Kerry Haters: We're Not Fonda John

 
Amen!

 
Kerry's Ridiculous Black Outreach Ad

I had heard on the radio that this ad was pretty bad, but it's worse. Rather than deal with actual sound, they have videotaped segments of Kerry interacting with black people on the campaign trail, with dubbed-in sound. Worse, they synchronize the talking to a certain degree with the sound, even though it is quite obvious that it's overdubbed. And the goofy hug with the guy wearing an earring at the end is obviously forced--neither man looks like he's enjoying the moment, and the black guy just seems amused and a little embarrassed. Kerry repeats the lame 1.8 million lost jobs claim, which is outdated by a couple of months.

The Hispanic ad looks better to me (although I can only understand about 1/2 the words), but the Edwards "Three Minutes" ad is terrible, especially the bit at the end, where Kerry says he approves the message while nodding sagely at Edwards' glorification of Kerry the war hero. You can almost sense Kerry as the old king and Edwards as the dashing young prince.

Not knocking Kerry's service, understand, but the implication of his approval is that he likes being praised to the heavens.

 
The Kerry DNC Speech Scorecard Needs Your Help!

I was thinking about this on the way home from work yesterday. The most common thing to do with speeches seems to be the drinking game, but I don't want to encourage irresponsible behavior. So I thought of coming up with a scorecard for Kerry's miscues/accidental truths. The candidate is judged on the Liberal Scale, the Weirdness Scale, the Pander Scale and the Hate Scale.

I'm soliciting your help; here are a couple of starting ideas below:

Liberal Scale

"[insert cause here] should be a basic right for all Americans" (or substantially equivalent) +10 points

Says "Two Americas" +10 points
Says "The Other America" (all three words must be in the phrase, in that order) +25 points.

Says "Too Many People In Prison" +20 points (or equivalent; accept more specificity--like "too many of our young people")

Uses Vietnam as allegory or metaphor or era (not a place). +20 points once, +40 points second time. Include "the lessons of Vietnam", "mistakes of Vietnam", etc.

Mentions UN +10 points each.

Speaks Spanish +0 points.
Speaks French +50 points. (Include any French terms commonly used in English as well, such as faux pas).

Weirdness Scale
Deep Kiss with Teh-RAY-za +10 points
Deep Kiss with Edwards +50 points
Plays Guitar +40 points (include after speech is over)
"The Other America" +30 points (in addition to points on the Liberal Scale)
"Vietnam" +10 points each (geographic location--"When I was in Vietnam"). Spot Kerry the first mention--no points for that one.
Mentions Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie +20 points.
Mentions "This Land is Your Land" +10 points
Sings (or plays) "This Land is Your Land"
Mentions Eddie Yost +10 points
Speaks French +20 points
Mentions Edwards' looks +20 points

Pander Scale

Reaffirms support for affirmative action +20 points
Reaffirms support for Israel -10 points
Fails to reaffirm support for Israel +30 points
Mentions Higher Salaries/smaller class sizes for teachers +10 points
Mentions tort reform -30 points
Fails to mention tort reform +10 points
Mentions unions +10 points
Speaks language other than English or Spanish +25 points
Mentions farms/farmers +10 points

Hatred Scale
Mentions "Bush" without "President" +10 points
Says "Bush lied" +30 points
Mentions Ashcroft +10 points
Mentions Patriot Act +10 points
Mentions Firing Ashcroft or Cheney +20 points (include equivalents--"This administration will have an Attorney General who is not named Ashcroft", for example).

Any suggestions? I may need to rework the point values; I'd like to have each category add up to 100 or so, but that's not crucial.

 
Around the Horn

Kitty takes a well-deserved poke at the Rocket Man (Elton John, not Roger Clemens). Poisoning Pigeons has more and a new site design.

Doubleplusgood Infotainment has a pleasing new look and a message for Michael Moore and the rest of America. (You may need to scroll down a bit to see the message).

Clay Calhoun apparently found the lyrics excellent anti-Kerry parody song floating around the net. Anybody heard the song played? Hat Tip: Daily Blogster.

We've always thought that Kerry's an ass, but Chicago Ray's got the proof.

 
So Then I Decided to Name My Dog Splash



Believe it or not Teddy the K is planning on writing a children's book series about his dog, which really is named "Splash". Is that disgusting or what?



The 35th anniversary of Mary Jo's tragic murder is tomorrow night. Kopechne would be 64 on July 26th, which is ironically only one day away from the DNC's celebration of Ted Kennedy, on the 27th.

 
If I'd Known You Were Coming I Would Have Baked a Yellowcake

Mark Steyn contributes his thoughts on Joe Wilson, Kerry's foreign policy liar.

Some of us are on record as dismissing Wilson in the first bloom of his unmerited celebrity. But John Kerry was taken in -- to the point where he signed him up as an adviser and underwrote his Web site. What does that reveal about Mister Nuance and his superb judgment? He claims to be able to rebuild America's relationships with France, and to have excellent buddy-to-buddy relations with French political leaders. Yet anyone who's spent 10 minutes in Europe this last year knows that virtually every government there believes Iraq was trying to get uranium from Africa. Is Kerry so uncurious about America's national security he can't pick up the phone to his Paris pals and get the scoop firsthand? For all his claims to be Monsieur Sophisticate, there's something hicky and parochial in his embrace of an obvious nutcake for passing partisan advantage.

Any Democrats and media types who are in the early stages of yellowcake fever and can still think clearly enough not to want dirty nukes going off in Seattle or Houston -- or even Vancouver or Rotterdam or Amman -- need to consider seriously the wild ride Yellowcake Joe took them on. An ambassador, in Sir Henry Wootton's famous dictum, is a good man sent abroad to lie for his country. This ambassador came home to lie to his. And the Dems and the media helped him do it.

Remember, Kerry's still sponsoring Wilson's website, ironically named Restore Honesty.

 
A Pair of Mouths

William Rusher has some harsh words for the John-John ticket and the Democrats' mouthpieces Michael Moore and Howard Stern.

As for the campaign, who (aside from the candidates themselves) are the parties' most energetic spokesmen? In the case of the Republicans, it will probably be Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. For the Democrats, the tigers with the biggest bites are clearly Michael Moore and Howard Stern.

If I were a Democrat, though, that would make me a little uneasy. Moore, the producer of the Bush-hating documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a grossly fat butterball with a week's growth of beard who is well on his way to earning the title of Chief Slob of the United States. Noisily anti-American (he recently told a British audience that Americans "are possibly the dumbest people on the planet"), his film is so full of anti-Bush rant that its fans are forced to describe it as flawed but entertaining. Not that that has prevented leading Democrats from promoting it: Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle both attended its premiere in Washington.

As for Howard Stern, old Toilet-Mouth has recently gotten so obscene on his radio talk show that a whole chain of stations felt forced to cancel it. But boy, does he loathe Bush!

I doubt if the Democrats are feeling uneasy about having Moore and Stern as their spokesmen. Indeed they seem to revel in it.

 
GETTING MIGHTY CLOSE



Boston Labor Dispute Awaits The Democratic Convention
BOSTON -- When Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) welcomes delegates to the Democratic National Convention here, the chairman of the California delegation plans to stand up and walk out.
Art Torres has asked the rest of his state's 541 delegates, alternates and committee members to leave with him as a show of solidarity with Boston police and firefighters, who are locked in a bitter contract dispute with Menino that threatens to disrupt the convention. "I don't know what other message to give to this mayor that workers who protect our lives deserve a contract," Torres said.
…
Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), who the convention will nominate as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, canceled a June 28 speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, hosted here by Menino, when union members made clear they would be picketing the event. "I don't cross picket lines. I never have," Kerry said at the time.
…
The city has offered the unions an 11.9 percent raise over four years, and Menino has said that while the convention is important to him, he will not mortgage the city's future by signing a contract he says it cannot afford. Union leaders say they are holding out for a 17 percent raise.

 
THIS AIN’T YOUR MOTEL 6



INN-CENSED KERRY DONORS LOSING OUT
By Deborah Orin
The Four Seasons is shaping up as the ultimate power hotel at the July 26-29 Democratic convention in Boston, and word is that some of John Kerry's super-fat cats are furious when they hear there's no room at the inn.
"There's always the hotel at a convention — the Ritz Carlton may be just as good a hotel, but it's not the hotel," says a veteran Democratic operative.
…
There are so many Kerry fat cats that they're also being assigned to hotels like Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Amerisuites, the Comfort Inn at Logan Airport, and the Charles in Cambridge (also the choice of many former Bill Clinton aides), Democrats say.

