Kerry the Hawk

Via Political Wire:
Washington Whispers says Sen. John Kerry's campaign hopes "to portray the election as a 1960 redux between a hard-nosed Dem and an administration that talks tough but can't win the issue of the day -- missile gap then, terrorism now."
Putting Bush on the defensive on national security and foreign affairs is a good idea. During the 1980's, the Democrats tried to avoid defense issues and that didn't work out so well. There is also the additional benefit that the more Kerry attacks Bush's failure in the War On Terror, the less Bush can try and make Kerry look like a wimp. However, its worth pointing out a key difference between 2004 and 1960. The missile gap was non-existent, while Al Qeada's continued threat (unlike the danger of Iraqi WMD's) is very real.

Update: Kerry has called for the addition of 40,000 new troops to the army and a strengthening of the CIA. It looks like he's really serious about hitting Bush from the right on foreign policy. Combined with his war record, this new toughness on the part of John Kerry might really help him out among the so-called Reagan Democrats and other likeminded folks.

Damned Free Thinkers

Take a gander at Tom Tomorrow's second-newest This Modern World stirp, the "Yoosta Bee Democrats". It is particularly funny if you have followed the storied history of infamous party changers like the neoconservatives and the comic is an enormous hoof in the junk to all those oh-so-righteous ex-liberals.

"Logic" Watch

From the National Review's Corner (where else?):

John Kerry's take on Haiti from the Democrats' debate in NYC this morning: "This president always makes decisions late after things have happened that could have been different had the president made a different decision earlier," Kerry said. "I never would have allowed it to get out of control the way it did."

So if we're talking about a nation that supports international terror and the Islamo-Fascists who've killed thousands of Americans, President Bush is wrong (according to Kerry) for acting pre-emptively. But if it's a question of imposing a government on a nation that poses no threat to the US, then President Bush should have laid a little imperialism on Haiti a long time ago.

The Democrats' hypocrisy on Haiti vs. Iraq should be self-evident. Unfortunately, this story is being covered by CNN, who carefully avoid noticing hypocrisy on the Left whenever possible.

You might even say that Kerry's Hypocrisy! borders on Slander! or even Treason! Anyone who isn't an out and out pacifist-isolationist and refuses to stand forsquare with the President's Iraq policy is without a doubt nothing but a rank and cynical hypocrite driven only by political calculations. Speaking of which, it is absurd that Kerry was so gung-ho about pre-emptively treating his cancer before it spread and yet is so critical of the Administration's handling of Iraq. Why hasn't the liberal media picked up on this story? Perhaps its related to their multi-decade ketchup dishonesty.

Things Don't Look So Good For Edwards

An American Research Group poll has Edwards trailing John Kerry by a few points in some of the Southern Super Tuesday states and a Field Poll has John Edwards far behind Kerry in New York and Ohio. It seems like Edwards might recieve a serious drubbing on Tuesday, though like every candidate that looks like he's in trouble, he has vowed to fight on even if he loses in the upcoming primaries. I suspect that this is not the case, that if he loses badly enough on Tuesday Edwards will just throw in the towel. Even if Edwards does decide to keep going, which is possible since his political career might very well be over after all this, his chances of winning the nomination would be pretty much destroyed it would seem.

Source for Polling Data: Knight Ridder

Update: Another reason why Edwards should be our nominee and President: He appears to support substansive campaign finance reform. He doesn't just want to limit certain kinds of fundraising, but is willing to strike at the root of the problem, the high cost of campaigning, by requiring TV stations to provide federal candidates with free air time and beefing up the public finance system.

Good stuff

Allah Pundit and Wonkette have some hilarious (or at least moderately amusing) mock campaign slogans.

Update: While I am on the subject of good stuff, take a look at "Screwtape Proposes A Toast" by CS Lewis, its illuminating and clever.

Noted Without Comment

....an associate of [Mel Gibson's] had once told me, in lacerating detail, that an evening with Mel was one long fiesta of boring but graphic jokes about anal sex. I've since had that confirmed by other sources
- "Schlock, Yes; Awe, No; Fascism, Probably: The flogging Mel Gibson demands."
Christopher Hitchens

The Hijacking of Our Cuba Policy Continues

From the AP (via tacitus):

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush tightened U.S. travel restrictions against Cuba on Thursday, a move likely to strengthen his election-year standing in politically important Florida and heighten tensions with Fidel Castro's communist regime.

Castro's most ardent Cuban-American opponents represent a vital voting bloc in Florida, the state whose contested election results in 2000 gave the presidency to Bush. Since taking office, Bush has traveled 19 times to Florida, where his brother, Jeb, is governor.

The tightening of Cuban restrictions came on the same day that Bush rescinded a travel ban on Libya, a nation that was on the U.S. blacklist until it acknowledged responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. The United States moved toward better relations with Tripoli in December after Moammar Gadhafi renounced terrorism and development of weapons of mass destruction.

Our approach to Cuba is the foreign policy equivalent of argicultural subsidies. In both cases the policy in question is basically a failure and is acknowledged to be so by all honest observers, but since their is a powerful and single-minded group backing it the stupidity is almost certain to continue. Hopefully, demographics will be on the side of a sensible Cuba policy. Currently the Cuban Exiles have a lot of clout because they vote as a bloc and more importantly, they are basically a single-issue group in a crucial swing state, Florida. This may change in a few years as the population of non-Cuban Hispanics and other groups that lean heavily towards the Democrats will make Florida more solidly Democratic and less of a political battleground. Once the Exiles are emasculated politically we can begin to institute measures that will improve the lives of Cubans and actually do something to destabilize the Communists.

An end to Evil?

Perle Resigns
Richard Perle, a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration's national security policies, informed Rumsfeld more than two weeks ago he was quitting the Defense Policy Board. He confirmed the decision in a letter to the defense chief last Wednesday.
This may mark the end of war profiteer/neoconservative, Richard Perle's golden days. Maybe it could also be a sign of neoconservatism's decline, though probably not since Wolfowtiz and a host of other less important officals are still around.

That radical!

Kerry voted to disband the entire armed services and leave American defenseless! Well, not quite, or at all.

Greenspan Strikes Again, But Will Anyone Strike Back?

Greenspan: Trim Social Security

Greenspan let his inner Randian/Social Darwinist out yesterday and said that cuts in future Social Security benefits should be implemented soon. He based this claim on the need to give workers time to adjust their savings plans to accodomate smaller social security benefits. While, Greenspan raises a good (but painfully obvious point), that the sooner we come up with a solution for the impending social security squeeze, the better his comments don't make a lot of sense. In the first place, only a libertarian zealot would really think that the slightest increase in taxes would horribly damage the economy and that tax are automatically good for the economy, but thisseems to be just what Greenspan believes. From this false assumption, Greenspan is able to justify screwing over lower-income Americans (who would have the most to lose from cuts to Social Security benefits). However, what makes Allen Greenspan's comments really rich is that he is the same Fed Chairman that was so worried about projected budget surpluses in 2000 and 2001, that he supported the Bush tax cuts as way to defuse the "crisis". Funny how he didn't think it was time to address the social security problem then.

Oh yes, I am in full agreement with Hesoid that Greenspan should not be re-appointed next year. I doubt its politically feasible, but it would be great if someone would fire this HACK.

FMA's Author is a Buffoon

From Newsmax:

It's best for children to be raised in a two-parent household. That's what most researchers have discovered, and it's what Matt Daniels believes....

As he leads a conservative movement to define marriage as that only between a man and a woman, he says he's not driven by a disdain for gays. Instead, he wants children to have the kind of life growing up he was denied.

"The absence of my father from our family left us vulnerable …. My mother probably would not have slipped into a lifelong depression had she had another person to bear the burdens of raising a child," he told the Los Angeles Times.

I really don't understand this line of argument at all. How exactly do failed hetrosexual relationships require that the government be prevented from granting gay couples equal legal rights? This is the sort of logic they use on WBUH or in backwards regions such as the binational state of Patrickstan-Efghunistan.

However, Matt Daniels is not content to make one ridiculous statement per interview. As newsmax reports (and decides):

The amendment would not keep states from allowing same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships. Daniels said he believed that only such a broader amendment could be passed.

Doesn't bar civil unions, eh? Here is the full text of the Federal Marriage Amendment

Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.

Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

Hmmm, so the FMA doesn't just bar gay marriage, but "legal incidents thereof", the rights associated with marriage. Very interesting, since the whole point of civil unions is to provide these rights. The only reason why that provision against "the legal incidents" of marriage", would be to bar civil unions.

In light of these facts, Matt Daniels (and Judge Borke, the infamous pot smoker, for that matter) is either a buffoon or a liar, either way, he is not the sort of person you'd want rewriting the constitution.

