liberalism is a negative thing? If so, he should shed his liberalism.

Liberalism is not a character issue. It is defined by a principled stand on specific issues of the day. So pointing out Kerry's liberal stance on the issues is not finger pointing, but clearly presenting a choice between two stances.

Waffling and fence-sitting aren't character issues, either. These are issues of effectiveness and consistancy. Kerry prefers to believe he's taken "nuanced" stances on the issues. His nuance is a stark contrast to Bush's black-and-white. Again, this is a point of choice for the American voters. There is a time and a place for nuance. What Kerry and his supporters will find out in November is that September 11th was a huge kick in the gut of nuance, and it is still gasping for air.

The bottom line here is that Kerry's greatest hope is that the Repubs will try to attack his character. If they attack his record, he knows he's doomed.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) |

March 07, 2004

The Perfect Choice

Roger Simon observes:

My first reaction when I read in his interview in today's NYT that Kerry Condemns Bush for Failing to Back Aristide was "He can't be serious!"... And of course, on reflection, I was right. He wasn't. Kerry is never serious. He just adopts postions that seem expedient to him at the moment. [...]

Does this mean anything to Kerry who is now supposedly trying to show he's a "tough guy"? Evidently, not. I 'm sure had Bush "defended" Aristide, Kerry would have been out there blaming him just as loudly for intervening in the democratic process or some such. What a pathetic man.

In other words, Kerry's policies can all be summed up in one phrase, "If Bush is for it, I'm against it." Seeing as how this defines the entire Democratic platform, they have chosen the perfect candidate for their presidential nominee.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Freudian Slip?

From tonight's rant from Andy Rooney: "I was in the Army for four years and all soldiers are not heroes."

This struck me as an interesting statement. An equivalent phrase would be "no soldiers are heroes."

It often happens people will say something like this when what they really mean is, "not all soldiers are heroes."

But Andy is an accomplished wordsmith. One would not think that someone of his experience and expertise would make such a sophmoric grammatical faux pax.

Perhaps Andy Rooney really believes that being a soldier automatically disqualifies one from being a hero.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:09 PM | Comments (0) |

March 06, 2004

September 11th: No Better Testament for Leadership

There is no better testament to the leadership of President Bush than Sept. 11. In choosing our next leader we must not forget that day if we are to have a meaningful conversation.

In the November election we will have a clear choice laid before the American people. President Bush is rightly offering us that choice and the images of Sept. 11, although painful, are fundamental to that choice. The images in President Bush's campaign television ads are respectful of the memories of Sept. 11.

Twelve families of September 11th signed onto this letter. Do you think Katie Couric will be inviting them on her show anytime soon?

Neither do I.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) |

March 05, 2004

What Did He Do?

With the campaign cranking up I think it is a good time to see what Bush has accomplished over the last three years. This is a list of fulfilled promises from his 2000 campaign:

• Prohibit federal funds for international family-planning groups that provide abortion-related services. By a directive issued Jan. 22, 2001.
• Sign legislation banning so-called partial-birth abortion. YES, on Nov. 5, 2003.
• Give more emergency aid to farmers to help them transition to a market regime. YES. Included in 2001 farm bill.


• Reduce and ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches. YES. Included in the 2001 tax bill.


• Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. YES. Bush has raised this issue with the European Union.


• Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes. YES. New regulations permit food shipments to Cuba and other so-called rogue states.


• Admit China into the World Trade Organization and continue working to open key export markets to U.S. goods. YES. China joined the WTO in 2001.


• Return one-fourth of the budget surplus through broad-based tax cuts. YES. Bush met his target of a $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut.


• Prohibit unions and corporations from giving "soft money" to political parties. YES. Part of the campaign finance bill that Bush signed on March 27, 2002.


• Raise the limit on individual contributions by adjusting it for inflation. YES.


• Require timely disclosure of contributions on the Internet. YES. The Federal Election Commission is working on details.


• Establish an Office of Faith-Based Organizations in the White House to make it easier for such organizations to participate in government programs. YES. By executive order in 2001.


• Require states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents. YES. Signed June 25, 2003.


• Seek legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority. YES, although Bush has not made it a top priority and Congress has not acted.


• Ask Congress to act on presidential nominees within 60 days of submission of their names. YES. Bush has repeatedly prodded Congress to act.


• Increase prosecutions under federal gun laws. YES.


• Increase funding for state gun-law enforcement. YES. New $50 billion program signed into law in 2001.


• Establish Project Sentry, a federal-state program to prosecute juvenile weapons violations. YES.


• Practice zero tolerance for terrorism. YES. Launched war on terrorism.


• Prohibit putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. YES.


• Pay U.N. dues in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. YES.


• Increase military pay by $1 billion a year. YES. Signed into law Jan. 10, 2002.