 
Values?  You Want Values?  How About This Lovely Dining Room Set for Only $1,000
 
David Brooks deconstructs the Man from Mope's claim to represent middle-class values.
 
When Kerry uses the word "values," it's meant to send a message: I am not who I am. I am not the blue-blooded prep-school kid who married two millionaires, dated a movie star and has a prenup and umpteen homes in tony locales; who has spent the past two decades as a moderately liberal senator from Massachusetts; and who likes to snowboard at Sun Valley and windsurf off Nantucket. I'm just your back-fence neighbor in Mayberry, out there in overalls, sidlin' over to the fence to chat: "Howdy neighbor! Would you like to come visit for a spell and hear about my values of faith, hope and opportunity?"
 
Brooks may be hit or miss, but when he hits, it's a homer.

 
Kerry Has a Secret Plan
 
His transformation into Richard Nixon now seems complete. 
 
"The key at this point is to have a stable, nonfailed state that is moving towards democracy and security sufficient for the government to stand on its own. And for its own forces to stand up for that government. I have a plan for how we can get there. I'm not going to negotiate my plan in the newspapers or publicly. But I will get there in ways that this president can't because he has burned the bridges of credibility and burned the alliances. And they need to be re-established with new credibility and a new president. I will provide for the world's need not to have a failed state in Iraq."
 
We talked about this a long time ago.  Be careful whom you turn into your enemies, for you will come to resemble them.
 
More from the Pandescenderer:
 
WSJ: I understand you have a difference with the president on how do we get there. Give us more of a vision of what the "there" is? How will we know when we've reached that point?

KERRY: "I'll tell you."
 
LOL!  I did not crop his response--that's the whole of it!

 
Return of the Revolutionary Drug Brothers Handshake
 

 
New Member for the Legion
 
Our good buddy Chris over at the Waffle House suggested we check out his page on the Get Up Gang, a morning show in Albuquerque.  The page features a very funny song on Kerry's VP selection thought process. (Volume check on both sites at work).

 
If Kerry Were A Republican...
 
Diana West plays a little game.
 
For further fun, picture the dense, grey broadsheets The New York Times would fill to explain the web of Thereza Heinz Kerry's political philanthropy if it served beneficiaries as insane-right as MoveOn.org (one of Thereza's actual beneficiaries) is lunatic-left. Personally, I wonder about the propriety of Heinz Kerry money flowing to political advocacy groups that spew filth at her husband's political opponent. Big Media don't.
 
Yep, that's always a pretty good method of determining media bias--if the shoe were on the other foot would they be covering the story differently?  Look at the difference between, say, the coverage of President Bush's national guard duty and Kerry's first Purple Heart.

 
More Bad News for Kerry--Budget Deficit Declining
 
Larry Kudlow has the details.
 
The latest budget numbers show a $19.1 billion surplus for June, $3 billion higher than the $16 billion Wall Street expectation. It seems that a flood of new tax collections, spurred by fatter employment payrolls and corporate profits, is rapidly reducing the federal budget gap. Tax receipts from businesses rose an astonishing 38 percent over the past twelve months and personal income-tax collections increased almost 9 percent. What’s happening? Could it be that stronger economic growth from lower tax rates is producing more tax receipts? I believe it’s called supply-side economics.

Just as the 1.5 million new jobs created since last August has terminated talk of a jobless recovery, the chatter over widening budget deficits will end. The fiscal-year 2004 budget deficit now looks to come in around $435 billion, less than 4 percent of GDP. This would be almost $100 billion below early-year estimates from the Office of Management and Budget and about $50 billion less than Congressional Budget Office forecasts. The administration is also getting its arms around federal spending. Fiscal year to date, domestic discretionary program spending has slowed to 2.7 percent from 6.8 percent a year ago.
 

 
Kerry Religious Only in Black Churches
 
Jim VandeHei has the story.
 
Outside of black churches or meetings with African Americans such as those at the NAACP convention yesterday, Kerry has been largely silent about the personal Catholicism that once inspired a flirtation with the priesthood and the Christian beliefs friends and family say guide his life and political thinking.
 
"If you listen to Bush and Kerry talk, you would be excused for thinking Bush is an incredibly religious man and Kerry is not [religious] at all," said Amy Sullivan, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and one of a growing number of Democrats pressuring party leaders to talk more about religious faith. If Kerry confines his sermon to black churches, "that's a huge problem," she added.
 
Remember, Kerry's the guy who hired a socialist to be his religious outreach director.

 
Kerry Losing Ground Among Hispanics In Arizona
 
Seems that his recent pander to La Raza where he offered a roadmap to citizenship for illegals, is bearing bitter fruit.  No wonder Kerry's pulling his advertising from the Grand Canyon State.
 
In April, about 31 percent of Hispanic voters favored Bush, compared with about 60 percent for Kerry and 9 percent undecided, de Berge said. Results from the July poll show Bush is now favored by about 47 percent of Hispanic voters, compared with Kerry’s 42 percent.
 
Overall, the results of the survey conducted by the Behavior Research Center in Phoenix show Bush leads Kerry 48 percent to 36 percent, with 16 percent of the respondents undecided. Those numbers are almost identical to a poll done late last month for KAET-TV (Channel 8), which showed Bush ahead of Kerry 47 percent to 35 percent.

 
DNC Shuts Kids Out
 
It's not just business that is going to be disrupted in the Hub City.
 
While Democratic convention bigwigs hobnob in the air-conditioned FleetCenter and swank function rooms, city kids will find gates to some neighborhood swimming pools padlocked because of security and traffic concerns. 

Pools in Cambridge and Somerville will be closed early during the July 26 Democratic National Convention week ``to facilitate area traffic flow,'' while the Lee Wading Pool on the Esplanade has been closed entirely to make way for a state police command post. 

``There was no need to close that pool,'' Mark Horan, spokesman for Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, said of the state's decision to shut down Latta Brothers Pool 1 hours early each day during the DNC. ``The kids that use that pool are primarily from that neighborhood right there. They would not pose a traffic problem.''

 
GONE TO THE DOGS



Cindy Adams points out that all presidential families have had pets, especially dogs .

PROS say John Kerry has to parade his hounds. Like Bush, who has photo ops with his beloved black Scotty Barney, Kerry has to do ditto. They're saying that pet-less presidential candidates don't win elections, that they'll end up in the dog house — or litter box — if they don't schlep around a Tabby or Fido.

 
URBAND LEGEND IN HIS OWN MIND


Snopes.com

Tough Guys
The 2004 Democratic National Convention -- despite a predictable line-up of liberal speakers like Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter -- comes with an action movie tagline -- "Stronger At Home, Respected in the World" -- worthy of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course, he'll be in NYC talking about his feelings, so it'll be up to John Kerry to deliver his signature line, "Bring...it...on" with an Austrian accent and a cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth.

Or perhaps he can arrive for his nomination acceptance speech hanging on a rope from a helicopter in full combat face paint and a flak jacket. My personal request would be for the whole Democratic entourage to spend a day at the Boston Aquarium, where Kerry could reenact his much-touted rescue of Jim Rassmann over and over again from every angle while sharks circle underneath. John Kerry's Navy swift boat crew is getting more stage time at the convention than Hillary Clinton.

 
BIG F’N DEAL



Talk, don’t talk. Whothehell cares anymore?

Kerry Asks Sen. Clinton to Introduce Bill

 
Always Read the Captions
 

 
Okay, it's not too hard to pick out Kerry's sister in this photo.  I was about to pass on when I checked out the caption:
 
Diana Kerry, second from right, sister of the Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has her photo taken with supporters during rally campaign Thursday July 15, 2004, in Mexico City.
 
Mexico City?

 
Have a Steyn of Ale
 
My favorite columnist has a long article on Mr Ed and the Silky Pony.
 
Some readers think I’m being a little fainthearted this campaign season, noting that I predicted a Bush victory months ago but seem to have gone a little quiet on the subject. Well, I still think Bush will win. As I said before and after the 2000 election, the Democrats’ biggest problem is their lack of appeal to white rural males. That’s why Al Gore isn’t President. He lost hitherto Dem states like West Virginia, Bill Clinton’s Arkansas and his own Tennessee. Do you reckon a Botoxicated Brahmin from Massachusetts with some pretty-boy ambulance-chaser is going to reverse Gore’s fortunes? I don’t. The Michael Moorification of the Democratic party boosts their numbers where they don’t need any more support — Boston, New York, plus Berkeley and a few other crazy college towns. But it doesn’t do anything for them in states where they could use a bump.

 
Fatundhate 9/11 Transcript
 
Our good friend Tyler over at Red Line Rants decided to put together a transcript of the movie so that everybody could do a little Fiskathon.  Thanks for the hard work, Tyler!
 