Things That Don't Go Together

Nothing is quite as anti-establishment, underground or hardcore as embracing the political movement that controls every branch of American government with the full support of the corporate elite, at least not for the people behind conservativepunk.com. See, the idea of conservative punk rock is counter-intuitive , they have to be right. At conservativepunk.com you'll be able to find the finest pseudo-intellectual commentary available on the internet. Here is one shining example of the kind of writing you can expect:

The agenda of the Democratic liberal left in our country is now being propagated and dressed as an agenda of punk rock through a recently launched web site called punkvoter.com. Their pledged mission is to convince 500,000 of today's' youth into believing that the current administration poses a threat of an oppressive, monolithic state that will crush their cherished differences and impose strict conformity on the world. Their efforts to "educate" their audience about what is really going on is an educational farce consisting of unqualified teachers espousing vulgar versions of Marx, Freud, and Reich. They are contributing to and feeding a fire that if not dowsed could have serious consequences to the security and future of our country. Their doctrine is dangerous and being set forth into naive minds.

Rebellion against the center of society and its politics is nothing new to punk rock. The stakes, however, have become much higher than any other time then in the past. What happened on September 11, 2001 has forever changed the dynamic of not only our country, but our lives, and if not paid proper attention to, the politics and anti-politics of the young will become more and more dangerous to everyone and everything.

Whoa, that's pretty deep stuff, like a System of a Down lyric.

Just like the Corner, AndrewSullivan.com and every other conservative political site, they let their readers SPEAKOUT by e-mailing them and then selectively posting reader responses they like, such as this one:

When president Bush thinks of the people who support him as our leader, I wonder if he sees the 20 year old with a devilock and a pierced lip wearing a leather jacket and sporting patches of the punk bands who curse his name in their songs. I doubt it. Most people could never imagine a Republican punk rocker.

I often confuse the hell out of people who drive behind me and read my bumper stickers. Between the Misfits skull stickers, Dead Kennedys stickers, and the bumper stickers that read "Abortion stops a beating heart" and "I support Israel" or the "Bush/Cheney" sticker, I always see a lot of puzzled faces in my rear view mirror.

To summarize the above text, I'd just like to say "pay attention to meeeeeeeeeeeeee".

E-mails, I Post E-mails

I recieved this message today:

brian,
i regret to inform you that i have destroyed my laptop in crime of passion. i got pissed that the dvd drive wasnt working, so i uh, ripped it clean out of the computer. then to make matters worse, i shoved the broken drive back into the laptop, severing something i think. i had to send it in for repairs so its gonna be a while before i do any posting again. i have this shittty loaner and its carbon dated to before the rosetta stone. so heres a list of stuff that i have recently broken:
laptop
cell phone
punched a hole clear through my door back at my house
and other stuff i cant remember

This might explain the inactivity of certain members of the blogging team. Interesting if true.

Evasion Strategy

As everyone already knows, President bush has put the full force of his office behind the terrible Federal Marriage Amendment that would outlaw gay marriage and civil unions throughout the United States forever. So, what should the Democrats do about this? Some bloggers, like Atrios, have said that the Democrats ought to do the right thing and back gay marriage. There is something to this argument, but I am not sure if it is the best strategy.

The best thing the Democratic nomineed could do, in my view, would be to simaltenously side step the actuall gay marriage isssue while weaving the President's support of FMA into a broader attack on the Administration's extreme cynicism. Whenever the issue is discussed, the Democratic candidate ought to bring out all of Bush's (and Cheney's) quotes from 2000 where he talked about leaving the issue up to the states and then point out that the proposed amendment makes it impossible for States to decide the issue for themselves. Then the candidate should say how this flip-flop shows that the President's support of FMA is only a political move and his decision shows that he's in the pocket of the religious right. From here, the candidate can make an easy transition to the big issues, the issues that he wants to talk about. He can say that just as the President is controlled by the Christian Fundementalists in this department, he is dominated by the economic royalists when it comes to making economic policy and hardline idealogues (neocons) when it comes to foreign affairs. Now, the candidate can just lay into Bush for his major failures, the millions of missing jobs, the absence of allies in Iraq, the growing numbe of uninsured Americans, rising poverty, etc, etc.

This method isn't exactly courageous or inspiring, but it might be more effective. Though of course if cornered, the Democrats should say they favor "equal rights" or some other vague and nice sounding thing.

Soon to be a major motion picture

Apparently we might soon be blessed with "John Kerry: The Movie". George Butler, who made "Pumping Iron", is interested in making a film about Senator Kerry and has already bought the movie rights to Douglas Brinkley's book "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War. " Butler's movie would cover Kerry's service in Vietnam and his activities in the anti-war movemement and be out before the election.

Well, I suppose the film is a mixed blessing. The fact that Kerry is having a movie made about him, particularly if it is flattering one, will make the Right have a fit. They'll moan about liberal bias and holywood liberalism without stop, but then again they would have done this anyhow. More importantly, it would get Kerry a lot of free publicity (most of which I suspect would be positive), which would be very useful given the Democrats' fundraising deficit. Well played, Kerry, well played.

Fantasy

Frontpage magazine has an article with one of the most absurd versions of the Right's persecution fantasy. Here are some choice exceprts:

Remember the reaction when, in evaluating nutritional balance in the federally-subsidized public school lunch program, President Reagan's Administration said that "ketchup is a vegetable." The liberal press erupted with laughter and ridicule....

Since that time almost two decades ago, scientists have quietly reached a conclusion the liberal press writes little about. Eating tomato cooked into ketchup may actually carry more health benefit than eating a tomato fresh from the bush (or should we say, vine? Semantics can be so nit-picky.). The reason is a powerful anti-oxidant carotenoid in tomatoes called lycopene. This nutrient, it turns out, becomes much easier for the human digestive system to assimilate after it is subtly transformed by cooking. Your body takes in far more health-giving lycopene from ketchup than from a comparable amount of uncooked tomato.

The liberal press never apologized to President Reagan in the wake of this scientific finding. But these reporters applauded this week's announcement by H.J. Heinz Co. that by next January it would market nationwide a new green-colored ketchup designed to appeal to gross-out adults and thereby appeal to kids. So what if a 24-ounce squirt bottle of the stuff will cost 30 cents more than red ketchup! Ketchup is good for kids, the liberal media now quietly assumes, and this will prompt kids to eat more ketchup.

Usually someone is accused of being a crazy conspiracy theorist for saying that powerful forces are secretly manipulating important events. In someways, this article is crazier, maybe even a lot crazier, because it is obsessed with the media's coverage of KETCHUP. This might be the lamest charge of "liberal bias" I have ever seen.

Not Looking Too Good

Here are the poll numbers for the NY state primary:

Kerry 58%
Edwards 22%
Sharpton 9%
Other 7%
Undecided 4%

These results are only slightly better for Edwards than the findings of a nation-wide poll.

Credit Where Credit is Due

At long last David Brooks has written a good column. In his article, Brooks takes aim at a lot of the anti-immigrant, or more accurately, anti-Mexican immigrant talking points that are recycled by Samuel P. Huntington. The jist of Huntington's argument is that hispanic immigrants are somehow different from all previous ethnic and national groups that have immigrated to the United States and represent a new challenge to the American system, the "Hispanic Challenge" as Huntington calls it. Fortunately, the David Brooks dispatches it in his Times piece so I don't have to.

Am I a Dixiecrat?

According to the Yankee or Dixie test I appear to be "52% Dixie". Strange, just strange.

Those who raise 100,000 dollars for Bush are dubbed "Pioneers" and those that raise 200,000 are called "Rangers" by the Bush-Cheney Campaign. Now the Public Campaign Action Fund is holding a contest to name Bush supporters that pledge to raise $500,000. I am particularly fond of one of their suggestions, "Weapons of Mass Corruption". Yes, I am aware that name is a bit too clever and I could have gone either way-found it amusing or HATEd it, but I was feeling charitable.

PETA Is Stupid

Sorry PETA, the name sticks
The town of Slaughterville won't change its name, no matter what animal-rights activists think. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals proposed that the town, south of Norman in Cleveland County, change its name to Veggieville.

Now, I don't identify with PETA's goals, but was this really the best way of advancing the cause of animal rights, by harassing a town called Slaughterville? It wasn't like the town's name was somehow directly harming animals. There was absolutely no way Slaughterville or any self-respecting municipality would change its name to Veggieville. There effort was a complete waste and any activist group that can't think of a better use of its time ought to disband immediately and its members ought to be punished severly.

Oh yes and for the record, I wish my town had a name as cool as "Slaughterville". Maybe I'll bring it up at the next meeting of the village board. Man, when I tell people I come from "Killton" or "Deathberg" I am sure they'll respect me at long last.

Going to get him?