• Deploy national and theater ballistic-missile defense as soon as possible. YES. Bush has ordered deployment in 2004.


• Reduce the number of American nuclear weapons. YES. The 2001 Treaty of Moscow promised to scrap about two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 10 years.


• Earmark at least 20 percent of the procurement budget for next-generation weaponry. YES.


• Increase defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal year 2002 to 2006. YES. Funding levels are consistent with the goal.


• Order comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy. YES. Although it came in the form of a series of reviews.


• Order "immediate review" of overseas deployments. YES.


• Renovate military housing. YES. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year.


• Create a new fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled. YES. Funded at $5 million.


• Provide $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home. YES. Signed into law in 2001.


• Issue an executive order implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible. YES, in 2001.


• Increase funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them. YES.


• Create a national commission to recommend reforms of the mental-health service-delivery system. YES. The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health delivered its recommendations to Bush on July 22, 2003.


• Make it easier for disabled people to vote. YES. Legislation signed on Oct. 29, 2002 requires states to make polling places more accessible.


• Revise the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people to permit them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. YES. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states.


• Establish a $1 billion math and science partnership program. YES. Bush is working toward his 5-year funding goal.


• Launch a $5 billion five-year Reading First program to ensure that every disadvantaged child reads by the third grade. YES.


• Require annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. YES.


• Require states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance. YES.


• Provide $181 million over five years to expand the use of bonds for public school construction. YES.


• Provide school-by-school accountability report cards. YES. School districts are taking steps to meet the requirement.


• Establish a $2.4 billion fund to help states enact teacher-accountability systems. YES.


• Increase funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program to $30 million to recruit former military personnel to the classrooms. YES.


• Establish a uniform reporting system to monitor school safety. YES.


• Require districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. YES.


• Require schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption. YES.


• Enact a Teacher Protection Act to protect teachers from discipline-related lawsuits. YES.


• Triple funding for classroom education to improve character. YES.


• Expand the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs. YES. Signed into law in 2001.


• Provide vouchers to lower-income students for after-school activities. YES.


• Provide $126 million to replace six American Indian schools. YES.


• Double funding for weatherization programs by adding $1.4 billion over 10 years. YES. Funding on track.


• Require the Energy Department to notify Congress when the nation's fuel supplies are low. YES.
  
Establish an annual meeting of G-8 energy ministers or their equivalents to encourage international cooperation on energy. YES.

• Provide $2 billion over 10 years for "clean coal" research. YES. Funding is slightly below but consistent with the goal.


• Create a Home Heating Oil Reserve to protect against future shortages. YES. The reserve was actually created during the Clinton administration, but Bush has funded it.


• Provide matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species. YES.


• Establish a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives. YES.


• Support a moratorium on nuclear testing. YES. But the Pentagon is developing weapons that may soon require testing.
  Improve relations with India. YES. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee committed to a "strategic partnership" in 2001.


• Create a governmentwide chief information officer to coordinate Internet services. YES. Appointed April 16, 2003.


• Convert federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals. YES.


• Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free. YES.


• Double the National Institutes of Health's research budget. YES.


• Establish a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications. YES, with goal of full implementation by 2005.


• Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization. YES. Both of the new agencies are within Homeland Security Department.


• Provide an additional $500 million over five years to improve immigration services. YES. First installment of $100 million signed into law Nov. 28.


• Guarantee that all senior citizens are entitled to keep the current benefits if they choose, instead of selecting alternatives offered as part of any reforms. YES. Included in the Medicare bill that Bush signed on Dec. 8, 2003.


• Give seniors the option of selecting plans that better fit their health-care needs. YES.


• Cover the full cost of health-insurance coverage, including prescription-drug coverage, for seniors with incomes at or below 135 percent of the poverty level. Cover some of the cost for seniors with incomes up to 175 percent of poverty. YES.


• Establish the American Dream Down Payment Fund to give low-income families up to $1,500 in matching funds toward down payments for homes. YES. Signed Dec. 16, 2003.


• No increase in payroll taxes. YES.


• Cut current income tax rates. YES.


• Double the child tax credit to $1,000. YES.


• Reduce the so-called "marriage penalty" by restoring the 10 percent deduction for two-earner families. YES.


• Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit, and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $7,500. YES. Credit increased to $10,000.


• Eliminate the estate tax. YES. Will phase out and disappear in 2010, but will return a year later unless Congress makes the elimination permanent.
  Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. YES.


• Direct the General Accounting Office to study the effectiveness of pregnancy-prevention programs. YES. But the study was conducted by Health and Human Services, not GAO.


