Kerry Haters: We're Not Fonda John

 
JOKE



A popular bar had a new robotic bartender installed. A guy came in for a drink and the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?" The man replied, "130." So the robot proceeded to make conversation about physics, astronomy, investments, insurance, and so on.
The man listened intently and thought, "This is really cool."
Another guy came in for a drink and the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?" The man responded, "100." So the robot started talking about football, baseball, and so on.
The man thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool."
A third guy came in to the bar. As with the others, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?" The man replied, "70."
The robot then said, "So, what's the Democratic Party up to these days?"

Thanks, Cal!

 
An Unhealthy Obsession?

We all know that John Kerry tends to mention his service in Vienna, errr, Vietnam, quite often. Believe it or not, his daughter Alexandra, who was born while Kerry was a famous war protester, has made a film that is being shown at Cannes this year. The subject?

Alexandra Kerry will show a short film 'The Last Full Measure', about a family dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

 
The McCain Mutiny Part MCMLXXXVIII



The New York Times gets giddy over McCain as Veep again.

"Senator McCain would not have to leave his party," Mr. Kerrey said. "He could remain a Republican, would be given some authority over selection of cabinet people. The only thing he would have to do is say, `I'm not going to appoint any judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade,' " the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, which Mr. McCain has said he opposes.

 
Pentagoner

The WSJ takes on Kerry's floated possibles for Secretary of Defense. As Zero Mostel would put it, there's something for everyone. William Perry for the peaceniks, John McCain for the hawks and Carl Levin for those looking for a few chuckles (something peculiar, something familiar, something for everyone, a comedy delight!).

Our point in describing all this is that, far from clarifying Mr. Kerry's intentions as President, his four Pentagon names merely raise more doubts about what he really believes. Mr. Kerry is tossing out these names amid a war in which U.S. lives and credibility are at stake and which he is denouncing as "disgraceful." The least he could do is give voters a consistent idea of what he'd do differently and better. Senators can afford to indulge in this kind of political massage therapy, but would-be Presidents have to get serious.

 
FRENCH CONNECTIONS?




O, mon dieu! The Senator who does absolutely nothing for his taxpayer-funded paycheck, is once again trying to impress us with his European connections. Does this flake make this stuff up? hear voices? or does he meet "with other folks" in dark alleyways and bathrooms for his "indications"?
Europe Offers Help Privately, Kerry Says
Sen. John F. Kerry said Friday that despite public declarations from France and other European countries that they would not send troops to Iraq, there were indications some of the nations would be willing to change course with the right diplomatic effort.
"There are senators and … diplomats who have had conversations with other folks that I think indicate that — given the right equation, given the right statesmanship and leadership — it is possible to have a very different level of participation," Kerry said
…
Earlier this week, France's new foreign minister said his country would never send French troops to Iraq, even as part of a peacekeeping mission.
But Kerry expressed optimism about altering European opinion, although he added that he did not know if France would change its position.

 
Rush Limbaugh “bought” a question from Frank Luntz of the Luntz Research Companies in Alexandria, Virginia. Actually, Luntz did a 3-question survey … 3 questions so the primary one was not isolated … with
500 Democrats and independents who lean more to the Democrats.

Luntz’s entire report.



Here’s the question Rush wanted asked:

N = 500 Democrats and Independents (who lean more to the Democrats)
1) Even though the Democrat nomination for president has now been determined, if you had the chance and could vote again for the candidate to run against George W. Bush in the fall, for whom would you vote?

40% JOHN KERRY
21% DON’T KNOW
10% JOHN EDWARDS
--8% HOWARD DEAN
--5% SOMEONE ELSE
--4% WESLEY CLARK
--3% AL SHARPTON
--3% JOE LIEBERMAN
--3% REFUSED
--2% DENNIS KUCINICH
--2% RICHARD GEPHARDT
--1% BOB GRAHAM

 
Kerry Appears Overwhelmed in Sumo Match

 
Can You Spot the Flip Flop?

Kerry on Gay Marriage:

The presumptive Democratic nominee has long opposed gay marriage, favoring instead state-sanctioned civil unions that extend legal protections to gay couples.

But...



He voted against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union only of a man and woman, saying it amounted to gay-bashing. Kerry has opposed President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage but said in February that he favors such a ban in Massachusetts.

 
Kerry's Going to Need a Bigger Life Preserver Than That!

 
Kerry Quote Repository

Great job by Right Wing News.

 
Kerry Not Worried About Being Overshadowed by Bill & Hill





Mark Humbert has the story of the incredible shrinking Kerry.

"That's like saying the sun that makes your plants grow and makes everybody strong and gives life to the world is so big that when it shows up everybody tends to notice it," said former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat whose eloquence has stirred the party faithful at past conventions. "So what? What do you get from that sun? You get nourishment. You get life."

Hat Tip: Kitty.

 
If Kerry Wins

Glenn Reynolds makes a strong case that he'd be a weak president.

I think it's fair to say that if Kerry wins, he'll win based on anti-Bush sentiment among Democrats and swing voters. But although the anybody-but-Bush vote might be good enough to get him into office, once he's elected it will evaporate: the dump-Bush voters will have gotten what they wanted, and they won't have any special reason to support any particular policy of Kerry's -- or even Kerry himself.