Cornering the "Biggest Evil"
Papers predict the imminent capture of Osama Bin Laden.
They have said the same thing before, so it is possible this could be nothing.

Sexy Safire

Safire's column today is a real hunk of junk. Here screeches about Democratic protectionist, but completely looks over George W. Bush's own refusal to live up to his free trade rhetoric. If you will pardon my hyperbole, at every turn, this administration has done its best to thwart free trade. Remember, the President illegally increased the tariff on imported steel, reduced the Canadian lumber quota and signed a horrendous farm bill. The Republican party has never really cared about further integration into the global economy, the last Republican President to pass a multilateral trade agreement was Eisenhower What has John Edwards done to hurt the open economy? Given some speeches lamenting the loss of manufacturing jobs? And Kerry, what has he done wrong? Voted for NAFTA? Yet somehow they deserve all of Safire's righteous anger while his boy toy escapes unharmed. I've said it once and I'll said again, Safire needs to get fired, right after David Brooks.

Book of the Week

Hopefully people will look back on Mr. Podhortez's mash note to the President as the political equiavelent of Dow 36,000.

A Recommendation

I'd like to suggest that everyone check out The Decembrist, a weblog published by Mark Schmitt, Director of Policy and Research at the Open Society Institute. The Decembrist doesn't have that many instant response posts abotu current events, but Schmitt writes about the big picture with a thoughtfullness you won't find in many other places.

Stops this man before he kills again!

Bush and his wife, Laura, went along with a veterinarian's recommendation to put Spotty ? as the longtime Bush family pet was known ? to sleep on Saturday, according to White House spokesman Allen Abney. She had suffered a series of strokes recently, including one this week, he said. -AP

Putting the dog to sleep on the vet's advise? Yeah, that's a likely story, but who exactly is this vet? Why isn't he named in the wire story? I suspect that this vet is either made up or some kind of political appointee/partisan hack. Untill Bush releases all the documents related to "Spotty", then I have no choice but to suspect the wost: George W. Bush had his own dog murdered for reasons yet to be determined.

On a Mission From God

Some good news:

'Ten Commandments judge' won't rule out challenge to Bush
Ousted Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore is focused on trying to get his job back but will not rule out a third-party run for the presidency that could threaten President Bush's re-election chances.

Evangelicals frustrated by Bush
President Bush left several million evangelical voters "on the table" four years ago and again is having trouble energizing Christian conservatives, prominent leaders on the religious right say.
"It's not just economic conservatives upset by runaway federal spending that he's having trouble with. I think his biggest problem will be social conservatives who are not motivated to work for the ticket and to ensure their fellow Christians get to the polling booth," said Robert H. Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute.

As I wrote earlier, the Democrats have a real chance to rob Bush of some fundementalist votes if they play their cards right. The fact that Roy Moore might run for President makes the odds of this even better. We wouldn't have to simply rely on the Christian Right's discontent with and lack of enthusiasm for Bush. A dynamic third party campaign could take even more votes away by providing an attractive alternative for evangelicals.

Screw the Fed

Though it is rarely talked about, monetary policy has a tremendous impact on the economy. It is strange then that we allow an unelected body, whose members have long terms, the Federal Reserve, to have total control over it. I understand the logic of having an independent central bank, that it insulates policymaking from "politics", but that is a little crazy. I mean, if monetary policy is important enough to isolate from politics than almost everything else is, too. Why let elected officials draw up the federal budget when it can be done by a crack team of accounts, economists and other experts? The reason is because one of the main points of democracy is the ability for the people to punish or reward (mainly punish) members of the government. My allowing the fed to be independent, we are putting a huge amount of power in the hands of a very small group of people that does not reflect the general will. Those responsible for making important decisions ought to have to answer to the people, not just in a bi-annual meeting with congress, but at polls. I think that the Federal Reserve ought to be stripped of its autonomy and put under the direct control of the President. Some may argue that the President will use this power to their political advantage, which is true. Fortunately, this means that things will work both ways. The President's management of the economy can be evaluated by the voters and he can be held accountable. Besides, the Fed might not be all that apolitical in the first place. As Hesoid has noted, the Federal Reserve has conveniently cut interest rates when it was politically advantageous for Republican Presidents and raised them when it would be harmful for the Democrats. Furthermore, Allen Greenpsan is certainly a political man. He's a Randian at heart and I suspect has a rather libertarian outlook that is not shared by the majority of Americans. He has also consisently helped the Bush Administration push its economic agenda (tax cuts for the wealthy), then loudly complained about the consequences, deficits and demanded cuts to social programs in response. Rather than allow a political agendas to be advanced covertly under the cover of impartiality, we ought to put the Fed under the control of the President in the name of democracy and transparency.

The Face of the Apocalypse

Nader to Jump in Presidential Race
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate who ran for president in 2000 as a Green Party candidate, will enter the 2004 race for the White House as an independent candidate, advisers told Fox News on Friday. A formal announcement by Nader is expected this weekend.

Bias

I was looking at the front page of the New York Times today and it seems to me like they are really trying to push Edwards at this point. Even though yesterday was when Kerry recieved the AFL-CIO endorsement, which was probably the biggest thing to happen politically that day, that story was not mentioned at all on the front page. Instead, the Times ran about Edwards campaigning in New York. Not only that, but it ran an enormous picture of John Edwards, surrounded by dozens of reporters who are all focused on him. I can't really guess at the Times' motives here, but I'd like to speculate that this its coverage was not driven so much by an anti-Kerry bias, but a desire to talk about something new. Since Iowa, Kerry has been the political story for nearly a month and I suspect that the press is looking for a new narrative. By puffing Kerry, the Media also make the primaries more of a story, which is also good for them.

The Rotten Truth

Via Rotten.com and the Chin:

Republican congressman alleged horndog

Speaker of the House Larry Adair, D-Stilwell, confirmed in a telephone interview with the Enid News & Eagle Friday morning that Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Enid, is the state lawmaker being investigated by Oklahoma City police on a sexual battery complaint......

O’Neal is author of “Defense of Marriage Act,” legislation that proposes a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
He also introduced a bill in January 2003 limiting the use of incompatibility as a reason for divorce.

Remember, no matter how boorishly a Republican politician behaves, they are still pro-family because they don't like gay people or something.

More Rumors

Not to gaze into the distant future, but it looks like the Democrats could be facing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in 2008. It is rumored that Frist feels that has "nothing left to prove" (though I don't recall Frisk exactly racking up legislative accomplishments as Majority Leader) in the Senate. Frist is one of the few people whose humiliation I'd enjoy almost as much as George W's. Why?



That's why.*


*Yes, this is the second time I ran this picture in a month, but it truly is priceless. If I ever ran against Frist, I'd just wave his damn geneology from morning 'till night, me bein' 'jess plain folks 'en all.

Compassionate Conservatism

Hospitals Urged to Cut Uninsureds' Costs

The government on Thursday urged hospitals to cut charges for uninsured patients, rejecting hospitals' argument that they are constrained by federal rules.

Grand, rather than do something the Government asks for Hospitals to charge less. Well, I am sure that is going to work. Many hospitals are for-profit businesses and even the non-proift ones have no interest in losing money. Needless to say, the Hospitals have declined to follow the government's advice. This is like trying to eliminate poverty by asking businesses to raise wages and expand payrolls.

Failing to SUPPORT THE TROOPS

Armored Humvees are in short supply

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle was designed to replace the Jeep. It can roll through neck-deep water and scale harrowing grade, according to AM General of South Bend, Ind., which makes it. But its body panels are thin sheets of fiberglass and aluminum. They offer little protection from the jury-rigged mines, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles typically used against occupation forces....

One Pennsylvania Army National Guard officer in relatively calm Bosnia saw about 600 armored Humvees being used for patrols this spring and about 200 more just sitting around. He was so upset that he wrote the Army Times last month and complained that failing to move them to Iraq "bordered on negligence."

There really ought to be a bigger deal being made about this, by the Press, by Congress, by everyone. We have a $400 Billion military, but we can't even properly equip units on the frontline and the new budget doesn't even include any money for Humvee armor kits. There is absolutely no excuse for the failure to properly supply our forces in Iraq.

Nail In the Coffin

As I mentioned early on the blog, conservatives have been trashing Kerry for his anti-war activities following his return from Vietnam. Specifically, many have either tried to say he attacked the soldiers that served in the war in his congressional testimony (a charge was torn apart by the B of P and more reputable new outlets) and dishonored them by associating with Jane Fonda. Well, now Counterspin Central has effectively destroyed the Fonda related claims. As Hesiod writes on in this post:

Jane Fonda made her infamous trip to Hanoi in 1972.

John Kerry LEFT Vietnam Veterans Against the War by the end of 1971 to run for Congress.