• Restore presidential authority to speed trade treaties through Congress. YES. Signed into law Aug. 6, 2002

That's not bad for a guy who is fighting a war.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Loving Fathers

If only there were more Palestinian fathers like this:

Yussef Geara’s life is now filled with feelings of guilt and anger toward such deranged acts of violence. Last Jan. 30 his son, Ali, decided to blow himself up in Jerusalem, killing 10 innocent Israelis at a site not too far from Prime Minister’s Ariel Sharon’ residence. “It is wrong to carry out suicide attacks against civilians and soldiers. Conflicts are not resolved in this way. There is a need to return to (peace) negotiations,” Ali’s embittered father said. [...]

Mohammed Abu Mahsen, the father of a 13 year-old boy enrolled as an Islamic Jihad militant, is filled with the same grief. Yet he is grateful to Israeli soldiers who arrested his son before he could carry out any suicide bombing. “The enemy saved my son’s life,” he says constantly to friends and relatives. “I’m happy he was arrested and not killed.”

Abu Mahsen, age 39, condemns Islamic Jihad leaders. “I haven’t raised my son for 13 years just to lose him in an instant,” he said.

There is hope.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:49 PM | Comments (0) |

Dear Abby Suckered

Hoystory has the scoop on a Dear Abby prank that almost got through. DOH!

Posted by bubba138 at 04:37 PM | Comments (0) |

Do You Feel Safer

You should:

A senior FBI official says authorities have disrupted 35 terrorist-related incidents since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

"These include both domestic and international terrorism matters and consist of a variety of preventive actions, including arrests, seizure of funds and disruption of terrorist recruiting and training efforts and even, in certain cases, the prevention of actual attacks," said Larry Mefford, assistant director of counterterrorism for the FBI.

That's not all. An unbelievable number of terrorists and sympathizers are being picked up and convicted. Read about them at Jihad Watch.

They got convictions in Virginia, too.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) |

Feet and Circles

CNN's John Mercurio writes:

Forgive the Republicans if they appear a little flat-footed at the moment. But what political observers witnessed Thursday, and are sure to see more of this weekend, is a Democratic Party, well-primed after a year of trench warfare, that's running circles around the party in power.

He goes on to glowingly cite three examples of the Dem's being on top of their political game:

• Democrats whining about Bush's campaign ads.
  Reasonable Americans watch these ads and are astonished at how positive they are. They are reassured that we are surviving changing times and we have a hope for the future. They are breifly reminded of those fearsome September days and how much more secure they feel today. They listen to the Dems carp about the President's ads and think, "Get a life!"
• Democrats fabracation that Congressman Tom Cole said "a vote against Bush is a vote for Hitler."
  His actual statement was, "What do you think Hitler would have thought if Roosevelt would have lost the election in 1944? He would have thought American resolve was [weakening]." Cole didn't even say that a vote against Roosevelt in 1944 was a vote for Hitler. What he said was Hitler would have read such a vote in a particular way. But as long as we are on the Hitler subject, Dems have been spewing the the "Bush = Hitler" mantra since the week after 9/11, so they have zero moral authority in condemning such statements.
• Attack dog Kennedy's planned [now executed] anti-Bush screed before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington
  Does anyone put any stock in what this rambling, unfocused, overemployed, often drunk, windbag says anymore? Nope.

Mercurio can see it how he wants to see it, but the foot involved isn't here the flat one upon which the Republican's are standing. Instead, it is the Dem's foot at issue, which they keep shoving deeper and deeper into their collective mouth. Or perhaps, it is the foot they are continually shooting. Maybe both. And as far as running circles, that's what the Dems have been doing since 2000. The Republicans are instead moving forward.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) |

BREAKING NEWS!

Slings and Arrows is officially in the game.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Ads

The Bush team has begun cranking up the campaign engine and released three excellent tv spots yesterday. These are positive, inspiring messages, but the hint of 9/11 imagery in the background has some people up in arms because they say Bush is politicizing the tragedy.

Face it, out of three thousand families how hard is to find three or five anti-Bushites to complain? Is did these families really search out the media to air their 'disgust', or is it more likely the media made call after call until they struck anti-Bush gold?

To be fair, some media outlets are actually doing their jobs and reporting both sides, but for the majority of them the news is all about how insensitive the Bush campaign is.

This is good news.

Over the last three years Bush has led this nation with courage and determination. Because of his leadership the U.S. has taken out two totalitarian regimes, pushed Lybia into a dovish mode, turned an economy that was failing before he took office, and dealt with the Enron and MCI mess that was created during the previous administration. The economy is now humming along at breakneck speed, unemployment (now at 5.6%) is dropping and Americans feel safe.

Is it any mystery why Bush's opponents want to talk about 9/11 imagery? The bottom line -- and the good news -- is they have nothing else left.