Hat Tip: Kitty Litter

 
The Invisible Man Returns
 

 
Now I Take My Quill Pen in Hand....
 
Nedra Pickler has the story as John Fraude Kerry prepares to write the most important speech of his life:
 
John Kerry has given hundreds of speeches in his life, but none more important than the address he is busy drafting with pen to pad, on his own, and with special care. 
 
Kerry won't reveal what he's writing in anticipation of accepting the Democratic nomination for president at the party convention in Boston, other than to say that he's trying to make sure to tell voters about the choice they face in the November election. Even its length is a secret.

But after two days of composing drafts at his home in Boston, Kerry divulged a few details about his writing process.

Kerry said he considers the speech deeply personal, so he is writing it himself and not sharing much with his advisers. He got some help from former Clinton speechwriter Josh Gottheimer. Soon, he said, he'll bring in his whole speechwriting team to work on the address, which millions of people are expected to watch during a live prime-time broadcast July 29.

Kerry said he writes in long hand, then cuts and pastes pieces of the speech to reorganize his thoughts. He uses old-fashioned scissors and glue, not the computer keystrokes modern writers are accustomed to.

It's not that he's opposed to keyboards — he said he uses computers and preferred to compose letters on a typewriter when he was fighting in the Vietnam War. He said it's just that he writes more effectively on paper.

"I find that this" — he moves his fingers like he's typing on an imaginary keyboard — "somehow becomes the concentration. ... It interrupts the flow for me."
 
I'm hoping to be able to live-blog Kerry's speech, but that depends on other people as I'm going to be out of town that week.

 
New Nickname!
 
Longtime reader and fellow L-Dotter Gayle called Kerry The Wizard of Wienieness in a comment on an earlier post.  Love it!  Thirty-four nicknames and counting:
 
Le Fraude, International Man of Apology, The New-Wonk of Nuance, Lord of Louisburg Square, the Boston Fog Machine, Nuancy Boy, Botoxicated Brahmin, Lurch, Herman Munster, International Man of Mystery, the Pandescenderer, Flipper, Mr Ed, Ol' Horseface, Flapjack, John Facade Kerry, John F'ing Kerry, John F Skerry (Scarey), Live Shot, The Againster, DYKWIA, Botox Boy and Ol' Sourpuss, Hanoi John, Hanoi Boi, Pterodactyl, Man from Mope, A Dressed-Up Abbie Hoffman, Scary Kerry Quite Contrary, International Man of Science, Running Eagle, International Man of Farming, The Wizard of Wienieness.
 
I really need to use the Pandescenderer and the Man from Mope more often--they fit lots of situations with Kerry.

 
Kerry Working on Another Flip-Flop
 
Remember Jonathan Pollard, the American who was convicted of spying for Israel?  When asked whether he'd pardon Pollard, Kerry claimed to not be familiar with his case, but that he would get up to speed on the issue.
 
Oops!  Turns out that in 1999, Kerry signed a letter with 59 other senators calling on then-President Bill Clinton not to release Pollard.  I (speaking for Pat only) support the Israelis on a lot of things,  but not on Pollard.

 
Who Said This?

Some people have said I was courageous to speak truth to the power of the Bush White House. But let me tell you, what I have done doesn't hold a candle to the courage that John Kerry showed as a young man and throughout his political career. I am supporting him for President because he has been willing to tell the truth no matter what the pressure. He is ready to restore truth and honor to the White House. And I hope that everyone else who is outraged by this Administration and who wants to change America will join me in doing all you can to make John Kerry our next President.

Willing to tell the truth no matter what the pressure? On the contrary, Kerry earned his nickname "Flapjack" because when it gets too hot on one side, he flips over to the other.

But more than that, this endorsement is amusing because of who wrote it; the man who was revealed as a complete liar himself, Joe Wilson.
 
And the best thing about Joe Wilson's site, which is named "Restore Honesty"?
 
Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters and Instapundit.

 
Edwards Admits Kerry's a Stiff
 
What else are we supposed to assume after reading this exchange on the Don Imus show (as transcribed by Jim Geraghty over at the Kerry Spot).
 
IMUS: When I say Senator Edwards, and then I ask him a question, I want Senator Edwards to answer. And Senator Kerry, when I say Senator Kerry, and ask you a question, I still want Senator Edwards to answer.
(LAUGHTER)
KERRY: I like that. That is exactly the way I like it.
EDWARDS: Actually that's the way I'd prefer it. Can we use that in all our interviews?

 
Kerry Spending $2 Million to Court Black Voters--Updated!

There has been a lot of grumbling among black Democrats that the Kerry campaign is ignoring them. A recent poll showed President Bush with something like 17% support among African Americans, which may not sound like much, but it's almost double what he received in 2000. So Kerry's breaking open the campaign piggy bank to buy back the voters who usually are in the Democrats' corner come hell or high water.

With a black advertising executive, a black former Cabinet member and a new ad in which John F. Kerry hugs a black man with an earring, the Massachusetts senator's presidential campaign stepped up its effort yesterday to reach African American voters.

However, there is one alarming statistic in the article, that should have all Republicans wary:

Equally important, independent liberal groups -- such as MoveOn.org and the Media Fund -- have aired their generally anti-Bush ads 56,627 times in the tightly contested states. Spots by conservative groups appeared 513 times.

Ouch! That's over 100-1!

Hat Tip: Hugh Hewitt and Real Clear Politics
 
Update: The Kerry Spot points us to this article in the LA Times about the reaction by well-known black Democrats to the ads.
 
The ads … were lackluster to say the least," Cummings said after the black caucus reviewed them in a meeting at the Capitol.Saying his opinion represented the consensus among the 25 or so caucus members who saw and heard the commercials, he added: "We felt the ads just did not, would not grip African American people in a way that would cause them to be very excited about going to the polls for John Kerry."He also said, "It would have been nice if we could have seen the ads before they were out there."

 
A Solution to the Lack of Crowds?



Kerry's new bright idea is to talk to people (and their neighbors) on their front porches. I guess that it makes the small crowds look more normal. [Small crowds? Isn't that an oxymoron?--Ed].

 
People Who Live in Glass Houses....

When will the Democrats wake up and realize what a complete loser they've nominated? Kerry's latest goof is typical--a self-inflicted wound caused by his stupidity.

Democratic candidate John Kerry, whose campaign demanded to know on Wednesday whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged.

Hat Tip: Brain Fertilizer

 
Look Out Fatundhate 9/11--Here Comes Eclipsed by the Sun

There's a new documentary out on Kerry's infamous 1972 run for Congress.

Along with Lowell Community Broadcasting and the Middlesex Community College Leadership Institute, The Sun provided historical research and cooperated in the production of the film, which is funded by Egan and directed and narrated by Art Cohen, a local journalist, radio personality and documentary filmmaker. The film was written by Eagan, Cohen, and Tewksbury's Ryan Sullivan, a broadcaster with the Lowell Sunrise show on WUML.

It would be interesting to see; however, I suspect it will not be coming to a theater near me anytime soon.

Hat Tip: Kerry Spot

 
Some Fun Stuff

The Waffle House has an little game called John Kerry's Medal Toss. The game is pretty basic, but you'll love the background song. Chris also points us to this site which examines Kerry's purported athletic prowess.

Chicago Ray points out that Kerry backer Whoopie Goldberg lost a few pounds with Slim-Fast--from her wallet.

Ambra Nykola also takes on the Whoopie Cushion, focusing on the ironic tagline to the Whoopster's Slim Fast ads: I'm a big loser!

Allah reminds us of the consequences of Kerry's "Let America Be America Again" slogan.

Bill Clinton advises us that while in London he went out to a gay bar.

 
Hugh Hewitt's Book

We've mentioned Hugh's radio program before; IMHO he's the best talk show host in America--funny, informed, intelligent, and a great supporter of the blogosphere (and a fine blogger in his own right). If you haven't listened to him yet, you can catch yesterday's program here or listen to today's program live between the hours of 3 and 5 PM (West Coast Time) on weekdays. Once a week he even has the incomparable Mark Steyn, favorite writer of conservative bloggers everywhere.

Hugh has a new book out that I feel confident is worthy of your hard-earned dollars. The title alone is a classic:

If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It.

Buy a copy for yourself and send one to a liberal friend who needs a little educating.

 
Wilgoren at Her Snarky Best

She does a featurette on the Ketchup Queen today:

But for the microphone, Teresa Heinz Kerry could have been gossiping with the girlfriends she takes with her on her private jet while campaigning solo across the country.