In other words, Kerry was no longer active in the anti-war movement by the time Fonda went nuts and took a flight to Hanoi. So, if he appeared at an anti-war rally with her in 1970, who gives a fuck? What relevance does that have to what she did two years later? How does that, in any way, suggest that Kerry endorsed or condoned her actions in 1972?

That's like saying someone who went to a dinner party with Lee Harvey Oswald in 1961 where he expressed strong anti-Kennedy political views, either condoned or endorsed Oswald's assassination of John F. Kennedy two years later!

In fact, Kerry expressed strong disagreement with what Jane Fonda did AT THE TIME SHE DID IT.

It is strange that such an important fact could have been hiding in plain sight for so long.

The Cleverness of the Corner

WOW--THE IRANIAN MULLAHS ARE EVEN WORSE THAN ASHCROFT! [KJL]
Who knew it was possible? (Newspapers get shut down for criticizing Mr. Reformer.)
Posted at 01:23 PM

It seems they are setting the bar just a bit too low there.

I think it's stupid.

The Washington Post had a feature where readers sent in letters for Peggy Noonan to answer: Here is one of the exchanges that got my goat and really made Noonan sound like a class A buffoon:

Kansas City, Mo.: Excuse me? "Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man." He used connections to bypass 500 others to get in the Guard, his father's friends helped him in the oil and baseball business, and he's in the White House thanks to people his dad appointed. So how is that average? Sounds a lot more like the triumph of the well-connected American man.

Peggy Noonan: Put your resentment away for a second and consider this. There's a funny thing about Bush. He started life with all the advantages -- parents, security, standing. And yet I have noticed there is about him the lack of smoothness, and the chippiness, of one who is self made. He's not like some smooth countryclub entitlement baby, he's rougher and less...lemonade on the porch in Greenwhich-y. I think it's Texas. What do you think?

She baiscally acknowledges that Bush is a member of the American elite, but since he is an uncouth jerk he is really jus' plain folks. In the first place, that seems to be an insult to plain folks, equating being ordinary with being an absolute boob. There is also some interesting logic at work here. Noonan's reasoning suggests that image is the same as a identity and that the truth is entirely irrelevent, which does not strike me as the best philosophy for a quasi-journalist to have.

Howard's End

Dean to Leave Race, Mobilize Supporters

After coming in a distant third in Wisconsin, Governor Dean has dropped out of the primaries. He plans to "launch a new 'campaign for change' within the Democratic Party to keep his issues" alive and his supporters organized". I wouldn't take that
claim too seriously, though. Jerry "The Zen Fascist" Brown and his followers said they were going to do the same thing after Clinton became the nominee apparent and look what happened there. I don't feel like pontificating about the Dean campaign as I already did that a few weeks ago and other commentators are probably doing it as I type.

A Sampling of the Press' Reaction to Wisconsin

Edwards Proves His Point With a Strong Late Surge -NY Times

Democratic Presidential Race Down to Two -AP

Edwards Says Campaign Is Going National -AP

Chink in Kerry's Armor-ABC News

It looks like Edwards might finally be getting the attention he deserves, though he will have a hard time stopping Kerry now. Daily Kos is predicting that Edwards will need to pick up Georgia, Ohio and New York (Kos thinks Edwards might be able to win upstate vote and thereby carry NY).

Noice

With 30% of the precincts reporting in, it is:
Kerry 39%
Edwards 37%
Dean 18%
Kucincich 3%
Clark 2%
Sharpton 1%

Here is how CNN is describing it:
The Wisconsin primary is too close to call with Sen. John Edwards putting up a stronger than expected showing against Sen. John Kerry, according to exit polls.

Update: Edwards is not doing as well as I have hoped. Now it is Kerry 40% and Edwards 34%.

Exit Polls

The returns haven't started to come in yet, but here are some exit polls while you wait:

John Kerry 41
John Edwards 33
Howard Dean 17
-Wonkette

KERRY 42%, EDWARDS 31%, DEAN 15%...-Matt Drudge

If these numbers are accurate, than it is good news for Edwards. The question is, is it good enough? Edwards has been doing supirsingly well during the primaries, yet he has still be starved of media coverage compared to other Democratic candidates. Then again, the way the press cover Democrats, perhaps that is a good thing.

Kentucky Fried Victory

Here are the results of the Kentucky 6th congressional district's special election:

US Congress - 6th - Districtwide (98 % of precincts reporting)

candidate votes % votes
Kerr-R 65,721 43.6
Chandler-D 82,419 54.6
Gailey-L 2,769 1.8

Not only was the Republican candidate crushed, but even more importantly, they were crushed in a Southern state and in a Republican district. Not only that, but Kerr actually declined George W. Bush's offer to help because she was afraid it would hurt her. The Democrats might not need a non-southern strategy after all.

Accidents Happen

Warning over clingfilm 'condoms'Cash-strapped teenagers are using clingfilm and crisp packets as condoms because they cannot afford the real thing, say experts.

Sexual health experts say these improvised contraceptives not only do not work - but do not offer protection against disease

0 man, homemade birth control=bad news.

Tom's Double Life

Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people...-NY Times

As a result of the bug, several authors were exposed reviewing their own books anonymously over Amazon and giving themselves good ratings to boost sales. The glitch also revealed that a shocking 87% of negative reviews on Amazon were penned by one Thomas Q. Taxter. Given the large number of books we're talking about here, it is highly unlikely that Tom has even read a fraction of the ones he has reviewed. It is quite unfair then that he has written such harsh comments as "this book is a betrayl of all that is good and beautiful, its author ought to get cancer and die" and called writers of positive reviews "little toads" and "mental defectives". This incident suggests that Messr. Taxter might be nothing more than a mean spirit crank and not the high minded defender of the public discourse he makes himself out to be.

Unsmooth Move

Bush Touts Tax Cuts As Economic Fix
What is George W. Bush thinking? Is this really the best he can do? He's getting hammered round the clock by the Democratic candidates, his State of the Union Speech was a bomb, he's losing to Kerry in some polls and his approval rating is hitting record lows, so he tries to sell the supply side snake oil again. Bush's record on the economy is uniquely awful and his tax cuts were never popular. I don't undestand how drawing attention to one of your more vulnerable points can ever be a good move politically. It isn't like Bush has anything new to say about economic policy, he still flogging the same tired horse. The Presiden'ts message today essentially the same one he started out with in 1999. It wasn't popular then and it really isn't going to do the job now after all its terrible consequences have become clear.

The End of the Affair (Rumors)?

Woman Denies Rumors of Kerry Affair

Alexandra Polier, the AP reporter who was rumored to have had an affair with John Kerry has now officially denied ever doing such a thing. Now that Kerry and Polier have both rejected these claims, will the story die? Unless any new "bombshell" emerges, I suspect so. Not even GOP chairman Ed Gillespie has accused Kerry with adultery and without the support of any Republican heavyweights, these allegations are almost certain to disappear. Perhaps he learned something from the 90's.

Kerry's Wild Years

An old interview with the Harvard Crimson has provided another opportunity for conservatives to discuss Kerry's "radical" past. This seems pretty overblown to me, nothing he says in the interview is all that radical. It isn't like he was advocating the violent overthrow of the government or anything. He does come out in favor of a negative income tax, full employment through "economic controls" and reductions in defense spending, which were certainly "leftist" posistions, but still within the mainstream of American politics. After all, Nixon proposed something along the lines of a negative income tax with his Family Assitance Plan, Nixon also instituted wage and price controls to keep unemployment low for the 1972 election and defense spending did in fact fall after Vietnam. More importantly, Kerry was quite young when the Crimson article was written and it doesn't seem all that reasonable to expect someone to hold exactly the same or even similar views over several decades. His posistions as a Senator seem fair game, but jumping all over John Kerry for things he said in 1970 is ridiculous.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaader!

Nader Expected To Run
So, Ralph Nader might run again in 2004. Not even the Green Party will have him, so he is going to be running as an independent. Perhaps Kerry will to better than Gore did and Nader won't have the chance to throw the election to Bush, but there is always the danger of that happening. Even after enormous tax cuts, spectacular job losses and a pre-emtive war, he still must believe that there is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. The vanity of this man is truly astounding.

Club for Failure

The Club for Growth seems to represent the fanatical lemming wing of the GOP. First it ran ads agains Howard Dean before Iowa, even though Dean was the candidate the Republicans "wanted" to run against. Now they are trying to replace Senator Arlen Specter with a more conservative primary challenger. To the Club for Growth, Specter is a RINO (a Republican In Name Only) and so they have created an ad that compares him to John Kerry. Knocking out Specter seems like a really bad plan is probably counter to the interests of the Republicans. Pennsylvania is a swing state, but it leans Democratic, it went for Gore in 2000 and has a Democratic Governor. Replacing a moderate republican senator with some wingnut will most likely cost the Republican party Specter's senate seat and given the party's small majority, it might even cost them control of the Senate. If this comes to pass, the Naderites of the Right at the Club for Growth deserve the thanks of every loyal Democrat.