Update: Marybeth gets it right:

Kerry had anti-Bush ads from the beginning of the primaries yet he warns of an upcoming Republican smear campaign. I don't expect Bush to refrain from attack ads throughout the campaign but making this accusation before any ads like that are aired sounds like projection.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:43 AM | Comments (0) |

Yummy!

What's for dessert?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) |

March 04, 2004

Scooped!

I rarely link to Glenn because, face it does anyone really visit S&A before Instapundit? Anyway he thinks the story behind this protest is that youth are turning to the right.

But we in the BFL know the real story is that he scooped Da Boi in his own backyard.

Advantage: Reynolds.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerrymandering

The Professor links to an article that points out Kerry constantly changes the boundries on issues so he can be all things to all people.

One of the issues is gay marriage:

He voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which limited marriage to a man and a woman, but he now says marriage should be limited to a man and a woman.

But wait, just like a Jane Fonda workout video, Kerry's got quite a few reps to go before he's finished:

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), under fire from gay Democrats for opposing same-sex marriage, has promised that if elected president he would grant state-sanctioned gay couples the same 1,049 federal benefits married heterosexuals enjoy, according to people who met here with Kerry last Friday.

So he's against Defense of Marriage but he's also against gay marriage but he's also against being against gay marriage.

If he keeps this up the only thing he'll be against is a wall.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:42 PM | Comments (0) |

One For Bush

The press and the Dems are doing their best to convince the American public that the war on terror is not the key issue for November. Michael Totten is evidence to the contrary:

So it looks like John Kerry is it.

And therefore I’m out... Until further notice, this blog officially supports George W. Bush for president in 2004.

I will not be his cheerleader. Though I will defend him from scurrilous charges, I don’t like the man, and I never have. I appreciate very much what he has accomplished in the realm of foreign policy, as anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows. And there is simply no way I can vote for his opponent who has spent the past year whining about every good thing we are doing and have done in the Middle East. This is by far the most important task now and ahead of us. [...]

I hope the Democrats spend the next several years, whether in the White House or out of it, getting themselves a serious foreign policy. Right now they don’t have one. [...]

It’s also entirely possible that John Kerry will win in November and I will come around to his side. He may win and govern well, and if he does, I will notice. I’ll be grateful and relieved.

Until then I oppose him, and I do it without malice. I don’t hate the man, and I doubt I ever will. Hatred destroys people emotionally and intellectually. The pitched level of anti-Bush hatred is shocking to me, just as the fury from the right against President Clinton was shocking. The asinine bluster from political haters is surely the dumbest commentary on any subject I’ve ever heard and read from adults. Get a life, haters. This is just politics.

Totten is far from being a center-left blogger, he's downright Democrat. But he understands that all the issues for which the Dems are fighting -- jobs, economy, single sex marriages, you pick the issue -- are for naught if we are dead.

Democrats want to convince us that the war on terrorism has not made us safer. Just the other day Kucinich said it has actually made us less safe. Yet polls say that American's biggest concern in November is for jobs. On September 12th, 2001 that was not the case. Whether the Dems believe it or not Americans do feel safer. They feel that way because they know Bush's war on terror is working, and because they feel safer, they can make jobs their main issue. Americans, both on the right like me and the left like Totten, will vote for jobs, and we'll do so with the knowledge that there are no jobs for corpses.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:53 AM | Comments (0) |

The Proper Response to Gay Marriage

Southern Appeal's Steve is dissapointed in the manner some oppositionists to gay marriage:

Regardless of how one feels about gay unions, it is exceedingly tacky, indeed reprehensible, to jeer or mock people who just engaged in a ceremony that they deem to be meaningful. We must always keep in mind, myself included, that our fight is not with those who seek gay marriage but with those lawmakers who would provide it (especially those who do so in an utterly lawless manner).

Here is my take on how we should handle gay marriage (reprinted with editing from a previous post. Changes are highlighted in maroon.)

---

Megan doesn't know what to make of the gay marriage issue:

Yet, I wonder what I, as a Christian, am to make of this. See, most of my Christian friends are staunchly against gay marriage. Most of my gay friends are like, "Listen, I just want the government to recognize the relationship I have with someone and allow me to have health insurance. Thanks."

I find myself caught in the middle and confused.

I confess that I as well have been in a quandary about it. Like Megan, I know from a Biblical standpoint that gay marriage is morally wrong. (Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy. These New Testament passages are crystal clear and the message is that the practice of unrepentant homosexuality is not consistent with a Christian lifestyle. In addition, the Biblical view of marriage is that it is a holy institution.