 
QUEEN OF MEAN?


Or just Queen of Cheap?

TERESA'S TAXES
By HOWIE CARR
'WE don't pay taxes," Leona Helmsley famously said in 1989. "Only the little people pay taxes."

Leona Helmsley was dubbed the “Queen of Mean,” partly for that very attitude and partly for the way she treated “the help.” She was widely hated by most who depended upon her for their living. Before Donald Trump bought it, Leona owned The Palace Hotel in New York City. She made TV ads in which she referred to herself as “the Queen of The Palace.” Is Mother Kerry is just as widely hated? Boston's own Howie Carr has another great article.

Leona Helmsley, meet Teresa Heinz Kerry, second wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Sen. John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts.
…
In other words, in addition to the $45,000 a week on which she did pay taxes, Mrs. John Kerry last year collected another $56,000 a week upon which she paid zero taxes.
"I think there's a lot of unfairness today in America in the way taxpayers are treated," her husband explained on the Fox News Channel last January, without naming names. "The average worker really ends up with the raw end of the deal as big corporations and powerful people walk off with the money. That has to change."
…
"We need to ask the wealthiest people in our country," Sen. Kerry said last September, "to bear some of the burden."
Somewhere, Leona Helmsely is blushing.

 
Softball Practice

The Pandescenderer appeared on Hannity & Colmes last night, but it was in a controlled setting as a taped interview with Colmes alone. I wouldn't be surprised if Kerry insisted on the final edit. Here's the transcript.

As you can see, Colmes was an easier interviewer than Charles Gibson on Good Morning America. He lobbed softball after softball up to the plate. Not a single follow-up question, no challenges, no interruptions. Questions like this:

COLMES: You spoke with Nick Berg's father, Michael Berg. How's he doing?

However, Kerry couldn't resist a Mike Dukakis-like response:

KERRY: Well, as you can imagine, I mean, this is a -- I mean, as a parent, if I lost one of my children that way, visibly, learning about it the way he did, I -- I mean, I'd personally give up whatever I'm doing and I'd spend the rest of my life trying to bring those people to justice.

Bring them to justice? How about bring them to the gates of Hell?

 
Kerry's New Outfit

Bassfire has the skinny on Nuancy Boy's summer wear.

 
Stoned or What?

 
Is Kerry a One-Cookie Kid?

I talked about this in the comments section once, but it bears repeating. Years ago there was a study done where they gave kids a cookie. The kids were told that if they waited for five minutes without eating the cookie, they would be given a second cookie, but if they ate the first one before the five minutes were up, they wouldn't get another.



Of course, kids being the ultimate "live in the moment" beings, a good percentage of them ate the cookie right away. But the study didn't end there. The researchers then followed the kids over time, and they found the one-cookie kids were far more likely to get into trouble with the law, drop out of school, have children out of wedlock, etc.

In a way this is not surprising. Much of life is about delayed gratification. I remember how hard it was to finish my college education when many of my friends got jobs out of high school and were quickly driving around in new cars, with the hot stereo system and living in an apartment, while I was still living with my parents and hoping to borrow the keys for the evening.



The question is whether Kerry is a one-cookie kid. His actions on returning from Vienna, errr, Vietnam, certainly indicate as much. Kerry's political ambitions were well-known even during his prep-school days. When he came back from the war, he was reportedly not interested in the anti-war movement at first; it was only his sister's involvement that got him interested.



But when Kerry realized that he could advance his political career by running out in front of the anti-war movement and pretending to be leading it, he immediately did so. And at first, he appeared to have succeeded wildly. He gave a speech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the end of which one senator said something to the effect that he hoped it would not be long before Kerry joined them in the Senate.

However, it turned out that Kerry had eaten the cookie on that occasion. He got the immediate gratification of becoming instantly famous, even appearing on the Dick Cavett show. But he was unable to capitalize, losing an election for Congress in 1972. IIRC he lost a primary election in 1970 (wasn't that the whole reason he got out of the Navy?) to a Catholic priest (can you imagine a Catholic priest winning the Democratic nomination today?), but I'm not seeing that mentioned in the Boston Globe article referenced above.

Kerry arguably then set about the patient business of building up his credentials as a prosecutor and businessman. But it's been reported that he sought (and got) the position of top assistant to the local DA only months out of law school, over veteran prosecutors. And the design for Nuancy Boy's boutique cookie business was reportedly stolen from the plans of another cookie franchise.

Yep, that's right. Even when it came to his cookie business, Kerry ate the cookie.

Which brings us to today. Kerry's flip-flopping on every issue is the ultimate expression of the one-cookie kid.



And I really mean today. Kerry found himself unable to resist the cookie. He had to jump in on the Abu Ghraib incident today, this time claiming,

"This administration has made an egregious error in the laxity of a command control. And I am convinced this didn't happen just because six or seven people decided to make it happen in a prison. It happened as a matter of what was going on in terms of interrogation and the laxity of command up and down," Kerry said in an exclusive interview with Fox News' Alan Colmes.

More about the ridiculous interview with softballer Colmes coming up. In the meantime, have a cookie! ;)

 
Kerry's Honesty Rating Disappears



That recent Pew Center Poll contained a little surprise for Nuancy Boy. Hat Tip: Rush Limbaugh via Lucianne.

