"9/11 Equals Saddam"

"9/11 Equals Saddam"

General Wesley Clark, appearing on tonight's Real Time with Bill Maher, told a story about his meeting with Pentagon generals 10 days after 9/11.
It goes something like this...

"One of the generals called me in and said, 'I got a joke for you.' And I said, 'Please, you guys don't have time for jokes.' And he said, 'Oh no, you gotta hear this one...'

'9/11 equals Saddam,' he said. 'Doesn't matter if he did it or not, we're going to get him.' And this was ten days after September 11th."

LINK

Raw Story Exclusive: Bush Campaign Uses 9/11

Raw Story Exclusive: Using 9/11 - Bush campaign pulls out the stops, frightening Pennsylvania in last ditch effort to secure vote

SEE: Raw Story, 10/29/2004
In final hours, Bush mailings display images of burning World Trade Center







When we think about the ways the Bush administration furiously flipped and flopped while trying to avoid the formation of an independent 9/11 Commission, this newest flyer should make us particularly sick to our stomachs.

100,000 Here and Gone

100,000 Here and Gone

Some are saying there were close to 100,000 people at the Kerry rally yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin. Look at the photo below and imagine those 100,000 people suddenly gone, the street silent and empty. John Kerry and Bruce Springsteen standing on a stage speaking to no one on an October afternoon.

Now, imagine that 100,000 civilians were killed by coalition force bombings since the beginning of the Iraq war. Can you?
Actually, no need to imagine.
It happened.

Fundie Falwell Fries Fitfully on CNN

Fundie Falwell
Fries Fitfully on CNN


Warning: Hateful little crusader
under the JesusHat

"Blow 'em all away IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!"

-Jerry Foolwell Falwell on CNN today

Perhaps that wasn't the exact quote, but it was awfully close. Today in a debate with Rev. Jesse Jackson on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Falwell said something which paradoxically proved him devoid of Christian sensibility: "Let's go over there to the Middle East, even if it takes over 10 years, and blow up those barbarians in the name of the Lord."

Crusades will not bring America to the doorstep of successful globalization.

Falwell melted down today in a Fundie fit. It isn't the first time that's happened. I'm sure it won't be the last. He's positively drowning in religion; it's blinding him to all common sense; and I just thought I'd bring that to your attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE:


See: New ad with the names of 200 Christian leaders condemning Falwell's theology of war.

Frank Rich - Decision 2004

"After three years of nonstop thrills, Americans will just have to decide on Nov. 2 whether there could be fates even worse than spending the next four years being bored."

Frank Rich - Decision 2004: Fear Fatigue vs. Sheer Fatigue

Frank Rich hits the nail on the head with this one. It's all about America's short attention span.
I also think we should ask ourselves: Do we want to have terror as a nuisance or terror as the cause of Armegeddon? We really do have control over the issue, even though Cheney (Dr. Doom) and Bush would like to frighten us into submission in order to gain endless and futile warfare.

Excerpts:

"..The triumphalist cinema that had led up to it, culminating in the toppling of the Saddam statue, was, like "Mission Accomplished" itself, too slick. It whetted our appetite for sequels. But what came instead were pictures by upstart independent filmmakers hawking an alternative scenario to "Shock and Awe": the charred corpses of civilian contractors strung up in Fallujah, the beheading of Nick Berg, the tableaux vivants of Abu Ghraib, the neat rows of 49 slaughtered Iraqi recruits decomposing in the sun. The scenes the administration created to counter them all backfired."

"..There isn't a person in the world, including our enemies, who doesn't know that we have fewer troops than we need, now or in perpetuity, and that we're too broke to spring for more. As Mr. Bush said of the war to Matt Lauer in a rare moment of candor, quickly rescinded, "I don't think you can win it." Especially if you've so bought into the myth of your own invulnerable star power that you failed to secure nearly 380 tons of explosives destined to blow up American troops. So Karl Rove does what any director does to bolster a weak script - pump up the ominous chords on the soundtrack. He sends out Dick Cheney to keep telling us that it's only a matter of when, not if, a nuke will go off in the middle of one of our cities.."

The Humpty Dubya Presidency Nears an End

The Humpty Dubya Presidency Nears an End

....all the excuses
from all Dubya's men
couldn't get Dubya selected again.

Regarding the al Qaqaa missing explosives:

There's rhetoric...

It's the Iraqis' problem; We didn't know about it; They were gone when we got there; NBC News reported they were gone when we got there; The explosives were hidden, not looted; Explosives were not a priority; We've secured 400,000 tons of munitions..

...and there's reason and reality, which the Bush administration clearly disdains because it bursts their political fantasy bubble.

See a compilation of both fact and fiction-for-excuse at the Center for American Progress.

Paul Krugman discusses the Bush administration's Al Qaqaa excuse-wheel. He'd also like to remind us that Al Qaqaa is "hardly the only tale of incompetence and mendacity to break to the surface in the last few days." Mr. Krugman also points out that "the news media have spent the last few days discussing substance. And that's very bad news for Mr. Bush."

In the LA Times, Jonathan Chait says that, for Bush, it is far too late in the election campaign season to expect any honesty from him on the Al Qaqaa issue. ( What would possess him to start being honest now, anyhow? )

The Humpty Dubya presidency is nearing its much-anticipated end.

I can't wait until the bloviating liar and his pack of inept war-wolves, with the meat of 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians and 1109 trusting US troops in their fangs, go back to the ranch to clear brush and ignore more terror warnings while John Kerry sends the best and most appropriate of our defenses ( along with genuinely solid multilateral international participants ) to go after the real terrorists (like that scummy little turd who threatened us on the most recent video, providing he isn't actually a Bush crony faking us out under that kaffiyeh ).

Bruce Rocks with Kerry and 80,000 in Madison

Bruce Rocks with Kerry and 80,000 in Madison







Credit:AP photos



Credit: NYT

Wesley Clark Blasts Giuliani for Blaming Our Troops

Wesley Clark Blasts Giuliani for Blaming Our Troops
Kerry/Edwards blog

"For President Bush to send Rudolph Giuliani out on television to say that the 'actual responsibility' for the failure to secure explosives lies with the troops is insulting and cowardly.

“The President approved the mission and the priorities. Civilian leaders tell military leaders what to do. The military follows those orders and gets the job done. This was a failure of civilian leadership, first in not telling the troops to secure explosives and other dangerous materials, and second for not providing sufficient troops and sufficient equipment for troops to do the job..."