"When you get married when you're older, it's not the same as when you get married when you're a young little thing," Mrs. Heinz Kerry confided to a mostly female crowd of 1,400 here the other day, all wink and nod. "It's better, and it's not the same."

A few hours later, on another stage, she had more to share. "I have to say that John Edwards is very beautiful," she said in her trademark stage whisper, as a ripple of giggles spread across the crowd of 5,000 at a fund-raising concert. "And my husband is very smart."

"You can talk to the simplest person about any issue," she told the women in Boston, seemingly unaware that the people she was referring to might not appreciate that description. To a crowd of 3,200 in New York a few days before, she exulted, "Women for Kerry need birth control, you've gotten so huge," then went on to say, of her sex, "It's time that we who clean up should have a say in how the dirt should be made."

 
WELL HUSH M’MOUTH!


Not a happy camper.

And here I thought Her Royal C ruled! Apparently not, because here I am today to retract my statement in a “comment” yesterday, that Hillary was not snubbed, that she chose not to speak at the convention. Today, however, The Prowler reports, and I curtsy to his political wisdom always, that Her Royal C was “rebuffed.” Heck, I didn’t know she was even buff? I stand corrected.

Hillary Silenced
The Prowler
"Kerry has never forgotten how badly he was treated by the Clintons," says another Kerry associate. "He's had people like [Ted] Kennedy and [Max] Cleland whispering in his ear for months about how he can't trust the Clintons and that he owes them no favors."
According to other insiders, another reason to block Hillary cited by Kerry folk was her performance at a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco several weeks ago, where to a cheering crowd she announced that Democrats would have to raise everyone's taxes for the good of the country.
…
"They will try to spin it that anything more Hillary does in Boston was going to happen all along, but that was scripted as a 'surprise,'" says a New York adviser to Clinton. "But that's b.s. If she had a bigger role, she and Bill wouldn't be behind the scenes engineering this PR disaster for Kerry. And that's exactly what they are doing."
The Clintons, on the other hand, may be in for a rude surprise. While Bill Clinton may believe the Democratic Party is his plaything, John Kerry believes that at least for the next five months it is his to do with what he wishes.

 
Flop-Sweat Time: Kerry Gives Up in AZ, Missou, Southern States

They know they're hosed:

Despite promises to expand the election playing field, John Kerry has reduced his ad spending in Missouri, Arizona and throughout the South in the run-up to the Democratic presidential convention.

Kerry's advisers said they were not shrinking their political map, only saving resources for later in the campaign and redirecting ad money to hotly contested states like Florida and Ohio.

Yeah, right. Kerry supposedly has tons of money that he's got to spend before the convention, and yet he's pulling back in certain states. And they're all states where we've said for months he stands no chance, and yet he's been spending the money.

You know what I'm reminded of? The Deaniacs. When it came out that Dean had spent all the campaign's money on Iowa and New Hampshire, the Dean blog was awash in sad stories about people who had donated more than they really could afford because they wanted to take their country back. Kerry's blown the incredible money he had. Moo-on, and ACT? My guess is they have not scrimped on spending either on the assumption that there would always be more.

 
THE HARLEQUIN ROMANCE CANDIDATES



They share. They care. They’re in double-thumbs-up love. Some may read this article and seethe, but I got the biggest laugh out of it. An L.dotter would post a “barf alert” warning, because it is fawning-on-steroids. But it’s also hilarious as Wolffe’s effort is a tad too intense trying push these two candidates. Let’s face it, if America already viewed Kerry/Edwards as sunny and positive and thisclose, there would be no reason for Wolffe to write such Harlequin romance drivel. You know a campaign is in trouble when the veep is expected to carry the ticket. And this veep’s nickname is The Breck Girl; now that’s bad! Read the last sentence of the article and tell me that’s not an insult to Edwards. Oooo, this looks like fun!

Campaign Paragon
By Richard Wolffe
It’s hard to put your finger on the precise moment. It could be when he steps to the front of the stage, raises his arms in the air and simply basks in the cheers of thousands of adoring fans. Or it could be when he stops in his tracks, shrugs his shoulders and modestly tells the crowd they don’t really need to listen to him talking about their lives. But by the time John Edwards reaches the climax of his new stump speech, the realization dawns. The senator who just joined the Democratic ticket is not just good. He’s the Stepford Veep.
…
“I’ll tell you something that’s going to happen in this campaign—it’ll be a wonderful thing for America—between now and November: the American people are going to reject the tired, old, hateful negative politics of the past,” [Edwards] explains. “And instead the American people are going to embrace the politics of hope. The politics of what’s possible. Because this is America, where everything is possible … I give you the man who represents hope. Hope for you, hope for me, hope for our children, hope for your children, hope for the future of America!”
…
Normally it’s the candidate’s wife who has such an effect on the campaign trail, but Teresa Heinz Kerry is as earnest as her husband. … Teresa’s idea of a joke is to adapt the title of the campaign’s unofficial theme song: "Johnny B. Goode." “The Johnnys B. Goode,” as Teresa called the ticket in Raleigh. “And they will be good if [Edwards’s wife] Elizabeth and I have anything to do with it,” she added with a chuckle.
…
Kerry remains a work in progress, a candidate whose performance can still be patchy, even though it has improved beyond recognition since the primary season began.
…
Now [Kerry] needs to study his running mate’s style and make it his own in the few weeks left before the general election gets underway. Kerry’s challenge this summer is to step into Stepford without surrendering his brain.

 
The Daughters

The daughters of the two presidential candidates seem to be in the news today. USA Today has a profile of Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry. No big surprises.

Alexandra, the tall brunette with model looks, is a filmmaker and actress who made headlines in May at the Cannes Film Festival when flashbulbs revealed she had little on beneath a sheer black dress. "Alex," or "A" as her family calls her, graduated from the American Film Institute last month. The L.A. resident describes herself as a bit of a dreamer.

Vanessa, a blonde with piercing blue eyes who resembles her dad, is a third-year med student at Harvard Medical School. "Nessa" is more intense and more private, yet more comfortable in front of the camera and well-versed in her father's platform.

That was a pretty low blow--saying that Vanessa resembles The Pterodactyl! The picture that accompanies the article is not very flattering to either woman. I have seen pictures of both where they look much more attractive (and no, I didn't think Alexandra looked all that great in her see-through dress).



Meanwhile, our friends over at Crush Kerry pointed us to the transcript of a chat with Washington Post reporter Dan Froomkin, where he indicates that the press is going to declare "open season" on President Bush's daughters now that they have done an interview with Vogue.



Just include a photo or two, Dan, and we won't complain too much! Jenna's a cutie, but Barbara is breathtaking.

 
Kerry Haters Sticks Up For Kerry!

There were a couple posts on a new issue at The Corner on NRO, and one at Hugh Hewitt's blog regarding a supposedly stupid thing that Kerry said a number of years ago as reported by Peter Gammons, a Boston-based sportswriter and analyst for ESPN.

Gammons is a personal favorite of mine, and while I don't necessarily disagree with the thrust of his comments, he makes such a hash of things that I can't give him this one, even though it's anti-Kerry.

Here's the text:

We have been led to cynically believe that many politicians are disingenuous and generally phony, but few will ever beat Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. This man, who changed his middle initial to be JFK and at an anti-Vietnam rally threw someone else's medals into the water, made a self-promotion appearance with Boston talk-show maven Eddie Andelman and claimed he was a big Red Sox fan from his days growing up in Groton, Mass. And at the promotion he said Eddie Yost was his favorite player.

The problem with that is just the simple fact that Eddie Yost never played for the Red Sox.

Well, there are a couple problems with what Gammons said. First of all, Kerry did not change his middle initial to be JFK; he was born John Forbes Kerry, well before John F. Kennedy made the initials famous. Yes, Kerry exploited the JFK monogram, but he did not change his middle name or initial.

Second he did not throw someone else's medals in any water (in another place Gammons says he threw them in the ocean). He threw them over the fence onto the lawn at the Capitol Building. So already we've got two pretty egregious errors of fact in the first paragraph. And Gammons does not say that Kerry claimed Eddie Yost was his favorite Red Sox player, he said the Red Sox were his team and Yost was his favorite player. It is quite possible to root for one team, and have a favorite player who is not on that team.

Over at the Corner, there was a bit of piling on. A reader wrote in:

"Yost Sucked!