 
More Enthusiasm for Kerry

Howard Fineman writes in Newsweek that Kerry could win it. Here's the plan:

Kerry’s theory of this campaign is pretty straightforward: to be the guy people have no choice but to vote for on Nov. 2. Not because he has a stirring new vision (he doesn’t); not because he’s such a darned likable guy (he isn’t); but because circumstances are such that fair-minded "swing" voters have no choice but to pick him. He’s not running against the war, per se, but as the nobleman at the end of the Shakespeare play, a beacon of sanity on the battlefield.

 
Inspirational Kerry



Here's an idea: How about making a CD of Kerry's speeches and marketing it as a sure-fire cure for insomnia?

 
Some Headlines Require No Comment

From the Boston Channel:

Dems Hoping For More Homosexuals At Convention

Party Sets Numerical Goals For Gays, Lesbians

 
NAVAL “RESERVE”?



Is it just me, or does Kerry look “reserved”? He doesn’t look like he’s part of the gang. His band of bros are huddled together ... and then there’s Kerry, off to the side. Just wondering …

 
Another Fine Mess

Kerry & Kennedy, hard at work.

 
Boston Strangler

That was Kerry's call signal as a swift boat captain according to an article in American Thinker by John Dwyer.

Working with call sign "Boston Strangler" became problematical. "I had a lot of trouble getting him to follow orders," recalls Wright. "He had a different view of leadership and operations. Those of us with direct experience working with Kerry found him difficult and oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives. I believed that overall responsibility rested squarely on the shoulders of the OIC or OTC in a free-fire zone. You had to be right (before opening fire). Kerry seemed to believe there were no rules in a free-fire zone and you were supposed to kill anyone. I didn’t see it that way."



I got a hunch by the time the campaign is over, Democrats will be calling Kerry the Boston Choker (joke by L-Dotter Patchy Groundfog).

 
Live Shot Rap

The NY Times has the story of the first rap song about Kerry. Here are some of the lyrics, which Kerry will no doubt find poetic:

"I support you 100 percent, and I would love for you to be the leader.

"I know your plan is to clean up the country and make it neater.

"You're a keeper.

"I don't have insurance and I love that you're struggling to make it cheaper.

"I'm scared to get hurt, because if I break my finger one day.

"I can't go to the hospital 'cause I don't got the money to pay.

"Words come out, but I don't got nothing to say.

"It feels like the family will never be stable.

"We livin' in the ghetto, with a broke down TV and no cable.

 
FRICK’n’FRACK



"Under New Management"
Will no one hold Ted Kennedy accountable for his slander of the U.S. military?
by Hugh Hewitt
ON MONDAY, Ted Kennedy took to the floor of the United States Senate and made this statement: "Shamefully we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management."
Kennedy, of course, is the alter ego of John Kerry, and is his principal backer and original sherpa to power in Washington.
…
The inability to distinguish between categories of evil is evidence of the inability to distinguish between evil and good. That Ted Kennedy lacks such capacity does not surprise. What does surprise is that Kennedy's colleagues have not condemned his slander of the American military. He is equating the suffering of millions and the deaths of hundreds of thousands under Saddam, with the actions of a handful of rogue soldiers.


JUST A REMINDER …

 
We Know Who The Liberal Senator from Massachusetts Is; Who's the Guy on the Left?

 
Kerry Panic Alert!

Dick Polman of the Philly Inquirer has the scoop:

President Bush has been battered over the last month by a string of setbacks, many of which have arguably undercut the moral and strategic premises of the war itself - yet Kerry's poll numbers have barely moved. Gallup even says that in the days since the scandal blew open, Kerry's support among likely voters has actually dropped a couple of points.

These developments have triggered low-grade panic among Bush-bashers. They talk about Kerry the way local fans fault the Phillies for playing only .500 ball. The Kerry-watchers want their guy to seize the moment, pound the opposition, hammer Iraq day and night, and act like a commander-in-chief.

:) Kerry would be losing by 10 points right now if he did that. As it is, his statements below about American arrogance should send him drifting downward. Kerry seems like an early AI--as long as he can keep comfortably on this week's message he's alright. It's when he tries to respond to current events that he just has an amazingly tin ear.

 
Kerry Implodes on Abu Ghraib

This one should be all over the talk shows in the morning:

The prison-abuse scandal in Iraq stems from an arrogant attitude that President Bush displayed in going to war there, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said in Louisville yesterday.

"What has happened is not just something that a few, you know, privates and corporals or sergeants engaged in," the senator from Massachusetts told more than 500 people at a fund-raising luncheon.

"This is something that comes out of an attitude about the rights of prisoners of war. It's an attitude that comes out of how we went there in the first place, an attitude that comes out of America's overall arrogance as policy," Kerry said.

If they've got him on tape talking about America's arrogance, that should be in the Bush ads tomorrow afternoon. Kerry Crusher's just got an almost-perfectly suitable update to their MP3.

Remember, only you can help KILL THIS BLOG!

 
Here's the Boston Chowderhead, as quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal

Q. The president's line on this is basically that he is not going to trust the security of the American people to other countries...