Read more at link above

See Wesley Clark's statement from October 27th about Bush's own very compelling and thoughtful argument for why he should not be reelected -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juan Cole also skewers Giuliani and others who blame the troops:

A new low was reached in the Republican Party, out of panic at this story, by Rudi Giuliani, who blamed our troops for the al-Qaqaa catastrophe, saying, ''No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?" So let's get this straight. Bush sends only 100,000 US troops to Iraq, when 500,000 are needed to secure the country. Then when the troops don't have te personpower to do their jobs properly, you blame them? The refreshing thing about Giuliani's remark is its honesty. Surely a lot of fatcat Republicans who are always draping themselves in the flag and exploiting the heroism of US troops actually view them as little more than kitchen help, who can be blamed if the banquet doesn't come off as brilliantly as hoped. Remember the images of Bush in white tie toasting his "base" among the super-wealthy, in Fahrenheit 9/11? It is not the corporals in the US army whom he was toasting.

100,000 Iraqi civilians dead

100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, says study
Guardian Oct 29, 2004
Sarah Boseley, health editor

It's nothing but a God-forsaken shame.
100,000 Iraqi civilians - half of them women and children - have died in Iraq since the invasion, mostly as a result of airstrikes by coalition forces.

Knowing the war was unnecessary, and knowing our leadership lied to get us into it, we should all be losing a hell of a lot of sleep.

In a nation where we're free to choose our leaders, we share culpability.

Bush/Cheney, simply, must go.

Sinking

sinking

That ABC terror video

That ABC terror video

Drudge is screaming (in his predictable sky-is-falling fashion) about the terror tape looming out there in the hands of ABC.

I can't help but think that Drudge and his ilk are rather disappointed we haven't had a terror attack before this election and he's hoping that peddling the fear that accompanies these terror-warning videos by these complete shitheads (in this case the turd known as Adam Pearlman) might drum up a few more cheap votes for his man, Bush.


Turd

Are we going to allow Adam Pearlman, a deadbeat America-hating dude from Southern California, to dictate the results of the American election?

The Bush administration is hoping Adam will be the next big TV star.

How will ABC handle this?


UPDATE: A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR REPORTER HAS SEEN THE TAPE
"..he's clearly a sophisticated news consumer - quoting sources ranging from BBC's Arabic language radio to US comedian Bill Maher." Hmmmmmm.......

UPDATE: Drudge has his little flashing-light icon above a headline saying that ABC held back part of the terror tape from the CIA. Drudge (along with FOX) is apparently (and most likely) fed this information by a federal official from the Pentagon. ( We can safely assume ABC wouldn't tell him a thing ). This only leans toward proving this is a political stunt, and I wouldn't even be surprised if the Pentagon made up the terror tape themselves or at least engineered the timing of this whole thing to scare voters away from the polls. It's sad to hear me saying something like that, because there's nothing more I'd appreciate, in this age of terror, than to be able to trust American leadership. The hard truth is that more than half this country see Drudge, FOX, Bush, and the Pentagon as unworthy of our trust. The Bush administration has lied before, and I truly believe they are so desperate to hold onto American power that they would do anything - and I mean anything - to keep it.


Rush Limbaugh appeals to the lowest common mental denominator by telling his talk-radio audience that "numerous terrorists are on record here endorsing John Kerry and admitting that they're doing everything they can to harm George W. Bush."

An Iraqi Weighs In on the American Election

An Iraqi Weighs In on the American Election

At Baghdad Burning, you will see a most unusual endorsement of John Kerry. Since Bush brought Mr. Allawi here to our Rose Garden to give a rousing campaign speech for him, I figure it's fair game to present another side.

Life's Final Lesson

Life's Final Lesson
A Mother's Final Message to the World



I was surfing on BlogExplosion today and came across something that stopped me in my tracks. I wanted to share it with you. It's a woman's final words to the blogging world. She has a limited amount of time left to enjoy life and wanted to share some wisdom and advice with us before it comes her time to go. If you think you have troubles, they may seem smaller after reading this. It's really a beautiful message.

Common Sense (2004)

Common Sense (2004)
by my fellow Daily Kos diarist 'kid oakland'

Excerpt:

In the media snow storm of these last days of the campaign....we would do well to listen to someone from our history...he has some words for us to take to heart today:

"The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters."

- Thomas Paine, Common Sense 1776

A must-read for election week.

Vote in U.S. inflames Europeans

Vote in U.S. inflames Europeans
International Herald Tribune

"PARIS One would think it was their leader being elected - and many Europeans believe it is, in a way. In a tremendous show of interest unseen in previous U.S. presidential campaigns, Europeans on both sides of the Channel have been riveted by the coming American vote, obsessing about the future of the United States as if it were their own..."

Bush, Russia and the Explosives

Bush, Russia and the Explosives

Drudge has his front page smeared with rantings about a blame-the-Russians Washington Times piece. John A. "Jack" Shaw, deputy undersecretary for international technology security is quoted as having "reliable information" that Russia is behind the 342 tons of missing explosives from al Qaqaa.

Since trust is an important factor in this campaign season, you should know that John Shaw is not the poster child for trust. After disguising himself as an employee of Halliburton Co, Shaw urged government officials to fix the alleged problems he found when he got access to a port in southern Iraq, directing multimillion-dollar contracts to companies linked to his friends, without competitive bidding. According to an LA Times story of July 6, 2004, Shaw has also tried to steer a contract to create an emergency phone network for Iraq's security forces to a company whose board of directors included a friend and one of Shaw's employees. The inspector general's office has turned over an inquiry into Shaw's actions to the FBI.

Knowing that Shaw used the rebuilding effort in Iraq to reward associates and/or political allies makes him less than a credible source, especially in the last week of the presidential campaign season. I think Shaw is doing it again. He's lying again while trying to secure a great job for one of his cronies. This time it's George W. Bush.

At a time when Putin is practically campaigning for Bush, it's interesting that anyone in the Bush administration would make these accusations about Russia. You would think this would be a time when the administration would be particularly sensitive toward Russia. After all, Russia has suspected the U.S. has supported anti-Russian Chechen forces in an effort to keep Russia pinned down. After the Beslan incident, Pres­idents Putin and Bush could have been holding an anti-terrorism summit and the two coun­tries could have been expanding security cooperation with a focus on anti-terrorism. British prime minister Tony Blair has understood the importance of playing a leading role in developing a strong relationship with Russia after the Beslan terror attack. It is not so with the Bush administration. The Bush campaign has found it politically necessary to accuse Russia of ripping off the 342 tons of explosives. Another Bush International Affairs blunder.

The Russian embassy in Washington has rejected John Shaw's current claims as "nonsense", saying there were no Russian military in the country at the time. "I am unaware of any particular information on that point," said Larry Di Rita, Pentagon spokesman.

The Russian Defense ministry calls Shaw's claims "farfetched".

Russia has called for the United Nations Security Council to discuss the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq following the disappearance of the 342 metric tons of high explosives in the country. U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Danforth, did not back new UN involvement in weapons searches in Iraq. Danforth said the most immediate need was to find out when the explosives disappeared and what happened to them. He said this was a job that would be best carried out by the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he was shocked by the report of the missing explosives, adding: "Looks to me like somehow the multinational force didn't stay on top of this." Mr. Armitage agreed the missing explosives had created a dangerous situation, according to a transcript of his Monday interview with the Arab-language newspaper al-Hayat released by the State Department.