But the issue of gay marriage in the context of our culture cannot be forced into Biblical parameters. We do not live in a culture that recognizes the Bible as an authority. As a matter of fact, in our civil system of law it is illegal to legislate on the grounds of religious belief alone. What this means to us as Christians is that our Biblical beliefs have no weight in legal arguments. Many Christians think this is a shame and would prefer otherwise. They would rather have Christian based laws -- a theocracy in practice, if not in name.

It is vitally important, I think, to examine these issues in the context of the New Testament. When we look at the Greco-Roman world in the first century, we find a culture not unlike our own. Homosexuality and sexual promiscuity were rampant, accepted, and normal. The practice of men having sex with boys was even considered by some as an "art". Yet in all this, we see nothing in the scripture about a political movement to abolish these practices.

Instead, what Peter, Paul, and the rest of the New Testament saints did was to obey Christ in His great commandment, to love God with all their heart, mind, strength, and soul and love their neighbor as themselves. Further they also went forth making disciples -- fulfilling Christ's great commission. Christian love was so great and the gospel message so powerful that thousands joined the Church and eventually the Church conquered the Roman empire.

The real issue here for Christians is not gay marriage. Gay marriage is only an issue because the gay lobby is loud and rich and powerful and well educated and they are pushing it as the primary plank on their agenda. Consider this: if the issue of gay marriage hadn't been pushed by the gay lobby, would Bush ever had to have made his statement? No. Because it wouldn't be an issue. But it was pushed and it is an issue.

Am I blaming the gay lobby for making gay marriage an an issue? Not at all, and this is the main point I want to get across. That gay marriage is an issue is directly and unreservedly the fault of Christians. It is imperative to point out that the Constitution makes absolutely no reference to gay marriage or contains even the slightest hint of recognizing homosexuality as a lifestyle. This is, very simply because the framers of that brilliant document were, by and large committed Christian men living in a Christian culture. The very idea of same sex marriages never entered their minds. It was as far from their minds as calling child molestation a healthy act is from our minds today. Had we over the last fifty years been doing our job -- loving God, loving our neighbors and making disciples -- then more people would hold shared Biblical beliefs (as they did in the days of the framers of the Constitution), our country would hold a stronger consensus on what marriage is and what it is not, and this issue would not be in front of us today. Our job is only to introduce people to the loving, miraculous, life changing love of Jesus Christ -- He does the rest. We cannot require non-believers to abide by Christian standards -- they do not share our foundational point of reference.

Jesus says we as Christians should give to Caesar that which is Caesar's -- in other words, God expects us to fulfill our civic duties. So we are expected to vote and take political stands. For me, it means I will not vote for any legislation or legislator that advocates for gay marriage. To do so would be to add my support to sin.

But...neither will I support a Federal Marriage Ammendment. To do so takes a document uniquely designed to limit the rights of government and expand the rights of individuals, and writes into just the opposite. I recognize my neighbor's civil right to choose his or her sexual orientation. I choose to continue to love him and, any way I can, show him Christ's love.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:28 AM | Comments (0) |

March 03, 2004

Kerry's International Reputation

Well I did find one country that is concerned with a Kerry presidency:

Nearly two months before Kerry was virtually anointed as the challenger to Bush yesterday, the Massachusetts Senator got into hot waters when he referred to Sikhs as terrorists and was forced to apologise in the face of an uproar by Indian Americans.

According to Kerry, Bush's foreign policy is the worst in history, but Kerry cannot tell the difference between an al-Qa'eda operative and a Indian Sikh.

But wait, there's more. Take note of Kerry's reaction to India's testing of neuclear technology:

Kerry was pragmatic that day. "India has broken into the nuclear age," he acknowledged. "Unless tremendous restraint is practiced, so will Pakistan... People should stop finger pointing. We need to look at our own level of involvement in weapon sales. There is enough blame to go around"

India develops and tests neuclear explosives and what's Kerry's priority? Find a way to blame the U.S.

This is the man who wants to lead your nation.

Update: The link was missing from this post. Here it is.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:37 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry's Key Constituency

Who in particular is it that Kerry appeals to? We have had some hints -- here is another:

Kerry's vision of his administration's foreign policy have been greeted with enthusiasm from many in Europe, where anti-Bush sentiment is high. The Bush administration has alienated many of its closest allies, particularly France and Germany, over the Iraq war and its dismissive attitude toward the "Old World." Though Bush and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder recently met at the White House and publicly put their differences over Iraq behind them, relations between them cannot be described as close.

While Bush has had limited foreign travel experience -- when he was 21 he listed his only foreign travel as a vacation trip to Scotland -- Kerry attended a Swiss boarding school and when he receives envoys from Paris in Washington, he chats with them in fluent French. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, was born in Mozambique, studied in South Africa and Switzerland and is fluent in five languages herself.