A. I don't either. I don't trust our security to anybody. I'm not...

Q. What's your counter-argument to that line?

A. I repeat the line, but that's inadequate. The counter-argument is, that's only part of the story, as usual, and it misleads Americans, as usual. I'm not going to cede our security to any nation. I'm not going to cede our security to any institution. As president, I'll make a better decision about our security by making certain that we actually make the American people as safe as they ought to be.

Compare that to the sniveling excuse for a man who appeared on TV with Tim Russert:

Within weeks of being inaugurated, I will return to the U.N. and I will literally, formally rejoin the community of nations and turn over a proud new chapter in America's relationship with the world...



Same interview with the Louisville paper, next part of the same answer:

The president has — you know, that's one of those red herrings, say something that people agree with, but it has no real meaning in terms of the real choices we face, and the real choices we face are, you know, I mean, look: Do Kentuckians like spending billions and billions of their taxpayer dollars because the president didn't bring other countries to the table? Do Kentuckians like their young men and women being in greater harm's way because we didn't put other soldiers on the ground?

This is Kerry's cunning way of saying "I'll get the French to put in their young men and women".

Like that's going to happen.

This highlights another reason why I don't like Kerry. He's profoundly unserious, and unseriously profound.

 
Another Massachusetts Marriage?



Nah, the general's not rich enough.

 
Resign from the Senate, Mr Kerry

Kerry missed a vote yesterday on extending unemployment benefits, that his campaign staff say he would have affirmed. The vote was 59-40, with 60 votes needed to stave off Republican opposition. Thus Kerry would have provided the deciding vote.

As a public service to the citizens of Massachusetts, here are the Senate roll call votes this year, and Kerry's vote on each:

1 Not Voting
2 Not Voting
3 Not Voting
4 Not Voting
5 Not Voting
6 Not Voting
7 Not Voting
8 Not Voting
9 Not Voting
10 Not Voting
11 Not Voting
12 Not Voting
13 Not Voting
14 Not Voting
15 Not Voting
16 Not Voting
17 Not Voting
18 Not Voting
19 Not Voting
20 Not Voting
21 Not Voting
22 Not Voting
23 Not Voting
24 Yea
25 Yea
26 Yea
27 Yea
28 Yea
29 Nay
30 Nay
31 Not Voting
32 Not Voting
33 Not Voting
34 Not Voting
35 Not Voting
36 Yea
37 Yea
38 Yea
39 Yea
40 Yea
41 Not Voting
42 Not Voting
43 Not Voting
44 Not Voting
45 Not Voting
46 Not Voting
47 Not Voting
48 Not Voting
49 Not Voting
50 Not Voting
51 Not Voting
52 Not Voting
53 Not Voting
54 Not Voting
55 Not Voting
56 Not Voting
57 Not Voting
58 Not Voting
59 Not Voting
60 Not Voting
61 Yea
62 Not Voting
63 Nay
64 Not Voting
65 Not Voting
66 Not Voting
67 Not Voting
68 Not Voting
69 Not Voting
70 Not Voting
71 Not Voting
72 Not Voting
73 Not Voting
74 Not Voting
75 Not Voting
76 Not Voting
77 Not Voting
78 Not Voting
79 Not Voting
80 Not Voting
81 Not Voting
82 Not Voting
83 Not Voting
84 Not Voting
85 Not Voting
86 Not Voting
87 Not Voting
88 Not Voting
89 Not Voting
90 Not Voting
91 Not Voting
92 Not Voting
93 Not Voting

For those not keeping track, that's 79 times not voting. But the US taxpayers (and the voters of Massachusetts) have been getting their money's worth on a grand total of 14 votes, or about 15% of the time.

And before you say, wait a minute, the Republicans are just scheduling superfluous roll call votes to embarrass the good senator, consider that in 2003, when there was no push on to embarrass the New-Wonk of Nuance, there were already 146 roll call votes by May 12th as compared to the 93 this year.

As Best of the Web puts it:

Kerry should quit the Senate, as Bob Dole did in June 1996. This not only would allow the appointment of a full-time replacement but also would demonstrate Kerry's own confidence in his presidential campaign, possibly giving a boost to his party's morale.

Resign Senator Kerry. The citizens of Massachusetts deserve a voice in the Senate that isn't half potted like Ted, or AWOL like you.

Inspired by Best of the Web Today for 5/12/04.

 
Ketchup Queen Limited Hangout II

Teh-RAY-za released summary information from her tax returns yesterday.

Heinz Kerry reported a taxable income of $2.3 million, primarily from dividends and interest on savings and investments. She earned an additional $2.8 million from tax-exempt bonds. So far, she has paid $587,000 in estimated federal taxes, an effective tax rate of 11.5 percent, compared with the top federal income tax rate of 35 percent.

But...

The disclosure is not likely to quell Republican calls for a broader look at Heinz Kerry's finances. Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said the GOP will wait to see what comes out in October.

 
Kerry's Supporters Vile

Kerry ventured into Republican territory yesterday. Jacksonville is the home of lots of retired military, which means it votes Republican. But listen to what one of Nuancy Boy's supporters had to say:

"I think Democrats are doing quite well and today is evidence of that," said state Rep. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville. Before Kerry arrived, Gibson told the crowd that the president is "a liar, a thief and a crook."