Bush remains mum about the missing explosives. He is concentrating upon publically accusing John Kerry of milking the story in the heat of the presidential campaign, avoiding any accountability, action that has become the hallmark of Bush's lack of character.

This story is the unintended October surprise. I'd been expecting the surprise to come from the other side.

Karl the Goliath Rove has been taken down by a systematic dismantling of the myth he'd created. It was the myth of Bush's great leadership.

The October surprise is simply the truth catching up with Bush's lies, ineptitude, hubris, and secrecy.


UPDATE: Guardian - Islamic Group Claims to Have the Explosives

Amish Partisans

Woo woo! You go, you wild barn-raisers!
Amish veterans?! Pacifists voting for a warmonger?
Well, I never!
Why, that's the last Amish hat I'll ever buy from you.

Faces of Failure

In These Times

A Jagged Hole in the World's Heart

I have been struck by how many foreign dignitaries have begged me lately for news that Bush will lose. This Bush team has made itself so radioactive it glows in the dark.

Thomas Friedman: Jagged Hole in Heart of the World
NYT October 28

..How do we begin to repair this jagged hole? There is no cure-all, but three big things would help. One is a different U.S. approach to the world. The Bush-Cheney team bears a big responsibility for this hole because it nakedly exploited 9/11 to push a far-right Republican agenda, domestically and globally, for which it had no mandate. When U.S. policy makes such a profound lurch to the right, when we start exporting fear instead of hope, the whole center of gravity of the world is affected. Countries reposition themselves in relation to us.

..When the world liked Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, America had more power in the world. When much of the world detests George Bush, America has less power.

...If the Bush team wins re-election, unless it undergoes a policy lobotomy and changes course and tone, the breach between America and the rest of the world will only get larger. But all Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney have told us during this campaign is that they have made no mistakes and see no reason to change.

...The real question is, What if we get a new Iraqi government but the same old Bush team incompetence? That would be a problem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friedman's article reminded me of "The Deeper Wound", something I read by Deepak Chopra shortly after 9/11:

"All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its basis. Isn't something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isn't God invoked with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America?

Can any military response make the slightest difference in the underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity?

If there is a deep wound, doesn't it affect everyone?

When generations of suffering respond with bombs, suicidal attacks, and biological warfare, who first developed these weapons? Who sells them? Who gave birth to the satanic technologies now being turned against us? If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will punishment in any form toward anyone solve the wound or aggravate it? Will an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and limb for a limb, leave us all blind, toothless and crippled?

Tribal warfare has been going on for two thousand years and has now been magnified globally. Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is patriotism and nationalism even relevant anymore, or is this another form of tribalism?

What are you and I as persons going to do about what is happening? Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer?

Everyone is calling this an attack on America, but is it not a rift in our collective soul? Isn't this an attack on civilization from without that is also from within?"

- Deepak Chopra

Bush created many more radical Sunnis with Iraq Attack

Bush created many more radical Sunnis with Iraq Attack

From NYT article, October 27, 2004:

"...Clearly, the president's oft-repeated claim that American efforts are paying off because "more than three-quarters of Al Qaeda's key members and associates have been killed, captured or detained" - a questionable claim in itself - means little to jihadists. What matters to them that the invasion of Iraq paved the way for the emergence of a movement of radical Sunni Iraqis who share much of the Qaeda ideology.

....It seems clear that, while the administration insists that we are acting strongly, our pursuit of the war on terrorism through an invasion of Iraq has carried real costs for our security. The occupation is in chaos, which is emboldening a worldwide assortment of radical Islamists and giving them common ground. The worst thing we could do now is believe that the Bush administration's tough talk is in any way realistic. If we really think that the unrest abroad will have no impact on us at home - as too many thought before 9/11 - not even a vastly improved offense can help us."

Also, the NYT editorial:
Making Things Worse
Published: October 26, 2004

"President Bush's misbegotten invasion of Iraq appears to have achieved what Saddam Hussein did not: putting dangerous weapons in the hands of terrorists and creating an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq.."

Hope

A child in Iraq gives a "thumbs-up" to a US soldier on a humanitarian mission

Children crowd around truck providing humanitarian aid in Iraq

photos/credit: A member of the Armed Forces serving in Iraq


"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man."

- Rabindranath Tagore

"Remarkable" Success

"Remarkable" Success

"I think it has been a remarkable success story to date when you look at what has been accomplished overall and I think the president deserves credit for it."

- Dick Cheney offers his assessment of US policy in Iraq.


"Eleven hundred American soldiers have lost their lives, more than 8,000 have been wounded. Terrorists are flowing in. Americans are being kidnapped. We see beheadings on television. The costs are now $225bn and counting. And, knowing all of this, yesterday all Dick Cheney could say was that Iraq is a remarkable success."

- John Edwards, in reply


credit: seen at this site

Updating an Explosive Story

Hannity, Blitzer, and The Note (ABC) mischaracterized NBC report on NYT missing-explosives article

According to the media watchdog known as Media Matters, following the New York Times' disclosure on October 25 that "nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives -- used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons -- are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations," members of the media incorrectly reported that a subsequent NBC Nightly News story refuted aspects of the New York Times article.

Hannity, Blitzer, and ABC's "The Note" either suggested or falsely asserted that NBC reported that the weapons were gone by the time the troops first arrived at the Al Qa Qaa site. But at no point did the NBC report claim that the arrival of its embedded crew at Al Qa Qaa on April 10 was the first time U.S. troops visited the site.

At the Guardian, it is insinuated that this story may be a slow-burning 'October surprise'. They say that Tom Brokaw, the evening anchor of NBC News, said, on last night's broadcast, that the network had never said the explosives were not there. It said US troops had not found them, but it was not clear whether the whole compound had been searched.

"We simply reported that the 101st did not find them," Brokaw told the viewers. "For its part, the Bush campaign immediately pointed to our report as conclusive proof that the weapons had been removed before the Americans arrived. That is possible, but that is not what we reported."


This is important to understand, because the Bush campaign is attempting to use the media to distort a very grave issue for politics' sake. Tom Brokaw let them know, last night, that NBC will not play along with a distortion of facts.

A new report out on Wednesday will contradict the assertions that the 380 tons of missing explosives at Al Qaqaa were not found by the U.S. troops passing through the facility.


SEE JUAN COLE'S COVERAGE HERE


Update: Drudge is a stooge for lying Bushites;
Josh Marshall covers the story truthfully; NBC Seems to be "on to" the Drudge-to-mainstream media perversion

From Talking Points Memo:

Late Update, Oct 27th: Drudge's 'the Russians did it' story is up now at the Washington Times, all based it seems on the say-so of John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, whose theory about Russian involvement even Di Rita seems to be distancing himself from.