So in the eyes of the European elite, attending a Swiss boarding school makes Kerry more qualified to be president than the experience Bush has had kicking the crud out of two totalitarian regimes, influencing Syria to make nice-nice with Israel, and getting Lybia to voluntarily give up its weapons programs.

Oh, and how appropriate it is that Kerry's will enable him to surrender to terrorists and their sympathizers in a tongue uniquely evolved for just that task.

Bush is derided for only making a single trip to Scotland before he was 21 while Kerry was an accomplished globe-trotter at an early age. Kerry's primary target, Jack and Jill Sixpack, are lucky if they get off to Disneyland once in a lifetime. Are they going to identify more with Bush or Kerry?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Joshua Micah Marshall

...was on Hugh Hewitt's show today agreeing with Kerry's assertion that Bush has run "most inept, reckless, arrogant, and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country."

Marshall continued repeating that Bush's policy is the worst in history because it has done the more damage to our "standing in the world" than any other president.

Marshall's comments betray the fundamental difference between Kerry's camp and the rest of America. To them, the most important goal of U.S. foreign policy is to improve our reputation among our European cousins. Because preserving or enhancing our reputation is so important, they are hesitant to do what needs to be done in the world. They are more capable of tolerating terrorism than making a stand. They are more willing to acquiesce when unreasonable demands are made.

To Bush and the majority of America the goal of foreign policy is first, to protect the American people, and second to advance U.S. interests worldwide. Sacrificing reputation isn't something Bush and company does with glee, but reputation is of markedly low value in comparison to U.S. lives. Being proactive and taking control is more important than romancing the French or Germans (who can't even run their own countries) until they approve of our plans -- and this I know, if we aren't in control someone else is. After September 11th 2001, I shudder at the thought of who that someone else might be.

Update: Captain Ed destroys Kerry's hyperbole.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:57 PM | Comments (0) |

Yeah Way, Dude!

I have been saying over and over again this past year that, contrary to common punditry, Bush can win California. Fortunately, the Bush team agrees with me:

California is also the nation's biggest electoral prize and Bush aides say he will fight for its 55 electoral votes. Democrat Al Gore won the state handily in 2000, but the Bush campaign will not cede the state to Kerry.

"He will compete in California," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

After months on the defensive over Iraq, job growth and his military record, Bush has plunged wholeheartedly into the campaign fray, challenging Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, and other Democrats on the economy and national security.

The president has already raised approximately $150 million for his re-election campaign, and at a Los Angeles fund-raiser on Wednesday, he will raise $800,000 more.

California is crucial ground. Both camps know that Bush can win reelection without California, but there is absolutely no way Kerry wins without it. Bush lost the state in 2000 by around 1.3 million votes. He only needs to turn 700,000 or so his way and California swings red. Now I know 700,000 is more than the total population of some states, but here in Cali that's barely even a city. The population of Metro Los Angeles is over 22 million, 700k is only 3% of that. In other words, California is very doable for Bush -- especially with a well liked Republican governor at the helm.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:54 PM | Comments (0) |

I Wanna Be Like Bill!

You have got to love this little Kerry sound bite:

Kerry told the American Urban Radio Network, "President (Bill) Clinton was often known as the first black president. I wouldn't be upset if I could earn the right to be the second."

Ummm, shouldn't the first black president actually be, you know, black?

Part of Gore's problem, perhaps his biggest one, was that even he couldn't quite figure out who he was. It seems Kerry may be going through a similar identity crisis.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:03 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

Kerry was a radical, medal-throwing Vietnam war protester who did everything possible to undermine the war effort, even as our soldiers were being shot at. He accused them of committing genocide. He participated in a march where demonstrators threw their medals over the White House wall (Kerry, of course, threw away someone else's medals.) He worked with Jane Fonda to organize anti-war rallies. The organization he was a member of, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, took the American flag off its offices because its members were offended by the flag.

Now this man wants to be the most powerful man in the world. He wants to be your president. And you know what's really scary? It could happen!

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail PoliPundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 07:30 AM | Comments (0) |

March 02, 2004

Jones Looking Strong

Bill Jones is looking strong in early returns. Barbara Boxer is probably doing cartwheels.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Live Results

For those interested in the California returns, you can get live results here.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:43 PM | Comments (0) |

Things That Make You Go, "Huh?"

Newt Gingrich just said on Fox News that Hillary is Kerry's best choice for Veep, "I believe she is one of the two most competent politicians in the Democratic party"

Wow.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:24 PM | Comments (0) |

DEAN WINS VERMONT! Full story

Full story

Posted by bubba138 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Who's Taxes Have Been Cut?

Kerry would have us believe that (1) the Bush tax cuts haven't helped the economy, and (2) they were only cuts for the rich. Reality is a different story:

In July, the 38.6 percent tax bracket dropped to 35 percent, the 35 percent bracket to 33 percent, the 30 percent bracket to 28 percent and the 27 percent bracket to 25 percent.