But here's the plane truth:

 
Coming to a Radio Near You

Our good friends at Crush Kerry have made an MP3 audio file of their superb "Torture" video and are looking to put in on the airwaves. A worthy cause, but they will need some financial help to get it broadcast.

 
Nobody'll Notice If I Just Slide This Finger Up There As If By Accident



Kerry forgets that everybody notices what a presidential contender does.

 
Praying for Rain

David Schribman has an observation that cannot have escaped the minds of very many readers of this blog:

Two truths, each discomforting, are dawning on the Democrats as they gird for this autumn's presidential elections.

The first is that the election is not about John F. Kerry but about George W. Bush. The second is that the best recipe for Democratic success is American failure -- in the economy, in the war on terror, in the struggle in Iraq.

No kidding. Hence the glee (thinly disguised as anger) over the Iraqi prison photos. But what do you make of this comment:

"It's a constant struggle," Gov. Ed Rendell said in an interview. "You don't want American boys to die. You don't want to wish things continue to get screwed up in Iraq. You don't want this prisoner scandal to widen. You feel this in your gut. We need [instead] to argue that we need a change in priorities."

BS, is what I'd call it. Democrats want more American "boys" (and "girls") to die over in Iraq. They want the economy to tank (poor Paul Krugman is still waiting for his "double-dip" recession). They want bad things to happen because bad things are good for Democrats, and they don't care if it's bad for America.

 
GRAVITAS OVERLOAD


Stiff and patrician? Y’gotta be kidding!

Stuck in their do-over mode, Kamp Kerry now diagnoses L’Fraude’s problem as too much gravitas. Yeah. Right. They think the remedy is for Mr. Razzle-Dazzle to wow ‘em with his sense of humor, except that’s about as limp as his … er, handshake. It’s not easy being patrician y’know (sniff sniff).

Kerry Lite
LET THEM EAT RIBS
'Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry thinks he has a gravitas problem. "He thinks he has too much of it, and he thinks that's a problem," says a former campaign staffer.
…
As well, Kerry told a reporter that he enjoyed going out for beers with the fellows, knocking back a few and whooping it up. "It's not easy humanizing a guy like Kerry," says the former staffer. "You have Vietnam, and you have friends who can speak to his private life, but Kerry himself is not a great advocate for himself in that regard. He's just too stiff and patrician."
…
"That they have to stage these things, and then he can't even perform isn't a good sign."

 
Howling Mad

You find information in the strangest places. The Daily Howler is a leftist site dedicated to exposing right-wing lies (aka howlers). Today, they expose a 33-year-old quote from Ol' Horseface.

The report quotes a source as saying Kerry told an audience at a Philadelphia YMCA that Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese communist leader, was "the George Washington of Vietnam. Ho studied the United States Constitution and wants to install the same provisions into the Government of Vietnam."

Guess I must have missed learning about that "re-education camp" provision in the constitution.

 
Kerry on My Lai

Best of the Web Today (from yesterday) highlights this quote from Nuancy Boy:

Kerry told an audience at the New York Stock Exchange, "Guilty as Lt. Calley might have been of the actual murder, the verdict does not single out the real criminal. Those of us who have served in Vietnam know that the real guilty party is the United States of America."

 
Aloof? Moi?

AP notes that Kerry's battling his image.

The Massachusetts senator also sought to dispel the notion he was aloof, asking one television interviewer: "Have you had a beer with me yet? I like to have fun as much as the next person, and go out and hack around and have a good time."

Now, if I were the television interviewer, my response would be, "Yes, Senator, we've had beers many times--don't you remember? I'm Butchy Cataldo!"

 
Anybody But Lincoln?

The New York Times provides some grist for the blog mills with an article contrasting a campaign appearance for the President with one by Le Fraude.

BATON ROUGE, La., May 8 — About 500 people, with plates of jambalaya and peppery beans still before them, rose and cheered Friday as Senator John Kerry was escorted along a security corridor carved through the enthusiastic throng.

Last Tuesday, in an aging ice hockey arena on Cincinnati's north side, a banner saying "America: Safer, Stronger, Better" hovered above the floodlighted stage, where a grinning President Bush scanned the crowd of more than 10,000 cheering Republicans.

Sound familiar? Kerry attracts "about 500 people", but Bush draws "over 10,000".

Captain Ed was amused at this bit, which of course would be denounced as racism if it had occured at the Bush rally:

Billye Burns, a retired teacher from West Monroe, had driven more than two hours to see Mr. Kerry in Baton Rouge. Ms. Burns, who is black, sat at a prime table marked "white ticket holders only." White tickets, she explained, were for those who were active in the party.

While Just One Minute points to this comment:

His wife, Terri Forrest Reed, nodded from beneath a straw sun hat. "I'm a Republican," Ms. Reed whispered. "Don't tell anybody."

Not only that, she said, but as president of Thomas Jefferson Butler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she is tired of the Bush administration claiming it stands for Southern values.

In fact, Ms. Reed said, Mr. Bush reminds her of no one so much as a president who she said once betrayed the Constitution.

"That's right," she said. "Abraham Lincoln."

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters, via Just One Minute.

 
Poll Fault

USA Today is headlining a new Gallup Poll, "Bush approval rating hits lowest point". However, it is obvious that the polling data is a little skewed.