Shaw does at least provide the adminsitration's 9th or 10th theory of what happened. It had to have been taken out before the war because the US watched the place so closely no other explanation is possible. "That was such a pivotal location, Number 1, that the mere fact of [special explosives] disappearing was impossible," Shaw told the Times. "And Number 2, if the stuff disappeared, it had to have gone before we got there."

You can't make this stuff up.

Or, I guess, actually you can.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, the New York Times talks to some of the folks who looted the place during the early weeks of the occupation.


READ MORE OF JOSH MARSHALL'S EXCELLENT COVERAGE HERE

Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Drezner, Mickey Kaus, and many other Slate writers will vote for John Kerry

Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Drezner, Mickey Kaus, and many other Slate writers will vote for John Kerry

Slate is a journal of opinion, and the opinions of their writers generally differ.

I wanted to share their thoughts about how they plan to vote (some excerpted below) in case you'd missed them.

I was a bit surprised by the choices of particular writers (below), so I decided to showcase them in this particular piece. A few actually sound as if they'll be pained to pull the lever (or punch the card - or touch the screen ) for Kerry, but they explain why see no alternative.

Slate makes their case for full journalistic disclosure here.

"As a Republican, I remain completely unconvinced that Kerry understands the limits of multilateral diplomacy. As a social scientist, however, I can't vote for a president with this track record on foreign policy who doesn't believe that what he believes about international relations might, just might, be wrong."

- Daniel Drezner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The ironic votes are the endorsements for Kerry that appear in Buchanan's anti-war sheet The American Conservative, and the support for Kerry's pro-war candidacy manifested by those simple folks at MoveOn.org. I can't compete with this sort of thing....Kerry should get his worst private nightmare and have to report for duty."

- Christopher Hitchens

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm voting for Kerry, mainly because I think Bush is prosecuting the fight against terrorism in a way that will make us dramatically less safe unless we have a conspicuous change at the top."

- Mickey Kaus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here's what I wrote about Bush when we disclosed our votes four years ago: "He's shallow, obtuse, and proud of it. He's disdainful of reflection and indifferent to work. ... Congress can restrain either of them, but a president can catastrophically botch a foreign policy crisis all by himself. I trust Gore in that situation. I don't trust Bush."

Looks like I was wrong about Congress."

- William Saletan

Conservative Pundit Andrew Sullivan Supporting John Kerry

Conservative Pundit Andrew Sullivan Supporting John Kerry
Link: New Republic

"...in a democracy, you sometimes have to have faith that a new leader will be able to absorb the achievements of his predecessor and help mend his failures. Kerry has actually been much more impressive in the latter stages of this campaign than I expected. He has exuded a calm and a steadiness that reassures. He is right about our need for more allies, more prudence, and more tactical discrimination in the war we are waging. I cannot say I have perfect confidence in him, or that I support him without reservations. But not to support anyone in this dangerous time is a cop-out. So give him a chance. In picking the lesser of two risks, we can also do something less dispiriting. We can decide to pick the greater of two hopes. And even in these dour days, it is only American to hope."

Endorsement Chatter

Endorsement Chatter

Denver Post Bush Endorsement Fallout

See some of the fallout from the Denver Post's endorsement of George Bush.


Discussion About Swing State Endorsements

At Daily Kos, there is a good discussion about newspaper endorsements in the swing states.


Cleveland Plain Dealer sits this one out

After last weekend's revelation (via a leak) that The Cleveland Plain Dealer's publisher, Alex Machaskee was planning to override the editorial staff's endorsement of Kerry ( causing subsequent public outrage ), they have decided to endorse no one.


Liberal Media?

On a recent appearance on CNN, RNC chairman Ed Gillspie said to Wolf Blitzer:

"Look, Wolf, you know, the Republican candidate will never win the contest for editorial board endorsements. The major dailies across the country tend to skew liberal, their editorial boards. The New York Times the premiere liberal newspaper in America. No surprise they today endorsed the..."

According to the publication Editor & Publisher, which has been tracking newspapers during presidential elections, only two Democratic candidates -- Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Bill Clinton in 1992 -- have ever won more endorsements than their Republican opponent. That's because newspaper publishers, who usually sign off on endorsements, tend to vote Republican (like lots of senior corporate executives), which means GOP candidates pick up more endorsements.

Editor and Publisher discusses, analyzes, and lists many recent endorsements in this article.

The most recent analysis by Editor and Publisher is here.

Art Spiegelman on the Presidential race

Art Spiegelman on the Presidential race

"I’m so grateful [John Kerry] has a chance to win because the alternative is to go to hell very quickly. By people who’d, in fact, like us to go to hell quickly so that they can get raptured up. I would rather go to hell more slowly, and I think that Kerry’s the go-to-hell-slowly party at this point. That’s the only one you can root for. If it goes slowly enough, I’d be glad to return to my life and business as usual..."

-Political cartoonist Art Spiegelman, October 18, 2004

The Flip-Flop Flim Flam

The Flip-Flop Flim Flam

If you look at the facts, John Kerry has been a model of consistency when compared to George Bush. Here are a few examples:

• Prescription drugs from Canada: For, then Against (Big campaign contributions from pharmaceutical corporations)
• Assault weapons in our streets: Against, then For (Pandering to the NRA and gun manufacturers)
• The creation of a homeland security agency: Against, then For (Public outcry and political expediency)
• McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform: Against, then For (Unprincipled opportunism)
• Nation-building: Against, then For (A double somersault to justify neocon invasion plans)
• Steel tariffs: Against, then For, then Against (A free-trader becomes a protectionist to win votes in Pennsylvania and Ohio)
• Arsenic in water: For, then Against (Public outcry...those darned scientists)
• Mandatory caps on carbon dioxide: For, then Against (The power of the coal and power companies)
• Outside investigation into WMD: Against, then For (Public outcry and world opinion)
• WMD: We found them and then we didn't find them (Confusion, convenience and "flexibility")
• Gay Marriage: First it's an issue for the states and then a federal issue (An opportunistic, red-meat, divisive wedge issue)
• Osama bin Laden: In 2001 he was our No. 1 public enemy; in 2002, "I truly am not that concerned about him" (Failure to prosecute the real war against terror)
• North Korea's nuclear threat: First it was extremely important; now it's not much of a threat (A parry to divert attention from misplaced priorities)
• Cutting troops in Europe: Against, then For (Bad planning for the number of troops needed in Iraq and Afghanistan)
• Immigration reform: For liberalization, then Against (A conflict between wooing the Hispanic vote and angering his nativist base)
• AmeriCorps funding: For, then Against (A favorite target of congressional reactionaries)
• Patriot Act II: For, then Against (The need to appear more moderate in the middle of an election; even angered Republican civil libertarians)
• The 9/11 commission: Six flip-flops, Against and then For: 1) The creation of the commission; 2) the composition of the commission; 3) the extension to allow it to complete its work; 4) his testifying; 5) the testimony of his national security advisor; and finally 6) the implementation of the findings (Public outcry, particularly from the families of 9/11 victims and then commision members -- Republicans and Democrats)
• The war in Iraq: At least nine different rationales as to why the U.S. invaded, and still counting (Reality catching up with fantasy)
• The war in Iraq: "It will be a cakewalk," then, "It will be long and difficult." (Talking out of both sides of the mouth; depending upon audience)

"This is not a case of one or two isolated switches; it's a deliberate pattern of manipulation designed to deceive the American electorate. What we find behind the pattern, and the mask, is a candidate who lacks character, principles, and integrity. George W. Bush cannot be trusted to govern."