Not only was he not a Red Sox player, but he was really bad! And he only managed 1 game for the Washington Senators, never for the Red Sox.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/y/yosted01.shtml

Sorry, but Yost did not suck. He was a fine ballplayer as evidenced by the fact that he is one of only a dozen or so men in the 20th century who made it to the major leagues without ever playing a minor league game. He stuck around for 18 seasons. Yost was known as "The Walking Man" because he was skilled at drawing the base on balls. At the time he retired I believe he had the sixth most walks in baseball history; 40+ years later he ranks ninth. He did not have a high average or a lot of power, but then he played in cavernous Griffith Park, one of the toughest parks to hit home runs in of all time. Through 1953, Bill James reports that Yost had 55 homers in his career; three in his home park and 52 on the road. He's not quite a Hall of Fame-caliber player, but he's on the next lower rung--a solid all-around player with a long career. James rates him as the 24th greatest third baseman of all time.

And if Kerry knows baseball well enough to mention Eddie Yost as his favorite player (not exactly a common choice), then he probably knew that Yost never played for the Red Sox. Yost played almost all of his career for the old Washington Senators except for the tail end when he drifted to the Tigers and then the Los Angeles Angels.



Sorry, I gotta stick up for Kerry here, unless he specifically said that Yost was his favorite Red Sox player. And Yost is not a stupid pick. He's a hidden gem because his best statistic, walks, was virtually unknown when he played.

 
Sorry for the Lack of Posts This Afternoon and Evening

Blogger was down. Got a couple good posts, just can't get them on the site.

 
Kerry's Israel Flip-Flopping



This isn't going to go over well with Kerry's anti-semitic left-wing fans.

Of course, Kerry hasn't always felt that way. Last December, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, he accused the president of "jeopardizing the security of Israel [and] encouraging Palestinian extremists" — a description that surely would be met with astonishment in Jerusalem.

Indeed, Kerry "was the most critical of any in his party," of Bush's Middle East efforts, according to Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory.

Now, however, he's solidly endorsing Israel's security fence as "a legitimate right of act of self-defense" and is denouncing Yasser Arafat as a "failed leader" who needs to be replaced.

Not that Kerry has always felt that way about either the fence or Arafat, either.

As The Post's Deborah Orin reported back in March, a 1997 book by Kerry hailed Arafat's "transformation from outlaw to statesman" and cited him as a potential role model for other "terrorist organizations with political agendas."

Orin's column triggered an uproar — which quickly moved Kerry to concede that Arafat had "missed a historic opportunity" and was now an "outlaw." The candidate managed to avoid a debate over whether the PLO leader, who has never even begun to fulfill his personal commitment to confront terrorism, ever qualified for the title "statesman."

As for the security fence, Kerry last year sang an entirely different tune for the Arab-American Institute, to whom he bemoaned "how disheartened Palestinians are by the Israeli government's decision to build a barrier off the Green Line, cutting deeply into Palestinian areas."

 
They'll Be Voting For Kerry

 
Charity Begins at Home

Our buddies at Crush Kerry have been doing a wonderful job covering the apparently illegal efforts of the Heinz Family Philanthropies to assist John Kerry's bid for President. They have another detailed story, including some private emails.

“Carl Cameron from Fox News called and says he has it from two sources that Ken Lay attended a dinner at the Georgetown home of THK and JK on Sept. 23, 2002, but that JK was not there,” cried the frantic e-mail from Kerry staffer David Wade to Kerry spokesperson Stephanie Cutter. Several HFP employees were cc-ed on the e-mail.

“If Ken Lay had served the public like he served the Heinz foundation, then maybe he wouldn't be looking at serving time?” Replied Mike Gehrke from the Kerry campaign.

David Wade replied, “If we can show the undeniably philanthropic context in which Teresa Heinz Kerry knew him that'd be good...Plus, John Kerry wasn't there and he never gave John Kerry a dime. What do Jeff Lewis and Marla have on the foundation side?”

That may have been the spin, but the truth is that the Heinz Kerrys and crooks at Enron have had a close, longstanding financial relationship.

As Crush Kerry asks, where are the media on this story? Yeah, we know they're carrying water for the Kerry Campaign, but they should recognize that this story is going to come out eventually, and it is better for the Democrats for it to be covered prior to their convention, when the Toricelli option can still be considered, rather than after when John Kerry is their official nominee.

 
Democrat Fund-Raiser Charged with Interstate Promotion of Prostitution

Well, now we know what "values" the Democrats have in mind.

According to the indictment, two of the cooperating witnesses in the investigation -- a married couple described as close relatives of Kushner -- provided information against him to federal investigators.

The indictment alleges that Kushner initiated "a scheme to orchestrate a covert videotaped seduction" of the cooperating male witness in an attempt to thwart the investigation.

The indictment says Kushner recruited two individuals to hire a woman to have sex with the male witness and later instructed them to mail the videotape to the man's wife, who was the other cooperating witness in the investigation.

The FEC fined Kushner $508,900 last month for contributing money improperly to candidates in the names of his companies, the AP reported.

Kushner contributed to the campaigns of several prominent Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, according to FEC records.

 
The Veeper & The Peeper

Some of John Edwards' fans are pretty colorful folks. Consider the case of Samuel Ferebee, who spoke to the Eddie Haskel of the Senate after church on Sunday.

Ferebee spent four months behind bars for secretly looking at a girl changing her clothes in a store in New Bern.

He is also banned from Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campuses over accusations of stalking female students.

 
BEHIND EVERY FRAUD



Is an even bigger fraud. As plans stand right now, Her Royal C is not in the lineup of big-wigs to speak at the Democratic Convention. The simple reason, they say, is because she never requested to speak. HOWEVER …

Mrs. Clinton Will Be in Boston, but Not at the Microphone
Other Democrats had different theories.
Some wondered if the Kerry-Edwards campaign was worried about being upstaged by a woman who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, most likely in 2008. Others speculated that the campaign was worried that Mrs. Clinton may be too polarizing a political figure to showcase during an event intended to appeal to the broadest political audience.
…
Some Democrats wondered whether this potential rivalry [between HRC & Edwards for the ’08 nomination] was behind the decision to keep Mrs. Clinton off the list of convention speakers.
"It's very interesting," said one prominent national Democrat who asked not to be identified because he did not want to provoke either side. "A lot of 2008 presidential politics may be at work here. It certainly gives Edwards a tremendous edge to keep her off the list."

 
“RHINESTONE COWBOY”



Kerry Is No War Hero, Say Vietnam Comrades
Some of John Kerry's former swift boat crewmates will have a high-profile role at the Democratic National Convention later this month, as they attempt to portray Kerry as a decorated Vietnam War hero. But an even larger number of veterans say that's not the case.
…
A number of the veterans will speak glowingly about Kerry. Jim Rassman, a Green Beret who has said Kerry rescued him from a Vietnam river in 1969, will lead the group.
Members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were quick to dismiss the effort, which they said amounted to a public relations push by the Kerry campaign to remake the candidate into a war hero despite lingering questions about his actions in Vietnam.
"The facts are that 250 of Kerry's former shipmates, including 17 of the 24 officers in his division, signed a public letter saying he's not fit to be the commander-in-chief," said retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who commanded the fleet of swift boats during Kerry's tour of duty. … During a May 4 press conference announcing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, he called Kerry a "loose cannon" because of his actions in Vietnam.
…
One veteran who served alongside Kerry in another swift boat said the story of his rescue of Rassmann was exaggerated.
"I have an eyewitness, firsthand account of what happened," said Larry Thurlow, who commanded a swift boat. "And the story he now tells is so drastically far from what actually happened, if I didn't know he was recounting this particular day, I wouldn't even recognize the story."
…
"He's a rhinestone cowboy," said John O'Neill, a veteran who helped organize Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "He literally is a guy who parades around and pretends to be something he's not. He was in Vietnam for four months; everyone else was there for a year. He obtained three Purple Hearts from self-inflicted wounds. And then he left."


See Earlier Story:
Kerry Was a 'Loose Cannon' in Vietnam, Says Ex-Commander (May 4, 2004)

 
Senator Loophole

The Wall Street Journal takes on Edwards' rather creative scheme to avoid paying medicare taxes on a large chunk of his income.

Senator Edwards talks about the need to provide health care for all, but that didn't stop him from using a clever tax dodge to avoid paying $591,000 into the Medicare system. While making his fortune as a trial lawyer in 1995, he formed what is known as a "subchapter S" corporation, with himself as the sole shareholder.

Instead of taking his $26.9 million in earnings directly in the following four years, he paid himself a salary of $360,000 a year and took the rest as corporate dividends. Since salary is subject to 2.9% Medicare tax but dividends aren't, that meant he shielded more than 90% of his income. That's not necessarily illegal, but dodging such a large chunk of employment tax skates perilously close to the line.