Dismembering The Truth in a Fashion Reminiscent of Genghis Khan

On the cover of this week's National Review promoted an article "The senator's other vietnam war record". The cover consisted of a picture of John Kerry testifying to the Senate as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the following quote from Kerry:

"American soldiers 'raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, ... cut off limbs, ... randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside...'"

Through the magic of ellipses, the National Review makes it seem like Kerry was coming out and making these accusastions on his own, which would make it seem like John Kerry was slandering everyone else who had fought in Vietnam. As The New Republic points out, this is not the case. Kerry is basing his comments on the unofficial "Winter Soldier Investigation", which collected the testimony of other veterans. Even the National Review essentially recognizes the dishonesty of the quote used on the cover. In his article "Kerry vs. Vietnam Vets", Rich Lowry (Editor & UberHack) includes the full quote and then attacks Kerry for relying on the Winter Soldier Investigation (which turned out to be grossly inaccurate), rather than for his actual comments. This is pretty unfair of Lowry, because it is pretty clear that in this case Kerry was A VICTIM OF BAD INTELLIGENCE, much like another man running for President, except no one died from Kerry's faulty intel. For Kerry to really have "dishonored" the Vets, he would have to have known that Winter Solider report was trash, something Lowry does not even attempt verify in his piece.

This isn't really related to the above discussion about Kerry's testimony before congress, but it still irks me. In the article, Lowry proves that the Vietnam War was a good idea with this aside:

Kerry wasn't just wrong about the vets, he was wrong about the big picture, too. He called Vietnam a "mystical war against communism." Given the massive aid to the North Vietnamese from the Soviets and Chinese, it was clearly a very real war against communism. "We cannot fight communism all over the world," Kerry declared. But in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan fought communism in hot spots all over the globe and won the Cold War.

I am astounded that this clown could even write something like this. He mentions Soviet aid to Vietnam like it is some sort of silver bullet, like it is an often ignored fact that completely obliterates any and all arguments against the Vietnam war. The Russians gave lots of different countries lots of money. I believe India and Egypt also recieved Soviet assistance, so perhaps we should have fought a fruitless war against them as well, because by Lowry's logic, WE'D BE FIGHTING COMMUNISM ALL OVER THE GLOBE! or something like that. The next time Lowry wants to take a posistion on an issue that is wrong...er...stupid...I mean, not the same as mine, he ought to have an argument slightly better than that.

Anyhow, I thought it would be worthwile to knock down this whole Kerry "betrayed" the Vets foolishness right from the start. There is no doubt we'll hear it from now untill the election.

Underpowered Howard

Dean Prepares To Stand Down

The rumors that Dean is going to drop out if he is defeated in Wisconsin are circulating again. Earlier, the campaign had sent out an e-mail which said as much, but Dean then denied that he was really going to throw in the towel if he lost in Wisconsin. Now his aides are advising him to do just that and his new campaign manager, Roy Neel, his refusing to dispute the story.

Well, if Dean drops out, I think it is all over or almost all over. Unless the rumors of Kerry's infidelity gain some serious traction, then Edwards is likely to get creamed by Kerry. Kerry has money, momentum, endorsements and name recognition on his side. Dean's recent attacks on Senator Kerry, which some think were meant to soften him up for Edwards, have had little impact. Even worse for John Edwards, it seems less and less likely that Kerry will pick him for his VP. Since Edwards has refused to run for re-election to the Senate, his political career could be over, at least for awhile. An early end to Edwards' career would be a real shame as well. He is an asset to his party, he's charming, eloquent, intelligent and has a message that could set a fire under any liberal and appeal to moderates as well. It would be an awful waste if he burned out this early.

Arts and Leisure

Today I watched the movie "Z" on a DVD kindly loaned to me by the infamous Nicholas T. It was really good, far better than the usual drek. It is about the assassination of a Greek politician and disarmerment activist and the ensuing investigation. Anyone with with the chance should go out and see this movie, it is time well spent. Don't take my word for it either, rottentomatoes.com gives it an 84% fresh rating and it comes with the strong recommendation of one Infamous Nick T, natural-E.

It has legs...

From the Philadelphia Daily News and wire service sources:

A global media scrum descended on the Chester County suburb of Malvern yesterday because of a furor over a rumored romantic link between a 1995 Great Valley High School grad and presidential hopeful John Kerry.
Well, I hope these rumors turn out to be baseless and if they aren't, that Edwards is able to destroy Kerry in the very near future and save the Democrats the trouble of such a compromised nominee. The chances of these allegations being garbage is pretty good. The original source of all of this is Matt Drudge and they hit soon after the Bush-AWOL scandal. Perhaps it is all an attempt to slime Kerry while Bush is getting raked over the coals.

"Libertarian" is just another word for "nerd"

Eric Raymond of the "Armed and Dangerous" Weblog writes:

I'm an individualist anarchist. In most peoples' books that would qualify me as a "doctrinaire libertarian". I got reminded why recently by watching a Babylon 5 episode, the 4th-season one in which Sheridan is interrogated by an EarthGov psychologist who uses torture, isolation, and drugs, to try and break him. But more frightening than the torture is the ideology that comes out of the interrogator's mouth; the command that truth is fluid and must bend to power; the disingenuous disclaimers of any responsibility for the hell Sheridan is being put through; and beneath it all like a constant drumbeat, the seductive invitation that if Sheridan will just surrender his will to the State, his pain will end.

Well, I am glad that his political philosophy is so heavily influenced by a syndicated television. I mean, the only basis for your political beliefs better than a 3rd rate sci-fi show is the internet or maybe drugstore paperbacks.

Refighting Vietnam

Lately many conservatives, or at least most of the conservatives writers that I read on a regular basis, have begun to harp on John Kerry's opposistion to the Vietnam War (Kerry was a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War). One the sleaziest and most intellectually lazy aspects of this trend is to bring up JANE FONDA, the Benedict Arnold of our times. Someone has even gone as far as to fabricate a picture of the two together and much hay has been made out of another photograph of Fonda with Kerry in the backround. Honestly, this is just ridiculous. Let's be entirely clear, if women can be tools, then Jane Fonda is one. However, bringing Jane Fonda into this is just a distraction. It is an attempt to cloud the issue with culture war nonsense, but this isn't Janet Jackson's tit or Roy Moore's idol, this is serious. The only reason why the whole guilt by association with Jane Fonda ploy is being used is because the Right (and for a long time, much of the American establishment) was completely wrong about Vietnam. So rather than try and defend a disasterous war that wasted countless lives, the conservatives would rather talk about how Jane Fonda hates America and how Kerry's courage in battle is outweighed by the disrespect he paid other Vietnam veterans by trying to end that pointless war. Speaking of guilt by association, I'd just like to point out that Vietnam hawks were in lockstep with degenerates like Nixon, Kissinger and Calley.

YAY!

Good Deal

CBS pulls Medicare ad pending review
The TV ad meant to advertise the new perscription drug benefit, which was considered by some to be nothing more than a taxpayer funded campaign ad for the President is under being looked into by the General Accouting Office, the investigative branch of Congress. CBS, which had previously turned down MoveOn.org's superbowl advertisement, has somewhat made up for that decision by refusing to air the Medicare ad untill it is vetted by the GAO. Quite fair and balanced of them, really.

Matt Druge has run an item suggesting that Kerry might have a "bimbo erruption" of his own in the near future. At least part of it, though, is based on potentially faulty information. In the story he writes:

In an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark plainly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue." [Three reporters in attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments.]

Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since Clark is suppose to endorse Kerry officially on Tuesday.

New Sources For Political News

Teagan Goddard's Political Wire has a new feature known as the "Political News Aggregator".

And...

The Knight Ridder news service has a campaign 2004 weblog.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

From Robert Novak's column:

A footnote: Supporters of Rep. Richard Gephardt's abandoned presidential campaign have started pushing the former House Democratic leader for vice president. A Kerry-Gephardt ticket would pursue a non-Southern strategy, with Gephardt counted on to bring in his own state of Missouri and also help in industrial states.

A successful Kerry-Gephardt ticket would certainly would be a black eye for, to use a phrase of Novak's, the "patriotic and conservative White South". I am not sure if this would have any real political significance, but it would be satisfying to see the self-importance of the South take a hit. Zell Miller and the rest have long been lecturing the Democrats on the need to win the South and that if they feel to sufficiently pander to the South, they can write off the election. That alone makes a Kerry-Gephardt paternership attractive.