- Professor Arthur I. Blaustein, teaches public policy and politics at the University of California, Berkeley

From article seen here.

Howard Dean Statements

Howard Dean Statement on Bill Maher's "Real Time"

"The truth is that what I have in common with the 700,000 people who are really cranked up about our campaign, or whatever the number was, is that we want fundamental change. So, sure, it'd be great to be president.

What would be really great – you know what would be really great?

What'd be really great is to have health insurance for every American, right? That's what we really want, you know. It'd be really great to have a president who thought that it was important to be the moral leader of the free world again. Those are the kinds of things we want. So, you know, sure, do I wish I were the nominee? Of course, I wish I were the nominee. But the truth is, I'm not, so I've got a great choice. I can pick somebody who's going to do the right thing, or I can pick somebody who's been doing what they've been doing for the last four years to the greatest country on the face of the earth. He needs to go back to Crawford, Texas."

- Howard Dean. October 15, 2004

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the Kerry-Edwards Campaign Site:

Why I Am Voting for John Kerry
by Howard Dean
LINK

Pennsylvania Watch

Pennsylvania Watch

From Philly.com: (registration required to see articles)

Election changes could snarl Nov. 2; Officials worry that rules on poll watchers and ID cards will confuse voters. LINK
Democrats are concerned that the requirement for new voters to produce an I.D. card will create long lines at the polls and discourage voters from sticking it out long enough to cast their ballot.

Why Pennsylvania is key to Kerry's chances LINK
Even while his aides are loath to say it, John Kerry has scant chance of garnering 270 electoral votes if he is denied Pennsylvania's 21. Kerry has sustained a modest lead in virtually all the polls conducted in Pennsylvania since the first presidential debate.

21 Reasons to Elect Kerry LINK
To help voters in the Philadelphia Inquirer's closely contested region make an informed choice in this critical 2004 presidential election, The Inquirer Editorial Board offers a series of editorials documenting its reasons for endorsing John F. Kerry. The series also includes rebutting essays from supporters of President Bush.


Pittsburgh Gazette:

Rendell vows action on voter scams; Pitt students tricked
LINK
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dennis Roddy reports that Gov. Ed Rendell will be referring allegations of possible voter registration fraud to Attorney General Jerry Pappert's office.

Wolcott: Conservatives Prepare For Bush Loss

Wolcott: Conservatives Prepare For Bush Loss

James Wolcott has a delightful blog-piece about conservative pundits, especially those at FOX News, who seem to be pre-rationalizing a Bush defeat. Between reading about the "Bush-licking Howard Fineman" and "Linda Vester, the one with the sad puppy-dog eyes", I couldn't stop smiling. Mr. Wolcott is a joy to read.

Excerpt:

"..There are no coincidences at Fox News. Three times today, and the day is still relatively young, Fox hit the note of liberal bias to sound the theme that the press is "in the tank" for Kerry, and that any victory he gets will be a tainted gift from the media elite.

I'm not saying Fox News is anticipating a Bush loss, only that they seem to be laying the ground work for the blame game should he cough it up on November 2nd. They are taking the first baby steps to denying the legitimacy of a Kerry win, preparing the first batch of sour grapes..."

My favorite line:
"Roger Ailes claps his hands and the monkeys go into their little dance."

Shame on George Bush!

Shame on George Bush!

1106 of our troops are dead, thousands are severely injured, and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died -all for an unnecessary war led by a liar named G.W. Bush.

So, what does Bush tell us? He has the balls to tell us ( including many families of those dead soldiers ) that we Americans complain too much - (with John Kerry as our spokesman).

Iraq is on the brink of civil war and we learned today that we killed 600 innocent civilians ( with at least 300 of them women and children ) in Fallujah alone last April. God only knows how many we've killed so far this month. The war rages on because Bush had no plan for the peace.

And he has the audacity to claim John Kerry has no plan.

Bush gets his loyalty oath groupies laughing about the war - quite often lately.

I'd like to know - what's so friggen funny about 1106 dead soldiers and the lie Bush told that sent them to his inappropriately planned folly?

I could ask, how he could possibly stand there with a straight face and say these things, but even his face has looked pretty crooked lately - his mouth drooping and his false, mocking smile cocked precariously, as if to shelter the truth behind his speed-blinking eyes.

Ruling allows Florida to reject incomplete voter registrations

Breaking: Ruling allows Florida to reject incomplete voter registrations

From USA Today:

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King decided on procedural grounds that the three prospective voters did not have the legal standing to pursue the lawsuit backed by the AFL-CIO, but he gave the union group a chance to file a new version of the lawsuit next month with people who meet the standard.

That leaves the AFL-CIO and the Advancement Project, a social action group, on the losing side of an attempt to force election officials to accept applications from people who failed to check a citizenship box on registration forms in time for the Nov. 2 election.

LINK

Secretary of State Glenda Hood, a Republican, said the state was "pleased by the decision." I'm sure she's thrilled.


credit: AIGA.com

In other Florida Election News:

New Florida vote scandal feared
by Greg Palast

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

LINK

CNN sinks in credibility with yet another 'Drudge scoop' flop

CNN sinks in credibility with yet another 'Drudge scoop' flop

CNN has been scammed by the Drudge Report one too many times for me to say I trust their journalistic integrity any longer.

Josh Marshall lays out what CNN did last night.

I had seen Drudge's flashing emergency-light icon over the huge headline and I thought about dropping him a note asking him why he constantly allowed the RNC to "play" him - but I thought twice. It would have only been an exercise in futility. Drudge is bought and sold.

It doesn't excuse CNN, though.

They are pathetic.

Josh Marshall has additional commentary here and here

I wish to be Mr. Marshall's trumpet here.
This man works his fingers to the bone to consistently refute, with truth on his side, all the garbage that the mainstream media allows the Bush/Cheney campaign to hand to them -reporting their distortions without questioning.