For starters, although the headline is negative towards Bush, it is not hard to find positive news for the President's reelection effort. For example, when likely voters were asked whom they would vote for, the results were Bush 47%, Kerry 45%, Nader 5%. The Nader total should give some clue that something odd is up here. Nader did not get 5% in 2000, he got about half of that. With all the ABB (Anybody But Bush)feeling out there, I'm a little suspicious about any poll that shows him doing that well.

And look at the swing between all adults and likely voters. Kerry wins the matchup of all adults by 46-41% (with Nader getting 7% and 6% saying no opinion/none of the above). So I thought I would do a little math to see what had happened.

The poll does not state how many people were polled directly, but at one point it indicates that 504 people was half the sample, so I'll assume that 1008 people were polled. Further, let's assume that likely voters were about 54.5% of the total adults (54.5% of adults actually voted in 2000).

Doing the math tells us then that 549 people are likely to vote, of which 247 will vote for Kerry, 258 for Bush, and 27 for Nader. Adults expressing a preference were 464 for Kerry, 413 for Bush, and 81 for Nader. This means that when they eliminated voters as unlikely to cast a vote, the number of unlikely voters was 216 for Kerry, 155 for Bush, and 43 for Nader. In other words, Kerry loses about 47% of his supporters, Bush loses about 37.5% of his, and Nader loses 53%. I suspect that this indicates that they overpolled among Democrats and loony leftists and underpolled among Republicans.

 
People, People Who Need A Sense of Humor

Kitty covers La Streisand's recent fit of pique.

 
RCP to the Rescue

Superb commentary by Real Clear Politics on their blog today. It starts with a solid slamming of Kerry's chief investor, aka the Swimmer.

Back in college, a good friend of mine had a name for people who were interminably stupid, annoying, arrogant, or otherwise insufferable. He called them "oxygen thieves."

The moniker came rushing back to me last night after hearing Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the floor of the United States Senate:

"On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked, 'Who would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open?

"Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management."



Yeah, I'd say it's accurate to call Teddy a waste of oxygen for those stupid remarks. RCP goes on to do some excellent poll analysis.

 
The McCain Mutiny

Andrew Sullivan begins pushing the McCain option for VP.

McCain could say that this national crisis demands that he put country ahead of party and serve. His loyalty to his party would therefore be trumped by loyalty to his country. Kerry could also say that his impulse is to be a "uniter, not a divider," and that, unlike Bush, he will actually show it in his pick for the vice-presidency. Their platform? Winning the war, cutting the deficit, reforming corporate excess. A Kerry-McCain ticket, regardless of the many difficulties, would, I think, win in a landslide.

Well, yes, if you assume that people vote for the guy on the bottom of the ticket and ignore who's on the top. There are two pieces of good news about all these ridiculous suggestions of a Republican for the Democrats' VP:

1. They signal desperation about Kerry. He's such a flawed candidate that only a Republican can save him.

2. They virtually guarantee that there will be a let-down when Kerry actually picks Tom Vilsack or Dick Durbin or some other Democrat.

 
WHO AM I?


You mean even YOU don’t know?

Do You Know Who I Am?
It seems a day does not go by that newspapers don't report on the growing doubts outside of the campaign about the candidacy of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. But now there appears to be growing doubt inside the Kerry camp.
First, there is word that his campaign plans to spend millions in media buys in supposedly safe states such as California, New York, and Massachusetts. "This early in the campaign, that just doesn't make sense unless there is some insecurity in his standing there," says a Democratic political consultant who is not working for Kerry. "It's one thing to spend a little on image or message reinforcement, but some of the dollar amounts I've heard being budgeted in New York and elsewhere would indicate that the campaign thinks it has to do more than that."
...
Never mind that it is generally assumed that Kerry reads the material he utters before he takes a podium. And never mind that it is generally assumed that most of Kerry's utterances are at least vetted if not written by senior strategist Bob Shrum. "The staff has become a convenient excuse for him on the record with reporters, kind of like his escape hatch," says a campaign worker in Washington, D.C. "Perhaps Senator Kerry doesn't think it get noticed much, but it does. A lot of us aren't here out of loyalty to him. We're here out of loyalty to the Democratic Party. He shouldn't confuse the two."

 
STOP PICKING ON MY MOMMY!


"They're going to have to go through me."

Okay, whatinthehell is THIS all about? Have I missed something? Is somebody picking on Mother Kerry? I suppose this is because she questioned the patriotism of President Bush & VP Cheney recently. This reminds me when the Clintons were running on their “blue plate special” ticket in ’92. They probably thought that was a cute’n’gimmicky campaign slogan until people began to question Her Royal C’s financial dealings. Then it was “Stop picking on my wife!” The Village Candidate must have heard that this macho-macho-man routine will make him look, y’know … manly (blech, gag, puke).

Kerry Warns Opponents Not to Attack His Wife
"If they want to attack her, they're going to have to go through me. I'll be the first to defend anything she does. ... She doesn't pull her punches," Kerry said in one television interview when asked if Republicans were targeting his wife.

 
New Linker

Cadet Happy looks like he's finding his voice. Lots of funny anti-Kerry cartoons, lots of linked content.

 
Kerry Wows 'Em in KY



Another crowd that can barely contain its (yawn), um, enthusiasm.

 
Kerry's Investor



In case you need another reason to hate Kerry.