There was also a provision for the lower rates to be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2003.

"If you work only for wages ... and don't have other kinds of income coming in like capital gains, the chances are very good you are going to see a bigger refund," said Jackie Perlman, a senior tax researcher at H&R Block.

There is a label for someone who (1) works only for wages and (2) has no other kinds of income such as capitol gains: Working Class.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:14 PM | Comments (0) |

It Is About Time

At least the rule of law still means something in some parts of our nation:

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - The village's mayor was charged Tuesday with 19 criminal counts for performing marriage ceremonies for gay couples.

Jason West was charged with solemnizing marriages without a license, a misdemeanor under the domestic relations law, according to Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:59 PM | Comments (0) |

I Voted Touch Screen

...that's what the sticker on my shirt says. The voting process itself was fairly simple, but like others I am not fond of the idea of not having a hard copy of my votes.

In California, the workers encode a card with the voter's information, hand it to the voter, who then inserts it into the voting machine and votes. I arrived at the polling station pretty close to opening time, and the poll workers were still trying to figure how to encode a card correctly. After about five minutes they had figured it out and I was on my way.

My experience was a breeze compared to what is now being reported on several radio stations. Apparently more than a dozen areas around the county are completely down. People are being turned away from the polling places by the droves. This could be a huge problem. Of course the machines are being blamed, but after watching the poll workers, I suspect 90% of the problems are probably user error.

Update: Looks like I was right, the problems aren't with the machines, but with the people (and perhaps the training they received):

When the card was inserted, a different screen popped up on the computer than the one voters should have been using, Roberts said.

Problems were reported in El Cajon, Scripps Ranch, Del Mar, Golden Hill and other communities throughout the county, where about 10,000 touch screen machines were being used for the first time Tuesday, county officials said. [...]

"I hope the voters will be patient with our workers," Registrar Sally McPherson told KUSI. "The computers themselves are not down. This is a new process, but it will be fixed soon."

That list of affected area is quite generous. At last count the local radio station had calls from people in 15 separate areas.

Update Looks like they got everything fixed.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) |

March 01, 2004

Bush's New Buddy, Schröder

Bush and Schröder may have burried the axe over the last week, but that doesn't mean they're swapping spit in the showers, either:

When asked if Germany would contribute troops to a stabilizing force in Iraq, Schröder told the ABC News network's "This Week'' program, "Our resources are completely dedicated now to Afghanistan and in the Balkans, and therefore we are saying no.''

"We also are saying no to that question because there's no majority for that issue in the German parliament. That has something to do with the past, and I think that we would be overstretching if we did that,'' he added.

After his party received a crushing blow in the elections in Hamburg, Schröder is probably thinking he needs majority support in order to visit the bathroom, let alone for something as risky as committing troops to Iraq. Still, he should take a clue that the new party of power in Hamburg, the Christian Democrats, represent a rightward trend in his country. It seems the Germans aren't happy with what the lefties have been doing. Even Social Democrats see the writing on the wall:

"I seriously doubt if our party will be able to survive such losses," said the former minister. "In fact, I wonder if the SPD is still a party. It has lost its moral values. It no longer has any remarkable personalities. These days, the SPD is no more than a Kanzlerwahlverein (an association to elect a chancellor)."

And where did this "loss of moral values" take them?

Hamburg, once one of the best-run urban centers in Germany, eventually went into decline. Crime rates shot up. Anarchist squatters occupied entire streets. Graffiti became one of the trademarks of this city, arguably one of the most beautiful in Germany.

Immigration -- legal and illegal -- seemed to run out of control, at least in the eyes of Hamburg's citizens. Germans consider it not entirley coincidental that attacks on New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, were plotted by an Islamist cell in Hamburg.

Tell me again, how Bush's conservatism makes him the worst president in history?

Posted by bubba138 at 03:41 PM | Comments (0) |

All Over the World

San Francisco is breaking out all over the world:

ABOUT 50 men have been arrested in conservative Saudi Arabia for allegedly attending a gay wedding in the holy city of Medina, a daily newspaper reported.

The men, mostly expatriates, were being questioned by police after last week's raid, the English-language Arab News reported. They denied they were attending a gay wedding.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) |

More Bleak Jobs News

Neal Boortz points out how bleak the jobs market is:

• The peak unemployment rate during the recession that began in Clinton's term was 6.4 percent. The current unemployment rate is 5.6 percent.
• In the last year more than 2,000,000 new jobs have been added in the United States.
• Between 1983 and 2003 outsourcing went from 6.5 million jobs to about 10 million jobs.
• Between 1983 and 2002 jobs in-sourcing -- jobs coming TO the United States -- went from 2.5 million to 6.5 million.
• If you subtract the jobs coming to the United States every year from the jobs going out every year you come up with a "net" figure. The net outsourced jobs reached its peak in the early 1980's; a peak of about 4 million jobs. In other words, things were worse at the end of the Carter Administration then they are right now.
• During this same period ... from '83 to '03 a total of 38 million jobs have been created by private businesses in the United States. No other industrialized country in the world has matched this number.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) |

San Fran: It's a Nice Place to Visit But...