Bush campaign distortions reveal contempt for US integrity and safety

Bush campaign distortions reveal contempt for America's integrity and safety

"While the White House sought to minimize the importance of the loss of the HMX and RDX - two commonly used military explosives that can also be used to bring down airplanes or to create a trigger for nuclear weapons - the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, took the unusual step on Monday of writing to the United Nations Security Council to report that the explosives were gone. He usually sends a report every six months, and his last was just a few weeks ago.

"He doesn't do that to report trivia," a European diplomat familiar with Dr. ElBaradei's views said. "It's something that is considered grave."

The Bush campaign is being forced, by the truth, to spin a perverse political web. It's glaringly clear that they've come to the point of deliberately concealing the raw danger they've created for our nation while their rhetoric would suggest the exact opposite - telling us we're safer.

The past four years have been nothing more to the Bush administration than one continuous political campaign. Power has been more important to the Bush/Cheney campaign than the very integrity of the United States. Lies were told in order to secure the public support for an unnecessary war - a war, I'll remind you, that was not properly planned and executed.

The American public now awaits next week's election and fears another hijacking of the electoral process. If that occurs, I think we're going to see a Constitutional crisis.

Richard Nixon was the last president to have created a Constitutional crisis by trying to save his political hide by undermining the checks and balance system through the abuse of executive power.

How far will this president go? John Dean has already warned us that Bush is worse than Nixon.

This administration needs to go. I hope the American public understands the importance and has the patience to stand in a long line to vote Bush out of office next Tuesday. We should all consider it to be a labor of love for our country.

Bruce Springsteen to Join John Kerry on the Trail

Bruce Springsteen to Join John Kerry on the Trail

Bruce Springsteen plans to play a song or two at campaign rallies Thursday in Madison, Wis., and Columbus, Ohio, both in battleground states likely to determine the winner of the election. He'll join Kerry in Cleveland the night before Election Day.

-NYNewsday.com

Headlines and Articles

Today's Featured Article

Mother Jones - Invitation to a Degraded World:
We're less far than we might imagine from a world where an Orwellian formula like "illusion is reality" could pass muster.
by Jonathan Schell, Introduction by Tom Engelhardt
"The injection of fantasy into the real offends the aesthetic sense, but the true price is paid in blood -- in the torture of prisoners, in the launch of wars. If a grasp of reality and the constitutional machinery to act upon it remain intact, then every other ill can be addressed. But if these are lost, the capacity to recover is lost with it, and the game is over."


photo credit: InTheseTimes.com

Media Out of Control in America
Democracy and elite by Mordecai Roshwald
"We may well follow the pattern of decline of ancient Athens in our own peculiar modern way...."

In These Times- Running a Media Deficit: The joint rise of the conservative media and creeping authoritarianism is no coincidence
"In the 2000 election, Bush’s simple, easygoing style, which conceals a fierce competitiveness, made Bush a sellable commodity to the American people (especially to white men), a darling of the conservative news media and a favorite of many mainstream journalists. Add the fear and the sense of victimization from the 9/11 attacks and a new political model suddenly lay open as a possibility for the United States. It would be a post-modern authoritarian system that would rely less on traditional repression of political opponents than on a sophisticated media operation to intimidate and marginalize dissidents."

Election 2004


Here's a ballot the Republicans must love. Is it equal opportunity confusion? Karma? Is Theresa LePore lurking in Cuyahoga County, Ohio?


Nashville Weekly - Kerry For President
"Over time, John Kerry has grown on us. To a Southerner, his pedantic delivery and royal elocution can be a bit much, but in the debates we've slowly come around. We are confident John Kerry will at least engage with the complexity in today's world. It's not just that Bush won't do that. It's that he can't."

CleveScene.com - "Hijacking Catastrophe": Another documentary exposes the President as a right-wing imperialist
"Hijacking Catastrophe"does something that even Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 doesn't do. It compares Bush to a Nazi."


altweeklies.com - Cheated at the Ballot Box: Voter Suppression and the 2004 Election by Paul Rosenberg

altweeklies.com - Down to the Wire: Voter Suppression Is Alive In the Heartland by Paul Rosenberg


Consortium News - Bush: Beyond Reason by Robert Parry
"..while it may be troubling that Bush runs the world’s sole superpower on “gut” instinct that he may think is divinely inspired, it is perhaps even more troubling that large numbers of Americans are ready – even determined – to endorse this approach in granting Bush a second term. What appears to have happened is that a significant swath of the U.S. population has embraced a political mysticism which accepts Bush as a kind of cult leader. For these Bush supporters, it doesn’t matter that he has big gaps in his knowledge of the world or that he sometimes invents his own reality. They have come to see Bush as a messenger from God, an impression that Bush’s handlers – and Bush himself – have cultivated."

Kerry and Clinton in Philly Today

Kerry and Clinton in Philly Today




credit: AP photo

21 Reasons and None Very Good, As It Turns Out

21 Reasons and None Very Good, As It Turns Out

The Foreign Policy magazine website has a colorful diagram showing the many rationales given ( mostly ) by individuals within the Bush administration for going to Iraq.

100 Facts and One Opinion

100 Facts and One Opinion-
The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration
LINK-The Nation

Bush Is In 'Deep QaQaa' Over Disappearing Explosives

Bush Is In 'Deep QaQaa' Over Disappearing Explosives

Hello?!

Several hundred tons of conventional explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military facility, al Qaqaa, that once played a key role in Saddam Hussein’s efforts to build a nuclear bomb.

This is possibly the worst mistake of all. IAEA inspectors once had a handle on these dangerous explosives. Until Bush lied his way into making a stubborn attack on the country. The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site. The inspectors had to pull out of Iraq just before the 2003 invasion and have not yet been able to return.

The Bush administration was 'urgently and specifically informed' that terrorists could be helping themselves to the most dangerous explosives bonanza in history, but nothing was done to prevent it from happening.

This should not be reported as a campaign issue. It's an issue that is deadly serious and needs to be thoroughly investigated.

This, dear readers, was a major, major Bush f**k-up. We may suffer for it in the future. Safer, my ass*terisk!. I am very upset to know this has happened while we've gotten nothing but rhetorical lip service from this rotten, destructively partisan, inept, unaccountable administration.

I just saw this headline and wanted to throw up all over it:
Bush: I'm Best Candidate to Protect US
Bull-friggen crap, you are.

On CNN, a senior Bush administration official downplayed the importance of the missing explosives, describing them as dangerous material but "stuff you can buy anywhere." Blogger Josh Marshall said, tongue-in-cheek, "So, given what a powder keg Iraq is, what's another few hundred tons of plastic explosives. It's not even "necessarily" a proliferation risk. I'm feeling better already."