The Internal Revenue Service takes a dim view of such operations and "may collapse the structure entirely and argue the S corporation is not truly a separate entity," in the words of Tax Adviser magazine. Attorney CPA magazine lists it as No. 11 of its "15 best underutilized tax loopholes," but warns that the IRS "has successfully litigated cases against individuals, particularly sole shareholders of personal service S corporations, reclassifying such deemed distributions as wages subject to social security taxes."

As a political matter, the dodge is especially hypocritical because the income limits on which Medicare taxes are paid were lifted by Democrats in 1993 specifically to hit "the rich," as Mr. Edwards likes to call people in his tax bracket. And the supreme irony? Mr. Edwards has claimed that he set up the subchapter S company to protect himself from legal liability. You know it's time for tort reform when even the trial lawyers say they're afraid of getting sued.

Edwards saved himself close to $600,000 via this scheme.

 
Kerry's Staff Mushrooms

The Washington Post reports:

The campaign now includes 37 separate domestic policy councils and 27 foreign policy groups, each with scores of members. The justice policy task force alone includes 195 members. The environmental group is roughly the same size, as is the agriculture and rural development council. Kerry counts more than 200 economists as his advisers.

May we ask the obvious here? If Kerry's got this humongous staff, how come he can't come up with a position on what he'd do differently in Iraq? And get this part:

Kerry's expanding universe has opened the campaign to a torrent of suggestions and second-guessing, useful or not. George A. Akerlof, a Nobel prize-winning economist and Kerry adviser, recently became so agitated about what he considered Kerry's muddled campaign message that he crafted an entire speech for him, straying far from his economic expertise to pit what he calls the Democratic Party's moral view of human nature against the sinister forces that Republicans see driving humanity. The campaign politely declined.

 
Ten Questions for John Kerry

John Hawkins put this up on Right Wing News today. I am posting a couple of his questions along with my suspected answers as Jean Kerree would reply; see his post if you want the whole 10 questions and answers.

1) Conservatives claim your voting record is to the left of Ted Kennedys. Are you a liberal? Do you think your political views compare with those of Ted Kennedy? (10:16)

He'd say that he judges each issue on its own merits rather than whether he gets called a liberal, and then he'd say something about his fairly low rating from the Americans for Democratic Action last year and so far this, ignoring that his absent votes count against him in the ADA rating.

2) Given that every commanding officer you ever had in Vietnam says you are unfit to be President, do you think voters can still trust your judgement on national defense when your own commanding officers in Vietnam don't? (10:19)

He'd slough it off with the old, "I can't believe anybody's questioning my patriotism."

5) Do you feel ashamed that your US Senate testimony, which was based in part on the testimony of people who turned out to be frauds, was quoted to our POWS in Vietnam by their interrogators in an attempt to break their will? (10:24)

Tough one, but he's really refused to flip-flop on this issue. He'd insist that everything he said was true, and anything that wasn't he was just reporting what had been told to him at the Winter Soldier hearings.

8) You've criticized George Bush for high gas prices. Do you think that's fair given that you supported a 50 cent tax increase on gas at one point? Follow-up: would you still support such a tax increase and if not, why has your view changed? (10:31)

No, he doesn't support the 50 cent a gallon tax increase any longer (lying of course), and his view has changed because he recognizes that this would cause an undue burden on the working men and women of America, who have been punished enough by this administration...

Kerry's good enough to handle the first level questions. It's when the interviewer knows the weaknesses inherent in the answers and can hone in on the tough follow-up that he gets flustered and defensive.

The one question I would like to have Kerry answer is for him to provide details of his trip to Mississippi in the early 1960s to register black voters. Kerry mentioned this once, in a speech at Howard University, but it gets no mention in Douglas Brinkley's Tour of Duty or anywhere else I can find, which leads me to suspect Kerry of a little resume-enhancement.

 
Mr Potato-Head, Your Botox Treatments Are Ready



Kerry's been the Invisible Man again today, virtually no news photos.

 
Kerry Bragging About Abandoning Support for Troops

President Bush, visiting the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, made the charge.

Courting conservative voters in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, President Bush said Tuesday that rival John Kerry abandoned support for U.S. troops in Iraq and then bragged about it.

"Leaders need to stand up with our military," Bush told a cheering crowd, kicking off a two-day tour of three crucial key states that he lost in 2000 to Democratic Vice President Al Gore.

Kerry said Monday that he and running mate John Edwards were proud of the fact that they opposed the $87 billion aid package for Afghanistan and Iraq "when we knew the policy had to be changed." Kerry said the Bush administration should have gotten other allies to help with the war in Iraq.

Kerry for the most part has dodged the $87 billion question, but on Monday he was speaking before a women's group and got that comfort level that allows him to do stupid stuff, and so he proclaimed that he was proud to have voted against providing the military the funds needed to do their job.

 
The Hair Band Hippie

Matt Labash got a ticket to Hate Fest '04. We get a ticket to Laugh Fest '04 in exchange.

DURING THE PARTS of this presidential campaign that I've managed to stay awake through, it's striking how few gaffes and humiliations John Kerry has suffered. When he does, they nearly always result from his flying his freak flag, trying to talk to the young people, or otherwise waiting for his hipster credit to get approved.

Yeah, the hippie thing again. We've talked about this many times in the past--that Kerry almost seems like he was frozen in 1972 and just recently thawed out.

 
When The LA Times Criticizes Liberals....

You know that they have to have been strongly provoked.

The trouble is, both Sens. Kerry and Edwards voted yes on the resolution authorizing the war in Iraq. And now they refuse to say whether they would have supported the resolution if they had known what they know today. Both say they can't be bothered with "hypothetical questions."

Reluctance to answer the question is understandable. If they say they stand by their pro-war votes, this makes nonsense of their criticisms of Bush. If they say they were misled or duped by the administration, they look dopey and weak. Many of their Democratic Senate colleagues were skeptical of the administration's evidence even at the time. If Kerry and Edwards tell the probable truth — that they were deeply dubious about the war but afraid to vote no in the post-9/11 atmosphere and be tarred as lily-livered liberals — they would win raves from editorial writers for their frankness and courage. And they could stop dreaming of oval offices.

Yeah, they go on to hope that this will not mute Kerry & Edwards' criticism of Bush (not to worry!), but the cardinal rule of dealing with the press is to answer their questions. You can't say, "Oh, I'm not going to answer that," without paying a price.

 
Legion Roundup

Stop John has a new film on the POW/MIA affair(volume check).

John F Kerry Sucks points us to a new member for the Legion: I Hate John Kerry. True the name is a little harsh, but who are we to criticize on that basis? ;) Lots of anti-Kerry jokes, lots of good Photoshop gags.

Sportsmen for Kerry? has a great piece on Kerry's real thoughts about guns (he wants to grab them), and they look at John Edwards' record as a sportsman. Although Edwards acknowledges hunting in the past, he apologizes for it.

Jim Geraghty over at the Kerry Spot points us to this article on Kerry's appearance at the dedication of a private memorial to the victims of the 9-11 attacks who were from Massachusetts (remember, the two planes that hit the World Trade Center were from Boston).

Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] upset some families of 9/11 victims yesterday when he arrived - late - to a private memorial dedication in a sirened motorcade and glad-handed as though he were on the campaign trail.

The senator, in Boston for the day, hopped in his motorcade at the Four Seasons, drove around the Boston Public Garden and arrived at the memorial with his sizable entourage in tow.

Press were kept away but several family members, speaking privately, said they were miffed that Kerry arrived after most other pols - such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy [related, bio], Rep. Martin T. Meehan [related, bio], and Attorney General Tom Reilly - had all left.

And Kerry stayed much longer than the other leaders, shaking hands, posing for photos before he left with just as much commotion.

``I bet he couldn't even name anybody on that wall,'' said the wife of one 9/11 victim, who spoke on the condition her name not be used.

Others said they were disturbed that the Kerry campaign allowed television crews to film over the Public Garden fence - capturing video of Kerry with grieving family members in the midst of his presidential campaign.



Shows up late, turns a solemn event into a photo op? Yep, that's JFK--Just For Kerry--all the way.

Ted Sampley and his buddies over at Vietnam Veterans against John Kerry will be demonstrating at the Democrat's National Convention in Boston on the 28th and 29th of July. Also, don't forget the HUGE Kerry Lied demonstration planned for September 12th in Washington DC.

 
Who's On First?

Crush Kerry has a great post on Kerry's intended first act(s) as President. He'll send a health care bill to Congress, he'll start spending your money to get foreign women abortions, he'll issue an executive order funding stem cell research, he'll raise the minimum wage to $7.00 an hour, and he'll also send a message to all our soldiers. And he'll do all these things first.