Clark Is Out

Clark to quit U.S. presidential campaign
Well, that's too bad. After his intial surge in polls when he announced, Clark never caught on. Then again, he still has done much better than former "frontrunner" Howard Dean. Perhaps Governor Dean will bow out soon, now that a more successful candidate has given in or maybe now he thinks he has a better shot at winning with a rival (and the only other anti-war candidate) gone. Clark's withdrawl probably helps Edwards, since they were fighting for the same voters, but its not likely that it will help him enough to stop Kerry.

Local News

I was watching the local 10 O'clock new on UPN and was kind of impressed. Political coverage was given slightly more time than the weather, which is pretty unusual. For the President, no political news is good news, especially with the stories about his draft dodging (which is damaging regardless of whether or not he was AWOL while in the National Guard) getting picked up by the main stream press. It seems that the character hits get more attention than policy disagreements. Which makes sense, I mean, Maureen Dowd has been telling us for years that policies and facts are booooooring and we should instead focus on something juicy, like SEX or maybe some pop culture refrences. The AWOL charge falls short of this, but it is something that peopel seem to grasp more readily than the economic effects of a budget deficit. If these keeps up he could be in real trouble.

Indians for Bush

From the Times of India:

President Bush and his administration have reiterated their commitment to free trade , including explicitly backing the idea of outsourcing to countries such as India...

Specifically referring to India as an example of an outsourcing destination, the Bush report says "when a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than to make or provide it domestically."

With that commitment, the Bush administration has effectively thrown its weight behind outsourcing at a time when the several Democratic contenders and sections of the media are beating up on the idea in the face of economic troubles and due to election posturing.

I really don't have a problem with outsourcing or free trade, but the fact that the White House doesn't care about the people that get screwed by free trade is shamefull. There were provisions made in NAFTA to compensate workers who had lost their jobs, I don't see why something similar couldn't be done now. C'mon, George, where is that compassion of yours I have heard so much about?

Excellent Public Diplomacy

Chile's UN phones 'were tapped'

Technicians inspecting the telephones found they had been tampered with, Juan Gabriel Valdes said in an interview.

At the time, Chile was one of several countries seen as undecided on whether to back a proposed resolution sanctioning the use of force in Iraq.

UK media reports at the time alleged the US was monitoring communications from envoys from those countries.

Its things like this that make our allies not trust us. Why is Bush willing to trade long term damage to our credibility and image abroad for short term, almost meaningless successes? I blame the Neo Cons!

Election Results

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting in Virginia, Kerry was winning about 52 percent of the vote. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was getting about 27 percent, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who was raised in Arkansas, is a distant third with 9 percent.

In Tennessee, with 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Kerry is winning with 41 percent of the vote, followed by Edwards with 26 percent and Clark with 23 percent. (Analysis of results)

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio are trailing far behind in single digits in both states.

-CNN

Now "They" are saying Clark is on his way out. The General recently cancelled a fundraiser, his schedule shows no campaign events after today and he referred to his campaign in the past tense. Then again, this could all be the work of certain people interested in forcing Clark out early, perhaps from rival campaigns. Well, not really, but things are more fun when you see a conspiracy behind them.

Via News Max

The former Soviet leader who went head to head with Ronald Reagan is taking the concept of intellectual property to a new place.

After a Russian vodka company started putting Mikhail Gorbachev's forehead birthmark on its bottle labels, the ex-premier moved to copyright the famous port wine stain himself.

False Finish

Dean Will Stay In Race Past Wisconsin

Earlier Dean said he would be out of the race if he lost Wisconsin. I guess he's going to try and ride this thing out. Some think it could lead to a brokered convention, other are betting it will ensure Kerry's victory. Honestly, I am not sure what it will mean.

more e-mails...

I got this fascinating message the other day:

Hey guys, I just finished my newest rap. Word. LOL! I think it'll be my funniest yet. Man, that whole white guy who is really into hip hop thing NEVER gets old. You can catch my new skit at morning meeting or maybe the next coffee house. It'll be a laugh riot, it is very ironic. Anyway, TTYL. Yeah touring talent!

The author claims to be "Nathan", though I can't verify this. You can draw your own conclusions.

The Corner Gets THE FEAR

And all the more important, therefore, to push, pull and nag GWB to be the best candidate he can be, and to squawk when he turns in a lackluster performance like yesterday's. For goodness' sake, none of Russert's questions was a surprise. W's had months to prep for them -- in some cases, years. He should be able to rattle off coherent answers, in sentences each of which has a subject, verb and object, while practicing his golf swing. If he can't, that is a species of incapacity, and WE CAN'T AFFORD INCAPACITY IN GWB.

You say that you grumbled about his performance skills in 2000, doubting he could best Al Gore, yet look!--he trounced Gore. Well, no he didn't. He squeaked a narrow victory on a technicality. And that was in the days before Bush-hating was a billion-dollar industry, with the weight of Hollywood, TV, etc. behind it.-John Derbyshire

A Bit Dated, But Still Important

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) stunned friends and foes Monday by saying he planned to evacuate almost all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).

"I have given the order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," the right-wing prime minister told the Haaretz newspaper. "I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza."

Sharon, once considered the godfather of the settlement movement, later told his pro-settler Likud party the proposal he will take to Washington later this month would also call for the removal of a smaller number of Jewish enclaves in the West Bank.

Excellent stuff. The settlements were flat out immoral, a strategic liability and an irritant for the Palestinians and it is great that Sharon is getting rid of the ones in Gaza. Obviously its not full withdrawl (many settlements in the West Bank will remain intact for now), but it is a big deal. It is good to see that Sharon is willing to do more than just bang his head against the wall and experiment a bit.

Hitchens likes Edwards

From his latest article in Slate:

A couple of years ago I wrote a profile of Sen. John Edwards for Vanity Fair and decided that he is a good man who is in politics for good reasons. He voted for the essential measures on Iraq, but has also made some trenchant criticisms of the Homeland Security farce. I'd add to this that he has since—unlike Joseph Lieberman, say—given up his very promising Senate career in order to run. I leave to you the calculations about his Southern roots, his trial-lawyer connections, and all the rest of it, except to say that he earned his money from fighting large and negligent corporations rather than from fawning on them.

This was the only Democrat running for President Christopher Hitchens didn't brutalize his his "Fighting Words" column. Then again, a lot of his criticims were just completely unfair and way over the top. For example, he wrote the below nonsens about Howard Dean:

Think of all the money he raised and squandered: It would have been far better spent donated to the reconstruction of Iraq. His entire campaign was, to borrow one of his sillier slogans, a distraction from the hunt for al-Qaida.

Dean Pankassed by Public Employees

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have withdrawn their support of Howard Dean and with that another component of the once mean Dean Machine has come flying off, injuring several technicians in the process. As the AP says:

"The defection denies Dean valuable organizers, money and political contacts at the worst possible time: The one-time front-runner is fighting for his political life after going winless in the first spate of primary season contests."

Perhaps it is time for Dean to quit while he's behind, endorse Edwards* (c'mon, he's a cool dude and everybody likes Edwards) and bequeath his formerly formidable operation to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Via Political Wire

*Yes, I realize that Kerry is becoming "inevitable", but I can still root for this eloquent happy warrior.

Losers.org

100 Men in NYC Seek Right to Wear Skirts

About 100 men in minis, midis and even tutus took to the streets of Manhattan to call for an end to the tyranny of trousers.

"We're not transvestites, homosexuals or cross-dressers," David Johnson told the New York Times for Sunday editions. "We don't want you to call us Jean or Sally. We're men. Men who want the right to wear a skirt."

No, you are just a bunch of tools that want attention. Sorry, guys, but the skirt angle just isn't working, unless you are considering walking into the sea in a great beautiful wedding dress while "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" plays in the backround. No one has EVER thought of doing something like that!

Meet the Press

From today's installment of Meet the Press:

Russert: His [George Tenet] job is not in jeopardy?

President Bush: No, not at all, not at all. We've got people working hard in intelligence gathering around the world to get as good an information as possible.

You really have to be borderline scizophrenic to swallow the administration's line. The case of the overhyped WMD threat isn't the fault of the hawks (who derrided the intelligence community for "underestimating" the Iraq threat) in the White House, but the CIA's fault. Even though the CIA basically made the US look like an ass in front of the entire world (this is the administration's logic) by misjudging Iraq, the man responsible for intelligence should get to keep his job, becasue really it was nobody's fault, it's all really complicated and it is distracting us from our war on dangerous athletic supplements

Heard on the Patrickstan-Efgunistan Border

"Brian, if you were in a tank and you drove through a building, would it still seem kind of bumpy?"

Tom Circa 1999-2000

Those Crazy Germans!