 
Teh-RAY-za for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Updated!

Just One Minute makes a great point. When the Ketchup Queen said the following:

"If someone went to war and came back and didn't throw their medals in and criticized my husband, I'd say you have a right. But to be criticized by people who evaded going to war, I don't think is fair game."

Isn't she saying that the Swift Boat Veterans have a fair gripe with the Anti-War Criminal?

Updated: Chris at Right-Wing & Right-Minded points out that the Republicans are (quite sensibly) laying off any criticism of Teh-RAY-za. It does not make it right to use her as the VLWC attack machine. Surely Le Fraude can use Terry McAwful, Ted Kennedy and the rest of the despicable left for that purpose. That he would encourage his wife to get down in the mud says a lot about his character (or lack thereof).

 
Veepstakes III

Our friends over at Kerry Crushers are speculating that Jean Shaheen might end up with the slot. The former governor of New Hampshire makes some sense--she might help pull a former Bush state into the Kerry column and she's a woman which may help Kerry elsewhere.

They point out though that she may be less than appears on the surface:

Shaheen has at least two other obstacles. She has been tasked with recruiting a top-flight ticket in New Hampshire to keep the state competitive. So far, her efforts have bore little fruit. Senator Judd Gregg and Congressmen Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley face little serious competition for re-election. Democrats can’t even recruit a strong opponent for embattled Governor Craig Benson.

Additionally, Shaheen lost her bid for the United States Senate in 2002 against popular Congressman John Sununu, which has led some inside the Kerry campaign to question whether of not she could carry her own home state.

To which I'd simply add that if Kerry needs help from Shaheen to win the state next to his home state, he's probably not going to win anyway.

 
The Invisible Man

Sorry for the paucity of posts in the last couple days, but Kerry has apparently decided to adopt the Rose Garden strategy. When looking for some photos to use in the blog, I check out Yahoo News. There have been a grand total of 8 new photos under "John Kerry" in the past two days, and two of them are old photos from the '80s, one is Mary Matalin and James Carville discussing John Kerry and one is of Teh-RAY-za holding a baby. Slim pickings, in other words.

 
Mere Acquaintances II



The Duke and the Kook.

 
Another Democrat for Bush

Jerry Zeifman has an article in Insight Mag explaining that Jimmy Carter, John Conyers and Charles Rangel pushed outsourcing for defense industry contractors rather than "Buy American". Zeifman is a lifelong Democrat and a former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee who has this to say:

To my knowledge John Kerry has to date expressed no disagreement with the outsourcing trade policies of Carter, Conyers, Rangel and the Congressional Black Caucus. In my view, his recently released "plan" for allegedly revitalizing U.S. industries would be counterproductive and could endanger our national security. The isolationist economics of the Kerry proposal are as duplicitous as much else in his campaign. I agree with Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, former New York mayor Ed Koch, and countless other fellow Democrats of my generation that the defeat of Kerry by President Bush is very much in the national interest.

 
The Kennedy Connection

Ryan Lizza has a good piece on the dynamics of the Kerry campaign, which is run by former Kennedy staffer Mary Beth Cahill.

Other Cahill people are sprinkled through lower rungs of the campaign. Josh Gottheimer, a talented young speechwriter who was recently hired, knows Cahill from the Clinton White House. Some Democrats are whispering about the fact that Cahill's sister and brother-in-law, Ann and David Castagnetti, are now on the Kerry payroll. David, a former Hill aide and lobbyist, is in charge of congressional outreach, while Ann works on staffing for Kerry's future running mate. Democrats don't question the credentials of Cahill's friends, but some complain that she's limited by her personal Rolodex.

John Fund hits on the same subject in the WSJ.

Indeed, the Kerry campaign often resembles a subsidiary of the Kennedy political empire. Its inner circle is led by Mary Beth Cahill, who was Mr. Kennedy's chief of staff until six months ago. Press secretary Stephanie Cutter performed the same duties for Mr. Kennedy. And Bob Shrum, who has worked closely with Mr. Kennedy since he wrote his famous "the dream shall never die" defense of liberalism at the 1980 Democratic Convention, is the campaign's chief consultant and shapes virtually all of the candidate's messages.

The Washington Post quoted Ms. Cahill as saying that she was brought on board last November when the Kerry campaign was in meltdown mode because Mr. Kennedy, who was already traveling with the candidate, wanted to "further his investment."

 
WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?



Is it just moi, or do you see Kerry’s repetitive arm gesture reminiscent of a certain achtung! Austrian?
And notice those lovely, long fingernails of his.

 
MERE ACQUAINTANCES?



Ted Reckoning
'Sen. Kennedy could turn out to be a political liability for John Kerry.
Liberals can't resist trying to paint President Bush as a modern-day Richard Nixon, leading a secretive White House bogged down in a foreign war with an Iraqi prison roughly substituting for My Lai. "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam," thundered liberal lion Ted Kennedy last month as he accused Mr. Bush of "the biggest credibility gap since Richard Nixon." Paul Krugman of the New York Times calls the Iraq war "the worst political scandal in American history, worse than Watergate."
But Republicans have their own "oldie but goodie" story line to follow.
…
"John Kerry is the taller, thinner version of Teddy Kennedy," drawls Mississippi's Gov. Haley Barbour
…
Chris Matthews erupted. "Do you honestly believe . . . that John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are close friends? Is that what you believe?"
Well, it's what Mr. Kerry believes..'