I saw what less than a pound of HMX or RDX could do when Pan Am 103 was blown up over Lockerbie Scotland. It killed 35 students of a university right here in my city ( Syracuse University ). If you haven't seen the heartbreak of hundreds of families caused by less than a pound of that shit, then you'd better get back to your fantasy world and vote for the maniac who failed to secure 380 tons of it.

"This material was monitored and controlled by UN inspectors before the invasion of Iraq. Thanks to the stunning incompetence of the Bush administration, we now have no idea where it is,” Joe Lockhart has said. He demanded the White House explain “why they failed to safeguard these explosives and keep them out of the hands of our enemies.”

Josh Marshall wants to know where the hell Jerry (Paul) Bremer is.

I hope the press doesn't let this slide now that the dreadful information has been unearthed.

Joe Lockhart asks, at official Kerry-Edwards campaign site: "..why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?"

See John Kerry's comments on the situation.

"In the Air" - And a Prayer

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air"
-1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

"In The Air"-
and a prayer

"Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up -- you know, is up- in the air."

-G.W. Bush, Oct 24, 2004

Bush has wasted too much time leaving
our destiny to some idea that will fall
from the sky. Our domestic and foreign
policy belong down to earth.
My prayer is that we will soon
have a leader who
understands that.


Coming from a society that has always prided itself on being based in decency and Christian-based values, I don't think breaking the Golden Rule and making carelessly offensive pre-emptive attacks upon our global neighbors ( largely based upon lies ) is going to cause us to deserve respect; nor will it ever make us safer.

That's what this election is all about.

We need a new direction.

Bush's visions of the Rapture seem too real to him for any of it to be acceptable to me. Each time he reverts to faith when pressed with a difficult question, I lose faith in his ability to lead a real and wanting nation. His latest statement about our safety being up "in the air", combined with his born-again attitude and non-reality-based thinking are disturbing to me. My faithful vision for those who are living on this earth are strikingly different than those of Mr. Bush, and it's one of the main reasons why he will never have my vote.

If you are a secularist, please pardon my foray into the fields of personal faith for the sake of forwarding political ideals.

I want nothing more than for my nation and its people to follow the rule of law, which, in its most simplistic state, parallels the rule of God. The rule begins from the within and, in the spirit of love, helps us to create a vision of freedom in the light of true respect and fairness.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."
-Matthew 22:37-38

"The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
-Mark 12:30-31

Bush talks a mean God, and judging from his actions while in office, I can only come to the conclusion that his God is mean.

Maureen Dowd wrote a refreshingly astute column about how Bush planned for national safety predicated upon a miracle with incurious ignorance of fact and willful blindness; to the extent that we (along with our foreign policy) have become a 'casualty of faith'.

When casualties of blind faith become - or cause others to become - casualties of unnecessary war, we can clearly see that the spirit of God's law has been violated.

"A word was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper of it.
Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
fear and trembling seized me
and made all my bones shake.
A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.
It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:
'Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?"

-Job, 4:17-21

Bush seems to be trying to act as a Moses when he is merely an elected public servant. I am reminded of the book of Exodus 18:15-24. Bush's job is not to be God's messenger. He has President confused with Prophet.

I am deeply concerned.

"As for the deeds of men-
by the word of your lips
I have kept myself
from the ways of the violent."
-Psalm 17, A prayer of David

We need new direction.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
-Micah 6:8

We need a humble leader whose faith is incorporated in his soulful deeds, not wading in the shallows of his chirping throat and warbling lips.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
-James 2:14

This is the closest you'll see me get
to praying that our hope is met-
That John F. Kerry wins next week
to work on the vision that we seek.

Don't be afraid to join me in this prayer.

Desperation from the right

Desperation from the right-
Start learning to say 'President Kerry'


The 'Mowbraying'-
A last-ditch effort to impugn.

There is a new article at the Washington Times by someone I consider to be a total weasel named Joel Mowbray. Mowbray's the rabid critic who disgraced himself by smearing General Anthony Zinni ( former chief of Centcom ) for partisan politics' sake. He's the same Joel Mowbray who inspired the gentle-but-loony Pat Robertson to say, in terrorist fashion, that he wanted to "nuke Foggy Bottom". He's so bad that writer Justin Raimondo created a new term in his sad honor, which is mowbraying, meaning: telling a lie so brazen as to make every decent person within earshot cringe with embarrassment. I apologize if this sounds like an
ad hominem attack, but I think, in this new day of partisan political "bluntness", that we really need to call them as we seem them. The stakes are too high to be polite.

Righties have been allowing themselves to become tittilated about the partisan Washington Times puff piece, posing it as the anticipated 'October surprise'.

The gist of the story? The Washington Times reveals that John Kerry did, indeed, talk for an unspecified period of time to at least a few members of the U.N. Security Council before the Iraq 2002 Resolution was passed - but, in 'mowbrayistic' terms - he really didn't. It's not much of a story. Bottom line, the meetings John Kerry would have had with any of these council members would not have been a public hearing and we cannot expect any security council ambassadors or Kerry to whip out transcripts on what was said in private.

They're only making one last feeble attempt to hurt John Kerry by attacking his honesty. When it comes to the heart of the honesty issue, an examination of the gravity of the Kerry-meetings-situation dissipates like alcohol-on-skin - POOF - when you remember the president's failure to tell the truth to the American people in taking us to an unnecessary war, ruthlessly risking (and taking) untold numbers of lives.

The "big October story" falls flat and predictable and I now realize that John Kerry is, indeed, poised and ready to take his rightful place as President Kerry.


The members of Bush's base are deathly afraid of American voters

Right-blogs such as Powerline are afraid that every voter who desires to vote for John Kerry will actually be able to do so. The Powerline blogger says that Democrats are "gaming the system" simply because they've registered people to vote. The same blogger has taken pleasure in seeing the reverse decision on the Ohio provisonal ballots, which I believed was a decision running in bad faith toward the people's rights and interests. The election-related "fraud" those on the right seem to be anticipating surrounds the dreaded possibility that everyone who intends to vote will be enabled to do so. If every vote counts, why is counting every vote such a fear? I think it may be because they know Bush's ability to win has diminished. They see that decent Republicans have been jumping ship.


False Reliance upon Unreliable Polls vs. The Electoral Process

I notice that righties in the blogosphere are also taking poll statistics to heart, forwarding the notion that, if the vote is a landslide for Kerry, there will have to have been corruption involved because it wouldn't have "jibed" with poll numbers. We seem to be easily confusing polls with the real and meaningful participatory action of voting. Example at Powerline:

"The bottom line is that if this election is close enough, it will be stolen. If it is too close to steal but still close, the result will be months or years of litigation, designed either to give John Kerry the Presidency, or to deny President Bush legitimacy in his second term. Under current law, there is no solution to the problem of voter fraud other than a one-sided election. And this year, that doesn't look likely."

A one-sided election doesn't "look" likely because unreliable polls have systematically conditioned the righties to believe they've got an edge. What if the election were to be close and John Kerry won, prompting an action by the people to contest the election? Would John Kerry's "legitimacy" not also be affected?