From the LA Times:

Kevin Shelley, the secretary of state and the busiest guy in California when the polls close Tuesday evening, took time last week to speak to the Los Angeles League of Women Voters at its launch of a get-out-the-youth-vote drive.

Under-30s are more inclined to go along with the idea of civil unions and same-sex marriages than their elders — with the possible exception of a certain waitress in Banning.

Shelley and his campaign manager, Eric Jaye, both heterosexually married men, were in Banning, conferring at a coffee shop, when the waitress chattily asked where they were from.

"San Francisco," they answered.

She hesitated, glanced at their wedding rings, and asked. "Y'all come down here for your honeymoon?"

Posted by bubba138 at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) |

A Letter to the Bush Bashers

Here's a good read that puts things in the right perspective:

In the two years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Lybia, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. We lost 600 soldiers, an average of 300 a year. Bush did all this abroad while not allowing another terrorist attack at home. Worst president in history? Come on!

Posted by bubba138 at 10:53 AM | Comments (0) |

Back of the Envelope

Donald's blog is all of one month old but he's already hitting the nail on the head. One reason Bush is going to win in a November landslide is because most of the nation knows what the liberals refuse to say out loud: the war in Iraq was not only the right thing to do, it was a good idea, too:

These are not the only reasons, however. Another reason, largely unstated, is that we are embarking on a mission to change the whole of the Middle East, and that could not happen with Saddam Hussein in the way. Contrary to what Edward Said would have had us believe, the biggest problems in the Middle East are not due to poverty and ignorance, but to tyranny and oppression. To deal with that, we have to bring democracy to the Middle East. Now, since a large number of people in the Middle East already want democracy, it's not as if we're forcing it upon them, but they are currently living under oppressive regimes who are uninterested in the idea, or use it just for show. See Iran's recent "election."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:46 AM | Comments (0) |

John Kerry, War Hero? - II

John Kerry has had a tremendous influence on the Vietnam vets and their families, just not in the direction he would hope:

As the kid of a real war hero who did not come back, I'd like to comment not on Kerry's service, but his postservice activities. Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Mr. Kerry's organization of choice when he returned from his shortened tour of duty in Vietnam (and his springboard to fame), was known to me even as a child. The organization, while providing a place for angst-ridden vets to land after coming home, had an awful effect on those of us who lost our fathers. It was bad enough to hear our dads criticized by those who hated the military, but to hear vets allege rampant war crimes and call their fellow soldiers evil before all the world really twisted the knife. Mr. Kerry led the way, proud in the company of Jane Fonda and others we believed had caused the deaths of good men. This group's testimony tarnished honorable actions. After taking the oath to preserve and protect, they grandstanded, throwing service awards in a show of defiance that diminished each sacrifice. Their stories dominated while the stories of thousands of honorable vets went untold. I don't hold it against them after so many years, but I'm dead sure I don't want their darling Kerry, the man who voted against funding our guys in Operation Iraqi Freedom, to be our next commander in chief.

John Kerry and his "Band of Brothers" might think he's got Vietnam vets on board, but that demographic may end up being the most united bloc of votes against him.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) |

Why Kerry?

Kerry is quickly running out of issues to use against Bush. Iraq has been a wild success by any legitimate standards. The economy is humming along. Jobs aren't popping but unemployment is a svelt 5.6%, which ain't bad. Bush's one real weakness is the fact that he spends more than we have. That could be a winner for Kerry, that is only if he were not planning on spending even more:

But a review of his campaign proposals shows that the Democratic front-runner is promising to spend at least $165 billion more on new programs during his first term in office than he could save with his tax plan, a mix of breaks for the middle class and increases for corporations and the most affluent. The $165 billion figure does not include the cost of several proposals Kerry has not fully detailed or backed with estimates.

The campaign defends Kerry by saying the plan's details are not fully fleshed out:

"When John Kerry outlines the full details of his budget -- both his proposed initiatives and the significant government waste and corporate giveaways he will get rid of -- it will be clear that his vision will reduce the Bush deficit and restore fiscal discipline," said Stephanie Cutter, a Kerry spokeswoman.

I am sure those "full details" will include a massive repeal of the Bush tax cuts. Kerry will say he is only going to repeal the cuts on the rich, but what worries me is his definition of rich.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) |