While surfing the web, I found this crazy German quasi-tradition, known as Loveparade. Here is a description of loveparade from German Culture.com:

This year, Loveparade will be a part of a large campaign targeted at promoting a positive image of contemporary Germany among the British youth. The Germans intend to promote their country through catchy phrases and lively visuals on 10,000 postcards which will be backed up with a billboard and internet campaign.

In an effort to neutralize Britain’s perception of Germany as the evil adversary and land of non-existent humor, the message being packaged for delivery will focus on love not war.

Tom tells me that back when he was into Techno he really wanted to go to loveparade. Be sure to bring it up the next time you see him. He loves to talk about embarrassing aspects of his past. Speaking of which, you should ask him about the "flashlight incident of 2001".

If you share this passion for the loveparade, you can become a member of the Love Republic by clicking here.

Legislative Gay-Bashing

Ohio passes sweeping gay marriage ban

Gov. Bob Taft approved one of the country's most-far reaching gay-marriage bans on Friday, saying its adoption was urgent because the nation's first legally sanctioned same-sex weddings could take place as early as this spring in Massachusetts.

Thank God! Now the fine people of Ohio can rest assured that they are safe from gay marriage, even though it isn't allowed in Ohio in the first place, now it really isn't allowed. I think we can all breathe easier now.

Reverse Midas Touch

According to Kos, a Alice Kerr, a republican congressional candidate for a special election in Kentucky has run into some problems. Kerr has been a loyal foot soldier for the administration, but now she is polling poorly. Due to her dropping numbers, Kerr has distanced herself from Bush and the President has cancelled an appearance in her district. To support Alice Kerr, Cheney is holding a fundraiser for her hundreds of miles outside of her district, in Illiniois. Even worse, this is for a historically republican seat in a majority republican district. A little help from the President of The United States, would normally be viewed as tremendous campaigning asset, but Bush has managed to make into a liability. The news just gets better and better these days.

A Deaniac Scorned

Michael Kinsley complains bitterly about the Democrats' search for an electable candidate for the presidency. One can understand Kinsley's irritation, because Dean, the candidate Kinsley seemed to favor has basically be ruined by (justified) concern about his ability to attract independents. It seems that Kinsley is incapable of believing that other people my earnestly support anyone other than Governor Dean. At least no real Democrat would back any other candidate. Given that Dean's ruined, perhaps Michael Kinsley should just drop out of politics for a few years, you know, see a few Dead shows, catch burning man and then comeback when his passion is re-ignited.

Bad timing

WASHINGTON - President Bush asked Congress to eliminate an $8.2 million research program on how to decontaminate buildings attacked by toxins — the same day a poison-laced letter shuttered Senate offices. -AP

Here comes the spin machine to the rescue:

White House budget office spokesman Chad Colton said that each of the administration's budgets, including its 2005 proposal, has "invested substantial resources" into studying ways of preventing and responding to bioterrorism.

Someone ought to tell Chad that Ricin isn't really a biological weapon.

But gets better (or maybe worse):

Buried in documents justifying the Environmental Protection Agency's budget plan is an acknowledgment that Bush's proposed research cut "represents complete elimination of homeland security building decontamination research."

In the documents, the agency said that losing the research money would "force it to disband the technical and engineering expertise that will be needed to address known and emerging biological and chemical threats in the future."

To which the Huh-Huh conservative will probably say:
But he landed on an aircraft carrier! An aircraft carrier! He knows about national security, he has the moral clarity to fight terrorism!

Failure.

Poll numbers from Wisconsin:

Kerry 35
Clark 11
Edwards 9
Dean 8

This is the state Dean said he had to win.

Send in the Girls

Mrs. Bush told CNN that her 22-year-old daughters, Jenna and Barbara, are contemplating a role in what may be their father's last campaign.

``They are terrific girls they are getting ready to graduate from college and we'll see when they graduate,'' Mrs. Bush said. ``You know, this will be really their first campaign that their dad has run that they are really old enough to be involved.''
-CNN

Man, that is a sign of true desperation. The Bush daughters are a political liability, not an asset. It is ridiculous that they would even consider using them. Jenna and Barbra don't seem to be especially seedy, they just act like regular college kids (i.e. get looped and make asses out of themselves), but that is not the image you want for your campaign. The same geniuses behind Bush's craptacular State of the Union speech are probably pushing this disaster.

"Sen. Kerry is a war hero, but if campaigns were about war records, I would have won easily in 1996."

-- Bob Dole, writing in the Wall Street Journal.

Yeah, Bob has a good point there. Elections, at least for incumbets, are about results. In 1996 Bill Clinton had presided over the addition of millions of jobs to the economy and a major reduciton in the deficit. Needless to say, Clinton went on to crush Dole. George W. Bush has overseen the loss of millions of jobs, the largest deficits in history and misled the public about almost every single policy from the tax cuts to Iraq....

Anyway, thanks for your astute political analysis. I am sure its always spot on, because you can always trust the judgement of a loser.

Damned

Ron Suskind, author of The Price of Loyalty: The Edication of Paul O'Neil, has published some of the memos O'Neil gave him. Here is a an excerpt from one on Bush's first budget:

Key background information: The public prefers spending on things like health care and education over cutting taxes. It's crucial that your remarks make clear that there is no trade off here--that we will boost education spending and set aside Social Security and Medicare surplus to address the future of those programs, and still we will have an enormous surplus. This isn't an "either/or" question.

If this stuff gets the press it deserves, Bush is in a lot of trouble. Its like all the scum is bubbling to the surface at once. Let's hope this dynamic continues through November.

Thanks to Brad DeLong

Letter, I get Letters

Dear Brian,
My third cousin's boyfriend once saw Pat Buchanan eating at coffee shop in
Louisiana about 15 years ago. Much to his surprise, Mr. Buchanan was seating
with a black couple, conversing casually over a latte. Then came the real
shocker. When he left he shook the black man's hand and kissed the woman on
the cheek. He then left with his girlfriend at the time, a Pakistan, and got
into his Japanese car and sped away. Make your own conclusions.

--Kyle

Once again, I can't vouch for the accuracy of this account, but it is sure is interesting.

POMPOSITY

Ah, Bill Frist, our down-home senate majority leader who comes from such a good family that they feel compelled to right a fucking book about how well bred they are, because it is so important that total strangers want to pay $50 to learn about them.

Axis of Anonymous Accusastions

Here is an interesting letter the poor man recieved:

Dear You,
I heard this story from a friend of my cousin, who met John Kerry while travelling in South America. Apparently, Kerry was buying him drinks all night, and my cousin's friend ended up passing out. When he came to, he was lying in a bathtub full of ice, and one of his kidneys was missing. Draw your own conclusions, but do you really think all that money comes just from ketchup? Come on. Also, I've heard from several sources that John Kerry "earned" his purple heart in Vietnam when he washed down Pop Rocks with a bottle of Pepsi and his stomach exploded.

-This One Guy

Hey, I won't swear on a stack of bibles but this story is true, but it is my job as a blogger to makes sure that damaging rumors spread like a wildfire across the plains.

The Line in the Sand

Dean sent an email to supporters this morning: "A win [in Wisconsin] will carry us to the big states of March 2 -- and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything less will put us out of this race."-Political Wire

People-powered Howard may soon be going the way of Joe-mentous Joe.

Even the Conservative Andrew Sullivan...

is afraid that George W. Bush might get rolled by the Democrats in November.

The situation is actually worse than Sullivan's article suggests. Some of Bush's "obvious advantages" Sullivan lists, "solid approval ratings; a booming economy; the legacy of a popular war-leader; and the fact that many Americans simply like the guy," aren't so obvious. His approval ratings and personal approval ratings are slipping in the latest polls and if the Democrats play it cool, they can make sure these numbers continue to fall. Technically the economy is booming, GDP is growing very quickly, but the job situation and the government's fiscal outlook remain bad. The whole war-leader deal is Bush's best chance at winning re-election and even that isn't rock solid, because American deaths in Iraq are rising and the WMD issue is going to be a continuous source of embarrassment for the White House.

Oh yes, Bush's whole chasing the Democrats around thing is really pathetic. After each primary he feels compelled to stop by (on the tax payer's dime) and do a little cyrpto-campaigning. What a saaaaad man.

The CIA Strikes Back

CIA Boss: Iraq Not Called Imminent Threat

I guess George Tenet is not going along with the "bad intelligence" line on Iraqi WMD's. You can't blame him either. As much as the intelligence community misjudged Iraq's WMD capacities, the hawks in the administration are really to blame for all of this. The Neoconservatives have long accused the CIA of underestimating the threat posed by Iraq and it must be infuriating for Tenet and his underlings to hear these same people blaming intelligence professionals for all of this.

I Agree With Jonah Goldberg, Oh Man.