*see Scrutiny Hooligans for more proof of poll voodoo


The People - Our rights and privileges are paramount

I saw a right blogger complaining today. He said:"

This has been the mantra of the Democrats since September; if we can't beat you, we'll make your election illegitimate in the eyes of the world."

I made sure to remind him that his statement was pure self-contradiction in light of our free democratic society, which our Founding Fathers helped to form. In a race that is allegedly this close, it is a natural "given" that Bush (or Kerry) can (and one will) be beaten. Any legal election-related challenges raised by either side may effect someone's perception of a winner's "legitimacy", but what's truly important is the American PEOPLE getting a fair treatment in the electoral process. I can't imagine why we would worry more about the perception of Executive power and less about the PEOPLE. We're the ones who are supposed to hold true power in this nation. Regardless of who holds the presidency, it's paramount that we, the people, keep our freedoms and privileges intact.


One thing we DO know about Bin Laden...

In other news from the right, the Washington Times has a column by Jack Kelly playing with the possibility that Osama Bin Laden might be dead, for all we know. One thing we do know is that we let him slip away at Tora Bora and lost him in the haze of lies told to us about Iraq.

New Kerry Endorsements-including Wa Po

New Kerry Endorsements

62 So Far Today....

Washington Post endorses John Kerry
Chicago Sun-Times endorses John Kerry
Hampton Roads Daily Press (VA) endorses Kerry
LA Daily News (surprise) endorses John Kerry
The Olympian (WA) endorses John Kerry
Sarasota Herald Tribune endorses John Kerry
The Decatur Daily endorses John Kerry
Lufkin Daily News (TX) endorses John Kerry
Ventura County Star (CA) endorses John Kerry
The Coloradoan (Fort Collins, CO) endorses John Kerry
Kennebec Journal (ME) endorses John Kerry
Allentown Morning Call (PA) endorses John Kerry
The Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) endorses John Kerry
The Iowa City Press Citizen endorses John Kerry
The Raleigh News & Observer endorses John Kerry





Seattle Times endorses John Kerry
Centre Daily Times (PA) endorses John Kerry
Las Vegas Sun endorses John Kerry
Bismarck Tribune endorses John Kerry
Des Moines Register endorses John Kerry
The Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin endorses John Kerry
The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana endorses John Kerry
Bangor Daily News endorses John Kerry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorses John Kerry
Allentown (PA) Morning Call endorses John Kerry
Newark (NJ) Star Ledger endorses John Kerry
Memphis Commercial-Appeal endorses John Kerry
Bergen County (NJ) Record endorses John Kerry
Newsday endorses John Kerry
The Republican (MA) endorses John Kerry
Macon Telegraph endorses John Kerry
The Journal News (White Plains, NY) endorses John Kerry
Northwest Indiana Times endorses John Kerry
The Courier Journal (KY) endorses John Kerry
Glens Falls Post Star (Upstate NY) endorses John Kerry
Orlando Sentinel endorses John Kerry
Gloucester County Times (NJ) endorses John Kerry
Asheville Citizen Times endorses John Kerry (10/22)
The Buffalo News endorses John Kerry
The Nashua Telegraph endorses John Kerry
The Portsmouth Herald endorses John Kerry
Nashville Tennessean endorses John Kerry
Santa Fe New Mexican endorses John Kerry
The Toledo Blade endorses John Kerry
The Memphis Commercial Appeal endorses John Kerry
The Santa Cruz Sentinel endorses John Kerry
The Port Huron Times Herald (MI) endorses John Kerry
The Lansing State Journal (MI) endorses John Kerry.
The Hutchinson News (KS) endorses John Kerry
The Idaho Statesman endorses John Kerry
Stamford Advocate endorses John Kerry
Rockford (IL) Register-Star endorses John Kerry.
Contra Costa Times (CA) endorses John Kerry.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) endorses John Kerry.
Wausau Daily Herald (WI) endorses John Kerry.
Billings Gazette (MT) endorses John Kerry.
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin (WA) endorses John Kerry.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) endorses John Kerry.
Reno Gazette-Journal (NV) endorses John Kerry.
Daily Southtown (IL) endorses John Kerry.
Durango Herald (CO) endorses John Kerry.
Waco Tribune-Herald (TX) endorses John Kerry.
The Flint Journal (MI) endorses John Kerry
Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI) endorses John Kerry



I have an important "non-endorsement" to announce. The Detroit News is conservative, and they had endorsed Bush in 2000. Bush no longer meets their endorsement test.



See list of all endorsements to date HERE

Do not miss the most Bush-damning endorsement of all--from the AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE- Kerry's The One

Jon Stewart Watch

Jon Stewart Watch

Jon Stewart will be on 60 Minutes Tonight. ( We know you specialize in the 'Fake News', Jon, but we suggest you don't bring any fake documents with you to this particular interview. *wink* )

Daily Kos diary- Jon Stewart 's CSPAN interview

Mercury News- The unlikely influence of Jon Stewart, The Comedian as pundit; it's funny, but it's true.

NYT- JON STEWART GETS SERIOUS: If You Interview Kissinger, Are You Still a Comedian?

Ft Wayne Journal Gazette- Take it easy. He’s joking; Stewart insists show about comedy, not news by Howard Kurtz

Wal Mart Sez No Nudies! No Jon Stewart books in store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Want to see Lawrence O'Donnell rip John O'Neil a new one? ( * inspired by Jon Stewart, I think * ).

Watch This Video

Watch this video

Please watch this powerful Truth and Hope ad today. (Quicktime)

Why the Neo-Cons Can't Win the War on Bin Ladenism

Why the Neo-Cons Can't Win the War on Bin Ladenism
by Paul Adler
October 20, 2004

"I do not doubt that people like Paul Wolfowitz or Dick Cheney are sincere in a desire to see democracy expand to the Arab world. However, not only do I doubt their ability to carry through on such rhetoric, but I have serious issues with their conceptions of democracy.."

Paul Adler talks about how he thinks the Bush Administration is both too cynically political and too rigidly ideological to conduct this war properly; how Afghanistan (the primary front in the war on al Qaeda) remains a very dangerous and unstable place, and how, in the Bush Administration, we find a hyper version of the neo-liberal economics that has hampered development efforts around the world. In Adler's words, "Reconstruction and development efforts need to be based more on the ethos of the New Deal, not the era of robber barons." A must-read.

Kerry: the conservative choice/Bush: A radical candidate

Kerry: The conservative choice
Bush: A radical candidate
By Daniel Sneider, foreign-affairs columnist for the San Jose Mercury News

"We are witnessing the cost of Bush's radicalism in Iraq. And there is reason to believe it will not be the last we will see of this doctrine in action if he wins a second term.." LINK