Of course he'll also do his international apology tour at the same time.

 
JUST DEMOCRATS BEING DEMOCRATS



DOUBLE 'AMNESIA'
Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday accused John Kerry and John Edwards of having "campaign amnesia" for forgetting their past strong support for toppling Saddam Hussein.
"When Congress voted to authorize force against Saddam Hussein, Sen. Kerry and Sen. Edwards both voted yes. Now it seems they've both developed a convenient case of campaign amnesia," Cheney said.
…
Cheney also ripped Kerry and Edwards for being among the small number of senators last fall who voted against providing $87 billion toward the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. The measure passed 87-12.
"The last thing our nation needs is politicians who support a decision to go to war and then try to rewrite history and then fail to support the troops they voted to send into battle," Cheney said.

 
Edwards Not Delivering in North Carolina

USA Today/Gallup are reporting that the selection of John Edwards has given the Kerry campaign a slight lift in national polling, but far too little to put North Carolina in play.

Democratic hopes that Edwards' selection would broaden the list of battleground states in the South were dented by the survey. In it, President Bush (news - web sites) and Vice President Cheney hold a commanding 54%-39% lead among likely voters in North Carolina. The lead narrows to 49%-43% among registered voters.

 
Today's Communists are the Trial Lawyers

James Pinkerton is on this beat.

But another part of the appeal is what can be called "elitist populism" - activist, redistributionist government. And in these days it is spurred on not by voters and elected officials, but instead by lawyers and lawsuits.

Once upon a time, politicians preaching "soak the rich" and "bust the trusts" would get elected and enact laws to achieve their ends. At the beginning of the 20th century, left-leaning pols succeeded at two huge goals: the Justice Department broke up John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly, and the Constitution was amended to allow for the progressive income tax.

Today, not so many people have faith that the federal government in Washington can make things better. Moreover, the lobbies looking out for corporate power and private wealth have set up formidable roadblocks to lefty political action.

But the popular impulse toward regulation and redistribution hasn't disappeared. It has merely taken on a new form: Today's leading left-ivists aren't politicians; they are trial lawyers. It's the tort bar that has turned trial lawyering into an income-transferring mechanism rivaling the government. According to the Manhattan Institute, trial lawyers targeting everything from Big Tobacco to the Big Mac have created a $200-billion-a-year moneychurn that yields $40 billion a year in revenues for attorneys.

Unfortunately, Pinkerton concludes that the media swoon over Edwards is unlikely to end anytime soon, so the Kerry/Edwards ticket will probably continue to get effusive praise.

Stuart Taylor has more.

 
Go Right to the Source and Ask the Horse Part IV

More from the NY Times interview:

Q.Senator Edwards, what was the hardest question he asked you?

KERRY: Oh, I wouldn't -

EDWARDS: Well, first of all, I don't even know the answer to that question. And if I knew the answer, I wouldn't tell you.

Q.Senator Kerry, what was the best answer? What was a turning point where he said something and you thought, "This is the guy''?

KERRY: Here's the deal. I said I was going to keep that process personal and private up until the point that I announced who I'm running with, and I did.

Q.Now we're after that point.

KERRY: Yup. And we're talking about what we're going to do as president.

Translation: We're not going to talk about how I made him bark like a dog if he wanted the job.

Q.In a poll we did recently, we found that a majority of Americans thought that because of the administration policy on Iraq, the chance of a terrorist attack had grown. Do you guys agree with that?

KERRY: I believe that the overall conduct of this administration's foreign policy the war included, the management of Afghanistan, the diversion from Afghanistan, away from Al Qaeda, the lack of cooperation with other countries, the lack of adequate attention on homeland security, all together -- has not made America as safe as we ought to be given the options available to us in the aftermath of 9/11.

Q.That's too mushy. Are we more or less vulnerable to a terrorist attack?

KERRY: Look, because I didn't answer your question the way you want me to doesn't mean my answer is too mushy. What I said is very clear. That there are a whole series of events that have not made America safer.

Interestingly, he does not say that we are more vulnerable than we were before Iraq; rather he is saying that we are more vulnerable than we should be.

The Silky Pony tries to ride to the rescue, but again contorts himself into a human pretzel:

EDWARDS: The way he answered that question, the way John just answered that question, is the way the question should be answered. Because things don't fit into boxes in this world. Any more than the things that affect American families here at home fit in boxes. You know, it's not health care, and then in another box, jobs, and then in another box, tuition. They all come together to affect the lives of Americans. It's also true that when you're evaluating what the effect has been of this administration, you can't look at Iraq in isolation, because Iraq acts in concert with what's happening in Afghanistan, what's happening with the war on terrorism in general, what's happening with the deterioration of our relationships around the world all those things go together in order to evaluate what the impact is.

Q.Have all those things together made us more vulnerable to terrorist attack?

EDWARDS: I do not believe we are as safe as we can be, that's what I believe.

Obviously, what's going on is that both Kerry and Edwards believe that the Iraq war has made us safer. However, they don't dare say it because that would be giving credit to Bush, so they twist it around, in effect saying "Yeah, we're safer, but we could be safer still, if we'd gotten the French on our side."

Q.Do you think the warning Thursday from the White House was trying to use fear to manipulate the electorate? Is there a "crying wolf" danger with all these warnings?

EDWARDS: I would say two things about that. First, we are committed to crushing terrorist cells, to getting them out of the United States, and to winning the war on terrorism. Completely committed to that. Using all of the resources of the United States to accomplish that goal. We both believe that there is more than can be done. We talk about a positive vision for the country. This is one of the areas where we believe we have a positive vision about other things that can be done. Just for example, stronger alliances.

How about saying, "No, I don't think they're trying to use fear to manipulate the electorate." But Edwards and Kerry don't want to tell the truth to their fever swamp brigades.

There's more, but it will have to wait for a later post.

 


Scott needs YOUR help to be chosen to blog at the Republican Convention.

Hat tip to Tyler at RedLineRants.

 
ARE THE DECEASED NEXT?



I could point out that 60% of the listed felons are Democrats, while only 20% are Republican ... but I won’t.

Florida Felons for Kerry
Florida may or may not be as critical to the outcome of the presidential race this year as it was in 2000. But the race here will likely be close again. The outcome might depend on an unlikely group: criminals.
…
The current issue, consuming reams of newsprint across the Sunshine State, has to do with a state-generated list of more than 47,000 possible felons, who elections supervisors need to determine voter eligibility on before election day. Democrats have a high level of interest in the list because -- what a surprise! -- almost 60 percent of the people on the list who were registered to vote are Democrats and only about 20 percent Republicans.
…
No newspaper, for instance, has asked any prominent Florida Democrat, "Aren't you the tiniest bit embarrassed that one of your party's most reliable voter blocks is criminals?"
…
As a high percentage of people on the list is black, the charge of racism is just waiting to be launched at any supervisor with the temerity to do this part of his/her job.

Roberto, at DynamoBuzz, already covered this subject a while back:
"Florida to Let Former Felons Vote". A key democrat constituency is now free to vote in November, as long as they stay out of trouble.

 
Three Cheers for the Latino Coalition!

They released a statement yesterday condemning Hate Fest '04, the already infamous John Kerry fundraiser from last week (which took place at Radio City Music Hall, not Madison Square Garden as I mistakenly said in some prior posts).

"Whether you were born in this great country or reached it as an immigrant searching for a better life, we all hold in high regard the sacredness of our freedom of expression as granted by our Constitution. As free individuals, we have an inalienable right to express our religious, social, and political opinions without fear of being persecuted. What we don't have is the right to offend other people and denigrate our ethnicity in the process.

"John Leguizamo's comparison of Hispanics supporting Republicans to "roaches for Raid" (Jodi Wilgoren, "Kerry's Celebrity Fund-Raiser Is a Huge Bash," The New York Times, 7/9/04) is not only shameful coming from a Latino, but a sad display of the anger and rage that Kerry surrogates are willing to display without thinking twice about the consequences of their actions.

"If Latinos are going to join the movement of offensive, racial slurs against brothers and sisters who may disagree with them politically, what moral authority will any Latino have to raise his or her voice when others do the same?

"Regardless of political affiliation, all Hispanics and the entire country should repudiate such political discourse. When in the course of expressing political opinions one denigrates an entire segment of the population, one has only contributed to those who exploit the differences among the members of that community to keep them from achieving their full potential.

"As American citizens who value all individuals in public service, we ask Senator John Kerry to repudiate such comments and for Mr. Leguizamo to publicly apologize. To not do so is to agree with Mr. Leguizamo's notion that Hispanics who have supported Republicans or those who might still be undecided are nothing but roaches to the Kerry campaign."