 
The Torricelli Option V

It hits the WaPo with Howard Kurtz covering it.

Why all the downbeat stories?

• Democrats can't believe that Kerry is slightly trailing Bush after the violent setbacks in Iraq and the fallout from the 9/11 commission hearings.

• Handicappers don't understand how a decorated Vietnam War veteran running against a man with gaps in his National Guard record got bogged down explaining whether he had thrown away his medals or his ribbons 33 years ago.

• Journalists slavishly follow the polls in search of some new trend to divine.

• The veepstakes thing is really getting old.

To which I would add the sine wave nature of campaign reporting, and the journalistic temptation to tell people that what's happening today is important.

BTW, I am amused at the unspoken assumption of the Democrats--that if their guy isn't mopping up the floor with Bush, there's something wrong with him. Yes, there are quite a few things wrong with Kerry, but they're almost all things that we knew about him ages ago--his aloof, haughty manner, his tendency to speak in Senatese, and his habit of flip-flopping on every issue. And nobody should be mopping up the floor against Bush; he's obviously going to have the benefit of a strong economy heading into the election.

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters.

 
Medaling with History, Part V

Michael J. Bowers has a good article on Kerry's medals.

So, adding it all up, here's what Kerry's count looks like to me:

He got two real Purple Hearts, but they're negated by his fake Purple Heart.

He got a Bronze Star, but it's negated by his fake medal toss.

He got a Silver Star, but it's negated by his fake atrocity tale.

Sorry, Lieutenant. Your story is over. Pack it up and go home. We already have the leader we need in the White House.

 
Two-Dimensional Kerry?



Doesn't he look like a cardboard cutout?

 
Stories of Kerry's Likability

The Seattle Times does its level best to make the aloof factor a myth, but fails miserably.

About the best evidence they can muster is this:

Kerry admirers speak about "the Kerry nobody sees." On March 2, Super Tuesday, Kerry called Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who was scheduled to have surgery for prostate cancer the next day — a procedure Kerry underwent last year. They spoke for nearly 20 minutes, and Kerry offered advice and comfort based on his experience.

Now this is to Kerry's credit (words you won't often see around here), but it's hardly something that makes him an exceptionally friendly guy. And the rest of the article is full of stories like these:

Kerry once was pulled over by a Washington, D.C., cop for making an illegal turn — a vignette made semi-famous in a 1996 profile of Kerry in Boston Magazine.

Instead of shrugging his shoulders or feigning mortification to the reporter in the back seat, Kerry said: "You know, constitutionally, he can't pull me over when we're in session. That's the law." And also the lead of the story.

Such episodes mount, circulate:

About how Kerry could be heard chewing — he apparently was eating dinner — during a conference call with his stunned staff to discuss the firing of campaign manager Jim Jordan in November.

About how staffers from rival presidential campaigns say Kerry was the candidate least likely to greet them backstage at Democratic primary debates.

 
Veepstakes II

Ronald A. Faucheux has a pretty interesting article on the history of Veeps helping the ticket by bringing their home states into the won column. Conclusion: It helps the winners (who were 16-2 in their Veep's home state since 1932), but not the losers (who went 7-11 during that time).

 
Veepstakes

Clarence Page, showing that no name is too ridiculous to be suggested, proposes Colin Powell for Kerrys' Veep. Can a column suggesting Dick Cheney might be amenable be far off?

To seize the public's imagination, Kerry needs bold gestures that distinguish him not only from Bush but also from the loony-liberal, "flip-flopper" image with which Team Bush is trying to smear him.

 
Kerry's Speechwriters to Blame

Mark Steyn has a very humorous take on how Kerry has on at least two occasions blamed goofy things he's said on his speechwriters. For example, consider the infamous "Benedict Arnold CEOs" who take jobs overseas:

''You know, I called a couple of times to overzealous speechwriters and said 'Look, that's not what I'm saying.' Benedict Arnold does not refer to somebody who in the normal course of business is going to go overseas and take jobs overseas. That happens. I support that. I understand that. I was referring to the people who take advantage of noneconomic transactions purely for tax purposes -- sham transactions -- and give up American citizenship. That's a Benedict Arnold. You give up your American citizenship but you want to continue to do business.''

This is apparently a huge problem. Because of tax loopholes, thousands of CEOs find it advantageous to take out Mexican citizenship, swim back to America and work as ''undocumented executives.''

Or his recommendation of Jimmuh Carter as an envoy to help along the Israeli-Palestinian peace process:

Lawrence Kaplan reports in the New Republic about a meeting the senator had with Jewish leaders to assuage their concerns about his offer to dispatch Jimmy Carter or James Baker (both regarded as pro-Arab) to the Middle East. ''One of the first things Kerry did at the meeting was to blame his aides for the mention of Carter and Baker as possible envoys in his December speech,'' writes Kaplan. ''The names, Kerry said, had been inserted by mistake, and he had even asked that they be removed.''

Read it all. Steyn's the best columnist out there.

Hat tip to Kitty.

 
Eleanor Clift was wondering when L'Fraude would talk about the prisoner abuse scandal :)