From the Corner

Shocking the sensibilities of the bourgeoisie is so old. The people who thought Janet's boob-watch moment was a good idea -- beforehand or afterwards -- almost surely didn't actually enjoy the spectacle themselves. What appeals to them is the idea of shocking other people. Clearly, they weren't shocked -- enjoyably or otherwise -- by seeing Janet's tassledness. They're used to such displays. No, what was cool about it was that it would offend the sensibilities of fuddy-duddies. This sort of thing is the source of a vast, vast amount of bad "art," music, fiction etc. The value of a song or a video is measured not by its creativity or excellence, but by its ability to elicit the desired response from the other side. This sort of thing is so unimpressive. It's tired, it's played-out, it's Madonna. So I'm fine with being might peeved with CBS. But let's not forget to mention that part of their mistake was being predictably banal.

This might be the first time I ever agree with anyone from the National Review, but when you are right you are right. This kind of stuff is completely lame and no one should ever do it. Ever. I hate "shocking" things, especially when they are absolute crap to begin with. It is just as bad as being "ironic".

Maddox hoofs Bill O'Reilly Square in the Junk

The famous revolutionary pirate, Maddox, the man behind The Best Web Page in the Universe has gone after Bill O'Reilly in his latest post. Check it out.

Party People

Norwegian black metal band GORGOROTH are being investigated in Poland for causing religious offense after a show that included dozens of sheep heads on stakes, a literal blood bath and a naked, crucified woman, newspaper Aftenposten reports....

"On stage there was blood everywhere. About ten decapitated sheep heads and naked people, alive, on large crosses," TVP director Andrzej Jeziorek told newspaper VG. "Everyone was painted with 100 liters of sheep blood. Also there were Satanist symbols everywhere. One of the hanging female models fainted and an ambulance had to be called,".
-Via Blabbermouth

Click here for the pictures

Good Vibrations

Turnout larger than expected in primaries

Voters generally turned out in large numbers in the states holding Democratic primaries or caucuses Tuesday, with only Missouri and Oklahoma officials reporting lower than expected turnout.

In Arizona, there was unprecedented turnout for the state's primary as more than 225,000 voters -- or roughly one-quarter of the state's registered Democrats -- cast ballots, far exceeding previous records.

High primary turnout is usually an indication of an energized base. Best of all not only does our base appear to be excited, but they are showing up to vote for "electable centrists" like Kerry and Edwards rather than political holy rollers like Dean, Kucinich of Rev. Sharpton. This is definetly a good sign and suggests that the center-left will not fracture in 2004 like it did in 2000.

Kucinich Thinks He Can Fly

Maybe if Dennis Kucinich flaps his arms really hard, he can join his brother, the beautiful swan and drink in the full majesty of mother earth as they trek across the sky!

Oh my.

Californians Can Vote While Cruising Mall
It only makes sense that electronic voting kiosks would first appear in the malls of Orange County, Ca.

Me In Ten Years

.
Gary Farber today.

The Benefits of Incumbency

From the Center for American Progress

Just two days after the White House proposed serious budget cuts and the President said he's "calling upon Congress to be wise with the taxpayer's money," the Bush Administration announced a massive taxpayer-funded television ad campaign to promote its controversial Medicare bill. Specifically, the White House will use $9.5 million from the Department of Health and Human Services – money that is supposed to be used to implement the law and could go to restore some of the cuts to social services for the poor – on political commercials that "rebut criticism of the new Medicare law."

Via Atrios

Looks like a projected 200 million dollar campaign war chest isn't enough for Mr. Bush. I has to STEAL MONEY FROM POOR PEOPLE, too.

Hey, with fake indignation like that, I bet I could be a talk radio host.

It is still pretty lame that tax dollars are being used for political purposes. Then again, Bush's whole domestic policy agenda is using tax dollars for political purposes.

A skilled Democrat running a populist campaign might be able to exploit this ad buy rather easily. He could rail about wasting the people's money and how Washington and the Bush administration don't care about the average American. It might make the ad buy very counterproductive.

Blog Humor

The full insularity of the blogosphere, particularly the humor of the blogopshere is beginning to hit me. Only a few thousand people read blogs and only a much smaller percentage of them understand many of the jokes. Some times these jokes are even funny, so its a shame people miss out on them. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped when you have a form that is designed to encourage self indulgence.

Anyhow, to provide proper context to the post below, go to the following links in this order:

The Corner

Ted Barlow

Atrios

Salon

Atrios

Masochists, Enjoy.

I don't usually do this, but....

The other day I got an interesting letter. I can't vouch for its accuracy, though:

Dear Board of Pomposity,
I was enslaved by Salon, the famous webzine. When Salon was created, I was a goffer, but then one day they stopped paying me. When I complained, these so-called liberals beat me up and locked me in the basement. In order to get food and earn defaction privelleges, I was forced to mine coal and shovel it into the blast furnaces that keep Salons primitive 386 webservers going. It was the most horrific 3 years of my life. I tried to kill myself on several occassions, but I was "rescued' by the guards and my workload was increased and my beating schedule stepped up after each attempt. Thankfully, Salon upgraded to AMD based servers last year. These new servers were powered by the invisible genie of electricity and my labor was no longer needed. After the editor-in-chief of Salon knocked out all my teeth and cut out my tongue, I was finally released. The day I lost my tongue and teeth was the happiest day of my life, because I had gained by freedom. Now I live with the mole people in the subway tunnels beneath New York City since my mutilated appearance horrifies everyone I come in contact with. Even though Salon's editorial board threatened to murder me and my family if I tried to expose their evil journalistic empire, I have come forward. Salon's reign of terror must be stopped and by telling you all this, I hope I have done my part.

Your biggest fan,
"Chad"

Once again, I don't know if its true. But this is quite serious and I thought you might like to know.

A Neat Idea

It appears that the National Review is having a cruise. I know a lot of magazines do this and I just thinking about the potential for some serious fun at other people's expense. I mean, you would be on a boat filled with VIPs and since they are a boat after all, its not like they can get away from you. It provided as an excellent opportunity to be a true jackass to some captive victims. Imagine sneezing in William F. Buckley's salad, cheating Bill Bennett out of a couple of grand in a card game or "pretending" to spill your drink on Richard Lowry. Ah, the possibilities are endless. You could make the cruise into a regular demon war hell-ride for your unfortunate fellow travelers.

Macho Macho Corner

Is it just me or are the Corner failing to SUPPORT THE TROOPS?


While Americans whine about paper cuts and stubbed toes, it’s worth noting that today marks the 61st anniversary of the sinking of the USAT Dorchester, a troop transport ship attacked by a German U-boat as its convoy sailed to Greenland from Newfoundland. Some 672 men died that night, making it one of the worst U.S. maritime disasters ever.

Brian's Answer to Milton Friedman

One of the conservatives (libertarians, actually) that I respect most is Milton Friedman. He frequently uses things like "evidence" and "logic" to make his points and unlike other so-called conservative thinkers, is not living in an world of his own.

In his manifesto Free to Choose Friedman points out that the way government programs are administered guarantees greater inefficiency than the market. To summarize his thinking: Social programs take money from one group of people (taxpayers), place it in the hands of a second (civil servants) who then spend it on a third group (beneficiaries). Since the money passes through so many hands, there is little incentive among the different participants to see that the money is spent wisely, argues Friedman. Well, that might be true, but the modern corporation acts in almost the same exact way. Just replace taxpayers with investors, civil servants with managers and beneficiaries with employees and contractors. For those who think that the interests of the managerial elite and the firm are the same and their fortunes are linked, just remember that a great many executives have made a killing while their enterprises were completely destroyed.

Lieberman's Out?

Democrat Joe Lieberman, facing an uncertain showing in his must-win state of Delaware, was making contingency plans Tuesday to withdraw from the presidential race, according to sources close to the campaign.

The campaign was making calls to close supporters asking them to be at the Hyatt Regency in Arlington, Va., Tuesday night at the postelection party. If Lieberman does not win at least one state - and his best hope is Delaware - he will make his concession speech there, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
-AP

Judging from the exit poll results below, I think its pretty likely that there will be a Joe-mentous concession speech tonight.

Exit Polls

South Carolina: Edwards 44, Kerry 30, Sharpton 10

Oklahoma: Edwards 31, Kerry 29, Clark 28

Missouri: Kerry 52, Edwards 23, Dean 10

Delaware: Kerry 47, Dean 14, Lieberman 11, Edwards 11

Arizona: Kerry 46, Clark 24, Dean 13
-Via Politicalwire

I hope Edwards' lead isn't just imaginary and that the results are in agreement with the exit polls, because two Edwards victories would be sweet. Lieberman might very well drop out (definetly a plus for Edwards), its more iffy with Clark, but there is definetly a chance (however slight) that Senator Edwards could end up being the nominee.