"Finally, we call on all Latino organizations to join us in repudiating these comments and to call on Senator Kerry to stand up against this shameful, offensive and bigoted rhetoric."

The Latino Coalition is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C. TLC was established to address policy issues that directly affect the well-being of Hispanics in the United States. TLC's agenda is to develop and promote policies that will foster economic equivalency and enhance overall business, economic, and social development of Hispanics. For more information please visit their website at http://www.TheLatinoCoalition.com.

 
"I am against the — the war."



KERRY VS. THE WAR
By John Podhoretz
Kerry and Edwards say, if we'd done better building a coalition to go to war with us, we would have somehow magically discerned that Saddam didn't have WMD and therefore we wouldn't have had to go to war at all.
…
[T]hose who sought to prevent us from going to war with Saddam thought that
a) he possessed WMD and
b) he was actively pursuing terrorism against the United States.
And yet, according to Kerry and Edwards, if those folks had decided to join us rather than try to stop us, they would have led us to the supposed truth about how little at risk we were from Saddam.
Wow.
…
Kerry may share JFK's initials, but right now, the president he most resembles is Richard Milhous Nixon — the very man he condemned in 1971 for not wanting to be "the first president to lose a war."
Nixon did become the first president to lose a war.
If John Kerry becomes president, he'll be the second.

 
BREAKING NEWS! EDWARDS DROPS OUT IN HUFF OVER PHOTOS OF KERRY WITH JACKSON BROWNE--Must Credit Kerry Haters--Satire



John Edwards today briefly abandoned his campaign to be cabin boy on the SS Kerrytanic after seeing pictures of his former significant other, presumptive Presidential candidate John F. Kerry, cavorting with Jackson Browne at a convention in Boston.

"Well, it's obvious that there are two kinds of Americans," said Edwards. "Those who snuggle up to rock stars, and those who snuggle up to the sexiest politician alive. Big John just hasn't been reading People Magazine enough to appreciate what he's got."

Kerry's response, through a spokeswoman, was terse. "There are two kinds of Americans, all right. The first is the kind that appreciates getting the VP nomination when he's really just an empty suit with no experience and no credible reason to be even considered other than his smile and his southern drawl. And the other kind is also John Edwards, but with at least a little f'ing appreciation." Senator Kerry said he did read People Magazine, although when asked about a favorite recent story he mentioned one from 1972.

However, the apparent rift between the two candidates was solved at the last minute by Teh-RAY-za Heinz-Kerry, when she reminded them that a pre-nuptual agreement had been signed by both parties acknowledging Kerry's long-established right to suck up to rock stars of the 1970s.

We'll see how this tawdry tale plays out over the coming months.

 
Let's Just Hope Everybody Notices Me Holding Hands With Michelle Here and Not What's Going on with My Right Hand





By the way, Jackson Browne, you been sleeping in those pants? How about parting with a little of the legal tender to get your clothes pressed?

 
That's No Way to Treat A Billion Dollars

 
Record Day for Kerry Haters

We've had 518 people walk through the door today as of 10:15 PM. IIRC the record was 506 before this.

And the most encouraging thing is that this record does not come as a result of some sudden link or event sending us a mass of traffic. The prior records were all somewhat unusual:

The first record I can remember came around late March, when Kitty Litter got the signal honor of being the Blogtruth Post of the Day over at Lucianne. I posted a message of congratulations along with a wistful hope that Kerry Haters might one day get the benefit of Lucianne's (2 million per day) traffic. Kitty was kind enough to put up a link to me and I got about 150 visitors that day--the first time I got over 100, maybe even over 50.

Of course, Kitty eventually agreed to co-blog with me and awhile later Hugh Hewitt linked to one of my posts, sending 100 people our way in an hour and 450 on the day. At this point, I'd guess we were still averaging about 100 visitors, so 450 was quite a thrill. Awhile later Kitty wrote a fine post that got picked up on Right Wing News; that set the prior record before today.

This is just another Monday. Granted I had a hunch we might get there when both weekend days got over 300 visitors. We are now the 387th ranked blog in traffic, and will probably climb to the top 350 in tomorrow's traffic rankings (thanks folks!). And best of all, among the blogs we passed this week are the BeatBushBlog, the NoWarBlog (which wants you to know they are currently opposing the war against Syria), and Left I on the News.

We appreciate all who visit and all who link to us, especially those mentioned above and also Crush Kerry. We hope to provide you with lots more information and entertainment over the remaining days of the campaign, and then the final post on November 3rd as Kerry rides off into the sunset.

 
Milblog Roundup

The Green Side has another email from Dave--unfortunately a tough week for one of his fellow commanders in Iraq.

You may have heard the story about the Iraq War veteran who was called a baby killer and murderer by the anti-war fanatics attending his hometown Fourth of July Parade. Blackfive has the email addy if you'd like to send your thanks to that young man for his service to let him know that some Americans appreciate his sacrifice.

Citizen Smash has a great post on a Protest Warriors operation.

Baldilocks says that all that talk about postponing the elections doesn't mean a thing.

 
Go Right to the Source and Ask the Horse-III

The NY Times had this a couple days ago, and I didn't catch it. It's a long verbatim interview with the John & John act.

They start out with a question for the Breck Girl. Not too much doubt this is intended to introduce the junior half of the ticket. But get this response from Senator Lightweight:

I think what we know from the intelligence report, there are several things. One is that the al Qaeda-Hussein connection was not there. I believed that at the time, I continued to believe it in the interim, and I believe it now. I believe it was not there. I did not believe there was a strong al Qaeda-Saddam Hussein connection, I never believed that.

Wow, strikeout looking. This is the guy that's going to wipe the floor with Dick Cheney in the debates? He twisted himself into knots about what he did and didn't believe and when he did and didn't believe it. And of course Edwards is lying (with the help of the interviewer and the rest of the media). The intelligence report detailed lots of connections between Al Qaeda and Hussein, just not with regard specifically to 9-11.

Get this ridiculous question from the Times' interviewer:

Q.You're both products of Vietnam, in different ways. Do you think this experience has undercut Americans' faith in government the way that Vietnam did for a lot of us in the 1960's?

Kerry is of course a product of his Vienna, errr, Vietnam experiences. Nobody would deny that the man is obsessed with that period of his life. But Edwards? How is he a product of Vietnam? He was still in high school when most of the American involvement (and all of the draft) ended. I'll tell you what I think. I think it's an extremely unsubtle attempt by the interviewer to inject him/herself into the story. The questions are unattributed. And I note that most of the left did not lose sufficient faith in government during the 1960s (really the early 1970s) that they abandoned it as the cure for everything that ails us. They just didn't like it being used against despots and totalitarians (some things don't change).

Get the response though--the interviewer loads up the "compare this to Vietnam" question, and...:

KERRY: I think there is a new level of cynicism and lack of credibility towards government among young people in our country, I think you're seeing it on campuses, I think you're seeing it in the reflection of, ah -

EDWARDS: I think equally important, we can change that, we can change that. The damage is not irreparable with a new administration. That's exactly for people in this country who have lost some of their faith, who feel that cynicism that John's talking about, to have a president who has been through what he's been through, in Vietnam, what the men around him describe about his leadership, his vision, and more, what he's made of, inside, will go a long way and to have a president who tells the American people the truth will go a long way toward restoring that confidence.

Edwards goes on for awhile after that. I can't help imagining Kerry wanting to strangle him at that moment--interrupting the Anti-War Criminal just as he's about to expound on the similarities between today and the Vietnam era, it's like cutting off Jesse Jackson when he's going to compare something to Selma.



But more important, look at Edwards' bizarre, disjointed style of speaking--rhetorical flourishes piled on dependent clauses that makes a backwards chain of logic (start from conclusion and then indicate premises).

Kerry's continuation of Edwards remarks got a lot of attention:

KERRY: And I believe if you talk with Warren Hoge or you talk to David Sanger, you talk to other people around the world, they will confirm to you, I believe, that it may well take a new president to restore America's credibility on a global basis so that we can deal with other countries and bring people back into alliances.

You might be forgiven for asking who Warren Hoge and David Sanger are. They're reporters for the New York Times. That's right, in the middle of an interview, Kerry states that two reporters for the New York Times believe that it will take a new president to restore America's credibility on a global basis. And the Times makes no effort to correct this impression about them. Why in the world would anybody with conservative beliefs listen to anything further those two have to say?

I'll have more--this is really a target rich environment as they like to say. Hat Tip: Just One Minute, which has much more.